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Chemical Responses (chemical + response)
Selected AbstractsMouse lymphoma thymidine kinase gene mutation assay: Follow-up meeting of the international workshop on Genotoxicity testing,Aberdeen, Scotland, 2003,Assay acceptance criteria, positive controls, and data evaluation,ENVIRONMENTAL AND MOLECULAR MUTAGENESIS, Issue 1 2006Martha M. Moore Abstract The Mouse Lymphoma Assay (MLA) Workgroup of the International Workshop on Genotoxicity Testing (IWGT), comprised of experts from Japan, Europe, and the United States, met on August 29, 2003, in Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom. This meeting of the MLA Workgroup was devoted to reaching a consensus on the appropriate approach to data evaluation and on acceptance criteria for both the positive and negative/vehicle controls. The Workgroup reached consensus on the acceptance criteria for both the agar and microwell versions of the MLA. Recommendations include acceptable ranges for mutant frequency, cloning efficiency, and suspension growth of the negative/vehicle controls and on criteria to define an acceptable positive control response. The recommendation for the determination of a positive/negative test chemical response includes both the requirement that the response exceeds a defined value [the global evaluation factor (GEF)] and that there also be a positive dose,response (evaluated by an appropriate statistical method). Environ. Mol. Mutagen., 2006. Published 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Ozone exposure over two growing seasons alters root-to-shoot ratio and chemical composition of birch (Betula pendula Roth)GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 10 2003K. Yamaji Abstract Physiological and chemical responses of 17 birch (Betula pendula Roth) clones to 1.5,1.7 × ambient ozone were studied in an open-field experiment over two growing seasons. The saplings were studied for growth, foliar visible injuries, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and chlorophyll, carotenoid, Rubisco, total soluble protein, macronutrient and phenolic concentrations in leaves. Elevated ozone resulted in growth enhancement, changes in shoot-to-root (s/r) ratio, visible foliar injuries, reduced stomatal conductance, lower late-season net photosynthesis, foliar nutrient imbalance, changes in phenolic composition, and reductions in pigment, Rubisco and soluble protein contents indicating accelerated leaf senescence. Majority of clones responded to ozone by changing C allocation towards roots, by stomatal closure (reduced ozone uptake), and by investment in low-cost foliar antioxidants to avoid and tolerate ozone stress. A third of clones, showing increased s/r ratio, relied on inducible efficient high-cost antioxidants, and enhanced leaf production to compensate ozone-caused decline in leaf-level net photosynthesis. However, the best ozone tolerance was found in two s/r ratio-unaffected clones showing a high constitutive amount of total phenolics, investment in low-cost antioxidants and N distribution to leaves, and lower stomatal conductance under ozone stress. The results highlight the importance of phenolic compounds in ozone defence mechanisms in the birch population. Depending on the genotype, ozone detoxification was improved by an increase in either efficient high-cost or less efficient low-cost antioxidative phenolics, with close connections to whole-plant physiology. [source] Baseflow and peakflow chemical responses to experimental applications of ammonium sulphate to forested watersheds in north-central West Virginia, USA,HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 12 2002Pamela J. Edwards Abstract Stream water was analysed to determine how induced watershed acidification changed the chemistry of peakflow and baseflow and to compare the relative timing of these changes. Two watersheds in north-central West Virginia, WS3 and WS9, were subjected to three applications of ammonium sulphate fertilizer per year to induce acidification. A third watershed, WS4, was the control. Samples were collected for 8 years from WS9 and for 9 years from WS3. Prior to analyses, concentration data were flow adjusted, and the influence of natural background changes was removed by accounting for the chemical responses measured from WS4. This yielded residual values that were evaluated using robust locally weighted regression and Mann,Kendall tests. On WS3, analyte responses during baseflow and peakflow were similar, although peakflow responses occurred soon after the first treatment whereas baseflow responses lagged 1,2 years. This lag in baseflow responses corresponded well with the mean transit time of baseflow on WS3. Anion adsorption on WS3 apparently delayed increases in SO4 leaching, but resulted in enhanced early leaching losses of Cl and NO3. Leaching of Ca and Mg was strongly tied, both by timing and stoichiometrically, to NO3 and SO4 leaching. F -factors for WS3 baseflow and peakflow indicated that the catchment was insensitive to acid neutralizing capacity reductions both before and during treatment, although NO3 played a large role in reducing the treatment period F -factor. By contrast, the addition of fertilizer to WS9 created an acid sensitive system in both baseflow and peakflow. On WS9, baseflow and peakflow responses also were similar to each other, but there was no time lag after treatment for baseflow. Changes in concentrations generally were not as great on WS9 as on WS3, and several ions showed no significant changes, particularly for