Fecal pollution in the coastal marine environments was assessed at eleven sampling locations along the Georgia coast and Trinidad, and nine sites from Puerto-Rico. Membrane filtration (EPA method 1604 and method 1600) was utilized for Escherichia coli and enterococci enumeration at each location. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) amplification of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene was used to determine the presence of the Helicobacter pylori in marine samples. There was no significant correlation between the levels of E. coli, enterococci and H. pylori in these water samples. H. pylori was detected at four of the 31 locations sampled; Oak Grove Island and Village Creek Landing in Georgia, Maracas river in Trinidad, and Ceiba Creek in Puerto Rico. The study confirms the potential public health risk to humans due to the widespread distribution of H. pylori in subtropical and tropical costal marine waters.

The present study was conduced to investigate the tolerance limits of Spartina argentinensis, which occurs in inland marshes of the Chaco-Pampean regions of Argentina, to diesel-contaminated soil. A glasshouse experiment was designed to investigate the effect of diesel fuel from 0% to 3% on growth and photosynthetic apparatus of S. densiflora by measuring gas exchange and photosynthetic pigments. We also performed chemical analysis of plant samples, and determined mycorrhizal index. Tiller and root biomasses declined with increasing diesel fuel concentration, as well as photosynthetic rate (A). Reductions in A could be accounted for by non-stomatal limitations. Mycorrhizal roots of S. argentinensis were reduced by the presence of diesel fuel, but did not affect its nutritional status; in fact, most element concentrations increased with diesel contamination. Despite the negative effect of diesel-contaminated soil, S. argentinensis continued growing, which could be useful management options for phytorremediation of diesel-contaminated soils.

Identifying the baseline or natural state of an ecosystem is a critical step in effective conservation and restoration. Like most marine ecosystems, coral reefs are being degraded by human activities: corals and fish have declined in abundance and seaweeds, or macroalgae, have become more prevalent. The challenge for resource managers is to reverse these trends, but by how much? Based on surveys of Caribbean reefs in the 1970s, some reef scientists believe that the average cover of seaweed was very low in the natural state: perhaps less than 3%. On the other hand, evidence from remote Pacific reefs, ecological theory, and impacts of over-harvesting in other systems all suggest that, historically, macroalgal biomass may have been higher than assumed. Uncertainties about the natural state of coral reefs illustrate the difficulty of determining the baseline condition of even well studied systems.

Over 1.3 billion people live on tropical coasts, primarily in developing countries. Many depend on adjacent coastal seas for food, and livelihoods. We show how trends in demography and in several local and global anthropogenic stressors are progressively degrading capacity of coastal waters to sustain these people. Far more effective approaches to environmental management are needed if the loss in provision of ecosystem goods and services is to be stemmed. We propose expanded use of marine spatial planning as a framework for more effective, pragmatic management based on ocean zones to accommodate conflicting uses. This would force the holistic, regional-scale reconciliation of food security, livelihoods, and conservation that is needed. Transforming how countries manage coastal resources will require major change in policy and politics, implemented with sufficient flexibility to accommodate societal variations. Achieving this change is a major challenge – one that affects the lives of one fifth of humanity.

The objectives of this study were to measure exposure to dust in the small bakery shops, to define the determinants of occupational asthma, and to propose control measures for this. The study included bakery workers of one hundred bakeries (the cases; n=200, the controls; n=20). Their individual information was obtained by a simple questionnaire based on “Ear–Nose–Throat” (ENT) work–related symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness and irritations. Subjects were considered as “possible occupational asthma cases”. Medical visit was carried out to complete clinical and lung function investigations for these subjects. The mean flour dust concentration in the current study was 28mg/m3. Fifty six of bakery workers had work related symptoms significantly higher than those in controls. The spirometric results illustrated that the workers with experience of less than five years are not affected as there was no significant difference between exposed cases and controls in mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) or forced vital capacity (FVC) percent determined. But workers with experience of five years or more showed significantly lower mean FEV1 and FVC percent predicted when compared with controls. The results of lung function test for subjects demonstrated that the flour dust pollution adversely affects on main lung function parameters, such as FVC and FEV1. This study confirms that the risk of pulmonary disease among flour dust exposed workers is higher than the unexposed control subjects.

