ALBERT

Description: Mineralogy includes thirteen chapters that discuss the methodology of specific mineralogical methods, the composition of minerals from different igneous rocks, and the composition of minerals from different sedimentary rocks.It contains detailed mineralogical studies from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Chapters present different scientific mineralogical methods and detailed descriptions of minerals from different magmatic and sedimentary rocks.

Description: Benzimidazole is a comprehensive survey of the known and new methods of benzimidazole synthesis, the spectral and theoretical aspects of existing benzimidazole derivatives, and the anticancer properties of a new class of benzimidazole derivatives. This book examines aspects and newer mechanisms of benzimidazoles containing heterocyclic moiety. Chapters report on anticancer properties of benzimidazole derivatives, novel methods of synthesis of benzimidazoles, versatile nature of the benzimidazoles, spectral and theoretical studies of benzimidazole derivatives, and medicinal importance and pharmacological aspects of benzimidazole derivatives.

Description: Green Chemistry - New Perspectives is at the frontiers of this continuously evolving interdisciplinary science, and publishes research that attempts to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical enterprise by developing a technology base that is inherently non-toxic to living things and the environment. The book covers all aspects of green chemistry, including chemical synthesis, nano synthesis, eco-friendly processes, biomass, extraction techniques, environmental remediation, and energy, making it a unique reference resource. This will continue to encourage scientists around the world to develop novel synthetic methods or improve the existing ones to circumvent some of the problems and favours all aspects of green chemistry. This book is intended for academia, professionals, scientists, as well as graduate and undergraduate students without any geographical limitations.

Description: This book consists of several selected chapters on important subjects in modern high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). The content addresses aspects related to both improvements in the mainstream HPLC/UPLC technology and utilization, as well as developments of exploratory new materials and equipment. The book presents useful details about the presented subjects as well as describes new applications and/or relevant case studies for each subject. It is addressed to a large audience of analytical chemists involved in separation science. Each chapter is authored by scientists with considerable field and academic experience.

Description: Recent Advances in Chemical Kinetics provides a comprehensive overview of several types of chemical reactions. It includes six chapters that discuss solvent catalysis, customized flow reactors, p-conjugation in kinetics, kinetics of autoxidation, molecular chameleon for cations and anions, and internal clocks of atoms.

Description: Redox reactions are involved in biochemistry, energy, corrosion, and much more. In both biology and electrochemistry, the redox reaction is complex and varied. For example, redox shuttles in supercapacitors show aspects of molecular electrochemistry applied to electrode porosity. In pseudocapacitors, the formalism associated with their electrochemical response requires investigation and formalism. Similarly, the simple definition of redox potential opens fundamental questions about its measurement in solutions without supporting salts. This book illustrates the variety of redox reactions in its examination of the importance of redox molecules in the development of new electrical energy storage devices.

Description: We are living in a critical time, both for humanity and the planet, which has led us to look for more sustainable formulas to interact with the environment. One of the important changes in the design and operation of chemical processes is the search for environmentally friendly technologies. Supercritical carbon dioxide has been revealed as a promising environmentally friendly solvent that is energy efficient, selective and capable of reducing waste, making it a promising alternative to conventional organic solvents. However, reliable and versatile mathematical models of phase equilibrium thermodynamics are needed for the use of supercritical carbon dioxide in process design and viability studies. This book reviews experimental procedures for obtaining high-pressure phase equilibria data and describes the phase diagrams of binary mixtures and some thermodynamic models capable of determining the conditions of phase equilibria at high pressures. These concepts are applied to the components of the transesterification reaction of rac-2-pentanol with a vinyl ester, which is important in the pharmaceutical industry because (S)-2-pentanol can be obtained as a reaction product. This product is a key intermediate in the synthesis of drugs against Alzheimer’s disease.

