Modelling metallothionein induction in the liver of sparus aurata exposed to metal-contaminated sediments

Metallothionein (MT) in the liver of gilthead seabreams (Sparus aurata L., 1758) exposed to Sado estuary (Portugal) sediments was quantified to assess the MT induction potential as a biomarker of sediment-based contamination by copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As). Sediments were collected from two control sites and four sites with different levels of contamination. Sediment Cu, Cd, Pb, As, total organic matter (TOM) and fine fraction (FF) levels were determined. Generalized linear models (GLM) allowed integration of sediment parameters with liver Cu, Cd, Pb, As and MT concentrations. Although sediment metal levels were lower than expected, we relate MT with liver Cd and also with interactions between liver and sediment Cu and between liver Cu and TOM. We suggest integrating biomarkers and environmental parameters using statistical models such as GLM as a more sensitive and reliable technique for sediment risk assessment than traditional isolated biomarker approaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Avaliação da toxicidade das lamas de cal sobre o ouriço-do-mar Paracentrotus lividus (Lamark, 1816). Perspetivas para novas aplicações destes resíduos industriais

Através da utilização do ouriço-do-mar Paracentrotus lividus como bioindicador, neste estudo avaliou-se a potencialidade de utilização de um resíduo das indústrias do papel, as lamas de cal, em duas vertentes. A primeira consistia em aproveitar a característica alcalina das lamas de cal como redutiva da crescente acidificação dos oceanos. Nos bioensaios realizados obteve-se um aumento significativo na percentagem de malformações das larvas pluteus de P. lividus que foram cultivadas em águas com concentrações superiores a 0,1 mg/L de lamas de cal, o que coloca em causa esta primeira potencialidade. A segunda baseava-se no elevado teor em cálcio presente nas lamas de cal que desta forma poderiam servir como matéria-prima deste macronutriente em rações para adultos P. lividus. Após 6 meses de cultivo em que os ouriços-do-mar foram alimentados com 4 rações diferentes que diferiam na concentração de lamas de cal utilizadas, os resultados obtidos para as variáveis biométricas analisadas, para o índice gonadossomático, para a concentração de Ca, Hg, Pb e Cd nas gónadas e parede do corpo, e para os ensaios ecotoxicológicos, parecem viabilizar esta segunda potencialidade.Through the use of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus as bioindicator, this study evaluated the potential to use the waste of paper mills, lime sludge, on two perspectives. The first was to take advantage of the lime sludge alkaline character as a deterrent of increasing ocean acidification. In bioassay testing, a significant increase in the percentage of plutei larvae malformations was obtained when they were cultured at lime sludge concentrations above 0.1 mg/L. This result undermines this first perspective. The second relied on the lime sludge high calcium concentration which could thereby serve as raw material for P. lividus feeds. After 6 months of captive period in which adult sea urchins were fed 4 diets that differed in lime sludge addition, the results obtained for the biometric variables analyzed, for the GSI, for the concentration of Ca, Hg, Pb and Cd in the gonads and in the body wall, and for larvae ecotoxicological testing, appear to support this second potential

Ecological risk assessment of sediment management areas : application to Sado Estuary, Portugal

The purpose of this work was to integrate different methodologies to assess the potential ecological risk of estuarine sedimentary management areas, using the Sado Estuary in Portugal as case study. To evaluate the environmental risk of sediment contamination, an integrative and innovative approach was used involving assessment of sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity, benthic community structure, human driving forces and pressures and management areas organic load levels. The basis for decisionmaking for overall assessment was a statistical multivariate analysis appended into a score matrix tables, using a best expert judgment. The integrated approach allowed to identify from the 19 management areas analyzed, three with no risk but other three with high risk to cause adverse effects in the biota, related with the contaminants analyzed. The methodologies used showed to be effective as a support for decision making leading to future estuarine management recommendations.peerreviewe

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Effect of sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) broodstock diet on larvae development

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Evaluation of Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) exotrophic larvae as live feed for marine decapod crustacean larvae

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Different ecophysiological responses of freshwater fish to warming and acidification

