Development of site-specific sediment quality guidelines for North and South Atlantic littoral zones: Comparison against national and international sediment quality benchmarks

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A simple approach to integrate the ecotoxicological and chemical data for the establishment of environmental risk levels

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Hematological analysis of Micropogonias Furnieri, Desmarest, 1823, Scianidae, from two estuaries of Baixada Santista, São paulo Brazil

Alterações hematológicas em peixes são consideradas uma importante ferramenta para avaliar processos patológicos decorrentes da exposição a poluentes ambientais. Micropogonias furnieri (Desmarest, 1823) (corvina) é comumente encontrada em regiões estuarinas e eventualmente está exposta a inúmeros contaminantes. No presente estudo foi avaliado o quadro hematológico de indivíduos de M. furnieri coletados na Baixada Santista: o Sistema Estuarino de Santos, considerado poluído, e o estuário do Rio Itanhaém (controle). Foram avaliados o número de Eritrócitos (Er), o Hematócrito (Ht), a taxa de Hemoglobina (Hb), o Volume Corpuscular Médio (VCM) e a Concentração de Hemoglobina Corpuscular Média (CHCM). Nos peixes coletados no Sistema Estuarino de Santos, os níveis de Ht foram significativamente menores, enquanto os níveis de CHCM e Hb foram significativamente mais altos, indicando que os prováveis efeitos estejam atribuídos aos diferentes níveis de contaminação encontrados nos estuários.

Comportamento social e territorialidade alimentar na garça-azul, Egretta caerulea (L) = Feeding territoriality in the little blue heron, Egretta caerulea (L)

The use of habitat is an important part of a species biology. One resource of great importance for the survivor and reproduction of an individual is the food resource. Thus, the social interactions an animal has during the feeding activities are of extremely importance within its behavioral aspects, which represents the part of an organism trough which it interacts with the environment, adapting to changes and variations. Herons are known to form feeding aggregations of even more than thousands of individuals, in which social components of foraging have been identified and studied for several species. More profound studies of these aspects are yet to poor for the Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the social behavior (display postures, vocalizations and co-specific interactions) and the territoriality of the specie during the feeding period in an area of mud bank in the estuarine system of Cananéia, south coast of São Paulo state, Brazil. The defense of a fixed and exclusive area, closest to the mangrove, trough expulsion was observed; some thing that have not yet been registered with concrete data for the specie. Higher capture and success rates, and lower investment rates (steps/min and stabs/min) were registered for individuals foraging in areas corresponding to the defended territory. This could be one of possible reasons for the establishment of territories in the area. Four display postures were registered for the specie, two of then new in the literature, which are used in the interactions between individuals; one vocalization, that apparently is important in the social context of foraging for the specie and, possibly, has a function of advertising and proclaiming the dominance position of the territorial individual within the group. A territorial individual uses three behaviors, of the ones described: expulsion, vocalization and encounter (agonistic encounter between individuals, without physical aggression). Of these, the expulsion is apparently used in the actual defense, actively; while the other two behaviors are used in a more passive way, in the maintenance of the dominance position of the individual, helping it in the defense of its territory in a less direct manner. Therefore, with the results presented in here, new components of the social utilization of the feeding resource for the Little Blue Heron were identified, incorporating aspects of the territorial behavior for a future understanding of its possible adaptive significance. And it also reinforces the importance of the social interactions of herons foraging in great aggregations, in areas ecologically important

Diagnóstico ambiental das águas do estuário Jundiaí-Potengi pela determinação dos índices de qualidade da água e toxidez

This study is an environmental diagnosis of the Jundiaí-Potengi/RN estuarine system waters, using calculations of pollution indicator indices such as the Water Quality Index (WQI) and the Toxicity Index (TI). The samples were collected at twelve points on the estuary, at high and low tide, between August and November 2007, over four campaigns. The study area, located in a high impact region, has various activities on its banks such as: discharge of untreated or undertreated domestic and industrial sewage, shrimp farming, immunizer stabilization lakes, riverside communities, etc. All the parameters analyzed were compared to the limits of CONAMA Resolution No. 357 of 2005 for healthy and saline Class 1 waters. The results found prove the impact caused by various activities, mainly the parameters related to the presence of organic material, such as DQO, DBO, COT and thermotolerant colliforms. The IQA for most of the collection points was of medium quality. For the metals, although values above the Resolution limits were found, most of them were lower than the detection limits of ICP-OES used, indicating that they tend to be transported by the dynamic of the tides or rainfall and are deposited in bottom sediments, resulting in a TI of 1.0 in this water, when they are absent, which occurs in most cases, or 0.0, when heavy metals are found in these waters

