Environmental studies 2000 - 2020
Authors:
L. D. Sivle, P. H. Kvadsheim , A. Fahlman, F. P. A. Lam ,
P. L. Tyack, and P. J. O. Miller.
Abstract:
Anthropogenic underwater sounds in the
environment might potentially affect the behavior of
marine mammals enough to have an impact on their
reproduction and survival. Diving behavior of four killer
whales (Orcinus orca), seven long-finned pilot whales
(Globicephala melas), and four sperm whales
(Physeter macrocephalus) was studied during
controlled exposures to naval sonar [low-frequency
active sonar (LFAS): 1–2 kHz and mid-frequency
active sonar (MFAS): 6–7 kHz] during three field
seasons (2006–2009).
Authors:
Bart Shepherd, Matt Wandell, Hudson T. Pinheiro, and
Luiz A. Rocha
Abstract:
Accompanying the recent technological innovations
in remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), submersibles,
technical SCUBA, and closed-circuit rebreather diving
gear, new discoveries are being made on mesophotic
coral ecosystems around the world.
However, collecting live fishes from mesophotic depths
(60–150 m) is challenging, given the difficulty of
accessing the habitat, catching the fishes, and the
barotrauma that can result from rapid decompression
during their transport to the surface. The authors
designed and tested the performance of a portable,
submersible hyperbaric chamber, the SubCAS, which
they used to safely surface reef fishes from mesophotic
depths.
Authors:
Kaitlin N. Allen & José Pablo Vázquez-Medina
Abstract:
Reperfusion injury follows ischemia/reperfusion events
occurring during myocardial infarction, stroke,
embolism, and other peripheral vascular diseases.
Decreased blood flow and reduced oxygen tension
during ischemic episodes activate cellular pathways
that upregulate pro-inflammatory signaling and
promote oxidant generation. Reperfusion after
ischemia recruits inflammatory cells to the vascular
wall, further exacerbating oxidant production and
ultimately resulting in cell death, tissue injury, and
organ dysfunction.
Diving mammals tolerate repetitive episodes of
peripheral ischemia/reperfusion as part of the
cardiovascular adjustments supporting long-duration
dives. These adjustments allow marine mammals to
optimize the use of their body oxygen stores while
diving but can result in selectively reduced perfusion to
peripheral tissues. Remarkably, diving mammals show
no apparent detrimental effects associated with these
ischemia/reperfusion events. This study reviews the
knowledge regarding the strategies marine mammals
use to suppress inflammation and cope with oxidant
generation potentially derived from diving-induced
ischemia/reperfusion.
Authors:
Christine Erbe, Sarah A. Marley, Renée P. Schoeman,
Joshua N. Smith, Leah E. Trigg, and Clare Beth
Embling.
Abstract:
A concomitant increase in underwater noise has been
reported in several regions around the globe. Given
the important role sound plays in the life functions of
marine mammals, research on the potential effects of
vessel noise has grown—in particular since the year
2000. This study provides an overview of this literature,
showing that studies have been patchy in terms of
their coverage of species, habitats, vessel types, and
types of impact investigated.
Authors:
Andreas Fahlman, Bruno Cozzi, Mercy Manley, Sandra
Jabas, Marek Malik, Ashley Blawas, and Vincent M.
Janik.
Abstract:
Previous reports suggested the existence of direct
somatic motor control over heart rate (fH) responses
during diving in some marine mammals as the result of
a cognitive and/or learning process rather than being
a reflexive response. This would be beneficial for O2
storage management but would also allow ventilation-
perfusion matching for selective gas exchange, where
O2 and CO2 can be exchanged with a minimal
exchange of N2. Such a mechanism explains how air-
breathing marine vertebrates avoid diving-related gas
bubble formation during repeated dives and how
stress could interrupt this mechanism and cause
excessive N2 exchange. To investigate the conditioned
response, the authors measured the fH-response
before and during static breath-holds in three
bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) when shown
a visual symbol to perform either a long (LONG) or
short (SHORT) breath-hold or during a spontaneous
breath-hold without a symbol (NS).
