The herbicide glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) efficiently eliminates weeds, is frequently present in surface waters, and may damage the health of various non-target organisms. The main ...objective of this study was to investigate cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in erythrocytes, DNA, and chromosomes of native South American fish Astyanax lacustris exposed to a glyphosate-based commercial herbicide Templo®. The presenty study evaluated the presence of micronuclei (MN), chromosomal aberrations (CA), DNA damage revealed by comet assay, and cellular morphological changes (CMC) as biomarkers. The A. lacustris specimens were exposed to Templo® for 96 h at concentrations below the permitted Brazilian legislation for freshwater environments. The glyphosate-based herbicide caused MN formation, an increased incidence of CA, DNA damage, and several types of CMC in all tested concentrations on A. lacustris. Notably, analyses were significant (p<0.05) for all concentrations, except in the frequency mean of MN at 3.7 µg/L. Thus, considering the intensive use of commercial glyphosate formulations in crops, the herbicide Templo® represents a potential risk of genotoxicity and cytotoxicity for aquatic organisms. Therefore, environmental protection agencies must review regulations for glyphosate-based herbicides in freshwater environments.
Display omitted
•Glyphosate demonstrates a cytotoxic and genotoxic effect in Astyanax lacustris.•Glyphosate induces chromosomal aberrations and micronucleated erythrocytes.•Exposure to glyphosate alters the cellular morphological erythrocytes.•The concentrations permitted by Brazilian legislation result in mutagenic effects.
Este estudo objetivou demonstrar as injúrias morfológicas e fisiológicas e provocadas pela poluição atmosférica por sílica em plantas e correlacionar com a presença de níveis elevados de sílica na ...urina de seres humanos em área de mineração de rocha. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, observacional e analítico que analisou a espécie de planta Piper gaudichaudianum e 51 amostras de urina de pessoas de dois pontos amostrais (poluído e controle). Os atributos funcionais foliares foram comparados por teste T e registrados em MEV para análise do material particulado na folha. A sílica na urina foi verificada pela razão da dosagem de sílica em amostra simples de urina por meio de ICP-OES e creatinina urinária por método colorimétrico. Verificou-se uma maior concentração de material particulado sobre a superfície foliar de P. gaudichaudianum na população amostral da zona poluída em relação à zona de controle. A massa fresca, massa seca, os teores de clorofila a, b e clorofila total foram menores nas folhas das zonas poluídas em relação àquelas da zona controle. Já em relação a mediana da excreção urinária de sílica, não se identificou diferença significativa entre as pessoas moradoras da área poluída ou controle. Embora houve uma associação entre moradores da zona poluída apresentarem menor chance de um valor de sílica na urina acima da mediana da amostra (≥3,91mg/g). Tal associação não foi significativa após ajuste para idade. Apesar da sílica afetar negativamente o desenvolvimento foliar da espécie monitora, tais achados não foram associados a uma maior presença de sílica urinária das pessoas residentes na área de maior contaminação ambiental. Fatores de contaminação amostral e dietético podem ter influenciado tais achados na amostra humana estudada, reforçando a importância da análise da flora.
Effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) remains one of the major pollutants of aquatic environments; however, knowledge about its ecotoxic effects at fish early life stages is limited. The ...ecotoxicity of effluent from Brazilian WWTPs was herein analyzed based on responses of multiple biomarkers in the zebrafish embryotoxicity test (ZET). Ecotoxicity was analyzed based on mortality rate, hatching rate, spontaneous movement rate (neurotoxicity), heart rate (cardiotoxicity), frequency of morphological changes and morphometric parameters during 144 h exposure time. Results showed that embryos exposed to affluent and effluent presented high mortality rate and delayed hatching rate, as well as changes in morphometric parameters. Exposed embryos also showed physiological, sensory, skeletal and muscular changes, which confirms that the ecotoxic effect of WWTPs effluent is systemic and associated with the presence of several pollutants, even at low concentrations (mixture toxicity). The present study is pioneer in using responses of multiple biomarkers in ZET as suitable approach to assess the ecotoxicity of WWTPs effluent in developing countries, as well as to add value and contribute to studies on WWTPs worldwide. Zebrafish is a suitable vertebrate model to assess the ecotoxicity of WWTP effluent.
Display omitted
•WWTP effluent induced systemic toxicity on zebrafish embryos.•WWTP effluent decreased survival and hatching rate in zebrafish embryos.•WWTP effluent changed morphometric parameters in zebrafish larvae.•Multiple biomarker approach in zebrafish applied in WWTP biomonitoring.