peakflow. The lesser response to treatment on WS9 is attributed to the past abusive farming and site preparation before larch planting that resulted in poor soil fertility, erosion, and consequently, physical and chemical similarities between upper and lower soil layers. Even with fertilizer-induced NO3 and SO4 leaching increases, base cations were in low supplies and, therefore, unavailable to leach via charge pairing. The absence of a time lag in treatment responses for WS9 baseflow indicates that it has substantially different flow paths than WS3. The different hydrologies on these nearby watersheds illustrates the importance of understanding watershed hydrology when establishing a monitoring programme to detect ecosystem change. Published in 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Response of quaking aspen genotypes to enriched CO2: foliar chemistry and tussock moth performanceAGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2002Richard L. Lindroth Abstract 1Genetic variation in the phytochemical responses of plants to CO2 enrichment is likely to alter trophic dynamics, and to shift intraspecific selection pressures on plant populations. We evaluated the independent and interactive effects of atmospheric CO2 and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) genotype on chemical composition of foliage and performance of the whitemarked tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma J. E. Sm.). 2This research was conducted at the Aspen FACE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment) site in northern Wisconsin, U.S.A. Leaf samples were collected periodically from each of three genetically variable aspen genotypes growing under ambient and elevated CO2, and analysed for levels of primary and secondary metabolites. Tussock moth larvae were reared in situ on experimental trees, and development times and pupal masses were recorded. 3Foliar chemical composition varied among aspen genotypes and in response to CO2 enrichment. However, chemical responses of trees to elevated CO2 were generally consistent across genotypes. 4Larval development times varied among host genotypes and increased slightly for insects on high-CO2 plants. Enriched CO2 tended to reduce insect pupal masses, particularly for females on one of the three aspen genotypes. 5CO2 × genotype interactions observed for plant chemistry and insect performance in this study with a small number of genotypes are probably too few, and too weak, to shift selection pressures in aspen populations. These results differ, however, from earlier work in which more substantial CO2 × genotype interactions were observed for plant chemistry. [source] Global Change Effects on Plant Chemical Defenses against Insect HerbivoresJOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 11 2008M. Gabriela Bidart-Bouzat Abstract This review focuses on individual effects of major global change factors, such as elevated CO2, O3, UV light and temperature, on plant secondary chemistry. These secondary metabolites are well-known for their role in plant defense against insect herbivory. Global change effects on secondary chemicals appear to be plant species-specific and dependent on the chemical type. Even though plant chemical responses induced by these factors are highly variable, there seems to be some specificity in the response to different environmental stressors. For example, even though the production of phenolic compounds is enhanced by both elevated CO2 and UV light levels, the latter appears to primarily increase the concentrations of flavonoids. Likewise, specific phenolic metabolites seem to be induced by O3 but not by other factors, and an increase in volatile organic compounds has been particularly detected under elevated temperature. More information is needed regarding how global change factors influence inducibility of plant chemical defenses as well as how their indirect and direct effects impact insect performance and behavior, herbivory rates and pathogen attack. This knowledge is crucial to better understand how plants and their associated natural enemies will be affected in future changing environments. [source] Consequences of sequential attack for resistance to herbivores when plants have specific induced responsesOIKOS, Issue 8 2007D. V. Viswanathan Plants in nature are attacked sequentially by herbivores, and theory predicts that herbivore-specific responses allow plants to tailor their defenses. We present a novel field test of this hypothesis, and find that specific responses of Solanum dulcamara lead to season-long consequences for two naturally colonizing herbivores, irrespective of the second herbivore to attack plants. This result indicates that responses induced by the initial herbivore made plants less responsive to subsequent attack. We show that initial herbivory by flea beetles and tortoise beetles induce distinct plant chemical responses. Initial herbivory by flea beetles lowered the occurrence of conspecifics and tortoise beetles relative to controls. Conversely, initial herbivory by tortoise beetles did not influence future herbivory. Remarkably, the experimentally imposed second herbivore to feed on plants did not modify consequences (induced resistance or lack thereof) of the first attacker. Induction of plant chemical responses was consistent with these ecological effects; i.e. the second herbivore did not modify the plant's initial induced response. Thus, canalization of the plant resistance phenotype may constrain defensive responses in a rapidly changing environment. [source] |