Authors:
H. A. Shiels, G. L. J. Galli, B. A. Block
Studies of how animals can adapt to their environment
are helpful to understand how humans can adapt in
the future.
This paper discusses studies regarding the capacity of
Pacific bluefin tuna to endure the thermal challenge,
which is partially due to the enhanced activity of
proteins involved in cardiac excitation-contraction
coupling, which improve its cardiomyocyte function
(Cardiomyocytes are cells responsible for contracting
the heart, and the control of the rhythmic beating of
the heart), and thus the animal performance during
temperature change.
Authors:
Maja Berden Zrimec, Mojca Poklar, Dean Mozetic,
Dusko Vranac.
This document is a presentation of the challenges and
relevant techniques for underwater mapping using
photogrammetry.
Authors:
A. Fais, M. Johnson, M. Wilson, N. Aguilar Soto, & P. T.
Madsen
The sperm whale carries a hypertrophied nose that
generates powerful clicks for long-range echolocation.
However, how this apex predator catches its prey
remains a conundrum. Several hypotheses have been
advanced to propose both active and passive means
to acquire prey, including acoustic debilitation of prey
with very powerful clicks. In this paper, the authors test
these hypotheses by using sound and movement
recording tags in a fine-scale study of buzz sequences
to relate the acoustic behaviour of sperm whales with
changes in acceleration in their head region during
prey capture attempts.
Authors:
Alexander O. MacGillivray, Zizheng Li, David E.
Hannay, Krista B. Trounce, & Orla M. Robinson.
In 2017, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s
Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation
program carried out a two-month voluntary vessel
slowdown trial to determine whether slowing to 11
knots was an effective method for reducing
underwater radiated vessel noise. The test was carried
out in Haro Strait, British Columbia, in the critical
habitat of endangered southern resident killer whales.
Authors: Gardenio Diogo Pimentel Da Silva and David
Alves Castelo Branco.
This paper gives an overview of the environmental
impacts caused by conventional and floating
photovoltaics systems with a particular interest in large-
scale units. It addresses and compares the effects at all
phases of project implementation, such as planning,
construction, operations, and decommissioning,
focusing on ambient located in the tropics.
Authors: Marco Ligi, Luca Cocchi, Giovanni Bortoluzzi,
Filippo D’Oriano, Filippo Muccini, Fabio
Caratori Tontini, Cornel E. J. de Ronde, Cosmo
Carmisciano
The authors present the results of recent geophysical
investigations of Marsili and Palinuro volcanic
complexes and the southern Tyrrhenian Sea during
2010 TIR10 and 2011 MAVA2011 cruises by the
R/V Urania.
Author:
Jacquomo Monk, Neville Barrett, Todd Bond, Ashley
Fowler, Dianne McLean, Julian Partridge, Nicholas
Perkins, Rachel Przeslawski, Paul G Thomson, Joel
Williams
ROVs were initially designed in the mid-1980s to
complement manned scientific submersibles. With the
increase in technology, ROVs have gained acceptance
because of their distinct advantages over manned
submersibles in many areas, notably reduced risk to
pilots and researchers.
Authors: Mariana Girão, Inês Ribeiro, Tiago Ribeiro,
Isabel C. Azevedo, Filipe Pereira, Ralph
Urbatzka, Pedro N. Leão, and Maria F.
Carvalho.
Nature is the major reservoir of biologically active
molecules. The urgent need of finding novel
molecules for pharmaceutical application is prompting
the research of underexplored environments, such as
marine ecosystems. The authors of this paper
investigated cultivable actinobacteria associated with
the macroalgae Laminaria ochroleuca and assessed
their potential to produce compounds with
antimicrobial or anticancer activities.
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Authors:
G. Nyamadzawo, F. Mapanda, M. Wutaz.
Nyamangara, P. yamugafata and Z. Jiri
Disposal of wastes from sulphate mining operations
has been a perennial problem to the environment in
many countries, because these wastes usually
continue to produce acid mine drainage (AMD) for a
long time after the wastes have been generated.
