Toxicological Effects of Commercial Sunscreens on Coral Reef Ecosystems: New Protocols for Coral Restoration

The primary purpose of consumer-grade sunscreen is to protect skin from harmful UVA and UVB rays. This market has grown during the past 80 years, and environmental contamination from increasing amounts of sunscreen compounds have created concern. In particular, impacts on ocean ecosystems have inspired investigations and toxicological research on their effects on marine life. Unfortunately, such studies using marine flora and fauna are scarce, and the impact of chemical exposure to consumer sunscreens is neither adequately measured nor completely understood. In a pilot study by the Coral Restoration Foundation, in situ toxicity exposure to 10 different brands of sunscreens was performed on the Caribbean scleractinian staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis. Coral samples were ranked on tissue degradation following the sunscreen exposure, however no significant differences were found between exposed and control samples. Additional studies should be performed to better understand other possible sub-lethal effects. One such application is in the proper handling of corals during restoration; as other compelling evidence indicates, sunscreens have the potential to be toxic depending on concentration and exposure time, among other factors. This literature review revealed that sunscreens containing only non-nano zinc oxide or non-nano titanium dioxide as primary UV filters may best reduce stress to marine organisms and coral fragments in coral nurseries

Effects of pesticides on soil enzymes: a review

The use of pesticides in agriculture has highly increased during the last 40 years to increase crop yields. However, today most pesticides are polluting water, soil, atmosphere and food. Pesticides are also impact soil enzymes, which are essential catalysts ruling the quality of soil life. In particular, the activity of soil enzymes control nutrient cycles, and, in turn, fertilization. Here, we review the effects of pesticides on the activity of soil enzymes in terrestrial ecosystems. Enzymes include dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, phosphatase, beta-glucosidase, cellulase, urease and aryl-sulfatase. Those enzymes are involved in the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus. The main points of our analysis are (1) the common inhibition of dehydrogenase in 61 % of studies, stimulation of cellulase in 56 % of studies and no response of aryl-sulfatase in 67 % of studies. (2) Fungicides have mainly negative effects on enzymatic activities. (3) Insecticides can be classified into two groups, the first group represented by endosulfan having an overall positive impact while the second group having a negative effect. (4) Herbicides can be classified into two groups, one group with few positive effect and another group with negative effect