The Mediterranean Sea has been described as one of the most affected areas by marine litter in the world. Although effects on organisms from marine plastic litter ingestion have been investigated in ...several oceanic areas, there is still a lack of information from the Mediterranean Sea. The main objectives of this paper are to review current knowledge on the impact of marine litter on Mediterranean biodiversity, to define selection criteria for choosing marine organisms suitable for use as bioindicator species, and to propose a methodological approach to assessing the harm related to marine litter ingestion in several Mediterranean habitats and sub-regions. A new integrated monitoring tool that would provide the information necessary to design and implement future mitigation actions in the Mediterranean basin is proposed.
According to bibliographic research and statistical analysis on current knowledge of marine litter ingestion, the area of the Mediterranean most studied, in terms of number of species and papers in the Mediterranean Sea is the western sub-area as well as demersal (32.9%) and pelagic (27.7%) amongst habitats.
Applying ecological and biological criteria to the most threatened species obtained by statistical analysis, bioindicator species for different habitats and monitoring scale were selected. A threefold approach, simultaneously measuring the presence and effects of plastic, can provide the actual harm and sub-lethal effects to organisms caused by marine litter ingestion. The research revealed gaps in knowledge, and this paper suggests measures to close the gap. This and the selection of appropriate bioindicator species would represent a step forward for marine litter risk assessment, and the implementation of future actions and mitigation measures for specific Mediterranean areas, habitats and species affected by marine litter ingestion.
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•Marine litter ingestion represents a serious harm to Mediterranean biodiversity.•A bibliographic research and statistics identified the most affected habitat/species by marine litter ingestion in the Med.•The identification of suitable bioindicators is necessary to address the effects of marine litter on marine fauna and habitat.•To assess the harm by marine litter ingestion is necessary to quantify its presence and ecotoxicological effects.
Selection of suitable bioindicators of marine litter ingestion and the simultaneous quantification of its presence and ecotoxicological effects is recommended in order to monitor the impact on Mediterranean fauna and habitats.
The honeybee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), a keystone pollinator of wild plant species and agricultural crops, is disappearing globally due to parasites and diseases, habitat loss, ...genetic constraints, beekeeper management issues and to the widespread use of pesticides. Besides insecticides, widely studied in this species, honeybees are also exposed to herbicides and fungicides and heavy metals whose lethal and sublethal effects need to be investigated. In this context, our study aimed to evaluate the effects of fungicides and of heavy metals on honeybees and to develop and apply a multi-biomarker approach that include an Integrated Biological Index (IBRv2) to assess the toxicological status of this species. Biomarkers of neurotoxicity (AChE and CaE), metabolic alteration (ALP, and GST) and immune system (LYS, granulocytes) were measured, following honeybees’ exposure to cadmium or to a crop fungicide, using the genotoxic compound EMS as positive control. A biomarker of genotoxicity (NA assay) was developed and applied for the first time in honeybees. At the doses tested, all the contaminants showed sublethal toxicity to the bees, highlighting in particular genotoxic effects. The data collected were analyzed by an IBRv2 index, which integrated the seven biomarkers used in this study. IBRv2 index increased with increasing cadmium or fungicide concentrations. The IBRv2 represents a simple tool for a general description of honeybees ecotoxicological health status. Results highlight the need for more in-depth investigations on the effects of fungicides on non-target organisms, such as honeybees, using sensitive methods for the determination of sublethal effects. This study contributes to the development of a multi-biomarker approach to be used for a more accurate ecotoxicological environmental monitoring of these animals.
