Slaughter weight rather than sex affects carcass cuts and tissue composition of Bisaro pigs

Carcass cuts and tissue composition were assessed in Bisaro pigs (n=64) from two sexes (31 gilts and 33 entire males) reared until three target slaughter body-weights (BW) means: 17 kg, 32 kg, and 79 kg. Dressing percentage and backfat thickness increased whereas carcass shrinkage decreased with increasing BW. Slaughter weight affected most of the carcass cut proportions, except shoulder and thoracic regions. Bone proportion decreased linearly with increasing slaughter BW, while intermuscular and subcutaneous adipose tissue depots increased concomitantly. Slaughter weight increased the subcutaneous adipose tissue proportion but this impaired intramuscular and intermuscular adipose tissues in the loin primal. The sex of the pigs minimally affected the carcass composition, as only the belly weight and the subcutaneous adipose tissue proportions were greater in gilts than in entire males. Light pigs regardless of sex are recommended to balance the trade-offs between carcass cuts and their non-edible compositional outcomes.Work included in the Portuguese PRODER research Project BISOPORC – Pork extensive production of Bísara breed, in two alternative systems: fattening on concentrate vs chesnut, Project PRODER SI I&DT Medida 4.1 “Cooperação para a Inovação”. The authors are grateful to Laboratory of Carcass and Meat Quality of Agriculture School of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança ‘Cantinho do Alfredo’. The authors are members of the MARCARNE network, funded by CYTED (ref. 116RT0503).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Première étude sur la contamination aux microplastiques des environnements lacustres français, en étages alpin et subalpin

Since their first discovery in the ocean in the 1970s, microplastics have been a growing concern for public opinion. Studies on microplastic contamination in lakes are a recent enterprise, with the first study dating back to 2012 on Lake Geneva. Although most lastic debris in the oceans comes from terrestrial environments and inland waters, attention has long been focused mainly on the contamination of the marine environment. However, the contamination of freshwater ecosystems is an emerging and crucial field.This thesis aims to globally evaluate the state of contamination of lake environments in the French Alps by microplastics, by finding the respective contribution of each contamination vector and source. To do so, three study sites were selected in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, namely the subalpine lakes of Bourget and Annecy, as well as a high-altitude lake, the upper Merlet, located in the Vanoise National Park.During this work, various systems were developed and implemented at each of the three sites to acquire data on several environmental matrices. The matrices examined to assess microplastic pollution in lakes are surface water, the water column and sediments. Furthermore, the study investigates the origin of microplastics by determining the contributions of various potential vectors and sources of contamination, namely atmospheric deposition, tributaries, urban wastewater and stormwater. Additionally, the fate of microplastics is investigated through the study of lake outlets. In conclusion, mass and flux balances were conducted to highlight the major sources and vectors of microplastic pollution in lacustrine environments.Depuis leur découverte initiale au cours des années 1970 dans les masses océaniques, les microplastiques suscitent une inquiétude grandissante au sein de l'opinion publique. Les études sur la contamination des lacs par les microplastiques sont une entreprise récente, avec la première étude datant de 2012 sur le lac Léman. Bien que la majorité des débris plastiques dans les océans soient issus de l'environnement terrestre et des eaux intérieures, l'attention s'est longtemps concentrée essentiellement sur la contamination du milieu marin. Toutefois, la contamination des écosystèmes d'eau douce est un domaine émergent et crucial.Cette thèse vise à évaluer de manière globale l'état de contamination des environnements lacustres des Alpes françaises par les microplastiques, en déterminant la contribution respective de chacun des vecteurs et sources de contamination. Pour ce faire, trois sites d'étude ont été sélectionnés dans la région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, à savoir les lacs subalpins du Bourget et d'Annecy, ainsi qu'un lac d'altitude, le Merlet supérieur, situé dans la Parc national de la Vanoise. Au cours de ces travaux, divers systèmes ont été élaborés et mis en place sur chacun des trois sites afin d'acquérir des données sur plusieurs matrices environnementales. Les matrices scrutées pour évaluer la pollution microplastique des lacs sont l'eau de surface, la colonne d'eau et les sédiments. En outre, l'étude s'intéresse à l'origine des microplastiques, en déterminant les contributions des différents vecteurs et sources potentiels de contamination, à savoir les retombées atmosphériques, les affluents, les eaux résiduaires urbaines et les eaux pluviales. Par ailleurs, le devenir des microplastiques est investigué par l'étude des exutoires des lacs. Pour conclure ces travaux de thèse, des bilans de masse et de flux ont été réalisés dans le but de mettre en évidence les sources et vecteurs majeurs de la pollution aux MP dans les milieux lacustres

