Search results for "Environmental Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 609 documents
LID - 10.3791/59466 [doi]
2019
The following protocol is intended to respond to the requirements set by the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directives (MSFD) for the D10C3 Criteria reported in the Commission Decision (EU), related to the amount of litter ingested by marine animals. Standardized methodologies for extracting litter items ingested from dead sea turtles along with guidelines on data analysis are provided. The protocol starts with the collection of dead sea turtles and classification of samples according to the decomposition status. Turtle necropsy must be performed in authorized centers and the protocol described here explains the best procedure for gastrointestinal (GI) tract isolation. The three…
Multixenobiotic resistance efflux activity in Daphnia magna and Lumbriculus variegatus
2014
Multixenobiotic resistance is a phenomenon in which ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family proteins transfer harmful compounds out of cells. Daphnia magna and Lumbriculus variegatus are model species in aquatic ecotoxicology, but the presence and activity of ABC proteins have not been well described in these species. The aim of this work was to study the presence, activity, and inhibition of ABC transport proteins in D. magna and L. variegatus. The presence of abcb1 and abcc transcripts in 8-9-day-old D. magna was investigated by qRT-PCR. The activity of MXR in D. magna and L. variegatus was explored by influx of the fluorescent ABC protein substrates rhodamine B and calcein-AM, with and without…
Facilitated transport of diuron and glyphosate in high copper vineyard soils.
2007
6 pages; International audience; The fate of organic herbicides applied to agricultural fields may be affected by other soil amendments, such as copper applied as a fungicide. The effect of copper on the leaching of diuron and glyphosate through a granitic and a calcareous soil was studied in the laboratory using sieved-soil columns. Each soil was enriched with copper sulfate to obtain soil copper concentrations of 125, 250, 500, and 1000 mg kg(-1). Glyphosate leaching was influenced by soil pH and copper concentration, whereas diuron leaching was not. In the calcareous soil, glyphosate leaching decreased as copper levels increased from 17 mg kg(-1) (background) to 500 mg kg(-1). In the gra…
Revised annual post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) report on the cultivation of genetically modified maize MON 810 in 2013 from Monsanto Euro…
2015
Question number: EFSA-Q-2015-00432On request from: European Commission; Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA GMO Panel) assessed the results of the general surveillance activities contained in the revised annual post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) report for the 2013 growing season of maize MON 810 provided by Monsanto Europe S.A. The supplied data do not indicate any unanticipated adverse effects on human and animal health or the environment arising from the cultivation of maize MON 810 cultivation in 2013. Similar methodological shortcomings to those observed in previous annual PME…
An overview of the methods used in the characterisation of natural organic matter (NOM) in relation to drinking water treatment
2010
Natural organic matter (NOM) is found in all surface, ground and soil waters. During recent decades, reports worldwide show a continuing increase in the color and NOM of the surface water, which has an adverse affect on drinking water purification. For several practical and hygienic reasons, the presence of NOM is undesirable in drinking water. Various technologies have been proposed for NOM removal with varying degrees of success. The properties and amount of NOM, however, can significantly affect the process efficiency. In order to improve and optimise these processes, the characterisation and quantification of NOM at different purification and treatment processes stages is important. It …
Geostatistical 3-dimensional integration of measurements of soil magnetic susceptibility.
2010
In soil magnetometry, two types of measurements are usually performed. The first type is measurements performed on the soil surface, frequently using an MS2D sensor. The second type includes measurements of magnetic susceptibility carried out in the soil profile, usually to a depth of about 30 cm. Up to now, such measurement results were analyzed separately. However, it is possible and advantageous to integrate these two types of measurements. The goal of the study was to integrate measurements of magnetic susceptibility performed on the soil surface and in the soil profile. More specifically, the goal was to obtain 3-dimensional spatial distributions of magnetic susceptibility of the topso…
Detection of a synthetic sex steroid in the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus): Evidence for a novel environmental androgen
2017
Endocrine-disrupting contaminants (EDC's) are well known to alter sexual differentiation among vertebrates via estrogenic effects during development, particularly in organisms characterized by temperature-dependent sex determination. However, substances producing androgenic effects typically lack potency when tested in laboratory settings and are virtually unstudied in field settings. Here, we assay levels of a synthetic androgen, 17a-methyltestosterone (MT), in a heavily male-biased population of American crocodiles in the Tempisque River Basin of Costa Rica based on the recent hypothesis that this chemical is an EDC in developing crocodilian embryos. The presence of MT was documented in a…
Individual variation of persistent organic pollutants in relation to stable isotope ratios, sex, reproductive phase and oxidative status in Scopoli's…
2017
Abstract: Little is known about the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and its consequences for seabirds in the Mediterranean basin. We characterised the plasma contaminant profile (polychlorinated biphenyls ΣPCBs; organochlorine pesticides ΣOCPs; polybrominated diphenyl ethers ΣPBDEs) of a population of the seabird Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) that breeds in the southern Mediterranean (Linosa Island) and investigated (i) whether sex, stable isotope ratios (related to diet), reproductive phase (early incubation vs. late breeding season) and body mass explained variation in contaminant burden and (ii) whether they predict health-related variables. The predomi…
Gender as a key factor in trace metal and metalloid content of human scalp hair. A multi-site study
2016
This multi-site study discusses the content of metals and metalloids (MM) in scalp hair of children, living in different environmental contexts, with the purpose of verifying if hair level of some MM is distinctively gender-specific. A total of 943 hair samples (537 females and 406 males) from adolescents were analysed for their content of Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sr, U, V and Zn. Elemental quantification was performed by ICP-MS. The obtained data identified different metal distributions in adolescent girls which exhibited significantly higher hair concentrations of some trace metals, especially Sr, Zn and Ni, than boys. On the base of the median value, hai…
Coverage intervals for trace elements in human scalp hair are site specific.
2014
Coverage intervals for trace elements in human scalp hair commonly provide the basis for interpreting laboratory results and also in comparative decision-making processes regarding exposure risk assessment. This short communication documents, by some examples, that those computed for human hair are to be considered site specific, as they reflect local environmental conditions; also each geographic area has a typical profile of hair elemental composition of its inhabitants. Therefore, the levels of trace elements in hair are not strictly comparable between different areas of the world. This issue is particularly relevant when identification of anomalous environmental exposures are requested …