Display omitted
•Environmental monitoring is crucial for protecting human and ecosystem health.•Honey bees (Apis mellifera) can serve as global, continuous biomonitoring species.•Colonies are ...resilient and accumulate or respond to stressors without collapsing.•Long-range foragers transport pollutants, pesticides, and pathogens to their hives.•A. mellifera may serve to monitor emerging threats such as climate change and AMR.
Monitoring the environment for pollution, pesticides, and pathogens is crucial for protecting human, agriculture, and overall ecosystem health. Diverse strategies ranging from physical sensors to sentinel species have been used for environmental monitoring. The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, is a globally managed pollinator that can serve as a continuous biomonitoring species. During foraging, honey bees are exposed to contaminants and pathogens and carry them to their hives where they can be detected and quantified. Although individual bees are vulnerable to environmental stressors, the honey bee colony as a whole is more resilient and can accumulate contaminants or respond to them without collapsing. This allows for long-term monitoring of the colony to map contaminants in a geographical area and study ecotoxicology gradients over space and time. In this paper, we review demonstrated and proposed uses of honey bees for environmental monitoring. We focus our discussion on heavy metals, air pollutants, pesticides, and plant pathogens that can be detected in bees and their hive materials including honey, wax, and stored pollen. We present the use of gene expression, microbiome profiling, and other high-throughput methodologies to study dose-dependent exposure and increase detection sensitivity; for example, stored pollen analysis with next generation sequencing can reveal the presence of plant viruses, fungi, and invasive species earlier than traditional detection methods. Finally, we discuss opportunities for using honey bees to monitor emerging threats such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance. This narrative review highlights the versatility and potential utility of the European honey bee as a biomonitoring species for ecosystem health.
The hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCH) are long-banned pesticides. Even though their use has been prohibited for decades, their presence in the environment is still reported worldwide. Wetland + is ...a registered trademark of the remedial treatment technology consisting of an aerobic sedimentary tank, a permeable reactive barrier, a biosorption system, and an aerobic wetland. This proven method combines a reductive treatment known from PRBs with the natural wetland self-cleaning processes. The average efficiency of the system is 96.8% for chlorobenzenes (ClB) and 81.7% for HCH, during the first 12 months of the system operation. The presence of the genes encoding enzymes involved in the degradation of the HCH compounds indicates that the removal of HCH and ClB occurs not only by chemical removal but also through aerobic and anaerobic combining biodegradation. Changes in abundance and the composition of the diatom community were found to be suitable indicators of the water quality and of the impact of the Wetland + operation on the water ecosystem. The system's annual operation exhibited a markedly higher number of diatom species in the closing profiles of the Ostrovský Creek, the Wetland + effluent recipient.
Due to the increasing evidence of widespread sub-micron pollutants in the atmosphere, the impact of airborne nanoparticles is a subject of great relevance. In particular, the smallest particles are ...considered the most active and dangerous, having a higher surface/volume ratio. Here we tested the effect of iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (IONPs) with different mean diameter and size distribution on the model plant Tillandsia usneoides.
Strands were placed in home-built closed boxes and exposed to levels of airborne IONPs reported for the roadside air, i.e. in the order of 107 - 108 items m−2. Plant growth and other morpho-physiological parameters were monitored for two weeks, showing that exposure to IONPs significantly reduced the length increment of the treated strands with respect to controls. A dose-dependence of this impairing effect was found only for particles with mean size of a few tens of nanometers. These were also proved to be the most toxic at the highest concentration tested. The IONP-induced hamper in growth was correlated with altered concentration of macro- and micronutrients in the plant, while no significant variation in photosynthetic activity was detected in treated samples. Microscopy investigation showed that IONPs could adhere to the plant surface and were preferentially located on the trichome wings.
Our results report, for the first time, evidence of the negative effects of airborne IONP pollution on plant health, thus raising concerns about related environmental risks.
Future research should be devoted to other plant species and pollutants to assess the impact of airborne pollution on plants and devise suitable attenuation practices.
Display omitted
•Toxicity of airborne magnetite nanoparticles was tested on Tillandsia usneoides.•Biometry and ionome, but not photosynthesis, were altered by the treatment.•Small nanoparticles were localised on the trichome wings.•Small nanoparticles were more toxic than large ones for T. usneoides.
Display omitted
•An overview of recent applications of metabolomics in seaweed research is provided.•Primary and functional secondary metabolite in seaweed is discussed.•The metabolite content in ...seaweed is affected by the prevailing environmental conditions.•The effects of global warming on seaweed metabolite profile changes are discussed.
