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High Commercial Value (high + commercial_value)
Selected AbstractsEffects of exposure to oxamyl, carbofuran, dichlorvos, and lindane on acetylcholinesterase activity in the gills of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigasENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Gerardo A. Anguiano Abstract Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity has been used to test the exposure of mollusk bivalves to pesticides and other pollutants. The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas is a species with a worldwide distribution, and it has a high commercial value. The use of this species as a bioindicator in the marine environment, and the use of measurements of AChE activity in tissues of C. gigas require prior evaluation of organisms exposed to several toxic compounds in the laboratory. In our study, the effects of pesticides on AChE activity in the gills and mantle tissues of C. gigas were analyzed by exposing animals to organophosphate (dichlorvos), carbamate (carbofuran and oxamyl), and organochlorine (lindane) pesticides. Adult Pacific oysters were exposed to several concentrations (0.1,200 ,M) of dichlorvos, carbofuran, and oxamyl for 96 h, and lindane (1.0 and 2.5 ,M) was applied for 12 days. In gill tissues, all pesticides analyzed caused a decrease in AChE activity when compared to the control unexposed group. The mean inhibition concentration (IC50) values were determined for dichlorvos, carbofuran, and oxamyl pesticides. Dichlorvos had the highest toxic effect, with an IC50 of 1.08 ,M; lesser effects were caused by oxamyl and carbofuran, with IC50s of 1.67 and 3.03 ,M, respectively. This study reports the effects of pesticides with several chemical structures and validates measurement of AChE activity in the gill tissues of C. gigas for use in environmental evaluations or food quality tests. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 25: 327,332, 2010. [source] Extinction vulnerability in marine populationsFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 1 2003Nicholas K Dulvy Abstract Human impacts on the world's oceans have been substantial, leading to concerns about the extinction of marine taxa. We have compiled 133 local, regional and global extinctions of marine populations. There is typically a 53-year lag between the last sighting of an organism and the reported date of the extinction at whatever scale this has occurred. Most disappearances (80%) were detected using indirect historical comparative methods, which suggests that marine extinctions may have been underestimated because of low-detection power. Exploitation caused most marine losses at various scales (55%), followed closely by habitat loss (37%), while the remainder were linked to invasive species, climate change, pollution and disease. Several perceptions concerning the vulnerability of marine organisms appear to be too general and insufficiently conservative. Marine species cannot be considered less vulnerable on the basis of biological attributes such as high fecundity or large-scale dispersal characteristics. For commercially exploited species, it is often argued that economic extinction of exploited populations will occur before biological extinction, but this is not the case for non-target species caught in multispecies fisheries or species with high commercial value, especially if this value increases as species become rare. The perceived high potential for recovery, high variability and low extinction vulnerability of fish populations have been invoked to avoid listing commercial species of fishes under international threat criteria. However, we need to learn more about recovery, which may be hampered by negative population growth at small population sizes (Allee effect or depensation) or ecosystem shifts, as well as about spatial dynamics and connectivity of subpopulations before we can truly understand the nature of responses to severe depletions. The evidence suggests that fish populations do not fluctuate more than those of mammals, birds and butterflies, and that fishes may exhibit vulnerability similar to mammals, birds and butterflies. There is an urgent need for improved methods of detecting marine extinctions at various spatial scales, and for predicting the vulnerability of species. [source] Natural regeneration and population dynamics of the tree Afzelia quanzensis in woodlands in Southern AfricaAFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Karin Gerhardt Abstract The logging of tree species of high commercial value is increasing throughout the African continent, yet the ecology of these species is generally poorly known. We studied the regeneration pattern and size class distribution of Afzelia quanzensis populations in northern South Africa over a 5-year period. Recruitment was low as the annual seedling mortality was >65%. Seedlings were located under the canopy and were affected by drought and browsing. The adults were scattered or were in a clump-dispersed pattern, which would result in higher recruitment of offspring near parents. Individuals of 0,10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) were few, while there were 32 trees ha,1 at >10 cm DBH with an annual mortality of 0.8%. Annual diameter increments varied between 0.06 and 0.28 cm. It appears that the transition from the sapling into the juvenile stage could be a bottleneck in the regeneration of the species. A longer study, including more rainfall cycles, may reveal other patterns as dry and wet years have different impacts on dynamics. Résumé La coupe d'espèces d'arbres de grande valeur commerciale augmente dans tout le continent africain, pourtant l'écologie de ces espèces est généralement mal connue. Nous avons étudié le schéma de régénération et la distribution des classes d'âge des populations d'Afzelia quanzensis dans le nord de l'Afrique du Sud pendant cinq ans. Le recrutement était faible car la mortalité annuelle des jeunes plants était de plus de 65%. Les jeunes plans se trouvaient sous la canopée et étaient affectés par la sécheresse et par le broutage des animaux. Les adultes étaient dispersés ou se trouvaient en un schéma en bosquet, qui résulte en un plus fort recrutement de la progéniture près des parents. Les individus de 0,10 cm DBH étaient rares, alors qu'il y avait32 arbres ha,1à >10 cm DBH, avec une mortalité annuelle de 0,8%. L'incrément annuel du diamètre variait entre 0,06 et 0,28 cm. Il semble que la transition entre le stade de jeune arbre et celui de juvénile pourrait bien constituer un étranglement dans la régénération de l'espèce. Une étude plus longue, comprenant plus de cycles de pluies, pourrait révéler un autre schéma étant donné que les années sèches et humides ont des impacts différents sur cette dynamique. [source] Characterization of microsatellite loci for the redbanded seabream, Pagrus auriga (Teleostei, Sparidae)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 2 2006MARIAN PONCE Abstract The redbanded seabream Pagrus auriga (Teleostei, Sparidae) is a species of a high commercial value in Spain. There is currently little information available about the genetic characteristics of both wild and cultured populations. In this survey, we have developed eight polymorphic microsatellites for the redbanded seabream using an enriched genome library protocol. All of them were polymorphic in the 64 individuals tested, 22 of which were wild specimens, and 42 were individuals from a captive reproductive broodstock. These markers can potentially be useful tools for use in population genetic studies. [source] Osmoregulation, growth and moulting cycles of the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at different salinitiesAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 9 2010Do Thi Thanh Huong Abstract The giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, is a species with a high commercial value in aquaculture. Two experiments were performed to determine the effects of salinities on the osmoregulation, growth and molting cycles of M. rosenbergii during growout. The first experiment was designed to determine whether these animals are capable of adapting to the changes in salinity seen in salinity intrusions in tropical deltas, with an incremental increase in salinity of 3, per day from 0, to 30, Haemolymph osmolality was rapidly regulated up to salinities of 15, , whereas animals conformed at higher salinities. The second experiment determined the growth, moulting cycle, osmolality, muscle water content and mortality during a 4-month experiment at 0,, 15, or 25, salinity. The weight gains in 0, and 15, were not significantly different and were comparable to the growth rates achieved in production farms with body mass increases of 2.6 and 2.3-fold their initial body mass, respectively, after 4 months. The 25, group suffered from low growth, high mortality and a significantly lower moulting frequency. These data show that this species can be reared in brackish water up to 15,, allowing for farming in the large areas impacted by salt water intrusions in tropical deltas. [source] Activities of digestive enzymes during embryonic development in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Decapoda)AQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 12 2009Ying Dai Abstract The red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii (Girard), has become an important freshwater species for Chinese inland aquaculture because of its high commercial value and consumer demand. The aim of this study was to gather information about the activity of digestive enzymes at different embryonic stages of P. clarkii in order to increase our knowledge about digestive physiology and to guide technology for maternal culture so as to improve the hatching rate. Embryonic developmental stages were divided into six stages: I, fertilized egg; II, cleavage and blastula; III, gastrula; IV, egg nauplius; V, eye pigment forming; and VI, prepared for hatching. Pepsin-specific activity decreased significantly from stage I to stage IV. Although it increased at stage V, the activity level declined again before hatching. Both trypsin- and amylase-specific activity levels dramatically increased in the middle stages of embryogenesis, whereas at the other embryonic stages the activities of these two digestive enzymes were much lower. Lipase-specific activity exhibited a low level during all embryonic stages. The pattern of digestive enzyme activity was related to organogenesis and the utilization of yolk proteins at different embryonic stages. [source] | |||||||||||||