Cadmium accumulation by the blue crab, callinectes sapidus: Involvement of hemocyanin and characterization of cadmium-binding proteins     

Marius Brouwer  Thea Brouwer-Hoexum  David W. Engel 《Marine environmental research》1984,14(1-4)

The accumulation of cadmium from seawater by the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, was studied as a function of metal concentration and exposure time, with special emphasis on cadmium-binding proteins. Cadmium was found, in decreasing order of magnitude, in gills, digestive gland and hemolymph. When exposed to 0·5 ppm cadmium for 2–24h, virtually all of the cadmium in the cytosolic fraction of the gill was associated with a low molecular weight (LMW) cadmium-binding protein (MW 8000). However, after 48h of exposure only 50% of the cadmium in the cytosol was bound to this protein. The rest wasfound to be associated with proteins of a molecular weight of 300 000 and 60 000. This pattern of cadmium distribution did not change over a 12-day depuration period. Similar results were obtained upon exposure to 0·1 ppm cadmium. The pattern of cadmium accumulation in the cytosolic fraction of the digestive gland was in marked contrast to that observed for the gill. Initially, the cadmium was distributed over three low molecular weight fractions. During depuration the distribution of cadmium changed and all of the metal became bound to a low molecular weight protein (MW 9000). The cadmium concentrations in the gill and digestive gland remained essentially constant during depuration (12 days). The LMW cadmium-binding proteins were purified by a combination of gelpermeation and ion-exchange chromatography. Their molecular weight, spectral properties and amino acid composition are characteristic of the vertebrate metallothioneins. During exposure to cadmium the metal rapidly appeared in the hemolymph, mainly associated with hemocyanin. During depuration cadmium was transferred from the hemolymph to the digestive gland, demonstrating that hemocyanin acts as a carrier in trace metal transport.  相似文献   

Rocking buoy wave energy converter     

Robert E. Salomon 《Ocean Engineering》1989,16(3)

A device for converting ocean wave energy into electricity utilizing a rocking buoy and a hydrogen pressure cell is described. The moored buoy contains a pneumatic tube filled with a dense liquid which rocks back and forth as a result of the ocean wave activity. Hydrogen gas, maintained above the dense fluid is alternatively compressed and expanded by the moving fluid. The hydrogen gas communicates with a hydrogen pressure cell and the resulting pressure difference across the cell leads to an electrical voltage and under load, to electrical power.  相似文献   

Environmental change and oyster colonization within the Hudson River estuary linked to Holocene climate   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

S.?M.?CarbotteEmail author  R.?E.?Bell  W.?B.?F.?Ryan  C.?McHugh  A.?Slagle  F.?Nitsche  J.?Rubenstone 《Geo-Marine Letters》2004,24(4):212-224

Geophysical mapping and sampling data provide a record of changing environmental and faunal conditions within the Hudson River estuary during the mid- to late Holocene. On the shallow, broad marginal flats of the mesohaline Hudson, fossil oyster beds (Crassostrea virginica) are found exposed on the river bottom and buried by sediment. The shallowest beds are well imaged in chirp sub-bottom and side-scan sonar data and form discrete flow-perpendicular bands, 0.6–1.0 km wide and up to 3 km long, which cover 30% of the river bottom. Radiocarbon-dated sediment cores indicate oysters thrived within two time periods from ~500–2,400 and ~5,600–6,100 cal. years b.p. Sediment and physical property data indicate a changing depositional regime consistent with the oyster chronology. Similar changes in oyster presence are found in local shell midden sites of the Lower Hudson Valley as well as elsewhere along the Atlantic coast, and may reflect climatic controls associated with warm–cool cycles during the Holocene. Oysters flourished during the mid-Holocene warm period, disappeared with the onset of cooler climate at 4,000–5,000 cal. years b.p., and returned during warmer conditions of the late Holocene. The most recent demise of oysters within the Hudson at 500–900 cal. years b.p. may have accompanied the Little Ice Age.  相似文献   

Marine mammals from northeast Atlantic: relationship between their trophic status as determined by delta13C and delta15N measurements and their trace metal concentrations     

Das K  Beans C  Holsbeek L  Mauger G  Berrow SD  Rogan E  Bouquegneau JM 《Marine environmental research》2003,56(3):349-365

The relationship between trophic position through delta13C and delta15N and trace metal concentrations (Zn, Cd, Cu and Hg) was investigated in the tissues of six marine mammal species from the Northeast Atlantic: striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba, common dolphin, Delphinus delphis, Atlantic white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus acutus, harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena, white beaked-dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris, grey seal Halichoerus grypus stranded on French Channel and Irish coasts. White-beaked dolphins, harbour porpoises, white-sided dolphins, common and striped dolphins display the same relative and decreasing trophic position, as measured by delta15N values, along both the Irish and French channel coasts, reflecting conservative trophic habits between these two places. Hepatic and renal Cd concentrations were significantly correlated to muscle delta13C and delta15N values while Hg, Zn and Cu did not. These results suggest that Cd accumulation is partly linked to the diet while other factors such as age or body condition might explain Hg, Zn or Cu variability in marine mammals. Combined stable isotope and trace metal analyses appear to be useful tools for the study of marine mammal ecology.  相似文献   

Understanding El Niño — The importance of Grey Literature in Coastal Ecosystem Research and Management     

Sven Thatje  Jürgen Laudien  Olaf Heilmayer  Cornelia E. Nauen 《Marine Policy》2007

Access to information about past states of the environment and social systems is fundamental to understand, and cope with, the challenges of climate change and over-exploitation of natural resources at the onset of the 21st century. The loss of (old) data is a major threat to understanding better and mitigating long-term effects of human activities and anthropogenic changes to the environment. Although this is intuitively evident for old and local literature of any kind, even present-day international publishing of papers without the underlying raw data makes access to basic information a crucial issue. Here, we summarise experience resulting from a EU-funded International Science & Technology Cooperation (INCO) project (CENSOR) addressing Coastal Ecosystem Research and Management in the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) context. We show that indeed “Grey Literature” is still one of the most important sources of knowledge about natural science research and management of natural resource systems in Latin American countries. We argue that public archiving of original data of present-day research and old (Grey) Literature and easy public access are important for appreciating today's global environmental challenges caused by human activities, both past and present.  相似文献   

Viscous model of plate tectonics for the Black Sea region (in relation to the problem of the late Cenozoic evolution of the Black Sea basins)     

E. I. Patalakha  I. K. Senchenkov  V. V. Gonchar 《Oceanology》2006,46(5):660-671

A numerical model of the Black Sea region (Northeastern Mediterranean) is presented in which it is regarded as a part of the mosaic plate ensemble consisting of the fixed East European platform; the active Arabian, Adriatic, and Pannonian plates; and passive East and West Black Sea and Mysian microplates, which are embedded in a plastically deformable regional orogenic matrix. The fields of displacements, stresses, and deformations in the region are calculated by means of the finite element method within the framework of a linear-viscous rheology approach to a system with nonhomogeneous viscosities. The velocity field obtained is in good agreement with published data of direct observations of plate displacements in the region. In the pressure field, areas of low pressure and decompression are established in the western part of Black Sea and in the south of the Mysian microplate. The poles of rotation of the East and West Black Sea microplates and of the Mysian microplate are computed. For the latter two microplates, significant rotational components are suggested. The East Black Sea microplate acts mostly as indenter, which transmits the collisional motion from the Arabian plate to the southern edge of the East European platform including the Crimea. According to the geodynamical model, the rates of the Cenozoic sedimentation in the Black Sea depression at the collision stage (Oligocene-Pliocene) result from the greater compression of the East Black Sea microplate as compared to the West Black Sea microplate, which, probably, experienced a kind of extension.  相似文献   

Effects of crab–halophytic plant interactions on creek growth in a S.W. Atlantic salt marsh: A Cellular Automata model     

Darío R. Minkoff  Mauricio Escapa  Flix E. Ferramola  Silvio D. Maraschín  Jorge O. Pierini  Gerardo M.E. Perillo  Claudio Delrieux 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2006,69(3-4):403

