Quality of the surface water of a basin affected by the expansion of the agricultural frontier over the native forest in the Argentine Espinal region

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Land use changes have led to the degradation of multiple ecosystem services and affected the quality of aquatic ecosystems. The aims of this study...     

UV-irradiation and BDD-based photoelectrolysis for the treatment of halosulfuron-methyl herbicide

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper reports the development of a novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) oxidation technique based on UV-C irradiation and boron-doped diamond (BDD)...     

Prenatal diagnosis of 47,XX,der(15)t(15;16)(q13;p13.2)

A case of prenatally detected partial trisomy 15 and 16 is reported. Amniocentesis was performed at 14 weeks' gestation because a 6-mm nuchal translucency was detected on a dating ultrasound evaluation. Karyotype from amniocytes was suspect of an aberration concerning a marker chromosome. FISH analysis demonstrated that this marker chromosome was a der(15). A maternal chromosomal rearrangement t(15;16)(q13;p13.2) was confirmed. At birth, the proband was severely hydropic and had dysmorphic features, which included hypertelorism, micrognathia, incomplete separation of the maxilla and mandible, hyperflexed hands with overlapping fingers, hyposegmented right lung, and a single umbilical artery. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using exploration expenditures to assess the climate for mineral investment

Countries that rely on private investors to find and exploit their mineral resources need reliable indicators of their investment attractiveness. This study explores the use of exploration expenditures for this purpose, focusing primarily on Chile.     

Sustainable Land Use Requires Attention to Ecological Signals

This case study details the difficulties of landscape management, highlighting the challenges inherent in managing natural resources when multiple agencies are involved, when the land users have no incentive for conservation, and when government agencies have too few resources for effective management. Pumping of groundwater from the aquifer of La Costa de Hermosillo in the state of Sonora, Mexico, began in 1945 and developed so quickly that by the late 1950s salinity intrusion from the Gulf of California was occurring in the wells. In the 1970s, the irrigatable land in La Costa peaked at 132,516 ha and the extracted volume of water from the aquifer peaked at around 1.14 billion cubic meters annually. By the 1980s, 105 wells of the total of 498 were contaminated with seawater and, therefore, identified for closure. At present La Costa de Hermosillo still represents 15% of the total harvested land, 16% of the total annual production, and 23% of the gross agricultural production of the state of Sonora. However, there are approximately 80,000 ha of abandoned fields due to salt water intension, lack of water and/or lack of credit available to individual farmers. This unstable situation resulted from the interplay of water management policies and practices, and farm-land policies and practices. While government agencies have been able to enforce better water use for agricultural production, there remains a significant area that requires restoration from its degraded state. For this piece of the ecosystem management puzzle, government agencies have thus far been unable to affect a solution.     

A global evaluation of metabolic theory as an explanation for terrestrial species richness gradients

We compiled 46 broadscale data sets of species richness for a wide range of terrestrial plant, invertebrate, and ectothermic vertebrate groups in all parts of the world to test the ability of metabolic theory to account for observed diversity gradients. The theory makes two related predictions: (1) In-transformed richness is linearly associated with a linear, inverse transformation of annual temperature, and (2) the slope of the relationship is near -0.65. Of the 46 data sets, 14 had no significant relationship; of the remaining 32, nine were linear, meeting prediction 1. Model I (ordinary least squares, OLS) and model II (reduced major axis, RMA) regressions then tested the linear slopes against prediction 2. In the 23 data sets having nonlinear relationships between richness and temperature, split-line regression divided the data into linear components, and regressions were done on each component to test prediction 2 for subsets of the data. Of the 46 data sets analyzed in their entirety using OLS regression, one was consistent with metabolic theory (meeting both predictions), and one was possibly consistent. Using RMA regression, no data sets were consistent. Of 67 analyses of prediction 2 using OLS regression on all linear data sets and subsets, two were consistent with the prediction, and four were possibly consistent. Using RMA regression, one was consistent (albeit weakly), and four were possibly consistent. We also found that the relationship between richness and temperature is both taxonomically and geographically conditional, and there is no evidence for a universal response of diversity to temperature. Meta-analyses confirmed significant heterogeneity in slopes among data sets, and the combined slopes across studies were significantly lower than the range of slopes predicted by metabolic theory based on both OLS and RMA regressions. We conclude that metabolic theory, as currently formulated, is a poor predictor of observed diversity gradients in most terrestrial systems.     

Visualization of fetal intra-abdominal organs in second-trimester severe oligohydramnios by intraperitoneal infusion

Fetal intraperitoneal infusion of saline was performed in two patients with severe oligohydramnios at 24 and 25 weeks' gestation in order to enhance visualization of intra-abdominal organs. Renal agenesis was easily diagnosed. The technique can be considered as an alternative to artificial instillation of amniotic fluid in the differential diagnosis of conditions associated with severe oligohydramnios.     

Age-related foetal sex ratio bias in Iberian red deer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cervus elaphus hispanicus</Emphasis>): are male calves too expensive for growing mothers?

Several theories predict offspring biases towards males or females with increasing reproductive resources of the mother to maximize reproductive returns by offspring, or as a result of prohibitive cost of the most expensive sex for young mothers or those in poor condition. This study examines foetus sex of 221 harvested hinds in a food-supplemented game estate for 10 years, according to hind age class (yearlings, subadults or adults), precise age, body mass and condition, and jaw length. A logistic model showed that hinds had a greater probability of bearing a male foetus with increasing age class, but not with any other variable. The greatest bias was found in yearling hinds. After controlling for age class and mass, jaw length was smaller in pregnant compared to non-pregnant yearlings and subadults, which suggests a trade-off between reproduction and growth. The bias towards females in yearlings increased as gestation proceeded, which suggests that the bias might be a result of selective abortion of male foetuses. Although results do not exclude an investment in males to increase number of grand-offspring, they suggest that young hinds may produce daughters as a trade-off between low energetic-cost offspring and their need to grow.Communicated by S. Krackow