Microplastic pollution of worldwide lakes

International audienc

Microplastic contamination in remote alpine lakes

EGU general assembly 2020, VIENNE, AUTRICHE, 04-/05/2020 - 08/05/2020Since their first detection in the 1970s, microplastics have been a growing concern in public opinion. Although a large number of studies are interested in this contamination, the fate of microplastics in freshwater remains poorly understood. In particular, the identification of sources, the degradation processes of these compounds and their impacts on aquatic ecosystems constitute fields of research to be investigated. PLASTILAC is the first project focusing on the presence and fate of microplastics in 4 remote alpine lakes (Muzelle Lake, Vert Lake, Pormenaz Lake and Anterne Lake) that have been investigated during summer 2019. The aims of this study were to better understand the microplastic dynamics in small remote lake catchment and to quantify the impacts of various anthropic activities on the microplastic contamination.The lakes were chosen to allow the comparison of the different transfer processes occurring at the catchment scale. Thus, the lakes of Muzelle and Anterne have similar sizes (about 10 000m²) and altitudes (about 2100 m a.s.l). These two lakes are isolated and have no direct access apart from several hour hikes. They are however separated by a distance of about 120 km. A comparison of their contamination levels therefore makes it possible to assess the background contamination at the scale of the Northern Alps. On the contrary, the Anterne, Pormenaz and Vert Lakes are very close but cover a wide gradient of altitude (from 1260 to 2100 m a.s.l.) and of exposure to anthropogenic activities. Their comparison allows us to study the influence of distance from potential sources on the microplastic contamination.To investigate the dynamics of microplastics at the lake basin scale, a multi-compartment approach was implemented. The water column was sampled using a specially designed boat that allowed the filtration of the large volumes (approximately 200 cubic meters) of water required in lightly contaminated environments. The boat was equipped with a 50 µm mesh. A similar system was used to sample the lake outlets and determine the outflows of microplastics. In order to quantify the incoming flows, an atmospheric fallout collector was also installed. Finally, lake sediments were collected to quantify the fraction of microplastics eliminated from the water column through sedimentation. All of these data made it possible to establish a mass balance of microplastics at the scale of the watershed of lakes and to determine the characteristic times of contamination.Although analyzes are still in progress, the first results show that even the most distant lakes from anthropogenic sources have significant microplastic contamination of the order of 1 particle per cubic meter. Due to the distance to the sources, the microplastic pollution was constituted fibers while fragments and micro-beads could not be observed

Going to extremes - a metagenomic journey into the dark matter of life

The Virus-X-Viral Metagenomics for Innovation Value-project was a scientific expedition to explore and exploit uncharted territory of genetic diversity in extreme natural environments such as geothermal hot springs and deep-sea ocean ecosystems. Specifically, the project was set to analyse and exploit viral metagenomes with the ultimate goal of developing new gene products with high innovation value for applications in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical, and the life science sectors. Viral gene pool analysis is also essential to obtain fundamental insight into ecosystem dynamics and to investigate how viruses influence the evolution of microbes and multicellular organisms. The Virus-X Consortium, established in 2016, included experts from eight European countries. The unique approach based on high throughput bioinformatics technologies combined with structural and functional studies resulted in the development of a biodiscovery pipeline of significant capacity and scale. The activities within the Virus-X consortium cover the entire range from bioprospecting and methods development in bioinformatics to protein production and characterisation, with the final goal of translating our results into new products for the bioeconomy. The significant impact the consortium made in all of these areas was possible due to the successful cooperation between expert teams that worked together to solve a complex scientific problem using state-of-the-art technologies as well as developing novel tools to explore the virosphere, widely considered as the last great frontier of life

Plastic debris in freshwater systems worldwide

Plastic debris is widespread in freshwater ecosystems, but a rigorous assessment of its global distribution has been hindered by a lack of comprehensive and comparable data. We performed the first standardized global survey of lakes to assess the quantity and type of plastics (>250μm). We included 38 lakes located in 23 different countries distributed across five continents, spanning different environmental gradients and varying levels of anthropogenic stress. All samples were collected by horizontal trawling of a plankton net and subsequently treated with hydrogen peroxide. We identified 9425 plastic particles, which were classified based on shape, color, and size. Polymer identification was carried out using Raman micro-spectroscopy. Our results showed that the concentration of plastics spanned four orders of magnitude (10-3-101 particles/m3). Fibers (49%) and fragments (41%) were the most frequently detected particles, suggesting a secondary origin of plastic contamination. The most commonly identified polymers were polyester (30%), polypropylene (20%), and polyethylene (16%), which are widely used in short life-cycle products and account for the majority of global plastic production. Further, we found that urban-related attributes of lakes/watersheds influenced the occurrence and type of plastics in lentic systems and larger and deeper lakes with higher retention times are accumulating plastic debris at higher concentrations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Plastic debris in lakes and reservoirs

