Estuarine and coastal transformation is as old as civilization yet has dramatically accelerated over the past 150 to 300 years. Reconstructed time lines, causes, and consequences of change in 12 once diverse and productive estuaries and coastal seas worldwide show similar patterns: Human impacts have depleted >90% of formerly important species, destroyed >65% of seagrass and wetland habitat, degraded water quality, and accelerated species invasions. Twentieth-century conservation efforts achieved partial recovery of upper trophic levels but have so far failed to restore former ecosystem structure and function. Our results provide detailed historical baselines and quantitative targets for ecosystem-based management and marine conservation.

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Depletion, Degradation, and Recovery Potential of Estuaries and Coastal Seas

 Many atmospheric chemicals occur in the gas phase as well as in liquid cloud droplets and aerosol particles Therefore, it is necessary to understand the distribution between the phases According to Henry's law, the equilibrium ratio between the abundances in the gas phase and in the aqueous phase is constant for a dilute solution Henry's law constants of trace gases of potential importance in environmental chemistry have been collected and converted into a uniform format The compilation contains 17 350 values of Henry's law constants for 4632 species, collected from 689 references It is also available at http://wwwhenrys-laworg 

/pdf/compilation-of-henry-s-law-constants-version-4-0-for-water-58il9q0ogv.pdf

Compilation of Henry's law constants (version 4.0) for water as solvent

Bioavailability, accumulation and effects of heavy metals in sediments with special reference to United Kingdom estuaries: a review

Trace metal behaviour in estuarine and riverine floodplain soils and sediments: A review

Organotin compounds are ubiquitous contaminants in the environment. The high biological activity of some compounds toward aquatic organisms lead to deleterious impacts in aquatic ecosystems. Here, the aquatic ecotoxicology of organotins is reviewed based on a multidisciplinary approach involving environmental chemical, toxicological, and ecological aspects. Basic results were obtained both with field and laboratory studies, and some of the most important recent results and conclusions are critically reviewed. The contamination of and fate in aquatic systems is reported and linked with effects at different levels of biological organization. Major emphasis is placed on the development of a concept of ecotoxicology that encompasses not only effect assessment alone, but also integrates environmental chemistry with aquatic toxicology. Thereby, the influence of speciation for bioavailability, basic modes of toxic action, and aquatic toxicity are discussed. This case study on organotins allows to a certain extent generalizations to ecotoxicology in general.

Ecotoxicology of organotin compounds.

Distribution of trace metals in the sediments and biota of Chesapeake Bay

Environmental toxicology: Acknowledgements

Hatchery reared larval striped bass, Morone saxatilis, 8-days-post-hatching were subjected to various feeding/starvation regimes over a period of 14 days.



Batches of larvae from each treatment were sampled over the 14-day period and subdivided for determination of notochord length and RNA:DNA ratio. The best growth was found in fully fed F1000 larvae (exposed to 1000 Artermia nauplii l−1), which reached 8.2 mm after 11 days and 9.6 mm after 14 days. Starved animals after 11 days had notochord lengths of 4.9 mm. Growth curves from feeding-delayed larvae indicated that animals fed after up to 5 days starvation were capable of complete recovery. F100 larvae (exposed to 100 Anemia nauplii 1−l) had a slower growth rate than F1000 larvae, reaching a notochord length of 7.3 mm after 14 days. RNA:DNA ratios over time closely followed notochord growth curves, with clear differences between starved, F100 and F1000 larvae being established after only 2 days. Equilibrium RNA:DNA ratios of 3.0 and 2.25 were established in F1000 and F100 larvae, respectively, 6.8 days after the beginning of the experiment. The average lag time between a change from the starved to the fed condition and a change in RNA:DNA ratio as determined by the divergence of the nucleic acid curve from the starved condition was 0.66 days.



In treatments where starvation followed various periods of feeding, larvae regressed in notochord length such that the final length at 14 days reflected the degree of feeding. RNA:DNA ratios in these animals again closely followed growth curves with a lag time of 0.81 days.



It was concluded that RNA:DNA ratios provided very accurate indices of growth in striped bass larvae which were highly sensitive to feeding status.

The effect of starvation on RNA: DNA ratios and growth of larval striped bass, Morone saxatalis

Adult intermoltGammarus pulex were exposed to a range of cadmium concentrations in an artificial stream water containing 20 mg calcium l−1. 96 hr and 48 hr LC-50 values obtained were 0.12 and 0.68 mg Cd l−1, respectively.

David A. Wright

Papers

Distribution of trace metals in the sediments and biota of Chesapeake Bay

Environmental toxicology: Acknowledgements

The effect of starvation on RNA: DNA ratios and growth of larval striped bass, Morone saxatalis

The effect of calcium on cadmium toxicity in the freshwater amphipod, Gammarus pulex (L.).

Unsubstituted polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments, clams, and clam worms from Chesapeake Bay