Ambient measurements of elemental species concentrations were made using an online elemental monitor at an air pollution monitoring station in Gwangju, Korea to evaluate the performance of the monitor for near–real time PM2.5 elemental monitoring and identify possible sources of the observed elements. This study also demonstrates the utility of integrating hourly elemental data with the meteorological data to better understand the sources of elements. Good agreement between the online and filter–based measurements was obtained for the elements studied, with an R2 of 0.73–0.97 and regression slopes of 0.84–2.37, suggesting the potential use of the online monitor to observe temporal variations in anthropogenic aerosol particles. Atmospheric element concentration levels studied were 2–20 times greater than their background levels when pollution plumes coming from industrial areas had impacted the site. Examination of the elements data revealed several short spikes of elements that are associated with local industrial emissions and road dusts. For the haze episodes observed over the study period, the element K was significantly influenced by biomass burning emissions with some impacts from soil dusts and industrial activities. Based on the wind direction and wind speed data, As/Se, Se/SO42−, and correlations among Se, As, Pb, SO2, and SO42−, it is suggested that the observed As and Se were significantly impacted by local anthropogenic sources and long–range transport of aerosols, rather than local coal combustion or coke emissions. Conditional probability functions were applied to identify likely local emission source locations of the elements observed at the site, indicating that the elements contributions were from the southwest and northeast directions, where two industrial areas and an express highway are located. Results from principal component analysis indicate that the observed concentrations of the element species were likely attributed to road dust/local industrial emissions, oil combustion, and metal processing.

Temperature changes due to climate change and seasonal fluctuation can have profound implications on chemical toxicity to marine organisms. Through a comprehensive meta-analysis by comparing median lethal or effect concentration data of six chemicals for various saltwater species obtained at different temperatures, we reveal that the chemical toxicity generally follows two different models: (1) it increases with increasing temperature and (2) it is the lowest at an optimal temperature and increases with increasing or decreasing temperature from the optimal temperature. Such observations are further supported by temperature-dependent hazardous concentration 10% (HC10) values derived from species sensitivity distributions which are constructed using the acute toxicity data generated at different temperatures. Considering these two models and natural variations of seawater temperature, we can scientifically assess whether applying an assessment factor (e.g. 10) to modify water quality guidelines of the chemicals can adequately protect marine ecosystems in tropics, subtropics and temperate regions, respectively.

Dredged material is a potential resource for beneficial use for create/improve subtidal habitats. In a northwestern Adriatic lagoon, dredged sand was placed in inner areas with the management objective of improving the characteristics of the muddy areas being recharged. With this study we investigated the recolonization dynamics of benthic communities following the placement of dredged sand in a microtidal lagoon. The disposal of dredged sand had an immediate and negative effect on resident fauna. After an initial reduction, benthic communities followed different recovery pathways. One year after disposal, we recorded an almost complete recovery of the benthic invertebrates in terms of univariate parameters. Despite multivariate analyses still showed significantly different community structures, the trajectories of recovery for disposal areas converged towards the same basin of attraction of control areas. The ecological quality of sites, assessed with benthic indices, did not improve, thus no new beneficial habitat was created for macrobenthos.

Cystoseira amentacea is a Mediterranean endemic alga thriving on very shallow rocky substrates. It has been considered as a threatened species, having experienced a steady decline and is therefore protected by international conventions. The historical distribution of the species has been assessed along the French Mediterranean coast, on the basis of 467 articles and herbarium vouchers. We have produced an accurate map of its current distribution and abundance along 1832km of coastline, through in situ surveys. C. amentacea was observed along 1125km of shoreline, including 33% of almost continuous or continuous belt. In most of its range, there is no evidence of loss, except in 4 areas of Provence, French Riviera and Corsica. A significant relation was found between the absence or low abundance of C. amentacea and the vicinity of ports and large sewage outfalls. The status of conservation of the species should therefore be reassessed.

In this study composition of marine debris and their blocking potential on the selectivity grid systems deployed on demersal trawls were investigated in the north eastern Mediterranean. For this, a total of 132hauls were examined in two fishing season between 20 September 2010 and 19 February 2012. Results showed that plastic items were the most abundant debris (73% in terms of weight) and they were followed by metals (10%). Because of plastics and packing debris, it is highly probable that grids may have been blocked in 85% of trawl hauls. The bathymetric and geographical variability in the quantity of debris were evaluated, and concluded that particularly in some areas where direction of currents and bottom topography favor deposition, such devices may easily be rendered ineffective by the plastics and packing debris in particular. To solve this problem, several solution proposals are submitted.