Description: In recent decades, artificial porous structures have attracted increasing enthusiasm from researchers inspired by the fascinating molecular pores in nature and their unique biological functions. Although substantial achievements in porous materials have been realized, the construction of topologically designed pores is still challenging. Recently, the emergence of covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which are constructed based on organic and polymer chemistry, has made it possible to design artificial pores with controlled pore size, topology and interface properties. COFs are crystalline porous materials constructed by the precise reticulation of organic building blocks via dynamic covalent bonds. Distinct from non-covalent interactions which tend to produce isostructures, covalent bonds enable accurate pore design owing to their predetermined reaction pathways. In addition, the appropriate polycondensation of organic building units enables the formation of extended two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) polymer architectures with periodically ordered skeletons and well-defined pores. With their large surface area, tailorable structures, and tunable chemistry, COFs are regarded as potentially superior candidates for various applications including catalysis, energy storage and conversion, mass transport and biotechnology. This book examines the historic achievement of COFs, providing clear and comprehensive guidance for researchers on their structural design, synthetic protocols and functional exploration.

Description: Fluoride covers a continuum of topics that are frequently studied in the broad area of fluoride (F) research. It provides an overview of the primary sources of environmental fluoride in typical high-fluoride environments and demonstrates the transitions and transformations that emerge and culminate in hydro-geochemical interactions that result in fluoride-fouling of large portions of the world’s water and agricultural resources. This way, the book pinpoints the connection between F enrichment of water sources and the prevalence of endemic fluorosis in certain areas of the world. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the global fluoride problem, new fluoride detection and quantification technologies are proposed with an in-depth analysis of emerging trends in the use of portable user-friendly devices in point-of-use measurements of water fluoride. This has been presented against the backdrop of a robust overview of traditional fluoride quantification methodologies that are still in wide application among the scientific communities. In addressing fluoride toxicities, which are not limited to dental and skeletal dilapidations, the authors have explored the role of natural antioxidants in ameliorating physiological fluoride-induced noxious effects in mammalian systems. Nonetheless, since community dependence on high-fluoride water due to a lack of alternative clean water sources remains to be the principal pathway of human fluoride over-exposure, a review chapter on F mitigation techniques applied all over the world is incorporated aiming at providing a succinct overview of water defluoridation techniques and strategies being used to combat the impacts of human F overexposure around the globe. Since every cloud has a silvery lining, the possibility of using ammonium fluorides as a novel reagent in mineral processing has been considered convenient industrial fluorinating agents, which present the possibility of complete regeneration that is not afforded by the reagents presently used in decomposing silicon component of the ores.

Description: This book discusses the chemistry and applications of pyridine derivatives. The library of pyridine derivatives is growing steadily with numerous synthetic analogues already described and the identification of new, naturally occurring pyridine-based compounds. The book includes ten chapters organized into two parts. The first part focuses on the numerous types of reactions that arise from pyridine derivatives. The second part examines the pharmaceutical applications of pyridine derivatives as well as their usefulness as sensors for metal cations and extracting agents for platinum group metals.

Description: The book discusses multiple issues associated with modern dosimetry in physics and treatment planning and how investigators from diverse world centers and institutions approach problem-solving in these important areas. It examines topics including pretreatment validation and factors affecting reference dosimetry. It also addresses unique issues affecting pediatric populations as well as the modern role of thermoluminescence validation. Several chapters discuss intensity modulation, including defining modern problems associated with both treatment planning and the definition of tumor and normal tissue contours. Furthermore, the book examines the role of imaging as both a vehicle to define tumor targets and normal tissue as well as a tool for dose validation.

Description: The book comprises 14 chapters covering all the issues related to water desalination. These chapters emphasize the relationship between problems encountered with the use of feed water, the processes developed to address them, the operation of the required plants and solutions actually implemented. This compendium will assist designers, engineers and investigators to select the process and plant configuration that are most appropriate for the particular feed water to be used, for the geographic region considered, as well as for the characteristics required of the treated water produced. This survey offers a comprehensive, hierarchical and logical assessment of the entire desalination industry. It starts with the worldwide scarcity of water and energy, continues with the thermal - and membrane-based processes and, finally, presents the design and operation of large and small desalination plants. As such, it covers all the scientific, technological and economical aspects of this critical industry, not disregarding its environmental and social points of view. One of InTech's books has received widespread praise across a number of key publications. Desalination, Trends and Technologies (Ed. Schorr, M. 2011) has been reviewed in Corrosion Engineering, Science & Technology – the official magazine for the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining, and Taylor & Francis's Desalination Publications. Praised for its “multi-faceted content [which] contributes to enrich it,” and described as “an essential companion...[that] enables the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the desalination industry,” this book is testament to the quality improvements we have been striving towards over the last twelve months.