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•A multi-biomarker approach in A. mellifera investigated the sublethal effects of Cd and a fungicide.•Biomarkers alteration, including genotoxicity, was highlighted in exposed honeybees.•An Integrated Biomarker Response (IBRv2) Index was applied in honeybees for the first time.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I chain-related protein A (MICA) in fibroblast cell cultures of cetaceans (skin biopsies of ...free-ranging specimens and skin samples of freshly stranded cetaceans) by an immunofluorescence technique and to outline possible variations in MICA expression linked to different ecological and biological factors, while also investigating MICA expression after
treatments with different contaminants. Free-ranging or stranded specimens of cetaceans were sampled in the Sea of Cortez (Mexico) (
, and
) and in the Mediterranean Sea (
, and
). Cell cultures were treated with an OC mixture, flame retardants, PAHs, MeHg, and BPA. The three species from the Sea of Cortez showed higher basal activity of MICA and lower levels of DDTs and PCBs than the Mediterranean species. A Pearson's linear coefficient equal to -0.45 also confirmed this tendency to have high levels of MICA and low total OC levels. Treatment of cultured fibroblasts with different contaminants mostly resulted in the upregulation of MICA protein expression by at least one treatment dose; downregulation was also found in some species or treatments. MICA alteration indicates a state of stress of the organism and a modification of the immune system's response and can be proposed as a non-invasive immunological marker that can be measured in skin biopsy samples, thus offering a good alternative to blood measurements.
The research objective was to study the presence of DNA damages in haddock exposed to petrogenic or pyrogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from different sources: 1) extracts of oil produced ...water (PW), dominated by 2-ring PAHs; 2) distillation fractions of crude oil (representing oil-based drilling mud), dominated by 3-ring PAHs; 3) heavy pyrogenic PAHs, mixture of 4/5/6-ring PAHs. The biological effect of the different PAH sources was studied by feeding juvenile haddock with low doses of PAHs (0.3-0.7 mg PAH/kg fish/day) for two months, followed by a two-months recovery. In addition to the oral exposure, a group of fish was exposed to 12 single compounds of PAHs (4/5/6-ring) via intraperitoneal injection. The main endpoint was the analysis of hepatic and intestinal DNA adducts. In addition, PAH burden in liver, bile metabolites, gene and protein expression of CYP1A, GST activity, lipid peroxidation, skeletal deformities and histopathology of livers were evaluated. Juvenile haddock responded quickly to both intraperitoneal injection and oral exposure of 4/5/6-ring PAHs. High levels of DNA adducts were detected in livers three days after the dose of the single compound exposure. Fish had also high levels of DNA adducts in liver after being fed with extracts dominated by 2-ring PAHs (a PW exposure scenario) and 3-ring PAHs (simulating an oil exposure scenario). Elevated levels of DNA adducts were observed in the liver of all exposed groups after the 2 months of recovery. High levels of DNA adduct were found also in the intestines of individuals exposed to oil or heavy PAHs, but not in the PW or control groups. This suggests that the intestinal barrier is very important for detoxification of orally exposures of PAHs.
The aim of this study was to evaluate a set of ecotoxicity biotests on three marine model species exposed to elutriates of marine sediments inoculated with the biodegradable plastic Mater-Bi or with ...cellulose. The sediments were incubated at 28°C and tested after 6 months, when clear signs of degradation were visible in the exposed samples, and after 12 months, when the samples had completely disappeared. The model organisms selected for the study were the unicellular algae Dunaliella tertiolecta, the sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) juveniles. The unicellular algae and sea urchins were used to determine the toxicological endpoint of growth inhibition and embryotoxicity, respectively, and the sea bass juveniles were tested to evaluate sublethal effect endpoints using lipid peroxidation and genotoxicity biomarkers. Elutriates of sediment inoculated with Mater-Bi for 6 and 12 months showed an absence of toxic effects in all of the model organisms exposed in this study. The Mater-Bi degradation process did not generate or transfer into the elutriates toxic substances that could cause alterations in the growth of D. tertiolecta, in the P. lividus embryo-toxicity assay or in the sensitive biomarker responses of the fish Dicentrarchus labrax. The results obtained in this study suggest that the ecotoxicological approach applied may be suitable for investigating the environmental impact of the degradation of bioplastics in marine sediments.
Although not a book that can be labelled as “art-science”, the novel Atlante Occidentale (1985), published in English as Lines of Light, was conceived by the Italian writer Daniele Del Giudice during ...a fieldwork visit at the CERN laboratory in Geneva in the early 1980s. The two protagonists, the writer Ira Epstein and the physicist Pietro Brahe, have a common obsession: the drive to experimentation. Both characters seek to create new tools (machines) out of existing material for understanding reality – Pietro a particle collider, Ira the written word. As I argue in the article, Atlante Occidentale, a work of fiction, makes a point which should be at the core of any attempt to better understand art-science collaboration: art and science are both ways of world-making. The article provides readers with a brief overview of the mainstream narratives on and in art-science collaboration and suggests a series of strategies apt for challenging those narratives. First, I argue that experimentation rather than creativity is the glue making any collaboration between art and science possible. Second, I show the importance for both scholars and artists of carrying out laboratory fieldwork and archival research to access science in the making and, hence, to engage in potentially transformative art-science collaborative work. Finally, I call for a radical rethinking of the scale and syntax of art-science projects given that some of the most successful models of such collaborative endeavours are in deep crisis.