Future climate change scenarios predict threatening outcomes to biodiversity. Available empirical data concerning biological response of freshwater fish to climate change remains scarce. In this study, we investigated the physiological and biochemical responses of two Iberian freshwater fish species (Squalius carolitertii and the endangered S. torgalensis), inhabiting different climatic conditions, to projected future scenarios of warming (+ 3 °C) and acidification (ΔpH = − 0.4). Herein, metabolic enzyme activities of glycolytic (citrate synthase - CS, lactate dehydrogenase - LDH) and antioxidant (glutathione S-transferase, catalase and superoxide dismutase) pathways, as well as the heat shock response (HSR) and lipid peroxidation were determined. Our results show that, under current water pH, warming causes differential interspecific changes on LDH activity, increasing and decreasing its activity in S. carolitertii and in S. torgalensis, respectively. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of warming and acidification caused an increase in LDH activity of S. torgalensis, comparing with the warming condition. As for CS activity, acidification significantly decreased its activity in S. carolitertii whereas in S. torgalensis no significant effect was observed. These results suggest that S. carolitertii is more vulnerable to climate change, possibly as the result of its evolutionary acclimatization to milder climatic condition, while S. torgalensis evolved in the warmer Mediterranean climate. However, significant changes in HSR were observed under the combined warming and acidification (S. carolitertii) or under acidification (S. torgalensis). Our results underlie the importance of conducting experimental studies and address species endpoint responses under projected climate change scenarios to improve conservation strategies, and to safeguard endangered freshwater fish. © 2017 Elsevier Inc

Neuro-oxidative damage and aerobic potential loss of sharks under elevated CO2 and warming

Sharks occupy high trophic levels in marine habitats and play a key role in the structure and function of marine communities. Their populations have been declining worldwide by ≥90 %, and their adaptive potential to future ocean conditions is believed to be limiting. Here we experimentally exposed recently hatched bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) to the combined effects of tropical ocean warming (+4; 30 °C) and acidification (ΔpH 0.5) and investigated the respiratory, neuronal and antioxidant enzymatic machinery responses. Thirty days post-hatching, juvenile sharks revealed a significant decrease in brain aerobic potential (citrate synthase activity), in opposition to the anaerobic capacity (lactate dehydrogenase). Also, an array of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase activity and catalase) acted in concert to detoxify ROS, but this significant upregulation was not enough to minimize the increase in brain’s peroxidative damage and cholinergic neurotransmission. We argue that the future conditions may elicit deleterious deficiencies in sharks’ critical biological processes which, at the long-term, may have detrimental cascading effects at population and ecosystem levels. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Intraspecific genetic variation matters when predicting seagrass distribution under climate change

Seagrasses play a vital role in structuring coastal marine ecosystems, but their distributional range and genetic diversity have declined rapidly in recent decades. To improve conservation of seagrass species, it is important to predict how climate change may impact their ranges. Such predictions are typically made with correlative species distribution models (SDMs), which can estimate a species' potential distribution under present and future climatic scenarios given species' presence data and climatic predictor variables. However, these models are typically constructed with species-level data, and thus ignore intraspecific genetic variability, which can give rise to populations with adaptations to heterogeneous climatic conditions. Here, we explore the link between intraspecific adaptation and niche differentiation in Thalassia hemprichii, a seagrass broadly distributed in the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean and a crucial provider of habitat for numerous marine species. By retrieving and re-analysing microsatellite data from previous studies, we delimited two distinct phylogeographical lineages within the nominal species and found an intermediate level of differentiation in their multidimensional environmental niches, suggesting the possibility for local adaptation. We then compared projections of the species' habitat suitability under climate change scenarios using species-level and lineage-level SDMs. In the Central Tropical Indo-Pacific region, models for both levels predicted considerable range contraction in the future, but the lineage-level models predicted more severe habitat loss. Importantly, the two modelling approaches predicted opposite patterns of habitat change in the Western Tropical Indo-Pacific region. Our results highlight the necessity of conserving distinct populations and genetic pools to avoid regional extinction due to climate change and have important implications for guiding future management of seagrasses.National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 31971395 and 41761144057; European Commission, Grant/ Award Number: H2020-MSCA-IF-2019 and 882221; Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Grant/Award Number: UID/Multi/04326/2019, PTDC/BIA-CBI/6515/2020 and DL57; Thailand Research Fund, Grant/Award Number: RDG6130002; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant/ Award Number: 18K05780info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio