Aerosol properties associated with air masses arriving into the North East Atlantic during the 2008 Mace Head EUCAARI intensive observing period: an overview

As part of the EUCAARI Intensive Observing Period, a 4-week campaign to measure aerosol physical, chemical and optical properties, atmospheric structure, and cloud microphysics was conducted from mid-May to mid-June, 2008 at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station, located at the interface of Western Europe and the N. E. Atlantic and centered on the west Irish coastline. During the campaign, continental air masses comprising both young and aged continental plumes were encountered, along with polar, Arctic and tropical air masses. Polluted-continental aerosol concentrations were of the order of 3000 cm(-3), while background marine air aerosol concentrations were between 400-600 cm(-3). The highest marine air concentrations occurred in polar air masses in which a 15 nm nucleation mode, with concentration of 1100 cm(-3), was observed and attributed to open ocean particle formation. Continental air submicron chemical composition (excluding refractory sea salt) was dominated by organic matter, closely followed by sulphate mass. Although the concentrations and size distribution spectral shape were almost identical for the young and aged continental cases, hygroscopic growth factors (GF) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) to total condensation nuclei (CN) concentration ratios were significantly less in the younger pollution plume, indicating a more oxidized organic component to the aged continental plume. The difference in chemical composition and hygroscopic growth factor appear to result in a 40-50% impact on aerosol scattering coefficients and Aerosol Optical Depth, despite almost identical aerosol microphysical properties in both cases, with the higher values been recorded for the more aged case. For the CCN/CN ratio, the highest ratios were seen in the more age plume. In marine air, sulphate mass dominated the sub-micron component, followed by water soluble organic carbon, which, in turn, was dominated by methanesulphonic acid (MSA). Sulphate concentrations were highest in marine tropical air - even higher than in continental air. MSA was present at twice the concentrations of previously-reported concentrations at the same location and the same season. Both continental and marine air exhibited aerosol GFs significantly less than ammonium sulphate aerosol pointing to a significant organic contribution to all air mass aerosol properties.

Immunostimulatory effects of different aspects of aquaculture on the host response in the edible sea urchin, paracentrotus lividus

Aquaculture is a fast-growing industry contributing to global food security and sustainable aquaculture, which may reduce pressures on capture fisheries. The overall objective of this thesis was to look at the immunostimulatory effects of different aspects of aquaculture on the host response of the edible sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus, which are a prized delicacy (roe) in many Asian and Mediterranean countries. In Chapter 1, the importance of understanding the biology, ecology, and physiology of P. lividus, as well as the current status in the culture of this organism for mass production and introducing the thesis objectives for following chapters is discussed. As the research commenced, the difficulties of identifying individuals for repeat sampling became clear; therefore, Chapter 2 was a tagging experiment that indicated PIT tagging was a successful way of identifying individual sea urchins over time with a high tag retention rate. However, it was also found that repeat sampling via syringe to measure host response of an individual caused stress which masked results and thus animals would be sampled and sacrificed going forward. Additionally, from personal observations and discussion with peers, it was suggested to look at the effect that diet has on sea urchin immune function and the parameters I measured which led to Chapter 3. In this chapter, both Laminaria digitata and Mytilus edulis were shown to influence measured immune parameters of differential cell counts, nitric oxide production, and lysozyme activity. Therefore, trials commencing after Trial 5 in Chapter 4, were modified to include starvation in order to remove any effect of diet. Another important aspect of culturing any organism is the study of their immune function and its response to several immunostimulatory agents (Chapter 4). Zymosan A was shown to be an effective immunostimulatory agent in P. lividus. Further work on handled/stored animals (Chapter 5) showed Zymosan A reduced the measured levels of some immune parameters measured relative to the control, which may reduce the amount of stress in the animals. In Chapter 6, animals were infected with Vibrio anguillarum and, although V. anguillarum, impacted immune parameters of P. lividus, it did not cause mortality as predicted. Lastly, throughout this thesis work, it was noted that the immune parameters measured produced different values at different times of the year (Chapter 7); therefore, using collated baseline (control) data, results were compiled to observe seasonal effects. It was determined that both seasonality and sourcing sites influenced immune parameter measurements taken at different times throughout the year. In conclusion, this thesis work fits into the framework of development of aquaculture practices that affect immune function of the host and future research focusing on the edible sea urchin, P. lividus.