Environmental Pollution Series A, Ecological and Biological最新文献

Cadmium speciation in the commercially important species Agaricus bisporus was investigated by comparing the binding of Cd in the cytosolic fractions obtained from fruiting bodies containing < 1 and 70 mg Cd kg⁻¹ (dry weight). Three Cd-binding complexes which are constitutive were isolated and partially characterised. Gel filtration, ion exchange and affinity chromatography were used in the purification procedure. Metallothionein-like components were not detected.

The short-term drift of macroinvertebrates is documented following two controlled oil spills placed under ice in aan arctic (Imnavait Creek) and subarctic (Poker-Caribou Creek) stream just as ice covered the water in early winter. No mortality was observed, but several species responded by differentially drifting from the oil-impacted areas during the following days. In the arctic stream, Trichotanypus posticalis (Diptera) showed a significant increase in drift for the first few days. There was also an overall increase in drift of total organisms post spill. Phaenospsectra sp. 1, the numerical dominant, decreased its nocturnal drifting compared with the upstream control station in the 5 days post spill. In the subarctic stream, Skwala sp. 1 (Plecoptera), Prosimulium sp. 1 (Simulidae) and Pseudo-diamesa sp. 1 showed significant increase in drift post spill. Among the species of benthic invertebrates sampled with a Hess sampler (WILDCO, Saginaw, Mich.), only the density of Nemoura sp. 1 declined significantly post spill. Polar ordinations using per cent difference showed that the oil-treated stations separated from the control stations in both the drift and the Hess bottom samples. Colonisation of artificial substrates in Imnavait Creek during the winter following the spill was almost non-existent. In Poker-Caribou Creek much colonisation took place over the winter with significantly more occurring on unoiled rocks as compared with oiled rocks.

Trapped under a layer of ice, the oil injected should have had a reduced rate loss of the volatile, toxic aromatic components, exposing the invertebrates to them for a longer period of time, albeit at a cold temperature. The cold temperature lowered the body metabolism, thus reducing the effect of soluble oil fractions on invertebrates. In addition, the large-sized, over-wintering instars present had a low surface area per unit volume, which reduced absorption of volatiles, reducing the probability of any massive mortality. Key species in each system began drifting, presumbly as a behavioural response to the oil, compared with upstream control sites.

The inhibition of branchial Na⁺K⁺-ATPase activity in tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus, during short-term exposure to toluene or naphthalene at their lethal concentrations was more extensive in salt water than in fresh water. This effect of salinity was seen in fish preacclimated to salt water of 35‰ S before the hydrocarbon exposure at the same salinity, as well as in freshwater acclimated fish exposed to the pollutants in salt water of 20‰ S. The pollution-stressed fish showed a reduced ability to increase the activity of this enzyme on subsequent transfer to salt water of 20‰ S. This greater enzyme inhibition in salt water probably contributed to the higher pollutant-induced mortality in these fish.

Significant (p < 0·05) in vitro inhibition by a relatively high concentration of 10μM of toluene, or naphthalene, was observed in the enzyme activity from both freshwater- and saltwater-acclimated tilapia.

Static bioassay tests were conducted with three oil dispersants at two salinities (32·0 ± 2 g litre⁻¹ and 16·0 ± g litre⁻¹) using fingerlings of the mullet Mugil sp. and hermit crabs Clibinarius africanus as test animals. The acute toxicity was estimated both by graphical interpolation and the approximate nomographic method of Litchfield & Wilcoxon (1949) and is reported as the 24 h, 48 h and 96 h LC(1)₅₀ Lloyd & Tooby, 1979) values. Conco-K was the most toxic, and BP 1,100X the least toxic, to the two test organisms at the two test salinities. Simple observations were made on the behavioural responses of the test animals. The rôle of acute toxicity data in ecological predictions is briefly discussed.

Scenedesmus bijugatus, a green alaga, and three blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria)—Synechococcus elongatus, Nostoc linckia and Phormidium tenue—all isolated from a black soil, were tested for their growth response to monocrotophos and quinalphos, using either cell number or chlorophyll a as toxicity criteria. Monocrotophos was significantly toxic above 20 μg ml⁻¹ to S. bijugatus, but enhanced the growth of S. elongatus, at all concentrations (5 to 100 μg ml⁻¹) tested. At 100 μg ml⁻¹, monocrotophos was toxic to N. linckia and, at 50 and 100 μg ml⁻¹, to P. tenue, but lower concentrations increased the growth of these two algae significantly. Quinalphos above 5 or 10 μg ml⁻¹ exhibited an algistatic effect S. bijugatus, S. elongatus and N. linckia and was algicidal to them at the higher concentrations. Quinalphos, however, resulted in a significant enhancement in the growth of P. tenue at all concentrations.

A group of New Zealand rabbits was exposed to environmental metal pollutants for 6 months via the respiratory route at the biomonitoring station near a nickel refinery dump. The count of alveolar macrophages (AM) and the lysosomal enzyme activities (acid phosphatase and β-glucuronidase) were significant reduction was found in the antibody-mediated rosette formation by AM in the exposed rabbits. In the in vitro system a dose-dependent inhibition of Fc receptor activity was detected in rabbit AM pretreated with a metal particle suspension at three concentrations (200, 400 and 600 μg ml⁻¹). The inhibitory effect of metal particle ingestion on the AM plasma membrane Fc receptor activity revealed the possible adverse effect of long-term exposure in a polluted area on the immune function of alveolar macrophages. Antibody-mediated rosette formation by AM may be a suitable assay for risk assessment of toxic pollutants in the ambient air.

Laboratory-bred Sminthopsis macroura, small (20–30 g) insectivorous marsupials, ingesting quickly (in less than 4 min) a large dose (80–100 mg kg⁻¹ body weight) of monocrotophos [1-[N-methylcarbamoyl)propyl-en-2-yl dimethyl phosphate], died within 30 min with cholinesterase (ChE) activity in their brain tissues inhibited by 66–69%; those that had ingested a much smaller dietary dose (2 mg kg⁻¹ body weight) at intervals during 18 days survived despite a higher ChE inhibition (92% on the 18th day). Notomys alexis and N. mitchelli, two species of small (30–50 g) rodents native to Australia, survived for 5 days on a diet of hulled millet containing 668 mg kg⁻¹ monocrotophos despite a 64% and 58% inhibition of ChE activity by the 5th day and a drastic reduction in food consumption reflected by a 14% and 12% loss of body weight respectively. These responses are discussed in terms of their effects on toxicity studies.

Ten 80-year-old spruce Picea abies trees from a forest district on the south side of the Taunus mountain range adjacent to the densely populated Rhine-Main area were analysed for their protein and amino acid metabolism.

The quantities of SDS-soluble proteins in the youngest needles decreased slightly with increasing defoliation of the trees, but SDS-protein patterns remained constant. In the youngest needles, however, proteinogenous amino acids increased severalfold with increasing needle loss. Arginine, threonine, isoleucine, alanine, tyrosine, lysine, histidine, leucine, methionine,and serine increased about 300%, valine and glycine about 250%. On the other hand, the contents in phenylalanine decreased about 60% and, in cysteic acid, about 22%. Chlorophyll contents in the youngest needles were relatively constant (no yellow needles present). The amount of dry matter increased slightly.

The rise in amino acid concentrations which wer observed is severalfold higher than that estimated 10 years ago in areas polluted by gaseous SO₂. We suggest that the increasing contents of amino acids are attributable to high amounts of ammonia which have accumulated in the forest soil.