Variabilidade espacial e sazonal da concentração de elementos-traço em sedimentos do sistema estuarino de Santos-Cubatão (SP)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Mapping oil spill environmental sensitivity in cardoso island state park and surroundings areas, São Paulo, Brazil

This study presents an environmental oil spill sensitivity map of Cardoso Island State Park, located in São Paulo state, Brazil, including some of its surrounding areas. This map was designed following the procedures determined by the Brazilian Federal Environment Organ (Ministry of the Environment), which separates coastal habitats in different littoral sensitivity indexes (LSI) to oil spills. We have also analysed some seasonal variations in morphologic and textural parameters at the local marine beaches that could affect their sensitivity, having found that they are more sensitive during summer due to a wider foreshore zone during these periods. Local most sensitive habitats are estuarine mangroves (LSI 10) and estuarine mud banks (LSI 9). Marine beaches were ranked LSI 3, and littoral rocky shores were subdivided in exposed flat rocky shores (LSI 1), boulder rocky shores (LSI 6) and sheltered rocky shores (LSI 8). Due to the elevated sensitivity of an estuarine system in the area, we considered necessary the installation of an Environmental Emergency Centre and the design of an emergency plan for the region in case of an accident resulting in oil spills within its vicinities. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The application of biochemical responses to assess environmental quality of tropical estuaries: field surveys

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Foraminiferal ecological zonation along a Brazilian mangrove transect: Diversity, morphotypes and the influence of subaerial exposure time.

Two foraminiferal associations comprising only arenaceous species define two distinct environments in a 340 m-long mangrove transect at Cardoso Island, Trapande Bay (Cananeia-Iguape estuarine system, SP, Brazil). The "lower muddy flat" (LMF), from the outer mangrove fringe inwards towards land (100 m), is positioned in the lower plain between 0.04 and 0.23 m above the mean sea level (msl), and remains subaerially exposed between 48.5 and 65.6% of the time. This environment is characterized by higher foraminiferal diversity and evenness (McIntosh's D = 0.54 [plus or minus] 0.21 and Pielou's E = 0.68 [plus or minus] 0.25, respectively) and is dominated by Arenoparrella mexicana and Trochammina inflata, and to a lesser extent by Ammotium directum and Textularia earlandi. The mangrove plant of this segment is a Rhizophoretum with average height of 8.4 [plus or minus] 1.2 m. The sediment is characterized by higher concentration of organic matter (93.5 [plus or minus] 32.3 g dm-3) and metals (e.g. V = 53.4 [plus or minus] 21.8 ppm and Zn = 46.4 [plus or minus] 21.3 ppm). The "upper sandy flat" (USF), 240 m wide along the transect, is positioned in the upper plain between 0.28 and 0.89 m above the msl, and remains subaerially exposed between 69.7 and 98.5% of the time. This environment is characterized by a lower diversity and evenness (D = 0.33 [plus or minus] 0.17 and E = 0.49 [plus or minus] 0.20, respectively). The association is dominated by species T. inflata and Miliammina fusca. The Rhizophoretum exhibits a lower average height of 3.6 [plus or minus] 0.6 m. The sediment is poorer in organic matter (39.3 [plus or minus] 15.0 g dm-3) and metals (e.g. V = 13.0 [plus or minus] 6.8 ppm and Zn = 6.9 [plus or minus] 3.7 ppm). Whereas "elongate" tests (uniserial, biserial and planospiral followed by a uniserial portion) are restricted to the LMF, "spiraled" species dominate the USF. Subaerial exposure time seems to exert a primary influence on species distribution, in addition to salinity and sediment type. Species may be adapted to different exposure times, a factor dependent on their position on the intertidal zone and the tidal regime, which should be taken into account in relative sea level reconstructions based on intertidal foraminifera. These patterns have important implications for studies investigating the ecology and paleoecology of foraminifera and subtle fluctuations in relative sea level during the Quaternary.

