Metallothioneins and trace metals in the dogwhelk Nucella lapillus (L.) collected from Icelandic coasts

Different sizes of the dogwhelk Nucella lapillus were collected from eight locations along the southwest and north coasts of Iceland. Concentrations of total metallothioneins (MTs) and heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, and Zn) were analysed using the silver saturation method and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The level of tributyltin (TBT) contamination was also assessed using imposex indices, the vas deferens stage index (VDSI) and relative penis size index (RPSI). Gufunes N. lapillus presented the highest values of VDSI (4.0) and RPSI (11.1), followed by Grenivík individuals (VDSI = 3.0; RPSI = 0.9), while the Strandakirkja population showed the lowest VDSI (0.3) and zero RPSI. At a standardised size (0.25 g dry soft-body weight), Grenivík N. lapillus exhibited significantly higher concentrations of all metals whereas overall metal concentrations were significantly lower in individuals from Strandakirkja and Garðskagi compared to other study sites. Partial correlation analyses with size correction indicated that MT concentrations were better correlated with Cd and Cu concentrations than with other metals. At the standard size, the pattern of MT concentrations in N. lapillus from different sites was, however, very different from those of metal profiles. Such discrepancies between the patterns of MT and metals in N. lapillus might be explained by the fact that MT induction could be influenced by various factors such as temperature, dietary metal intake, growth rate and co-existence of other MT-inducing chemicals.     

发展杨树生产对沅江市血吸虫病抑制和环境影响的初探

通过对沅江市杨树生产的初步研究,着重讨论了杨树生产对沅江市区域经济和生态环境的影响。通过研究发现:大面积种植杨树能有效抑制钉螺的生长和繁殖,在一定程度上控制血吸虫病蔓延;带动当地家具业等相关产业的发展,提高了当地居民的收入;对当地居住环境的改善,防洪治水有着积极的意义。同时,大面积种植单一树种,也对湖区的湿地环境产生了一系列的不良影响。     

Pleistocene–Holocene environmental change in the Canary Archipelago as inferred from the stable isotope composition of land snail shells

The isotopic composition of land snail shells was analyzed to investigate environmental changes in the eastern Canary Islands (28–29°N) over the last ~ 50 ka. Shell δ¹³C values range from −8.9‰ to 3.8‰. At various times during the glacial interval (~ 15 to ~ 50 ka), moving average shell δ¹³C values were 3‰ higher than today, suggesting a larger proportion of C₄ plants at those periods. Shell δ¹⁸O values range from −1.9‰ to 4.5‰, with moving average δ¹⁸O values exhibiting a noisy but long-term increase from 0.1‰ at ~ 50 ka to 1.6–1.8‰ during the LGM (~ 15–22 ka). Subsequently, the moving average δ¹⁸O values range from 0.0‰ at ~ 12 ka to 0.9‰ at present. Calculations using a published snail flux balance model for δ¹⁸O, constrained by regional temperatures and ocean δ¹⁸O values, suggest that relative humidity at the times of snail activity fluctuated but exhibited a long-term decline over the last ~ 50 ka, eventually resulting in the current semiarid conditions of the eastern Canary Islands (consistent with the aridification process in the nearby Sahara). Thus, low-latitude oceanic island land snail shells may be isotopic archives of glacial to interglacial and tropical/subtropical environmental change.