Plastic debris is thought to be widespread in freshwater ecosystems globally. However, a lack of comprehensive and comparable data makes rigorous assessment of its distribution challenging. Here we present a standardized cross-national survey that assesses the abundance and type of plastic debris (>250 μm) in freshwater ecosystems. We sample surface waters of 38 lakes and reservoirs, distributed across gradients of geographical position and limnological attributes, with the aim to identify factors associated with an increased observation of plastics. We find plastic debris in all studied lakes and reservoirs, suggesting that these ecosystems play a key role in the plastic-pollution cycle. Our results indicate that two types of lakes are particularly vulnerable to plastic contamination: lakes and reservoirs in densely populated and urbanized areas and large lakes and reservoirs with elevated deposition areas, long water-retention times and high levels of anthropogenic influence. Plastic concentrations vary widely among lakes; in the most polluted, concentrations reach or even exceed those reported in the subtropical oceanic gyres, marine areas collecting large amounts of debris. Our findings highlight the importance of including lakes and reservoirs when addressing plastic pollution, in the context of pollution management and for the continued provision of lake ecosystem services

Going to extremes - a metagenomic journey into the dark matter of life

Aevarsson A, Kaczorowska A-K, Adalsteinsson BT, et al. Going to extremes - a metagenomic journey into the dark matter of life. FEMS microbiology letters. 2021: fnab067.The Virus-X-Viral Metagenomics for Innovation Value-project was a scientific expedition to explore and exploit uncharted territory of genetic diversity in extreme natural environments such as geothermal hot springs and deep-sea ocean ecosystems. Specifically, the project was set to analyse and exploit viral metagenomes with the ultimate goal of developing new gene products with high innovation value for applications in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical, and the life science sectors. Viral gene pool analysis is also essential to obtain fundamental insight into ecosystem dynamics and to investigate how viruses influence the evolution of microbes and multicellular organisms. The Virus-X Consortium, established in 2016, included experts from eight European countries. The unique approach based on high throughput bioinformatics technologies combined with structural and functional studies resulted in the development of a biodiscovery pipeline of significant capacity and scale. The activities within the Virus-X consortium cover the entire range from bioprospecting and methods development in bioinformatics to protein production and characterisation, with the final goal of translating our results into new products for the bioeconomy. The significant impact the consortium made in all of these areas was possible due to the successful cooperation between expert teams that worked together to solve a complex scientific problem using state-of-the-art technologies as well as developing novel tools to explore the virosphere, widely considered as the last great frontier of life. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS

Going to extremes - a metagenomic journey into the dark matter of life

Aevarsson A, Kaczorowska A-K, Adalsteinsson BT, et al. Going to extremes - a metagenomic journey into the dark matter of life. FEMS microbiology letters. 2021: fnab067.The Virus-X-Viral Metagenomics for Innovation Value-project was a scientific expedition to explore and exploit uncharted territory of genetic diversity in extreme natural environments such as geothermal hot springs and deep-sea ocean ecosystems. Specifically, the project was set to analyse and exploit viral metagenomes with the ultimate goal of developing new gene products with high innovation value for applications in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical, and the life science sectors. Viral gene pool analysis is also essential to obtain fundamental insight into ecosystem dynamics and to investigate how viruses influence the evolution of microbes and multicellular organisms. The Virus-X Consortium, established in 2016, included experts from eight European countries. The unique approach based on high throughput bioinformatics technologies combined with structural and functional studies resulted in the development of a biodiscovery pipeline of significant capacity and scale. The activities within the Virus-X consortium cover the entire range from bioprospecting and methods development in bioinformatics to protein production and characterisation, with the final goal of translating our results into new products for the bioeconomy. The significant impact the consortium made in all of these areas was possible due to the successful cooperation between expert teams that worked together to solve a complex scientific problem using state-of-the-art technologies as well as developing novel tools to explore the virosphere, widely considered as the last great frontier of life. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS