Molluscs as multidisciplinary models in environment toxicology

The primary goal of this paper is to stimulate discussion and promote the use of mollusc models and multidisciplinary research approaches in the field of environmental toxicology. Molluscs are effective models because they are ubiquitous, have highly conserved control and regulatory pathways that are often homologous to vertebrate systems, and are extremely sensitive to anthropogenic inputs. We have attempted to provide initial references as an avenue into the literature and as a means for researchers to expand their thoughts to regions outside of their own area of expertise. The authors are particularly interested in developing multidisciplinary international collaborative efforts.     

Toxicity assessment of sediments associated with various land-uses in coastal South Carolina, USA, using a meiobenthic copepod bioassay

Coastal urbanization supplies surrounding estuarine environments with urban-related contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals and pesticide mixtures. In our study, adult female and male copepods (Amphiascus tenuiremis) were chronically exposed to 18 sediment samples collected from sites influenced by different land-uses. Sediment samples were collected from three major suburban areas (Hilton Head, Kiawah Island and the Okatee River watershed) and a pristine site (North Inlet) in coastal South Carolina. Three-sediment bioassays (six sites per bioassay) were conducted by culturing copepods for 14 days in quadruplicate test sediments under flow-through conditions at 20 degrees C and 12:12 LD cycles. Adult survival and copepod reproductive output were quantified. Sediment samples were also analyzed by GC-MS for low and high molecular weight PAHs. Minimal adult mortality was observed in most sediment samples. However, sediments from Hilton Head Island and the Okatee River showed significant effects on copepod reproductive output (i.e., nauplii, copepodites and clutch size). Thus, we determined that reproductive endpoints rather than adult copepod survivorship were more sensitive to effects of contaminated sediments on A. tenuiremis. Furthermore, six (33%) of the 18 sites had a >25% reduction in copepod bioassay endpoints relative to controls, suggesting a high risk to long term A. tenuiremis population maintenance.     

Investigation of natural and anthropogenic hydrocarbon inputs in sediments using geochemical markers. I. Santos, SP--Brazil

A study on the inputs of organic matter to marine sediments of Santos Bay and Estuary, located in southeastern S?o Paulo State, Brazil, is presented here. The following geochemical markers were identified and quantified: aliphatic hydrocarbons (normal and isoprenoid alkanes), petroleum biomarkers, linear alkylbenzenes (LABs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Sediment samples, collected at 15 sites in the bay and surrounding channels, were extracted and analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization and mass spectrometer detectors. Total concentrations varied from 0.17 to 107.80 microg g(-1) for aliphatics, from 47.2 to 2560.1 ng g(-1) for petroleum biomarkers, from 16.9 to 430.6 ng g(-1) for LABs and from 79.6 to 15389.1 ng g(-1) for PAHs. Anthropogenic contributions were apparent, indicating the influences of the Cubatao industrial complex, sewage outfalls along the area, the waste deposit of Santos city and storage facilities for petroleum and derivatives, based on the higher concentrations of geochemical markers detected.     

Henry Darcy in his own words

A recently published English translation of the Les Fontaines publiques de la ville de Dijon 1 provides access to Henry Darcy's own words on the importance of water for public sanitation and on questions engineers face in building water supply systems. Written near the end of Darcy's life, the book is a compendium of the water knowledge he had gained over decades and his opinions on these topics reveal his personality. In the 1840s, Darcy built a water supply system to provide water to 120 street fountains for domestic purposes, street washing and firefighting. Surrounded by poverty, Darcy insisted on free water for the poor and on sharing the spring water with towns located along the aqueduct that brought it to Dijon. In the preface to the book, Darcy introduces his experiment on water flow through sand with the modest words “to my knowledge, no one has experimentally demonstrated the laws of water flow through sand.” This article provides a sampling of the book's insights into the personality of this remarkable man.

The evolution of the high‐elevated depocenters of the northern Sierras Pampeanas (ca. 28˚ SL), Argentine broken foreland,South‐Central Andes: the Pipanaco Basin

The Pipanaco Basin, in the southern margin of the Andean Puna plateau at ca. 28°SL, is one of the largest and highest intermontane basins within the northernmost Argentine broken foreland. With a surface elevation >1000 m above sea level, this basin represents a strategic location to understand the subsidence and subsequent uplift history of high‐elevation depositional surfaces within the distal Andean foreland. However, the stratigraphic record of the Pipanaco Basin is almost entirely within the subsurface, and no geophysical surveys have been conducted in the region. A high‐resolution gravity study has been designed to understand the subsurface basin geometry. This study, together with stratigraphic correlations and flexural and backstripping analysis, suggests that the region was dominated by a regional subsidence episode of ca. 2 km during the Miocene‐Pliocene, followed by basement thrusting and ca. 1–1.5 km of sediment filling within restricted intermontane basin between the Pliocene‐Pleistocene. Based on the present‐day position of the basement top as well as the Neogene‐Present sediment thicknesses across the Sierras Pampeanas, which show slight variations along strike, sediment aggradation is not the most suitable process to account for the increase in the topographic level of the high‐elevation, close‐drainage basins of Argentina. The close correlation between the depth to basement and the mean surface elevations recorded in different swaths indicates that deep‐seated geodynamic process affected the northern Sierras Pampeanas. Seismic tomography, as well as a preliminary comparison between the isostatic and seismic Moho, suggests a buoyant lithosphere beneath the northern Sierras Pampeanas, which might have driven the long‐wavelength rise of this part of the broken foreland after the major phase of deposition in these Andean basins.     