The impacts of AMD include reduction in the quality of
water. This review is a synthesis of all the research
work that has been done at Iron Duke Mine (IDM) that
extracts pyrite minerals in Zimbabwe.
Author: James Everts
An estimated 20% of the global corals are threatened
by exposure to toxic substances. The main chemical
threats are pollution by oil and oil dispersants, industrial
chemicals from discharges, pesticides from run-off,
antifouling compounds, and chemical fishing practices.
Author: Stephane Le Floch
The chemical industry is today at the hub of the global
economy and must often overcome vast distances
between production and consumption areas. These
geographical constraints require large volumes of
hazardous substances to be transported, often by sea.
Shipping generates steadily rising risks due to the ever-
increasing size of vessels and the pressure of world
markets. In the event of an incident, these risks lead to
different problems than those encountered in the case
of oil spills. The threat of a chemical spill concerns
many stakeholders.
Authors:
Amelia S. Wenger, Katharina E. Fabricius, Geoffrey P.
Jones, and Jon E. Brodie
This paper reviews the direct and indirect effects of
these three forms of marine pollution on the behavior,
physiology, life histories, and communities of coral reef
fishes, and the potential consequences of altered fish
abundances for the ecology of coral reefs. Increased
sediment, both in suspension and settled, can directly
affect reef fishes by reducing visual and chemical cues,
disrupting the feeding of planktivores and herbivores,
and altering predator–prey interactions.
Author:
Albert Palanques, Josep Caixach, Marc Belzunces, and
Arantxa Bartolome
In 2000 and from 2006 to 2011, a monitoring
program was followed along the Catalan inner shelf,
using homogeneous analytical methods and sampling
strategies and focusing on the main sites of river
sediment accumulation. Adjacent areas that are
potentially vulnerable to pollution were also selected.
Trace metals and organic pollutants were analyzed in
surface sediment samples.
Author:
Ahmed Minhaz Farid, Alam Lubna, Ta Goh Choo,
Mohamed CheAbd Rahim, and Mokhtar Mazlin
Langat River, in Malaysia, is a significant source of
drinking water and development and needs special
care to reduce pollution. The Environmental Quality
Report of the Department of Environment from 1997
to 2013 addressed that the river possessed the status
of class III, which required extensive treatment before
drinking. However, more than one of the nine water
treatment plants in the basin had to remain
closed several times during 2012-2015 due to the high
concentration of chemical pollution in the river.
Authors:
A Gaida, O Holz, C Nell, S Schuchardt, Lavae-Mokhtari,
L Kruse, U Boas, J Langejuergen, M Allers, S
Zimmermann, C Vogelmeier, A R Koczulla, and J M
Hohlfeld
There is increasing evidence that breath volatile
organic compounds (VOC) have the potential to
support the diagnosis and management of
inflammatory diseases such as Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, or COPD, which refers to a group
of conditions that cause airflow blockage and
breathing-related problems. This study used a novel
breath-sampling device to search for COPD-related
VOCs.
Authors:
N. Karkashadze, K. Ebralidze, V. Tsitsishvili, M.
Luarsabishvili, I. Mikadze
The development of industry and transport and
intensified agricultural chemicalization is accompanied
by systematic environmental pollution. Pollutants in the
biosphere undergo various chemical conversions: they
interact with each other, are photochemically oxidized,
polymerized, etc. Incidentally, new highly toxic
substances (the so-called “secondary pollutants”) are
often produced. The “longevity” of a chemical
pollutant in the biosphere depends on the chemical
nature of this substance, its reactivity as well as on the
conditions of the environment.
Author: Polina Lemenkova
Urbanization in Turkey has impressive expansion rates
from 18.5% in 1950 to 62% in 2000. Such
uncontrolled expansion leads to a gradual decrease in
fertile landscapes and agricultural areas along the
Aegean coasts and increases the pollution of waters.