Description: Progress in agricultural, biomedical and industrial applications' is a compilation of recent advances and developments in gas chromatography and its applications. The chapters cover various aspects of applications ranging from basic biological, biomedical applications to industrial applications. Book chapters analyze new developments in chromatographic columns, microextraction techniques, derivatisation techniques and pyrolysis techniques. The book also includes several aspects of basic chromatography techniques and is suitable for both young and advanced chromatographers. It includes some new developments in chromatography such as multidimensional chromatography, inverse chromatography and some discussions on two-dimensional chromatography. The topics covered include analysis of volatiles, toxicants, indoor air, petroleum hydrocarbons, organometallic compounds and natural products. The chapters were written by experts from various fields and clearly assisted by simple diagrams and tables. This book is highly recommended for chemists as well as non-chemists working in gas chromatography.

Description: This book discusses electrocatalysis and electrocatalysts for energy, water electrolysis, water treatment, CO2 conversion, and green chemistry. It reviews various electrocatalysts and their properties and electrochemical performances. The first section of the book covers topics in direct alcohol fuel cells including Pt-based electrocatalysts as non-carbon electrode support materials and the development of electrocatalysts for direct methanol fuel cells. The second section of the book covers various topics in electrocatalysis and electrocatalysts for a cleaner environment, including electrocatalysts for the conversion of CO2 to valuable products and SYNGAS, electrocatalysts for water electrolysis, and much more.

Description: Surfactants are ubiquitous and have applications in diverse areas, including food, cosmetics, detergents, lubricants, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and targeted drug delivery systems. Their wide diversity of applications owes to their unique structure, namely, a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic group present in the same molecule. Although most surfactants used industrially are synthetic, there is a growing need for natural surfactants, as the latter is obtainable from renewable sources and are less toxic and highly biodegradable in contrast to their synthetic counterparts. This book is a compilation of interesting articles by various experts that cover various applications of both synthetic and natural surfactants.

Description: The chemical sensor plays an essential role in the fields of environmental conservation and monitoring, disaster and disease prevention, and industrial analysis. A typical chemical sensor is a device that transforms chemical information in a selective and reversible way, ranging from the concentration of a specific sample component to total composition analysis, into an analytically useful signal. Much research work has been performed to achieve a chemical sensor with such excellent qualities as quick response, low cost, small size, superior sensitivity, good reversibility and selectivity, and excellent detection limit. This book introduces the latest advances on chemical sensors. It consists of 15 chapters composed by the researchers active in the field of chemical sensors, and is divided into 5 sections according to the classification following the principles of signal transducer. This collection of up-to-date information and the latest research progress on chemical sensor will provide valuable references and learning materials for all those working in the field of chemical sensors.

Description: Distillation is an important separation technique that has been used for many centuries to exploit the volatility differences between components in a mixture. The distillation process has many variations and applications. This book includes two sections on desalination and reactive distillation. It discusses desalination in the processes of solar and membrane distillation, with a focus on the reduction of energy costs to obtain potable water. It also discusses reactive distillation, which can be used in some cases to reduce the power duty in the separation process by using the reaction heat directly in the separation. The book includes cases of mathematical modeling, simulation, and optimization of the distillation process.

Description: Cyclodextrins (CDs) have attracted great interest from the research community as well as industries in an array of sectors because of their unique structural features. This book provides a comprehensive overview of CDs, beginning with their historical background. Chapters address such topics as the structure and physiochemical properties of CDs, advancements in the field, and potential applications of these materials in fields such as drug delivery and sensing. This book reveals new frontiers in the CD world and is a useful resource for organic, analytical, and supramolecular chemists as well as scientists engaged in biological and material sciences.

Description: The book presents a comprehensive overview of sorption, which is a multi-parametric separation process. It is extensively used in the removal of various pollutants from the tertiary stage of wastewater treatment, from leachates, etc. It discusses fundamental points of the technique as well as kinetic theories and isotherms. It also examines the synthesis and characterizations of all studied adsorbent materials to find their paths of sorption. Finally, it highlights the importance of having a cost-estimation plan for the synthesis of sorbent materials as well as predictions for their reusability.

