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Identification of fith instar larval Manduca sexta fat body and epidermis as sites of synthesis of a hemolymph protein (hemolymph trophic factor or HTF) was achieved using in vitroH-leucine incorporation into protein and subsequent immunoprecipitation of tissue homogenates. Fat body is the primary site of HTF synthesis with a maximal rate on Day 1; epidermis is a secondary site with peak synthesis on Day 0. In vitro radiolabelling followed by TCA precipitation of general protein of fat body and epidermal homogenates suggest that fat body actively elaborates protein on Days 0-5 with peak rates on Days 1 and 4, while epidermis is active on Days 0-5 with a peak rate on Day 3. Based on Anti-HTF ELISA estimates, HTF [500 to 1000 µg/ml] was found in the hemolymph of representatives of the insect orders Blattodea, Hemiptera, Orthoptera, and Lepidoptera and in the class Crustacea, but not in the class Merostomata. These studies suggest a possible fundamental role for HTF among modern arthropods in cuticular deposition involving both epidermis and fat body. The physiological role of HTF is undetermined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molecular structure of a variety of novel mercury-phytochelatin complexes was evidenced in rice plants exposed to inorganic mercury (Hg2+) using RP-HPLC with simultaneous detection via ICP-MS and ES-MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Dr. Charles Rhodes was employed at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is now employed at the United States Department of Interior and has received travel stipends from the United Nations Statistics Division to attend events the Division hosted. Carl Obst has been on contract with the United Nations Statistics Division to help develop the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting that depends on classification systems. Dr. Roy Haines-Young has done contractual work for the European Environmental Agency.

Robinia pseudoacacia L. is an interesting example of how one plant species can be considered invasive or useful depending on its environment. In the past this tree species was planted for decorative purposes and for wood in Poland. For many years it was recommended in poor and degraded habitats because it facilitated late-successional plant species. The aim of this study was to verify if black locust can still be regarded as a resistant tree species in urban greenery. The health condition of old tree specimens growing along streets and in parks was compared. The occurrence of pests and pathogens on R. pseudoacacia trees was assessed and the content of mineral elements in leaves was examined. The research results showed that the health of black locust trees growing in the urban environment in Polish cities, especially along streets (in comparison to park sites), deteriorated significantly due to the interaction of harmful biotic and abiotic factors. Increased level of toxic metals (Fe, Zn, Pb, Mn and Cd) in plant tissues and the accumulation of pests and pathogens negatively influenced the health of R. pseudoacacia., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The Loreto Bay National Park (LBNP) is a large, multi-use marine protected area in the Gulf of California, Mexico, where several types of small-scale commercial and recreational fishing are allowed, but where less than 1% of the park is totally protected from fishing. The LBNP was created in 1996; its management plan was completed in 2000, but it was not effectively implemented and enforced until 2003. Between 1998 and 2010, we monitored reef fish populations annually at several reefs inside and outside the LBNP to measure the effects of the park on fish assemblages. We also evaluated reported fisheries landings within the LBNP for the same time series. Our results show that reef fish biomass increased significantly after protection at a small no-take site at LBNP relative to the rest of the park. However, the multi-use part of LBNP where fishing is allowed (99% of its surface) has had no measurable effect on reef fish biomass relative to open access sites outside the park boundaries. Reported fisheries landings have decreased within the park while increasing in nearby unprotected areas. Although the current partial protection management regime has not allowed for reef fish populations to recover despite 15 years as a "protected area," we conclude that LBNP's regulations and management have maintained the conditions of the ecosystem that existed when the park was established. These results suggest that community livelihoods have been sustained, but a re-evaluation of the multi-use management strategy, particularly the creation of larger no-take zones and better enforcement, is needed to improve the reef fish populations in the park in order to ensure sustainable fisheries far into the future. These recommendations can be applied to all multi-use MPAs in Mexico where ecosystem recovery is not occurring despite maintenance of fish stocks., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Stated-preference surveys for the economic valuation of environmental resources typically assume no uncertainty in the hypothetical valuation scenarios. However, the outcomes of environmental policies are uncertain. We explored the effects of including information on probabilities of attribute improvement and provision in choice experiments. Our results suggest that stating explicitly a high probability for the occurrence of the valuation scenario can improve the goodness of fit of choice models and the consistency of choices. As the general public becomes more aware of the uncertainty of environmental outcomes under global change, omitting information on scenario risk may contribute to hypothetical bias and impair the validity of stated-preference valuations.

A pressing need exists to develop new approaches for obtaining information on demographic rates without causing further threats to imperiled animal populations. In this paper, we illustrate and apply a data-fitting technique based on quadratic programming that uses stage-specific abundance data to estimate demographic rates and asymptotic population growth rates (lambda). We used data from seven breeding colonies of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Estimates of lambda were similar to those from previous studies relying on a diffusion approximation using trends in total abundance. On average, predicted abundances were within 24% of the observed value for the inverse estimation method and within 29% of the observed value for the diffusion approximation. Our results suggest that three of the seven populations are declining (lambda < 1), but as many as six may be at risk. Elasticity and sensitivity analyses suggest that population management in most sites should focus on the protection of adults, whose survival generally contributes the most to lambda. The quadratic programming approach is a promising noninvasive technique for estimating demographic rates and assessing the viability of populations of imperiled species.

