A critical examination of worldwide guidelines for minimising the disturbance to marine mammals during seismic surveys

Marine seismic exploration has potentially detrimental effects upon marine life and marine mammals in particular. Potential effects range from disturbance that may lead to displacement from feeding or breeding areas, to auditory damage and potential mortality. Nations including the USA, Canada and Brazil have followed the example set by the United Kingdom by introducing guidelines to minimise acoustic disturbance to marine mammals. This paper describes the mitigation measures central to the guidelines currently in place, and identifies the similarities, differences and deficiencies within them. A need for further review by some nations is identified, with a recommendation that an international standard should be produced, benefiting both the geophysical exploration industry and the conservation community.     

A critical evaluation for the determination of amino acids in the marine environment by derivatization using 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC-Cl) and reversed phase HPLC separation

This article extends work on the FMOC-Cl method of amino-acid analysis to determine its feasibility and shortcomings for marine research. Precolumn derivatization and separation by high performance liquid chromatography does not require error-inducing desalting steps or other time-consuming clean-up normally associated with ion-exchange type systems. The FMOC-Cl method was developed as an alternative to existing precolumn techniques because it is characterized by a very stable derivative formation, complete amino-acid reaction, low detection limit and good reproducibility. Problems encountered by this method, such as pH dependence of reaction, and reaction with water, are discussed and suitable solutions are proposed. The method can be applied to a wide range of marine samples.     

南极罗斯海区域可培养微生物分离鉴定及产低温酶能力初步筛选

为了利用南极微生物资源、探索南极罗斯海区域可培养微生物多样性,利用传统平板培养法对中国第33次南极科学考察采自南极罗斯海6个站位的海洋沉积物样品进行了细菌、真菌的分离培养。经细菌16S rRNA、真菌ITS基因序列检测及系统发育分析,共获得5个属的36株细菌和6个属的29株真菌。其中嗜冷杆菌属为优势细菌类群,枝孢属为优势真菌类群。该结果表明南极罗斯海区域具有丰富的微生物多样性。细菌API 20 NE生理生化及真菌产胞外酶活性实验显示,分离得到的细菌和真菌绝大多数都有低温酶活性。研究结果为南极罗斯海区域可培养微生物的多样性认识和低温酶产生菌资源获取与开发利用提供了支撑。