Description: Carotenoids are natural and versatile secondary metabolites, most of them showing colours that vary from yellow to red. They are widespread among living beings where they are involved in many biological roles reporting beneficial actions. To date, more than 750 carotenoids have been described in nature. Humans cannot synthesize carotenoids de novo, thus they are mainly obtained through diet. In fact, carotenoids are consistently found in tissues or biological fluids where they play a beneficial decreasing the risk of developing some diseases.During the last half-century, significant advances in carotenoids research have been made. This book highlights new perspectives and applications of carotenoids including characterization and isolation of new compounds (including rare carotenoids), their production at a mid-large scale (involving new innovative approaches), and uses of carotenoids in different biotechnological fields like food science, biomedicine, and cosmetics.

Description: Infrared Spectroscopy - Perspectives and Applications is a compendium of contributions from experts in the field of infrared (IR) spectroscopy. This assembly of investigations and reviews provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals as well as the groundbreaking applications in the field. Chapters discuss IR spectroscopy applications in the food and biomedicine sectors and for measuring transport through polymer membranes, characterizing lignocellulosic biomasses, detecting adulterants, and characterizing enamel surface advancements. This book is an invaluable resource and reference for students, researchers, and other interested readers.

Description: This report is the second in a series from a project to assess land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) and effects in the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) in St. Thomas, USVI, and is the result of a collaborative effort between NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the USVI Department of Planning and Natural Resources, the University of the Virgin Islands, and The Nature Conservancy.Passive water samplers (POCIS) were deployed in the STEER in February 2012. Developed by the US Geological Survey(USGS) as a tool to detect the presence of water solublecontaminants in the environment, POCIS samplers were deployed in the STEER at five locations. In addition to the February 2012 deployment, the results from an earlier POCIS deployment in May 2010 in Turpentine Gut, a perennial freshwater stream which drains to the STEER, are also reported.A total of 26 stormwater contaminants were detected at least once during the February 2012 deployment in the STEER. Detections were high enough to estimate ambient water concentrations for nine contaminants using USGS sampling rate values. From the May 2010 deployment in Turpentine Gut, 31 stormwater contaminants were detected, and ambient water concentrations could be estimated for 17 compounds.Ambient water concentrations were estimated for a numberof contaminants including the detergent/surfactant metabolite 4-tert-octylphenol, phthalate ester plasticizers DEHP and DEP, bromoform, personal care products including menthol, indole, n,n-diethyltoluamide (DEET), along with the animal/plant sterol cholesterol, and the plant sterol beta-sitosterol. Only DEHP appeared to have exceeded a water quality guideline for the protection of aquatic organisms.

Description: This report contains a chemical and biological characterization of sediments from the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). The STEER Management Plan (published in 2011) identified chemical contaminants and habitat loss as high or very high threats and called for a characterization of chemical contaminants as well as an assessment of their effects on natural resources. The baseline information contained in this report on chemical contaminants, toxicity and benthic infaunal community composition can be used to assess current conditions, as well as the efficacy of future restoration activities. In this phase of the project, 185 chemical contaminants, including a number of organic (e.g., hydrocarbons and pesticides) and inorganic (e.g., metals) compounds, were analyzed from 24 sites in the STEER. Sediments were also analyzed using a series of toxicity bioassays, including amphipod mortality, sea urchin fertilization impairment, and the cytochrome P450 Human Reporter Gene System (HRGS), along with a characterization of the benthic infaunal community. Higher levels of chemical contaminants were found in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay in the western portion of the study area than in the eastern area. The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), chlordane, zinc, copper, lead and mercury were above a NOAA sediment quality guideline at one or more sites, indicating impacts may be present in more sensitive species or life stages in the benthic environment. Copper at one site in Benner Bay, however, was above a NOAA guideline indicating that effects on benthic organisms were likely. The antifoulant boat hull ingredient tributyltin, or TBT, was found at the third highest concentration in the history of NOAA’s National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program, which monitors the Nation’s coastal and estuarine waters for chemical contaminants and bioeffects. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any established sediment quality guidelines for TBT. Results of the bioassays indicated significant sediment toxicity in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay using multiple tests. The benthic infaunal communities in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay appeared severely diminished.