Estratigrafia de seqüências das formações Taciba e Rio Bonito (Membro Triunfo) na região de Mafra/SC, leste da Bacia do Paraná

The Taciba and Rio Bonito (lower Triunfo Mbr) formations are divided into six depositional sequences based on cores, gamma-ray and electrical logs from shallow drillings from northern Santa Catarina State, Each sequence is formed by two systems tracts, a lower one, sandy (lowstand) and an upper one, shaly (highstand). The Taciba Formation has three sequences, S 0 to S 0 sequence S 0 has a thick turbidite sandstone at the base (Rio Segredo Member) that pinches out towards the eastern margin and even disappears in the Mafra outcrop area. Sequence S 1 varies from a thin fluvial-estuarine system to a thick turbidite sandstone of a channelized fan system; S 1 upper shaly system tract is marine in well PP-11, and it is glacially-influenced in well PP-10. Sequence S 2 is a thick sand-stone body of shallow marine origin, but restricted to one well (PP-11); its upper shaly tract is dominated by massive siltstones intercalated with thin, distal tempestites. The lower Triunfo Member (or Taciba-Triunfo transition) begins with the arrival of deltaic clastics of sequence S 3 lower tract, coarsening-up from medial- to proximal delta front sandstones. Sequence S 4 is quite similar to S 3, both showing sand-stone progradation from north to south, as opposed to the southwest-sourced transgressive diamictites. Sequence S 5 consists of fluvial deposits at well PP-12, and two transgressive cycles from wells PP-11 to PP-9, each one of them composed of fluvial-estuarine to marine systems. Well PP-10 is an exception, where the lower cycle presents deglaciation to marine deposits.

Bacterial contamination of the catfish (Cathorops agassizii - Valenciennes, 1839 and Genidens genidens - Agassiz, 1829) sting

This work aimed to study the bacterial contamination in stings of the catfish Genidens genidens and Cathorops agassizii found in the São Vicente estuarine system (São Paulo State, Brazil). For bacteriological analyses, we used fish samples distributed into a group of 50 specimens (25 C. agassizii and 25 G. genidens) and a group of 14 specimens (7 C. agassizii and 7 G. genidens). Results showed contamination of 13 different bacterial species of Enterobacteriaceae, being Klebsiella pneumoniae the most frequent bacteria (26.80%) followed by Enterobacter sp and Escherichia coli (16.27%), and Serratia marcescens, Serratia sp. and Proteus mirabilis (1.16%). Gram-positive bacteria as well as fungi were not detected in the samples. According to the Gram-negative species characterized and with regard to the environmental conditions, it can also be considered that accidents with these catfish stings may develop significant acute secondary infections in humans.

Distribuição dos foraminíferos recentes associados à vegetação na faixa estuarina do Rio Itapanhaú, Bertioga, São Paulo

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

O sistema estuarino do Delta do São Francisco-SE: análise ambiental com base no estudo de foraminíferos e tecamebas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Bioaccumulation of butyltins and liver damage in the demersal fish Cathorops spixii (Siluriformes, Ariidae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Influence of allochthonous organic matter on bacterioplankton biomass and activity in a eutrophic, sub-tropical estuary

Heterotrophic bacterial and phytoplankton biomass, production, specific growth rates, and growth efficiencies were studied in the Northern region of the Cananeia-Iguape estuarine system, which has recently experienced an intense eutrophication due to anthropogenic causes. Two surveys were carried out during spring and neap tide periods of the dry season of 2005 and the rainy season of 2006. This region receives large freshwater inputs with organic seston and phosphate concentrations that reach as high as 1.0 mg l(-1) and 20.0 mu M, respectively. Strong decreasing gradients of seston and dissolved inorganic nutrients were observed from the river/estuary boundary to the estuary/coastal interface. Gradients were also observed in phytoplankton and bacterial production rates. The production rates of phytoplankton were 5.6-fold higher (mean 8.5 mu g Cl(-1) h(-1)) during the dry season. Primary production rates (PP) positively correlated with salinity and euphoric depth, indicating that phytoplankton productivity was light-limited. On the other hand, bacterial biomass (BB) and production rates (BP) were 1.9- and 3.7-fold higher, respectively, during the rainy season, with mean values of up to 40.4 mu g Cl(-1) and 7.9 mu g Cl(-1) h-1, respectively. Despite such a high BP, bacterial abundance remained <2 x 106 cells ml(-1), indicating that bacterial production and removal were coupled. Mean specific growth rates ranged between 0.9 and 5.5 d(-1). BP was inversely correlated with salinity and positively correlated with temperature, organic matter, exopolymer particles, and particulate-attached bacteria; this last accounted for as much as 89.6% of the total abundance. During the rainy season, BP was generally much higher than PP, and values of BP/PP > 20 were registered during high freshwater input, suggesting that under these conditions, bacterial activity was predominantly supported by allochthonous inputs of organic carbon. In addition, BB probably represented the main pathway for the synthesis of high-quality (low C:N) biomass that may have been available to the heterotrophic components of the plankton food web, particularly nanoheterotrophs. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.