Potential transfer of aquatic organisms via ballast water with a particular focus on harmful and non-indigenous species: A survey from Adriatic ports.

Ballast water discharges may cause negative impacts to aquatic ecosystems, human health and economic activities by the introduction of potentially harmful species. Fifty untreated ballast water tanks, ten in each port, were sampled in four Adriatic Italian ports and one Slovenian port. Salinity, temperature and fluorescence were measured on board. Faecal indicator bacteria (FIB), phyto- and zooplankton were qualitatively and quantitatively determined to identify the species assemblage arriving in ballast water. FIB exceeded the convention standard limits in 12% of the sampled tanks. Vibrio cholerae was not detected. The number of viable organisms in the size groups (minimum dimension) <50 and ≥10 µm and ≥50 µm resulted above the abundances required from the Ballast Water Management Convention in 55 and 86% of the samples, respectively. This is not surprising as unmanaged ballast waters were sampled. Some potentially toxic and non-indigenous species were observed in both phyto- and zooplankton assemblages.

Detecting the occurrence of indigenous and non-indigenous megafauna through fishermen knowledge: A complementary tool to coastal and port surveys.

Marine bioinvasions and other rapid biodiversity changes require today integrating existing monitoring tools with other complementary detection strategies to provide a more efficient management. Here we explored the efficacy of fishermen observations and traditional port surveys to effectively track the occurrence of both indigenous and non-indigenous megafauna in the Adriatic Sea. This consisted mainly of mobile taxa such as fishes, crustaceans and molluscs. Port surveys using traps and nets within 10 major Adriatic harbours, were compared with the information obtained from 153 interviews with local fishermen. Information gathered by traps and nets varied significantly and generally resulted of limited efficacy in exotic species detection. Interviews allowed tracking the occurrence of new species through time and space, providing complementary knowledge at the low cost. This combined approach improves our capability of being informed on the arrival of species of different origin, providing a more rational, improved basis for environmental management and decision making.

Ballast water management system: Assessment of chemical quality status of several ports in Adriatic Sea.

Oxidant treatment of ballast water (BW) is commonly used in BW systems in order to minimize the transport of alien species. The release of disinfection by-products (DBPs) associated to the treatment of BW and cross-contamination of butyltin (BT) compounds through BW discharge is a topic of environmental concern. A chemical port baseline survey has been conducted in seven ports of the Adriatic Sea. Analysis have been performed on transplanted mussels, surface sediment, seawater, BW. Results showed an evidence of BT contamination, particularly in sediments, probably related to their illegal usage or to intensive shipping activities. Therefore, BW may act as a vector and contribute to re-buildup of BT contamination in the coastal regions. A baseline set of data concerning DBPs is provided, showing the preferential distribution of these compounds in the marine environment that will be useful for future considerations on monitoring and assessment of chemical contamination associated with BW.

Adaptation of the fish juvenile growth test (OECD TG 215, 2000) to the marine species Dicentrarchus labrax.

The OECD TG 215 method (2000) (C.14 method of EC Regulation 440/2008) was developed on the rainbow trout (Oncorynchus mykiss) to assess chronic toxicity (28d) of chemicals on fish juveniles. It contemplates to use other well documented species identifying suitable conditions to evaluate their growth. OECD proposes the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, L. 1758) as Mediterranean species among vertebrates recommended in the OECD guidelines for the toxicity testing of chemicals. In this context, our study is aimed to proposing the adaptation of the growth test (OECD TG 215, 2000) to D. labrax. For this purpose toxicity tests were performed with sodium dodecyl sulfate, a reference toxicant commonly used in fish toxicity assays. The main aspects of the testing procedure were reviewed: fish size (weight), environmental conditions, dilution water type, experimental design, loading rate and stocking density, feeding (food type and ration), test validity criteria. The experience gained from growth tests with the sea bass allows to promote its inclusion among the species to be used for the C.14 method.

Molecular cloning and antiserum development of cyclin box in the brown tide alga Aureococcus anophagefferens.

Cyclins can be useful cell cycle markers for growth rate studies on harmful algal blooms. In this study, a gene fragment corresponding to cyclin box was cloned for the brown tide alga Aureococcus anophagefferens. This algal gene fragment, designated as Btcycl1, was most similar to cyclin B. Oligopeptides based on the deduced amino acid sequence were synthesized and used to raise an antiserum that reacted on Western blots with a protein of about 63 kDa, the same size as cyclin B in other organisms. The cyclin B-like protein recognized by this antiserum, and the messenger RNA amplified using the primers, were more abundant in exponential cultures and decreased markedly in stationary cultures. This protein also appeared to be cell cycle dependent. Immunofluorescence labeling showed that this antiserum specifically stained a protein in Aureococcus cells and had no cross-reaction with bacteria that were present in the algal culture. The Btcycl1 sequence and the antiserum will provide a useful tool for studies on regulation of in situ growth rate for this brown tide alga.