Behavior and Impact of Zirconium in the Soil–Plant System: Plant Uptake and Phytotoxicity

Because of the large number of sites they pollute, toxic metals that contaminate terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly of environmental and sanitary concern (Uzu et al. 2010, 2011; Shahid et al. 2011a, b, 2012a). Among such metals is zirconium (Zr), which has the atomic number 40 and is a transition metal that resembles titanium in physical and chemical properties (Zaccone et al. 2008). Zr is widely used in many chemical industry processes and in nuclear reactors (Sandoval et al. 2011; Kamal et al. 2011), owing to its useful properties like hardness, corrosion-resistance and permeable to neutrons (Mushtaq 2012). Hence, the recent increased use of Zr by industry, and the occurrence of the Chernobyl and Fukashima catastrophe have enhanced environmental levels in soil and waters (Yirchenko and Agapkina 1993; Mosulishvili et al. 1994 ; Kruglov et al. 1996)

Phylogeographic structure in an Australian freshwater shrimp largely pre-dates the geological origins of its landscape

The phylogeographic structure of cryptic lineages within the freshwater shrimp Caridina indistincta Calman, 1926 (Decapoda: Atyidae) was investigated in an attempt to unravel any potential genetic influences of Quaternary sea-level oscillations. The study was based on mitochondrial DNA sequences from specimens from lakes and creeks in the sand dune areas of southeast Queensland, eastern Australia. Four divergent lineages were identified, two of which were from Moreton and North (N.) Stradbroke Islands. Lineage 'C1' has been found only on Moreton Island and the western part of N. Stradbroke Island, whereas 'C2' was found on the eastern side of N. Stradbroke Island and a few locations on the mainland. These diverged from each other during the Late Miocene/Pliocene and so are older than the current landscape in which they are found. Small-scale phylogeographic analysis of C1 identified four separate geographic areas, within the two islands, whose divergences date to the Pleistocene (100-300 thousand years ago ('kya')). The N. Stradbroke Island population of C2 also diverged from the mainland during the Pleistocene, as did a sympatric freshwater fish Rhadinocentrus ornatus Regan, 1914 (Melanotaeniidae). This implies that the ice-age sea-level changes may have structured these populations, although there is little observable influence of the last glacial maximum (18 kya). Most estimates for the age of the landscape (dunes, lakes) also fall within the Pleistocene and so the effect of sea-level change may be seen both in biology and geology.Griffith Sciences, Griffith School of EnvironmentNo Full Tex