Excitation–emission matrices applied to the study of urban effluent discharges in the Chubut River (Patagonia, Argentina)

Natural and contaminated waters of the final reaches of the Chubut River (Patagonia, Argentina) were studied to obtain information about river organic matter and effects of domestic and industrial discharges (fishery effluents and sewages). Fluorescence Excitation–Emission Matrices (EEMs) were obtained from samples only filtered (0.45 μm) and diluted, if necessary, to avoid the inner filter effect. In addition, physicochemical parameters were measured to know the quality of the water and the effluents. Results show that EEMs allow a rapid and simple control of the effluents from fisheries and domestic sewage in Chubut River estuary, necessary to take management decisions.     

Small-scale spatial and seasonal differences in the distribution of beach arthropods on the northwestern Tunisian coast. Are species evenly distributed along the shore?

Spatial distributions of sand beach arthropods were studied at Zouara (Nefza), a beach dune system along the northwestern coast of Tunisia. Two transects with pitfall traps, perpendicular to the shoreline and placed from sea towards land, captured spontaneously crawling arthropods. The pitfalls were used to obtain data on horizontal zonations for 2 days during different seasons (April, October). In April, in order to assess local, long-shore distributions of surface-active beach invertebrates, ten transects with pitfall traps were placed every 100 m, for 2 days. Core samples were also taken in correspondence with each of the ten transects to obtain the distribution of burrowing individuals. Sand samples were taken for successive laboratory analyses (salinity, grain size and organic contents). Local climatic conditions were also recorded. One isopod (Tylos europaeus, subdivided into three different size classes), two amphipods (Talitrus saltator, Talorchestia brito and indistinguishable juveniles) and four coleopteran species (Eurynebria complanata, Scarites laevigatus, Phytosus nigriventris, Phaleria acuminata) were considered. Mean zonations perpendicular to the shoreline showed that crustaceans were found closer to the sea-line limits than coleopterans and that between seasons some species changed their mean zonation more than others. Local, long-shore distributions of active and burrowing individuals showed that most species were unevenly distributed along the shore. These discontinuous distributions differed according to the species and age class and were mainly related to specific microclimatic conditions and to nutrition.     

Genetic determination and plasticity in the sun orientation of natural populations ofTalitrus saltator

As has been previously shown, talitrid crustaceans have an inherited compass which causes them to head in a direction appropriate to their original shoreline (even after several generations in the laboratory), while learnt components can improve the correctness of orientation in natural conditions. In order to extend this analysis to a greater range of populations and to show differences in the determination of direction finding behaviour, seven natural populations ofTalitrus saltator (Montagu) from differently oriented shores of the Ligurian (Marina di Vecchiano, Pisa), Tyrrhenian (Castiglione della Pescaia and Tombolo di Feniglia, Grossetto) and Adriatic (Casal Borsetti, Ravenna; Torre Fantine, Marina di Lesina and Lido di Siponta, Foggia). Italian coasts were compared for their rigidity-plasticity in sun orientation. The study was conducted from 1982 to 1985. Differences were given in relation to the dynamics of the shorelines, the stability of which changes over the years due to natural and artificial causes. Furthermore, in order to reveal something about the genetic determination of the compass, mass-crosses between geographically distant populations (Ligurian-Tyrrhenian on one side and Adriatic on the other) were performed, and the F1 and F2 inexpert offspring tested for sun orientation. The results show a partial or total disruption of the compass in cross offspring which is discussed in the light of oligogenic and polygenic transmission mechanisms.     

Solar and landscape cues as orientation mechanisms in the beach-dwelling beetle Eurynebria complanata (Coleoptera,Carabidae)

The present paper reports on the first orientation experiments conducted on the strand-living beetle Eurynebria complanata (Linnaeus, 1767) (Coleoptera, Carabidae). The experiments were carried out from June to October 1988. Two different populations were used: one inhabiting a Tyrrhenian beach in Italy and the other a beach on the Atlantic coast of France. Response to sun compass cues was demonstrated in each population at the collection site and for the French population after transportation to Italy, where experiments were carried out on a differently oriented beach. Landscape cues were shown to improve the beetle's orientation capacity when these were tested together with a visible sun. Artificial landscapes were also tested under laboratory conditions. Different-sized silhouettes were placed in the four cardinal directions, and these envoked different responses depending on their height. The beetles oriented towards a black silhouette when this subtended an angle of 25°. The results obtained for the two populations are compared and discussed from an eco-ethological point of view.     

Removal of a red dye using noncommercial peroxidase extracted from rice bran

The present study investigates the application of a noncommercial peroxidase enzyme, which was extracted from rice bran, to decolorize wastewater that was simulating effluent from a textile manufacturer using a red dye in its coloration process.     

The use of slope and visual information in sandhoppers: innateness and plasticity

Mediterranean sandhoppers of the species Talitrus saltator (Montagu) from the Tyrrhenian population of Burano (Grosseto, Italy) were tested by rearing under different conditions in order to enquire into the innateness and modifiability of orientation with respect to substrate slope and landscape features. Tests were conducted from November 1990 to November 1991. The results were as follows: the sandhoppers responsed to slope only by orienting themselves downslope on dry substrate and upward on a wet one. These responses appeared to be innate but modifiable by experience. Visual dishomogeneity (half horizon covered with a black strip), with a horizontal substrate, elicited an innate orientation towards the black shape, again modifiable by experience. When a black strip was positioned around the upper half of the inclined arena, the sandhoppers responded differently, dependent upon their prior experience: wild individuals responded to the visual stimulus, amphipods reared in optical homogeneity did not make a choice and those reared in conditions identical to those of the test arena responded to slope by orienting downwards and away from the balck strip. With a black strip around the lower half of the inclined arena and with a dry substrate identical responses were shown by wild-caught and laboratory-reared sandhoppers, i.e., downslope and towards the black strip.     

Distribution patterns of different age classes and sexes in a Tyrrhenian population of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Talitrus saltator</Emphasis> (Montagu)

Temporal and spatial distribution patterns of a population of Talitrus saltator living on the Tyrrhenian coast of Tuscany (Italy) were studied. Bimonthly surveys were performed from March 1991 to January 1992 along transects using a standard system of pitfall traps and sieves for surface-active and burrowed individuals, respectively. Captured individuals were subdivided into sex and age classes (on the basis of the number of articles of the flagellum of the second antenna). Abundances were calculated for each sampling period and sex ratios were determined. For each sampling period the mean hour of surface activity was calculated together with the mean zonation of both surface-active and burrowing sandhoppers belonging to the different sex and age classes. Shifts in mean zonation between the resting and active phase were also determined. For each category of sex, age, and reproductive phase, simple and multiple regression analyses were used to find relationships of the mean zonation of surface-active animals with climatic data, and of the number of burrowed individuals with surface sand parameters recorded in correspondence to the sieves. On the whole, the results show that this Tyrrhenian population of T. saltator exhibited a bivoltine reproductive cycle and that the sex ratios of active sandhoppers were male or female biased according to the season. The variations in the mean hour of surface activity and in the zonation patterns of sandhoppers depended more on the age than on the sex. Furthermore distribution patterns were generally related to seasonal changes in the local climatic and substrate parameters. The observed differences between burrowing and activity zonations were interpreted on the basis of the nocturnal migrations of the different categories.     

Interaction between solar orientation and landscape visibility in Talitrus saltator (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

A series of experiments on the littoral amphipod Talitrus saltator (Montagu) was carried out between April and September, 1978–1981, both under natural conditions and inland with artificial landscapes of different heights on the horizon, in order to assess the visual importance of the landscape in zonal orientation in populations from the Mediterranean coast, and to determine interactions between solar orientation and orientation based on the landscape. Inland, orientation in controls (permitting only vision of the sky and the sun) was compared to that of the experimental individuals, who could see a simulated landscape positioned landwards to them and seawards. In nature, sandhoppers released in a level arena with the landscape screened from view were compared with others released in an unscreened arena and on the sand in absolutely natural conditions. Situations where solar orientation contradicted local cues were produced both by releasing the sandhoppers on a shore diversely orientated to their own, and by shifting their internal clock by nine hours. Results show that T. saltator uses the landscape as a cue in its orientation towards the sea, in conjunction with solar orientation: the latter being the principal factor involved even when the sandhoppers are separated from the local optical factor in the sky (in trials at a distance from the sea). In fact, with the artificial landscape set seawards, none of the populations we studied showed any orientation based on the landscape comparable in accuracy to orientation based exclusively on the sun. From the experiments carried out in natural conditions, it is possible to deduce that conflicting conditions gave rise to two types of results: deviation from the mean direction and an increase in dispersion, up to total dispersion when the local factors were in total contrast to solar orientation (clock-shifted sandhoppers released on the sand).     

Multiple regression analysis of the sources of variation in orientation of two sympatric sandhoppers, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Talitrus saltator</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Talorchestia brito</Emphasis>, from an exposed Mediterranean beach

Two sympatric species from an exposed sandy beach in north-western Tunisia, the sandhoppers Talitrus saltator (Montagu) and Talorchestia brito Stebbing, were compared as regards orientation under natural conditions. Sets of experiments were carried out on the beach using two experimental arenas, one permitting the view of both the sky and landscape and the other of the sky only. Replicates were made at different hours of the day, in different days and period of the year and with various climatic conditions. Multiple regression models were fitted to the angular data obtained. These models allow an estimate of the trends of variation depending on a combination of factors. The simultaneous effects of environmental factors influencing orientation were quantified for each species. The sun was confirmed as the major orientation cue in these populations, but the concentration of directional choices was enhanced by the landscape vision. The climatic factors affected orientation in different ways depending on the time of day and year. When the two species were compared, Talitrus saltator showed a higher flexibility of response than Talorchestia brito under the same environmental conditions, supporting the hypothesis of a higher level of terrestrialization of the former species.