The formation and survival of discs in a ΛCDM universe

We study the formation of galaxies in a Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) universe using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations with a multiphase treatment of gas, cooling and feedback, focusing on the formation of discs. Our simulations follow eight isolated haloes similar in mass to the Milky Way and extracted from a large cosmological simulation without restriction on spin parameter or merger history. This allows us to investigate how the final properties of the simulated galaxies correlate with the formation histories of their haloes. We find that, at   z = 0  , none of our galaxies contains a disc with more than 20 per cent of its total stellar mass. Four of the eight galaxies nevertheless have well-formed disc components, three have dominant spheroids and very small discs, and one is a spheroidal galaxy with no disc at all. The   z = 0  spheroids are made of old stars, while discs are younger and formed from the inside-out. Neither the existence of a disc at   z = 0  nor the final disc-to-total mass ratio seems to depend on the spin parameter of the halo. Discs are formed in haloes with spin parameters as low as 0.01 and as high as 0.05; galaxies with little or no disc component span the same range in spin parameter. Except for one of the simulated galaxies, all have significant discs at   z ≳ 2  , regardless of their   z = 0  morphologies. Major mergers and instabilities which arise when accreting cold gas is misaligned with the stellar disc trigger a transfer of mass from the discs to the spheroids. In some cases, discs are destroyed, while in others, they survive or reform. This suggests that the survival probability of discs depends on the particular formation history of each galaxy. A realistic ΛCDM model will clearly require weaker star formation at high redshift and later disc assembly than occurs in our models.     

The kinetics of iodide oxidation by the manganese oxide mineral birnessite

The kinetics of iodide (I⁻) and molecular iodine (I₂) oxidation by the manganese oxide mineral birnessite (δ-MnO₂) was investigated over the pH range 4.5-6.25. I⁻ oxidation to iodate proceeded as a two-step reaction through an I₂ intermediate. The rate of the reaction varied with both pH and birnessite concentration, with faster oxidation occurring at lower pH and higher birnessite concentration. The disappearance of I⁻ from solution was first order with respect to I⁻ concentration, pH, and birnessite concentration, such that −d[I⁻]/dt = k[I⁻][H⁺][MnO₂], where k, the third order rate constant, is equal to 1.08 ± 0.06 × 10⁷ M⁻² h⁻¹. The data are consistent with the formation of an inner sphere I⁻ surface complex as the first step of the reaction, and the adsorption of I⁻ exhibited significant pH dependence. Both I₂, and to a lesser extent, sorbed to birnessite. The results indicate that iodine transport in mildly acidic groundwater systems may not be conservative. Because of the higher adsorption of the oxidized I species I₂ and , as well as the biophilic nature of I₂, redox transformations of iodine must be taken into account when predicting I transport in aquifers and watersheds.     

AGB variables and the Mira period–luminosity relation

Published data for large-amplitude asymptotic giant branch variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are re-analysed to establish the constants for an infrared ( K ) period–luminosity relation of the form   M _K =ρ[log  P − 2.38]+δ  . A slope of  ρ=−3.51 ± 0.20  and a zero-point of  δ=−7.15 ± 0.06  are found for oxygen-rich Miras (if a distance modulus of 18.39 ± 0.05 is used for the LMC). Assuming this slope is applicable to Galactic Miras we discuss the zero-point for these stars using the revised Hipparcos parallaxes together with published very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) parallaxes for OH masers and Miras in globular clusters. These result in a mean zero-point of  δ=−7.25 ± 0.07  for O-rich Galactic Miras. The zero-point for Miras in the Galactic bulge is not significantly different from this value.
Carbon-rich stars are also discussed and provide results that are consistent with the above numbers, but with higher uncertainties. Within the uncertainties there is no evidence for a significant difference between the period–luminosity relation zero-points for systems with different metallicity.     

The coating hypothesis for ammonia ice particles in Jupiter: Laboratory experiments and optical modeling

We report laboratory experiments and modeling calculations investigating the effect of a hydrocarbon coating on ammonia ice spectral signatures. Observational evidence and thermochemical models indicate an abundance of ammonia ice clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere. However, spectrally identifiable ammonia ice clouds are found covering less than 1% of Jupiter's atmosphere, notably in areas of strong vertical transport, indicating a short lifetime for the signature of ammonia absorption on condensed ammonia particles [Baines, K.H., Carlson, R.W., Kamp, L.W., 2002. Icarus 159, 74-94]. Current literature has suggested coating of ammonia ice particles by a hydrocarbon haze as a possible explanation for this paradox. The work presented here supports the inference of a coating effect that can alter or suppress ammonia absorption features. In the experiments, thin films of ammonia ices are deposited in a cryogenic apparatus, coated with hydrocarbons, and characterized by reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy. We have observed the effects on the ammonia ice absorption features near 3 and 9 μm with coverage by thin layers of hydrocarbons. Modeling calculations of these multilayer thin films assist in the interpretation of the experimental results and reveal the important role of optical interference in altering the aforementioned ammonia spectral features. Mie and T-matrix scattering calculations demonstrate analogous effects for ammonia ice particles and investigate the relative effects of ammonia ice particle size, shape, and coating layer thickness on the ice particle spectral signatures.     

Vulnerability assessment in urban areas exposed to flood risk: methodology to explore green infrastructure benefits in a simulation scenario involving the Cañaveralejo River in Cali,Colombia

Natural Hazards - Building resilient infrastructure is one of the major challenges faced by cities due to increasing urbanization rates and climate change. Furthermore, the application of...