In the present investigation, the most commonly used pharmaceutical drug Ibuprofen (IB) was exposed to an Indian major carp Cirrhinus mrigala under static bioassay method to estimate its toxicological effects for a period of 35 days. The median lethal concentration (LC 50) of IB to the fish C. mrigala for 24 h was found to be 142 ppm. In sublethal treatment (1/10th of LC 50 24 h value, 14.2 ppm), a significant decrease in erythrocyte (RBC), mean cellular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and plasma protein levels were observed throughout the study period when compare to that of their respective controls. In contrast, haemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), mean cellular volume (MCV), mean cellular hemoglobin (MCH), leucocyte (WBC), plasma glucose and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels were increased in this study period. On the other hand, a mixed trend was noticed in aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) enzyme activity. Alterations of these parameters can be effectively used as potential biomarkers in monitoring of IB toxicity in the aquatic organisms.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2012.02.005

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A World Bank sponsored project to restore water levels in the Dead Sea while also providing desalinated water and hydropower to the region received a final environmental approval and construction is slated to begin in June.

Final Report (pdf)

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Floating Island International offers a variety of products incorporating patented BioHaven® technology, none more powerful than the Leviathan.Leviathan uses integrates high-volume, low-head circulation with matrix surface area for maximum wetland performance. Its efficient air-driven directional diffuser draws in and aerates in excess of ten thousand gallons of water per minute, pushing it through the BioHaven matrix and plant roots. A key innovation is the floating streambed, which contributes to the aeration and nutrient uptake.In a standard Leviathan configuration, nutrients and contaminants are exposed to over 1,000,000 square feet of sticky, biofilm-laden surface area; however, Leviathan is scalable. In fact, those now being designed are large enough to circulate up to 10,000 gallons of water every minute. This makes Leviathan floating treatment wetlands the most promising biological tool for lake restoration and cleaning up the damage caused by oil spills and other man-made and natural disasters.Leviathan floating treatment wetlands can be complemented with conventional BioHaven floating islands, optimizing the opportunity to provide a landscaped habitat for fish and wildlife while cleaning polluted water.Leviathan™ Treatment Wetland, Shepherd, MT

Leviathan™ Technology « Floating Island International

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The percentage of acidic Adirondack lakes (ANC <0 μeq L−1) decreased from 15.5% (284 lakes) to 8.3% (152 lakes) since the implementation of the Acid Rain Program and the Nitrogen Budget Program. Two measures of ANC were considered in our analysis: ANC determined directly by Gran plot analysis (ANCG) and ANC calculated by major ion chemistry (ANCcalc = CB − CA). While these two metrics should theoretically show similar responses, ANCcalc (+2.03 μeq L−1-yr) increased at more than twice the rate as ANCG (+0.76 μeq L−1-yr). This discrepancy has important implications for assessments of lake recovery and appears to be due to compensatory increases in concentrations of naturally occurring organic acids coincident with decreases in lake concentrations of strong acid anions, as evidenced by increases in concentrations of dissolved organic carbon.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.10.031

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Southern Appalachian forests are recognized as a biodiversity hot spot of global significance, particularly for endemic aquatic salamanders and mussels. The dominant driver of land-cover and land-use change in this region is surface mining, with an ever-increasing proportion occurring as mountaintop mining with valley fill operations (MTVF). In MTVF, seams of coal are exposed using explosives, and the resulting noncoal overburden is pushed into adjacent valleys to facilitate coal extraction. To date, MTVF throughout the Appalachians have converted 1.1 million hectares of forest to surface mines and buried more than 2,000 km of stream channel beneath mining overburden. The impacts of these lost forests and buried streams are propagated throughout the river networks of the region as the resulting sediment and chemical pollutants are transmitted downstream. There is, to date, no evidence to suggest that the extensive chemical and hydrologic alterations of streams by MTVF can be offset or reversed by currently required reclamation and mitigation practices.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.05986.x

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High quality monitoring data are vital for tracking and understanding the causes of ecosystem change. We present a potentially powerful approach for phytoplankton and aquatic ecosystem monitoring, based on integration of scanning flow-cytometry for the characterization and counting of algal cells with multiparametric vertical water profiling. This approach affords high-frequency data on phytoplankton abundance, functional traits and diversity, coupled with the characterization of environmental conditions for growth over the vertical structure of a deep water body. Data from a pilot study revealed effects of an environmental disturbance event on the phytoplankton community in Lake Lugano (Switzerland), characterized by a reduction in cytometry-based functional diversity and by a period of cyanobacterial dominance. These changes were missed by traditional limnological methods, employed in parallel to high-frequency monitoring. Modeling of phytoplankton functional diversity revealed the importance of integrated spatiotemporal data, including circadian time-lags and variability over the water column, to understand the drivers of diversity and dynamic processes. The approach described represents progress toward an automated and trait-based analysis of phytoplankton natural communities. Streamlining of high-frequency measurements may represent a resource for understanding, modeling and managing aquatic ecosystems under impact of environmental change, yielding insight into processes governing phytoplankton community resistance and resilience.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es201934n

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