Marine reserves have both conservation and fishery benefits. Nevertheless, there are no general criteria about when and where to establish new reserves, how to evaluate their efficacy, and how to conduct adaptive management to achieve conservation goals. We applied a decision-theory framework to optimally allocate conservation resources between improving data on population status and establishing a reserve for species conservation. Our goal was to maximize reserve benefits given the constraints of a population growth rate that would permit sustainability of resources. We illustrate our decision framework with a retrospective analysis of a 7-year time series on abundance of the leopard grouper (Mycteroperca rosacea) in the Sea of Cortés, Mexico. We used the lower bound of the distribution of the population growth rate (lambda) as a decision rule for determining how many years of monitoring are needed to detect reserve effects. We determined the minimum time frame needed to estimate lambda based on a stated level of risk tolerance for four sites. As expected, the coefficient of variation for the lambda declined with the number of years of data. This increased precision with additional years of data resulted from the high degree of annual variability in the system. Where populations were slow to respond to reserves, more data were needed to detect a positive lambda value. For the leopard grouper case study, confidence in the estimate of lambda increased with the number of years of data. Our decision framework may be used to identify the minimum number of years of data needed before a management decision about reserve establishment could be made that is reasonably likely to meet its management objectives.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) that allow some degree of artisanal fishing have been proposed to control the overexploitation of marine resources while allowing extraction by local communities. Nevertheless, the management of MPAs is often impaired by the absence of data on the status of their resources. We devised a method to estimate population growth rates with the type of data that are usually available for reef fishes. We used 7 years of spatially explicit abundance data on the leopard grouper (Mycteroperca rosacea) in an MPA in the Gulf of California, Mexico, to construct a matrix population model that incorporated the effects of El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation on population dynamics. An environmental model that estimated different demographic estimates for El Niño and La Niña periods performed better than a single-environment model, and a single-habitat model performed better than a model that considered different depths as different habitats. Our results suggest that the population of the leopard grouper off the main island of the MPA is not viable under present conditions. Although the impact of fishing on leopard grouper populations in the MPA has not yet been established, fishing should be closed as a precautionary measure at this island if a priority of the MPA is to ensure the sustainability of its fish populations.

A photographic analysis was conducted at five shallow reef sites (5-6 m) at Eilat (northern Red Sea) to study changes in live coral cover during a 2-year period. Logit regression analysis showed that levels of total oxidized nitrogen (TON; NO(2)+NO(3)) and the presence of SCUBA divers were significant explicative variables of coral partial mortality, while sedimentation rate was not significant. Sites exposed to mean TON levels above 0.4 microM TON showed significantly lower live stony coral cover and abundance per m(2), and higher partial mortality of coral colonies than sites exposed to lower TON. These findings may be useful in establishing limits for TON levels at Eilat, but must be interpreted with caution due to the complexity of nutrient dynamics in coral reefs, the uncertainty of the effects of nutrients on coral physiological processes, and the possibility of interactions among multiple coral stressors.

Stimulation of a cellular immune function as measured by splenic natural killer (NK) cell activity has been described following systemic treatment with enkephalins. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the central administration of enkephalins on the splenic NK cell activity and macrophage cytotoxicity. Intracerebroventricular injection of leucine-enkephalin (LE) or methionine-enkephalin (ME) induced bidirectional modulation of NK cell and macrophage cytotoxic activities (suppression followed by enhancement). Administration of ME or LE at doses of 100 or 10 micrograms/mouse caused inhibition of NK cell and macrophage activity 2 h after injection. Enhancement of NK cells activity was observed at 96 h and macrophages cytotoxicity at 24 h after icv injection with both enkephalins. Pretreatment with naloxone (20 micrograms/mouse) inhibited the enkephalins-induced augmentation of NK cell and macrophage cytotoxic activity. These findings demonstrate that central actions of enkephalins produce changes in cytotoxicity of NK cells and macrophages.

We have assessed the effect of thiorphan or captopril on proliferation of two human tumor cell lines, A549 and HL60 including their influence on the cytostatic activity of interferon alpha or doxorubicin. The results showed that captopril inhibits the proliferation of both A549 and HL60 cells lines but thiorphan has antiproliferative effect only on A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner. However, neither captopril nor thiorphan administered in combination with interferon alpha or doxorubicin enhanced cytotoxic potential of doxorubicin and cytostatic activity of interferon alpha.

Ecdysone 20-monooxygenase, the enzyme system that hydroxylates ecdysone at C-20 of the side-chain to form ecdysterone, has been characterized in the fat body of early last instar larvae of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, using a radioenzymological assay. Ecdysterone was demonstrated to be the product of the enzyme system by high-pressure liquid chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Differential centrifugation, sucrose-gradient centrifugation, electron microscopy and organelle-marker enzyme analysis revealed that ecdysone 20-monooxygenase activity is associated with the mitochondria. The enzymatic properties of ecdysone 20-monooxygenase are that it is most active in a 0.05 M phosphate buffer, is inhibited by Mg2+ and exhibits pH and temperature optima at 7.5 and 30 degrees C, respectively. The enzyme complex has an apparent Km for ecdysone of 1.60 x 10(-7) M and is competitively inhibited by its product, ecdysterone, with an apparent Ki of 2.72 x 10(-5) M. The cytochrome P-450 nature of this insect steroid hydroxylase was initially suggested by its obligate requirement for NADPH and its inhibition by carbon monoxide, p-chloromercuribenzoate, metyrapone and p-aminoglutethimide but not by cyanide. Difference spectroscopy revealed the presence of cytochrome P-450 in the fat-body mitochondrial fraction. A photochemical action spectrum of ecdysone 20-monooxygenase activity confirmed the involvement of cytochrome P-450 in this monooxygenase system.