(Table 1) Activity of alkali phosphatase in suspended matter at 20°C and environmental temperatures, and recycling time of organic phosphorus in the Barents and Norwegian seas

Alkali phosphatase activity and hydrochemical structure of waters in the Barents and Norwegian seas were investigated. In a sea with the seasonal bioproduction cycle alkali phosphatase activity is also seasonal, rising with trophic level of waters. At the end of hydrological and biological winter activity is practically zero. Alkali phosphatase activity is especially important in summer, when plankton has consumed winter supply of phosphate in the euphotic layer and nutrient limitation of primary production begins. In summer production and destruction cycle, apparent time for recycling of phosphorus by phosphatase in suspended matter in the euphotic layer of the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea averages from 7 to 30 hours.

Environmental characteristics, and growth traits and leaf chemistry of tundra plants in a warming experiment at Alexandra Fiord

Understanding plant trait responses to elevated temperatures in the Arctic is critical in light of recent and continuing climate change, especially because these traits act as key mechanisms in climate-vegetation feedbacks. Since 1992, we have artificially warmed three plant communities at Alexandra Fiord, Nunavut, Canada (79°N). In each of the communities, we used open-top chambers (OTCs) to passively warm vegetation by 1-2 °C. In the summer of 2008, we investigated the intraspecific trait responses of five key species to 16 years of continuous warming. We examined eight traits that quantify different aspects of plant performance: leaf size, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), plant height, leaf carbon concentration, leaf nitrogen concentration, leaf carbon isotope discrimination (LCID), and leaf d15N. Long-term artificial warming affected five traits, including at least one trait in every species studied. The evergreen shrub Cassiope tetragona responded most frequently (increased leaf size and plant height/decreased SLA, leaf carbon concentration, and LCID), followed by the deciduous shrub Salix arctica (increased leaf size and plant height/decreased SLA) and the evergreen shrub Dryas integrifolia (increased leaf size and plant height/decreased LCID), the forb Oxyria digyna (increased leaf size and plant height), and the sedge Eriophorum angustifolium spp. triste (decreased leaf carbon concentration). Warming did not affect d15N, leaf nitrogen concentration, or LDMC. Overall, growth traits were more sensitive to warming than leaf chemistry traits. Notably, we found that responses to warming were sustained, even after many years of treatment. Our work suggests that tundra plants in the High Arctic will show a multifaceted response to warming, often including taller shoots with larger leaves.

Management for a Variety of Environmental Pollution and North-South Trade

A simple static model incorporating a variety of environmental pollution is developed. An autarky model shows that a developing country regulates fewer types of pollution by income-induced environmental policy. As income grows, the types of regulated pollution increase and also introduced regulations become tougher.Then the model incorporates international trade between a developed country and a developing country. The model gives a new interpretation for the pollution haven hypothesis. Some types of pollution abated with inefficient technology are emitted more in a developing country but other types necessarily increase in a developed country in order to meet the trade balance.

Product-related environmental regulation and voluntary environmental actions : impacts of RoHS and REACH in Malaysia

Voluntary environmental actions, such as the adoption of ISO 14001, are gaining increasing attention in developing countries. This study examines the mechanism of ISO 14001 diffusion in a developing economy on the basis of a unique corporate survey of manufacturing sectors in Malaysia. Product-related environmental regulations, such as REACH, are contributing to this diffusion indirectly by promoting quality control standards such as ISO 9001. The importance of foreign direct investment and global value chains for ISO 14001 diffusion is also confirmed.

Seed Dispersal Spectrum of Woody Species in South Ecuadorian Dry Forests: Environmental Correlates and the Effect of Considering Species Abundance

This study examines the seed dispersal spectrum of the tropical dry forests of Southern Ecuador, in an effort to contribute to the knowledge of the complex dynamics of tropical dry forests. Seed dispersal spectrum was described for a total number of 160 species. Relationships of dispersal syndromes with plant growth form and climatic seasonality were explored. For a subset of 97 species, we determined whether dispersal spectrum changes when species abundance, in addition to species number, is taken into account. The same subset was used to relate dispersal syndromes with the environmental conditions. Zoochorous species dominated in the studied community. When considering the individual abundance of each species, however, anemochory was the prevalent dispersal syndrome. We found a significant difference in the frequency of dispersal syndromes among plant growth forms, with epizoochory only occurring in shrub species. The dispersal spectrum was dependent on climatic seasonality. The largest proportion of anemochorous species fructified during the dry season, while zoochorous diaspores dominated during the rainy season. A fourth-corner analysis indicated that the seed dispersal spectrum of Southern Ecuador dry forests is controlled by environmental conditions such as annual precipitation, annual temperature range or topography. Our results suggest that spatio-temporal changes in the environmental conditions may affect important ecological processes for dispersal. Thus, the predominance of one syndrome or another may depend on the spatial variation of environmental conditions.

Effects of the inclusion of oat hulls or sugar beet pulp in the diet on gizzard characteristics, apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients, and microbial count in the ceca in 36 day old broilers reared on floor

The effects of the inclusion of oat hulls (OH) and sugar beet pulp (SBP) in the diet on gizzard characteristics, apparent ileal nutrient digestibility (AID), and Clostridium perfringens, Enterobacteriaceae, and Lactobacillus proliferation in the ceca were studied in 36 d?old broilers. There were a control diet with a low CF content (1.61%) and 2 additional diets that resulted from the dilution of this feed with 5% of either OH or SBP.