The Bahía Blanca Estuary (38° 50′ S, and 62° 30′ W) presents salt marshes where interactions between the local flora (Sarcocornia perennis) and fauna (Chasmagnathus granulatus) generate some kind of salt pans that alter the normal water circulation and condition its flow and course towards tidal creeks. The crab–vegetation dynamics in the salt marsh presents variations that cannot be quantified in a reasonable period of time. The interaction between S. perennis plant and C. granulatus crab is based on simple laws, but its result is a complex biological mechanism that causes an erosive process on the salt marsh and favors the formation of tidal creeks. To study it, a Cellular Automata model is proposed, based on the laws deduced from the observation of these phenomena in the field, and then verified with measurable data within macroscale time units. Therefore, the objective of this article is to model how the interaction between C. granulatus and S. perennis modifies the landscape of the salt marsh and influences the path of tidal creeks. The model copies the basic laws that rule the problem based on purely biological factors.The Cellular Automata model proved capable of reproducing the effects of the interaction between plants and crabs in the salt marsh. A study of the water drainage of the basins showed that this interaction does indeed modify the development of tidal creeks. Model dynamics would likewise follow different laws, which would provide a different formula for the probability of patch dilation. The patch shape can be obtained changing the pattern that dilates.  相似文献   

Casualties in dry bulk shipping (1963–1996)     

Stephen E. Roberts  Peter B. Marlow 《Marine Policy》2002,26(6)

In recent years, bulk carriers have been identified with high risks of catastrophic structural failure and foundering, and with heavy loss of human life. This study, based upon Lloyd's of London casualty records, identified four risk factors that had significant, independent effect upon the likelihood of a bulk carrier foundering. The risk of foundering increased with the age of the ship, and was related to the ship's flag of registration. Most importantly, however, increased risks were found for heavy cargoes of iron ore and scrap steel or iron, and for trading routes to the Far East and from Europe to North America. Additional safety measures, in particular regarding ship design and high-risk trades, may well be necessary to reduce the high casualty rates.  相似文献   

Long-term variations of the location of the upper boundary of the hydrogen-sulphide zone in the Black Sea     

A. M. Suvorov  A. Kh. Khaliulin  E. A. Godin 《Physical Oceanography》2001,11(3):249-258

We analyze the dependence of climatic variations of the location of the upper boundary of the hydrogen-sulphide zone in the Black Sea on the variations of the sea level and various types of atmospheric circulation (according to A.A. Girs). It is discovered that the level of correlation between the indicated parameters is high and that the corresponding plots are in good qualitative agreement. The accumulated results enable us to make an assumption that there exists an 80–100-yr cycle of variation of all analyzed parameters and that the long-term variations of the location of the upper boundary of the hydrogen-sulphide zone can be regarded as a manifestation of global climatic variations. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev  相似文献   

Relative microbial activity and mineralization associated with water masses in the lower Cook Inlet,Alaska     

R. P. Griffiths  T. M. McNamara  S. E. Steven  R. Y. Morita 《Journal of Oceanography》1981,37(5):227-233

A study of the microbial uptake and respiration (mineralization) of radioactive glutamic acid was made in 141 surface water samples in the Cook Inlet, Alaska during three sampling periods (October, 1976; April, 1977; and November, 1977). The rate at which the test substrate was incorporated into cell material plus that respired as CO₂ was used to calculate the relative microbial activity. A northern water mass with salinities less than 31 showed high rates of relative microbial activity but low mineralization rates as indicated by respiration of¹⁴CO₂. The reverse pattern was seen in the water mass (salinity higher than 31) to the south which was more typical of coastal water. These data suggest that the organic nutrients in these two water masses are quite different either qualitatively or quantitatively. This study illustrates how the observed measurement of relative microbial activity might be helpful in defining specific water masses.(The publication of this article was unintentionally delayed owing to a fault in secretarial routine.)Published as Technical Paper No. 6009, Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station.  相似文献