Seaweed, an important food resource in several Asian countries, contains various metabolites, including sugars, organic acids, and amino acids; however, their content is affected by prevailing environmental conditions. This review discusses seaweed metabolomics, especially the distribution of primary and functional secondary metabolites (e.g., carotenoids, polyphenols) in seaweed. Additionally, the effects of global warming on seaweed metabolite profile changes are discussed. For example, high temperatures can increase amino acid levels in seaweeds. Overall, understanding the effects of global warming on seaweed metabolite profiles can be useful for evaluating the nutritional composition of seaweeds as food. This review provides an overview of recent applications of metabolomics in seaweed research as well as a perspective on the nutrient content and cultivation of seaweeds under climate change scenarios.
This work contributes to the ongoing work aiming at confirming benthic foraminifera as a biological quality element. In this study, benthic foraminifera from intertidal and transitional waters from ...the English Channel/European Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean Sea were assigned to five ecological groups using the weighted-averaging optimum with respect to TOC of each species. It was however not possible to assign typical salt marsh species due to the presence of labile and refractory organic matter that hampers TOC characterization. Tests of this study species' lists with Foram-AMBI on two independent datasets showed a significant correlation between Foram-AMBI and TOC, confirming the strong relation between foraminifera and TOC. For one of the validation datasets, associated macrofaunal data were available and a significant correlation was found between the foraminiferal Foram-AMBI and the macrofaunal AMBI. The here proposed lists should be further tested with sensitivity-based indices in different European regional settings.
•Benthic foraminifera from transitional waters were assigned to ecological groups of sensitivity to total organic carbon.•Typical salt marsh species could not be assigned.•Indicative value of each species with respect to TOC was estimated with the weighted-averaging method.•Tests of the species’ lists on two independent data sets with Foram-AMBI showed a reliable assessment of EcoQS.•Efforts are needed to homogenize foraminiferal taxonomy, including a combination of molecular and morphological techniques.
•QUECHERS-SPME for the quantification of pesticides, PAHs and PCBs in snails’ samples.•Comparison of ASE and QUECHERs for snails’ analysis.•Comparison of acetonitrile and ethyl acetate as solvent ...extraction for QuEChERS extraction.•Application on the use of snails as environmental biomonitors.
This paper reports an optimized multiresidue extraction strategy based on the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) extraction procedure and on solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for the simultaneous screening of 120 pesticides, 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and 22 polychlorinated biphenyls from the terrestrial snail Helix aspersa. The optimized extraction method was based on QuEChERS using acetonitrile, followed by dispersive-Solid-phase extraction clean-up using primary secondary amine and octadecyl (C18) sorbents. The obtained extracts were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. This latest technique was preceded by a pre-concentration step using SPME with appropriate fibers. Afterwards, the method was validated for its linearity, sensitivity, recovery, and precision. Results showed high sensitivity, accuracy, and precision, with limits of detection and quantification lower than 20 ng g − 1 for most considered pollutants. Both inter and intra-day analyses revealed low relative standard deviation (%), which was lower than 20% for most targeted compounds. Moreover, the obtained regression coefficient (R2) was higher than 0.98 and the recoveries were higher than 60% for the majority of the assessed pollutants.
Parmelia Acharius is one of the most representative genera within Parmeliaceae family which is the largest and the most widespread family of lichen-forming fungi. Parmelia lichens present a medium to ...large foliose thallus and they are distributed from the Artic to the Antartic continents, being more concentrated in temperate regions. According to its current description, the genus encompasses up to 41 different species and it is phylogenetically located within the Parmelioid clade (the largest group in the family). Interestingly, some of its species are among the most common epiphytic lichens in Europe such as Parmelia sulcata Taylor and Parmelia saxatilis (L.) Ach.
The present work aims at providing a complete overview of the existing knowledge on the genus, from general concepts such as taxonomy and phylogeny, to their ecological relevance and biological interest for pharmaceutical uses. As reported, Parmelia lichens arise as valuable tools for biomonitoring environmental pollution due to their capacity to bioaccumulate metal elements and its response to acid rain. Moreover, they produce a wide array of specialized products/metabolites including depsides, depsidones, triterpenes and dibenzofurans, which have been suggested to exert promising pharmacological activities, mainly antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. Herein, we discuss past and recent data regarding to the phytochemical characterization of more than 15 species.
Even though the knowledge is still scarce in comparsion to other groups of organisms such as higher plants and other non-lichenized fungi. Reviewed works suggest that Parmelia lichens are worthy of further research for determining their actual possibilities as sources of bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic applications.
Display omitted
•Parmelia is one of the most representative genera within Parmeliaceae family.•Parmelia lichens arise as valuable tools for biomonitoring environmental.•Parmelia lichens produce particular specialized metabolites.•Parmelia spp. have promising pharmacological activities.
PDF
