Pesticide monitoring in inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef using both time-integrated and event monitoring techniques (2013-2014)

The report details pesticide monitoring activities carried out utilising a combination of passive sampling and grab sampling techniques in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as part of the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program (MMP). The MMP was implemented to evaluate changes in water quality in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and the status of key ecosystems under the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (RWQPP) 2003 (which was further updated in 2009)

Marine Monitoring Program: Annual report for inshore pesticide monitoring 2014-2015

[Extract] Declining water quality influenced by land-based activities and run-off has been identified as a significant threat to the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef (the Reef). Sediment, nutrients and pesticides remain the key water quality issues and may have negative impacts on marine plants and animals (primarily corals and seagrass) that are exposed to run-off plumes in inshore marine areas. The Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (Reef Plan) is a collaborative program designed to improve the quality of water in the Reef though improved land management practises. In 2014-2015, Entox carried out water quality monitoring activities in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (the Marine Park) as part of the Marine Monitoring Program (MMP) under Reef Plan. The key objectives of the project are to monitor and assess trends in inshore water quality (i.e. concentrations of pesticides/ herbicides) against the Marine Park Water Quality Guidelines, and link inshore concentrations and their transport with end-of-catchment loads

Gladstone air study 2009-2010 : Monitoring for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) & furans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Gladstone Air Study was initiated as part of the Clean & Healthy Air for Gladstone (CHAG) project established by Queensland Health and the Department of Environment and Resource Management. This project arose in response to community concern regarding the perceived cumulative impact of industrial growth in the Gladstone region on air quality and the consequences for human health. The Gladstone Air Study, as a component of CHAG, aimed to provide data which will profile the levels and types of specific hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and allow for an assessment of the subsequent health risks they pose to humans living and working in the Gladstone region. The specific HAPs, which were targeted in the Gladstone Air Study, included polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs). These HAPs were monitored over a twelve month period between February 2009 and January 2010. Monitoring was conducted on a monthly basis at two sites (South Gladstone and Targinie) and in winter (June/July 2009) and summer (December 2009) at an additional four sites (Boyne Island, Clinton, Auckland Point, and Boat Creek) within the Gladstone Air Monitoring Network. Some additional monthly monitoring occurred at Boyne Island in October and November. Overall this monitoring for HAPs in the Gladstone region has found that the concentrations of PAHs, PCBs and PCDD/Fs in air: „h are within available health based guidelines (National Environmental Protection Measure (Air Toxics) monitoring investigation levels) established for benzo[a]pyrene as a marker for PAH exposure; „h do not contribute significantly to nor exceed available international exposure standards for intake of ¡§dioxin-like¡¨ PCBs and PCDD/Fs recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council within Australia; and „h are consistent with, or lower than the concentrations measured in other parts of Australia. There was however considerable variation in the concentrations and profiles of specific HAPs within the Gladstone region. Overall the maximum concentrations of all PAH markers of exposure for the region occurred at the South Gladstone site and in summer. The maximum monthly and annual average concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene at this location were 0.14 ng.m-3 and 0.046 ¡Ó 0.045 ng.m-3 respectively, while the regional average concentration (all data) was 0.032 ¡Ó 0.034 ng.m-3. These average concentrations are approximately an order of magnitude lower than the annual average monitoring investigation level of 0.3 ng.m-3 established under the National Environmental Protection Measure (Air Toxics). The concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene in the Gladstone region are similarly lower than the concentrations measured previously in ambient air in major cities in Australia. The maximum monthly concentrations of PCDD/Fs and ¡§dioxin-like¡¨ PCBs expressed as World Health Organization toxic equivalent air concentrations (WHO05 TEQDF and WHO05 TEQP respectively) occurred at South Gladstone in summer (12 fg.m-3) and Boyne Island in winter (0.40 fg.m-3). South Gladstone also had the highest annual average WHO05 TEQDF (4.5 fg.m-3) in the region while Auckland Point had the highest average WHO05TEQP (0.34 fg.m-3). The regional average WHO05 TEQDF and WHO05 TEQP were 2.3 fg.m-3 and 0.14 fg.m-3 respectively. The regional average and range of 2.3 ¡Ó 2.4 (0.24 ¡V 12) fg.m-3 for WHO05 TEQDF measured in the Gladstone region are very consistent with the finding of the National Dioxin Program Page 2 conducted in 2003 which indicated that the concentrations in ambient air in Australia are very low by world standards. For example WHO98 TEQDF average (and range) concentrations of 8.9 (0.73 ¡V 41), 1.5 (0.27 ¡V 4.04), 1.1 (0.11 -121), 2.8 (0.29 ¡V 13) fg.m-3 were reported for Eagle Farm in Brisbane, Mutdapilly south west of Brisbane, Cape Grim in Tasmania and Berrimah in Darwin, respectively. The dominant PCDD congener across the Gladstone region was octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) which is approximately 10 000 times less potent than the reference dioxin congener 2,3,7,8-tetrachnlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). Average OCDD concentrations ranged from 30 ¡Ó 24 fg.m-3 at Boyne Island to 78 ¡Ó 57 fg.m-3 at South Gladstone. 2,3,7,8-TCDD was only detected at the South Gladstone site in concentrations ranging from 0.50 fg.m-3 to 2.9 fg.m-3. The highest concentrations of PCDF congeners occurred at Targinie and Boat Creek in the north of the region. These elevated PCDF profiles, where maximum concentrations were observed in winter, may reflect some preservation of wood smoke source profiles within the ambient profiles at these locations. The dominant non-ortho PCB congener in the Gladstone region was PCB 77. The average concentrations for this congener ranged from 10 fg.m-3 at Boat Creek and Targinie in the north of the region to 55 fg.m-3 at Auckland Point. The most potent ¡§dioxin-like¡¨ PCB monitored was the non-ortho congener PCB 126 which has an WHO05 TEF of 0.1 (10 times less potent than 2,3,7,8-TCDD). This congener was present at relatively low concentrations across the region with average concentrations ranging from 0.75 ¡V 2.8 fg.m-3 at Clinton and Auckland Point respectively. The most dominant mono-ortho ¡§dioxin-like¡¨ PCB was PCB 118 which was present at maximum values ranging from 517 fg.m-3 at South Gladstone to 1321 fg.m-3 at Auckland Point. It should be noted that this congener was not detected in any of the monitoring periods at sites to the north of Gladstone (Targinie and Boat Creek). While PCB 118 was detected at relatively high concentrations compared to many of the other ¡§dioxin-like¡¨ PCBs, all of the mono-ortho PCBs exhibit a relatively low potency with respect to 2,3,7,8-TCDD