The chemical contamination in Izmir bay (mercury
originating from Gediz River and inactive mining sites
in Karaburun Peninsula) comes to the shelf waters.
Consequently, the detected mercury in selected
plankton organisms exceeds the acceptable standards
as a maximal limit in living creatures.
Authors:
N. Remez, A. Dychko, L. Yevtieieva, S. Kraychuk, N.
Ostapchuk, J. Oliinyk
This paper provides a simple mathematical model that
describes the synergistic interaction of environmental
factors that occur in urban ecosystem. The model
predicts the value of maximum synergistic action and
the condition for its achievement, as well as implies the
dependence of synergistic action on the intensity of
the agents used and the proportion of irreversible
damages after the combined effects. The developed
mathematical model can be used to predict the
accumulation of pollution in the ground layer of soil.
Author:s
Leo posthuma, Michiel C. Zijp, Dick De Zwart, Dik Van
de Meent, Lidija Globevnik, Maja Koprivsek, Andreas
Focks, Jos Van Gils, & Sebastian Birk
This study aims to demonstrate that the current
approach of chemical impact assessment, consisting of
comparing measured concentrations to protect
environmental quality standards for individual
chemicals, is not optimal.
Author:s
Estelle Baurès, Alexandre Baudet, Olivier Blanchard,
Hélène Guegan, Monique Guillaso, Pierre le Cann,
Jean-Pierre Gangneux, Arnaud Florentin
Air quality in public and working establishments is
essential, especially where people are potentially
vulnerable. It is precisely the case with healthcare
institutions. This study aims to describe these facilities'
microbiological, chemical, and particulate pollution of
the indoor environment.
Author:s
Ravi Naidu, Bhabananda Biswas, Ian R. Willett, Julian
Cribb, Brajesh Kumar Singh, C. Paul Nathanail, Frederic
Coulon, Kirk T. Semple, Kevin C. Jones, Adam Barclay,
Robert John Aitken
Anthropogenic chemical pollution has the potential to
pose one of the largest environmental threats to
humanity, but global understanding of the issue
remains fragmented. This article presents a perspective
of the threat of chemical pollution to humanity,
emphasising male fertility, cognitive health and food
security.
Authors:
Jiaqi Wang, Leonie S. Lautz, Tom M. Nolte, Leo
Posthuma, Remon Koopman, Rob S.E.W. Leuven, A.
Jan Hendriks
The impact of chemical pollution on ecosystem
services is rarely quantified, and the ecosystem service
valuation often focuses on individual services without
considering the total services provided by the
ecosystem. The study aimed to develop a stepwise
approach to quantify the impact of sediment pollution
on the entire ecosystem service value offered by water
systems
Authors: Reshma P. Vengaloor, Aparnna Ajay, Jessica
Sandhiya, Ashrith Sriram Raju, Dhanush.S
Almost all organisms on this planet are affected by
water, including humans. As a result of water
pollution, many marine ecosystems and freshwater
ecosystems have been disturbed. Plastics make up
most of the waste. Besides stagnation, they are also
eaten by aquatic and terrestrial animals, which is a
great threat to their existence.
Keeping domestic water bodies clean can solve many
of the problems that threaten the existence of aquatic
organisms. This problem has been addressed by
developing the AQUA ROVER
Authors:
Jun She, Icarus Allen, Erik Buch, Alessandro Crise,
Johnny A. Johannessen, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Urmas
Lips, Glenn Nolan, Nadia Pinardi, Jan H. Reißmann,
John Siddorn, Emil Stanev, and Henning Wehde.
Operational approaches have been increasingly
widely developed and used for providing marine data
and information services for different Blue Growth
socio-economic sectors and advancing knowledge
about the marine environment. The objective of
operational oceanographic research is to develop and
improve this approach's efficiency, timeliness,
robustness, and product quality. This white paper
addresses critical scientific challenges and research
priorities for developing operational oceanography in
Europe for the next 5–10 years
Publisher: United Nations
The "Manual of Tests and Criteria" contains criteria, test
methods, and procedures to be used for the
classification of dangerous goods according to the
provisions of the "United Nations Recommendations
on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Model
Regulations", as well as of chemicals presenting
physical hazards according to the "Globally
Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of
Chemicals (GHS)".