Fungi are an essential component of marine ecosystems, although little is known about their global distribution and underwater diversity, especially in sediments. Microplastics (MPs) are widespread ...contaminants worldwide and threaten the organisms present in the oceans. In this study, we investigated the fungal abundance and diversity in sediments, as well as the MPs, of three sites with different anthropogenic impacts in the Mediterranean Sea: the harbor of Livorno, the marine protected area “Secche della Meloria”; and an intermediate point, respectively. A total of 1526 isolates were cultured and identified using a polyphasic approach. For many of the fungal species this is the first record in a marine environment. A comparison with the mycobiota associated with the sediments and MPs underlined a “substrate specificity”, highlighting the complexity of MP-associated fungal assemblages, potentially leading to altered microbial activities and hence changes in ecosystem functions. A further driving force that acts on the fungal communities associated with sediments and MPs is sampling sites with different anthropogenic impacts.
Abstract
This article contributes to the scholarly discussion of the relationship between cinema and dance using Giorgio Agamben’s understanding of dance as gesture. To render Agamben’s critical ...framework operative, however, one needs to consider his reference to the concept of phantasmata (images) taken from Domenico da Piacenza’s Renaissance treatise on choreography. Agamben returns to this treatise to support his argument that dance is concerned first and foremost with time and memory rather than space and the present. To notate dance as a sequence of moving images is not simply to make visible on screen a series of bodily movements in space. Rather, it means acknowledging that dancing is primarily a mental activity. Taking Agamben’s reflections on dance and using Maya Deren’s work on screen dance as a case-study, this article discusses how cinema and dance together prompt us to undo the economy of bodily movements, restoring the body to us transfigured.
The gastrointestinal tracts of 229 demersal fish belonging to two species (Mullus barbatus, Merluccius merluccius) were examined for microplastic ingestion. Samples were collected in 3 different FAO ...Geographical Sub-Areas (GSA-9, GSA-17, GSA-19) of the Mediterranean Sea. Ingested microplastics were characterized using a stereo-microscope: observed, photographed, measured and categorized according to size class, shape and colour. Plastic fragments (ranging from 0.10 to 6.6 mm) were detected in 23.3% of the total investigated fish; a total of 65 plastic particles (66% constituted by fibers) were recorded. The percentage of plastic ingestion shows high variability between the two species and among the different sampling area. The highest frequency (48%) was found in European hake from GSA-19. These preliminary results represent a baseline for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive descriptor 10 in Italy as well as an important step for detecting microplastics in bioindicator species from different GSAs.
•23.3% of total sampled fish ingested microplastics.•Microplastics occurrence (%) ranged from 8.3% to 48%.•Mullus barbatus and Merluccius merluccius represent small-scale bioindicators.
Clinical synesthesia is commonly defined as the experience of having perceptions in one sensory modality triggered by a stimulus from another. This paper adopts a particular orientation toward ...synesthesia, exploring it as a cultural phenomenon common to us all, as an ability that can be learnt instead of an accidental neurological condition. If synesthesia is both a capacity that we are not fully aware of and a way to access what is stored in memory even at the unconscious level, can art help us to bring this awareness back? Bearing upon a close reading of selected artworks created by Johannes Deutsch, a multi-media artist who has been experimenting with synesthesia, the paper argues that synesthesia can become a tool in the hands of contemporary artists to revitalize the Wagnerian ideal of a "total work of art". This is to be understood as a politics of the senses based on communality rather than individualism, not as an ideology of totalitarian tendencies. Ultimately, the transformative potential of certain art resides in its capacity to foster a pedagogy of the image that is based upon multi-sensoriality, memory and history.
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