Marine Monitoring Program: Annual Report for inshore pesticide monitoring 2018–19

[Extract] This component of the Marine Monitoring Program provides an understanding of nearshore pesticide profiles and the exposure risk to marine organisms, as a part of water quality condition on the Great Barrier Reef. Data are collected from eleven fixed monitoring sites located in four Natural Resource Management regions — the Wet Tropics (five sites: Low Isles, High Island, Normanby Island, Dunk Island and Lucinda), Burdekin (one site: Barratta Creek), Mackay-Whitsundays (four sites: Repulse Bay, Flat Top Island, Sandy Creek and Sarina Inlet) and Fitzroy (one site: North Keppel Island). The suite of pesticides monitored includes photosystem II (PSII) inhibiting herbicides (such as diuron, atrazine (and its metabolites), ametryn, hexazinone, tebuthiuron), which all affect photosynthesis, and are commonly detected due to their high usage in adjacent catchments, and their high solubility. Other pesticides monitored include those that have non-photosynthetic effects (such as imidacloprid and metolachlor) and knockdown herbicides (such as 2,4-D)

Turbulent Diffusion and Turbulent Thermal Diffusion of Aerosols in Stratified Atmospheric Flows

The paper analyzes the phenomenon of turbulent thermal diffusion in the Earth atmosphere, its relation to the turbulent diffusion and its potential impact on aerosol distribution. This phenomenon was predicted theoretically more than 10 years ago and detected recently in the laboratory experiments. This effect causes a non-diffusive flux of aerosols in the direction of the heat flux and results in formation of long-living aerosol layers in the vicinity of temperature inversions. We demonstrated that the theory of turbulent thermal diffusion explains the GOMOS aerosol observations near the tropopause (i.e., the observed shape of aerosol vertical profiles with elevated concentrations located almost symmetrically with respect to temperature profile). In combination with the derived expression for the dependence of the turbulent thermal diffusion ratio on the turbulent diffusion, these measurements yield an independent method for determining the coefficient of turbulent diffusion at the tropopause. We evaluated the impact of turbulent thermal diffusion to the lower-troposphere vertical profiles of aerosol concentration by means of numerical dispersion modelling, and found a regular upward forcing of aerosols with coarse particles affected stronger than fine aerosols.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

Strategies in 'snake venomics' aiming at an integrative view of compositional, functional, and immunological characteristics of venoms

This work offers a general overview on the evolving strategies for the proteomic analysis of snake venoms, and discusses how these may be combined through diverse experimental approaches with the goal of achieving a more comprehensive knowledge on the compositional, toxic, and immunological characteristics of venoms. Some recent developments in this field are summarized, highlighting how strategies have evolved from the mere cataloguing of venom components (proteomics/venomics), to a broader exploration of their immunological (antivenomics) and functional (toxicovenomics) characteristics. Altogether, the combination of these complementary strategies is helping to build a wider, more integrative view of the life-threatening protein cocktails produced by venomous snakes, responsible for thousands of deaths every year.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad/[BFU2013-42833-P]//EspañaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Instituto Clodomiro Picado (ICP

Privileged frameworks from snake venom

Venom as a form of chemical prey capture is a key innovation that has underpinned the explosive radiation of the advanced snakes (Caenophidia). Small venom proteins are often rich in disulfide bonds thus facilitating stable molecular scaffolds that present key functional residues on the protein surface. New toxin types are initially developed through the venom gland over-expression of normal body proteins, their subsequent gene duplication and diversification that leads to neofunctionalisation as random mutations modify their structure and function. This process has led to preferentially selected (privileged) cysteine-rich scaffolds that enable the snake to build arrays of toxins many of which may lead to therapeutic products and research tools. This review focuses on cysteine-rich small proteins and peptides found in snake venoms spanning natriuretic peptides to phospholipase enzymes, while highlighting their three-dimensional structures and biological functions as well as their potential as therapeutic agents or research tools