Pesticide monitoring in inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef using both time-integrated and event monitoring techniques (2010-2011)

The report details pesticide monitoring activities carried out utilising a combination of passive sampling and grab sampling techniques in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as part of the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program (MMP). The MMP was implemented to evaluate changes in water quality in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and the status of key ecosystems under the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (RWQPP) 2003 (which was further updated in 2009).ENTOX: National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicolog

“CATAStrophy,” a Genome-Informed Trophic Classification of Filamentous Plant Pathogens – How Many Different Types of Filamentous Plant Pathogens Are There?

The traditional classification of fungal and oomycete phytopathogens into three classes – biotrophs, hemibiotrophs, or necrotrophs – is unsustainable. This study highlights multiple phytopathogen species for which these labels have been inappropriately applied. We propose a novel and reproducible classification based solely on genome-derived analysis of carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) gene content called CAZyme-Assisted Training And Sorting of -trophy (CATAStrophy). CATAStrophy defines four major divisions for species associated with living plants. These are monomertrophs (Mo) (corresponding to biotrophs), polymertrophs (P) (corresponding to necrotrophs), mesotrophs (Me) (corresponding to hemibiotrophs), and vasculartrophs (including species commonly described as wilts, rots, or anthracnoses). The Mo class encompasses symbiont, haustorial, and non-haustorial species. Me are divided into the subclasses intracellular and extracellular Me, and the P into broad and narrow host sub-classes. This gives a total of seven discrete plant-pathogenic classes. The classification provides insight into the properties of these species and offers a facile route to develop control measures for newly recognized diseases. Software for CATAStrophy is available online at https://github.com/ccdmb/catastrophy. We present the CATAStrophy method for the prediction of trophic phenotypes based on CAZyme gene content, as a complementary method to the traditional tripartite “biotroph–hemibiotroph–necrotroph” classifications that may encourage renewed investigation and revision within the fungal biology community.</p

Characterization of the near-Earth Asteroid 2002NY40

In August 2002, the near-Earth asteroid 2002 NY40, made its closest approach to the Earth. This provided an opportunity to study a near-Earth asteroid with a variety of instruments. Several of the telescopes at the Maui Space Surveillance System were trained at the asteroid and collected adaptive optics images, photometry and spectroscopy. Analysis of the imagery reveals the asteroid is triangular shaped with significant self-shadowing. The photometry reveals a 20-hour period and the spectroscopy shows that the asteroid is a Q-type

Backbone and side chain 1H, 15N and 13C assignments for a thiol-disulphide oxidoreductase from the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125

Enzymes produced by psychrophilic organisms have successfully overcome the low temperature challenge and evolved to maintain high catalytic rates in their permanently cold environments. As an initial step in our attempt to elucidate the cold-adaptation strategies used by these enzymes we report here the 1H, 15N and 13C assignments for the reduced form of a thiol-disulphide oxidoreductase from the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125.The NMR spectrometers are part of The National NMR Network (REDE/1517/RMN/2005), supported by ‘‘Programa Operacional Ciência e Inovação (POCTI) 2010’’ and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). This work was funded by FCT, POCTI and FEDER; Projects POCI/BIA-PRO/57263/2004 and PTDC/BIO/70806/2006. TC is holder of a long term EMBO fellowship. MM is thankful to the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for its support through Programa Ciência 2007.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio