Contaminant Exposure and Biomarker Response in Embryos of Black-crowned Night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) Nesting near Lake Calumet, Illinois

The number of active black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) nesting colonies in Illinois has declined significantly over the past century. Habitat loss/degradation and other factors such as exposure to environmental contaminants and competition for nest sites at established colonies may have contributed to this decline. In this study, we examined recent trends in population levels of Black-crowned Night-Herons nesting at wetlands associated with Lake Calumet in southeastern Chicago, Illinois. The number of black-crowned night herons nesting annually at these wetlands has fluctuated widely over the last two decades. Immigration of herons from riverine colonies may have driven population increases during the mid-1980s and early 1990s. However, this population has remained relatively stable at between 300 and 400 pairs during 1997–2003.

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Organochlorine Contaminant Exposure and Reproductive Success of Black-Crowned Night-Herons ( Nycticorax nycticorax ) Nesting inBaltimore Harbor, Maryland

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology ◽

10.1007/s002440010222 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 73-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

B. A. Rattner, P. C. McGowan, J. S. Ha

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Contaminant Exposure ◽

Nycticorax Nycticorax ◽

Organochlorine Contaminant

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Evaluation of Multivariate Biomarker Indexes Application in Ecotoxicity Tests with Marine Diatoms Exposed to Emerging Contaminants

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11093878 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 3878

Author(s):

Vanessa Leal Pires ◽

Sara C. Novais ◽

Marco F. L. Lemos ◽

Vanessa F. Fonseca ◽

Bernardo Duarte

Keyword(s):

Emerging Contaminants ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Population Level ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Concentration Gradients ◽

Contaminant Exposure ◽

Assessment Index ◽

Biomarker Response ◽

Ecotoxicity Tests

Worldwide anthropogenic activities result in the production and release of potentially damaging toxic pollutants into ecosystems, thereby jeopardizing their health and continuity. Research studies and biomonitoring programs attend to this emerging problematic by applying and developing statistically relevant indexes that integrate complex biomarker response data to provide a holistic approach, reflecting toxically induced alterations at the organism or population level. Ultimately, indexes allow simple result communications, enhancing policy makers understanding, and contributing to better resource and environmental managing policies. In this study three indexes, the integrated biomarker response index (IBR), the bioeffects assessment index (BAI) and principal components analysis (PCA), were evaluated for their sensitivity in revealing toxically induced stress patterns in cells of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum under contaminant exposure. The set of biomarkers selected for index construction comprised the anti-oxidant enzymes APX, CAT and SOD, and the lipid peroxidation marker TBARS. Several significant correlations with the applied concentration gradients were noticed for all indexes, although IBR excelled for its reliability in delivering statistically significant dose-response patterns for four out of the five tested compounds.

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Evaluation of Multivariate Biomarker Indexes Application in Ecotoxicity Tests with Marine Diatoms Exposed to Emerging Contaminants

10.20944/preprints202103.0735.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vanessa Leal Pires ◽

Sara C. Novais ◽

Marco F.L. Lemos ◽

Vanessa F. Fonseca ◽

Bernardo Duarte

Keyword(s):

Emerging Contaminants ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Population Level ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Concentration Gradients ◽

Contaminant Exposure ◽

Assessment Index ◽

Biomarker Response ◽

Ecotoxicity Tests

Worldwide anthropogenic activities result in the production and release of poten-tially damaging toxic pollutants into ecosystems, thereby jeopardizing their health and continuity. Research studies and biomonitoring programs attend to this emerging problematic by applying and developing statistically relevant indexes that integrate complex biomarker response data to provide an holistic approach reflecting toxically induced alterations at the organism’s or population level. Ultimately, indexes allow simple result communication, enhancing policy makers understanding, so contributing for better resource and environmental managing policies. In this study three indexes , the Integrated Biomarker Response index (IBR), the Bioeffects Assessment Index (BAI) and the Principal Components Analysis (PCA), were evaluated for their sensitivity in revealing toxically induced stress patterns in cells of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum under contaminant exposure. The set of biomarkers selected for index construction comprise the anti-oxidant enzymes APX, CAT and SOD, and the lipid peroxidation marker TBARS. Several significant inverse correlations with the concentration gradients applied, , was noticed for all indexes, though, the IBR excels for its reliability in delivering statistically significant dose-response patterns for four out of the five compounds tested.

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Integrated Biomarker Response for Environmental Assessment Using the Gastropod Phorcus turbinatus along the Northern and the Northeastern Coasts of Tunisia

Life ◽

10.3390/life11060529 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 529

Author(s):

Wafa Boulajfene ◽

Montassar Lasram ◽

Sabiha Zouari-Tlig

Keyword(s):

Condition Factor ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Biological Response ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

Chemical Pollution ◽

Glutathione S Transferase ◽

Biological Responses ◽

Biomarker Response ◽

Polycyclic Aromatic ◽

Bio Monitoring

This work aims to assess the spatial and temporal variations of four biomarkers activities and to integrate their biological responses in a battery using the gastropod Phorcus turbinatus. The monitoring was carried out during the period between April 2014 and January 2015 at six stations along the northern and the northeastern coasts of Tunisia. The Fulton condition factor was estimated and the activities of catalase, acetylcholinesterase and glutathione-S-transferase were evaluated by spectrophotometry. A multi-biomarker battery approach was used to assess ecosystems’ condition and to identify environmental impacts on the organisms. The results suggest that the enzymatic activities of CAT and GST depend especially on seasons. As for AChE activity, it was similar between seasons and stations. The values of the integrated biological response were maximal at Jarzouna in summer and at Sidi Daoued in winter, indicating the presence of severe stressors suffered by the organisms. This perturbation may be due to the enrichment of the waters by xenobiotics, namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, insecticides, phosphate wastes, PCBs and pesticides. Thus, P. turbinatus seems to be a good bioindicator of chemical pollution, constituting an adequate tool for a bio-monitoring program.

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Toxicity Evaluation of Three Imidazolium-based ionic liquids ([C6mim]R) on Vicia faba Seedlings Using an integrated biomarker response (IBR) index

Chemosphere ◽

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124919 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 240 ◽

pp. 124919 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Yaqi Xu ◽

Jinhua Wang ◽

Zhongkun Du ◽

Bing Li ◽

Albert Juhasz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ionic Liquids ◽

Vicia Faba ◽

Toxicity Evaluation ◽

Integrated Biomarker Response ◽

Biomarker Response

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Antimicrobial Effects of Potential Probiotics of Bacillus spp. Isolated from Human Microbiota: In Vitro and In Silico Methods

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms9081615 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 1615

Author(s):

Alfonso Torres-Sánchez ◽

Jesús Pardo-Cacho ◽

Ana López-Moreno ◽

Ángel Ruiz-Moreno ◽

Klara Cerk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

In Silico ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Bacillus Species ◽

Human Gut ◽

Contaminant Exposure ◽

Antimicrobial Effects ◽

Human Gut Microbiota ◽

Bacillus Spp ◽

In Silico Methods

The variable taxa components of human gut microbiota seem to have an enormous biotechnological potential that is not yet well explored. To investigate the usefulness and applications of its biocompounds and/or bioactive substances would have a dual impact, allowing us to better understand the ecology of these microbiota consortia and to obtain resources for extended uses. Our research team has obtained a catalogue of isolated and typified strains from microbiota showing resistance to dietary contaminants and obesogens. Special attention was paid to cultivable Bacillus species as potential next-generation probiotics (NGP) together with their antimicrobial production and ecological impacts. The objective of the present work focused on bioinformatic genome data mining and phenotypic analyses for antimicrobial production. In silico methods were applied over the phylogenetically closest type strain genomes of the microbiota Bacillus spp. isolates and standardized antimicrobial production procedures were used. The main results showed partial and complete gene identification and presence of polyketide (PK) clusters on the whole genome sequences (WGS) analysed. Moreover, specific antimicrobial effects against B. cereus, B. circulans, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas spp., and Salmonella spp. confirmed their capacity of antimicrobial production. In conclusion, Bacillus strains isolated from human gut microbiota and taxonomic group, resistant to Bisphenols as xenobiotics type endocrine disruptors, showed parallel PKS biosynthesis and a phenotypic antimicrobial effect. This could modulate the composition of human gut microbiota and therefore its functionalities, becoming a predominant group when high contaminant exposure conditions are present.

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