Authors:
Dr. Nagham Mahmood Aljamali, Dr. Aseel Mahmood
Jawad, Anaam Jawad Alabbasy, Dr. Layla Ali
Mohammed Salih
This review deals with the causes of pollution and their
effect on health and the environment. Also, it involves
essential forms of contamination like environmental,
chemical, radiation, soil, water, thermal, biological, and
medical pollution that killed millions of people in many
countries.
Authors: Walter Dellisanti, Ryan H. L. Tsang, Put Ang Jr,
Jiajun Wu, Mark L. Wells, and Leo L. Chan
Underwater visual monitoring methods are used
broadly to evaluate coral reef conditions in the natural
environment, but quantitative measurements of the
coral holobiont have mainly been restricted to the
photo-physiological assessment of the endosymbionts.
An underwater respirometer has been designed to
make routine, diver-operated, non-invasive
measurements at coral surfaces, but the reality in situ
accuracy and precision capabilities of this device has
not been critically assessed, an essential step if these
measurements are to help quantify spatial and
seasonal patterns of coral metabolism.
Authors:
Miriam Römer, Chieh-Wei Hsu, Markus Loher, Ian R.
MacDonald, Christian dos Santos Ferreira, Thomas
Pape, Susan Mau, Gerhard Bohrmann, and Heiko
Sahling
This multi-disciplinary study of the hydrocarbon
seepage system at Tsanyao Yang Knoll (TYK) in the
southern Gulf of Mexico illustrates the amount and
fate of hydrocarbons (mainly oil and methane)
emanating from the sea floor structure and rising
through a 3400 m water column.
Authors:
Steven R. Auscavitch, Mary C. Deere, Abigail G. Keller,
Randi D. Rotjan, Timothy M. Shank, and Erik E. Cordes
The authors of this paper present baseline deep-sea
coral species distribution and community assembly
patterns within the Scleractinia, Octocorallia,
Antipatharia, and Zoantharia with respect to different
sea floor features and abiotic environmental variables
across bathyal depths (200–2500 m).
Author:
Pedro H. López-Garrido, James P. Barry, Juan Ignacio
González-Gordillo, and Elva Escobar-Briones
Current knowledge of invertebrate communities in
hard bottom habitats at depths > 200 m is poor due to
the methodological limitations inherent in sampling
deep habitats. Using video imagery of benthic habitats
coupled with environmental data from the Remotely
Operated Vehicle, the authors documented variation
in the diversity and community composition from 849
to 990 m depth in the NW limit of the Guaymas Basin,
in relation to dissolved oxygen and substrate
characteristics.
Author:
Victoria L. G. Todd, Laura Lazar, Laura D. Williamson,
Ingrid T. Peters, Aimee L. Hoover 1 , Sophie E. Cox 1 ,
Ian. B. Todd 1 , Peter I. Macreadie, and Dianne L.
McLean
This study used routine, incidentally collected ROV (n =
73) and commercial diver (n = 9) video recordings
spanning 1998–2019 globally. Data were gathered
directly from industrial partners (n = 36) and the public
domain (YouTube; n = 46) to provide an account of
marine megafauna presence and potential feeding
behavior in the near-visible vicinity of subsea
anthropogenic structures.
Authors: Tomasz Wolski, Bernard Wisniewski
Fluctuating sea levels are an important element of
hydrodynamic processes that occur in coastal regions.
Extreme sea levels can stimulate currents, sea abrasion,
and the accumulation of sedimentary material in
various coastal sections.
The objective of this study was to examine the
geographical diversity of extreme sea levels along the
entire Baltic Sea coast based on hourly sea levels from
37 tide gauges between 1960 and 2010. In this study,
8 Baltic Sea sub-basins (water regions) with similar sea
level fluctuation patterns were identified using cluster
analysis.