Effects of the ruminal comminution rate and microbial contamination of particles on accuracy of in situ estimates of ruminal degradability and intestinal digestibility of feedstuffs.

Effects of considering the comminution rate -kc- and the correction of microbial contamination -using 15N techniques- of particles in the rumen on estimates of ruminally undegraded fractions and their intestinal digestibility were examined generating composite samples -from rumen-incubated residues- representative of the undegraded feed rumen outflow. The study used sunflower meal -SFM- and Italian ryegrass hay -RGH- and three rumen and duodenum cannulated wethers fed with a 40:60 RGH to concentrate diet -75 g DM/kgBW0.75-. Transit studies up to the duodenum with Yb-SFM and Eu-RGH marked samples showed higher kc values -/h- in SFM than in RGH -0.577 vs. 0.0892, p = 0.034-, whereas similar values occurred for the rumen passage rate -kp-. Estimates of ruminally undegraded and intestinal digestibility of all tested fractions decreased when kc was considered and also applying microbial correction. Thus, microbial uncorrected kp-based proportions of intestinal digested undegraded crude protein overestimated those corrected and kc-kp-based by 39% in SFM -0.146 vs. 0.105- and 761% in RGH -0.373 vs. 0.0433-. Results show that both kc and microbial contamination correction should be considered to obtain accurate in situ estimates in grasses, whereas in protein concentrates not considering kc is an important source of error.

Use of tomato and cucumber horticulture by-products in goat diets: effects o nrumen fermentation and microbial communities in batch and continuous cultures

Two in vitro experiments were conducted to analyse the effects of replacing dietary barley grain with wastes of tomato and cucumber fruits and a 1 : 1 tomato : cucumber mixture on rumen fermentation characteristics and microbial abundance. The control (CON) substrate contained 250 g/kg of barley grain on a dry matter (DM) basis, and another 15 substrates were formulated by replacing 50, 100, 150, 200 or 250 g of barley grain/kg with the same amount (DM basis) of tomato or cucumber fruits or 1 : 1 tomato : cucumber mixture. In Expt 1, all substrates were incubated in batch cultures with rumen micro-organisms from goats for 24 h. Increasing amounts of tomato, cucumber and the mixture of both fruits in the substrate increased final pH and gas production, without changes in final ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) concentrations, substrate degradability and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, indicating that there were no detrimental effects of any waste fruits on rumen fermentation. Therefore, in Expt 2 the substrates including 250 g of waste fruits (T250, C250 and M250 for tomato, cucumber and the mixture of both fruits, respectively) and the CON substrate were incubated in single-flow continuous-culture fermenters for 8 days. Total VFA production did not differ among substrates, but there were differences in VFA profile. Molar proportions of propionate, isobutyrate and isovalerate were lower and acetate : propionate ratio was greater for T250 compared with CON substrate. Fermentation of substrates containing cucumber (C250 and M250) resulted in lower proportions of acetate, isobutyrate and isovalerate and acetate : propionate ratio, but greater butyrate proportions than the CON substrate. Carbohydrate degradability and microbial N synthesis tended to be lower for substrates containing cucumber than for the CON substrate, but there were no differences between CON and T250 substrates. Abundance of total bacteria, Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus flavefaciens, fungi, methanogenic archaea and protozoa were similar in fermenters fed T250 and CON substrates, but fermenters fed C250 and M250 substrates had lower abundances of R. flavefaciens, fungi and protozoa than those fed the CON substrate. Results indicated that tomato fruits could replace dietary barley grain up to 250 g/kg of substrate DM without noticeable effects on rumen fermentation and microbial populations, but the inclusion of cucumber fruits at 250 g/kg of substrate DM negatively affected some microbial populations as it tended to reduce microbial N synthesis and changed the VFA profile. More studies are needed to identify the dietary inclusion level of cucumber which produces no detrimental effects on rumen fermentation and microbial growth.

Environmental costs and benefits of growing Miscanthus for bioenergy in the UK

Funded by BBSRC. Grant Number: LK0863 Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Carbo-BioCrop project. Grant Number: NE/H01067X/1 MAGLUE project

A response regulator of cyanobacteria integrates diverse environmental signals and is critical for survival under extreme conditions

Microorganisms must sense their environment and rapidly tune their metabolism to ambient conditions to efficiently use available resources. We have identified a gene encoding a response regulator, NblR, that complements a cyanobacterial mutant unable to degrade its light-harvesting complex (phycobilisome), in response to nutrient deprivation. Cells of the nblR mutant (i) have more phycobilisomes than wild-type cells during nutrient-replete growth, (ii) do not degrade phycobilisomes during sulfur, nitrogen, or phosphorus limitation, (iii) cannot properly modulate the phycobilisome level during exposure to high light, and (iv) die rapidly when starved for either sulfur or nitrogen, or when exposed to high light. Apart from regulation of phycobilisome degradation, NblR modulates additional functions critical for cell survival during nutrient-limited and high-light conditions. NblR does not appear to be involved in acclimation responses that occur only during a specific nutrient limitation. In contrast, it controls at least some of the general acclimation responses; those that occur during any of a number of different stress conditions. NblR plays a pivotal role in integrating different environmental signals that link the metabolism of the cell to light harvesting capabilities and the activities of the photosynthetic apparatus; this modulation is critical for cell survival.