Description: Porphyrin metabolic disruption from exposure to xenobiotic contaminants such as heavy metals, dioxins, and aromatic hydrocarbons can elicit overproduction of porphyrins. Measurement of porphyrin levels, when used in conjunction with other diagnostic assays, can help elucidate an organism’s physiological condition and provide evidence for exposure to certain toxicants. A sensitive microplate fluorometric assay has been optimized for detectingtotal porphyrin levels in detergent solubilized protein extracts from symbiotic, dinoflagellate containing cnidarian tissues. The denaturing buffer used in this modified assay contains a number of potentially interfering components (e.g., sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), dithiothreitol (DTT), protease inhibitors, and chlorophyll from the symbiotic zooxanthellae), which required examination and validation. Examination of buffer components were validated for use in this porphyrin assay; while the use of a specific spectrofluorometric filter (excitation 400 ± 15 nm; emission 600 ± 20 nm) minimized chlorophyll interference. The detection limit for this assay is 10 fmol of total porphyrin per μg of total soluble protein and linearity is maintained up to 5000 fmol. The ability to measure total porphyrins in a SDS protein extract now allows a single extract to be used in multiple assays. This is an advantage over classical methods, particularly when tissue samples are limiting, as is often the case with coral due to availability and collection permit restrictions.

Description: NOAA Technical Memorandum CRCP 17

Description: The mucus surface layer of corals plays a number of integral roles in their overall health and fitness. This mucopolysaccharide coating serves as vehicle to capture food, a protective barrier against physical invasions and trauma, and serves as a medium to host a community of microorganisms distinct from the surrounding seawater. In healthy corals the associated microbial communities are known to provide antibiotics that contribute to the coral’s innate immunity and function metabolic activities such as biogeochemical cycling.Culture-dependent (Ducklow and Mitchell, 1979; Ritchie, 2006) and culture-independent methods (Rohwer, et al., 2001; Rohwer et al., 2002; Sekar et al., 2006; Hansson et al., 2009; Kellogg et al., 2009) have shown that coral mucus-associated microbial communities can change with changes in the environment and health condition of the coral. These changes may suggest that changes in the microbial associates not only reflect health status but also may assist corals in acclimating to changing environmental conditions. With the increasing availability of molecular biology tools, culture-independent methods are being used more frequently for evaluating the health of the animal host. Although culture-independent methods are able to provide more in-depth insights into the constituents of the coral surface mucus layer’s microbial community, their reliability and reproducibility rely on the initial sample collection maintaining sample integrity. In general, a sample of mucus is collected from a coral colony, either by sterile syringe or swab method (Woodley, et al., 2008), and immediately placed in a cryovial. In the case of a syringe sample, the mucus is decanted into the cryovial and the sealed tube is immediately flash-frozen in a liquid nitrogen vapor shipper (a.k.a., dry shipper). Swabs with mucus are placed in a cryovial, and the end of the swab is broken off before sealing and placing the vial in the dry shipper. The samples are then sent to a laboratory for analysis. After the initial collection and preservation of the sample, the duration of the sample voyage to a recipient laboratory is often another critical part of the sampling process, as unanticipated delays may exceed the length of time a dry shipper can remain cold, or mishandling of the shipper can cause it to exhaust prematurely. In remote areas, service by international shipping companies may be non-existent, which requires the use of an alternative preservation medium. Other methods for preserving environmental samples for microbial DNA analysis include drying on various matrices (DNA cards, swabs), or placing samples in liquid preservatives (e.g., chloroform/phenol/isoamyl alcohol, TRIzol reagent, ethanol). These methodologies eliminate the need for cold storage, however, they add expense and permitting requirements for hazardous liquid components, and the retrieval of intact microbial DNA often can be inconsistent (Dawson, et al., 1998; Rissanen et al., 2010).A method to preserve coral mucus samples without cold storage or use of hazardous solvents, while maintaining microbial DNA integrity, would be an invaluable tool for coral biologists, especially those in remote areas. Saline-saturated dimethylsulfoxide-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (20% DMSO-0.25M EDTA, pH 8.0), or SSDE, is a solution that has been reported to be a means of storing tissue of marine invertebrates at ambient temperatures without significant loss of nucleic acid integrity (Dawson et al., 1998, Concepcion et al., 2007). While this methodology would be a facile and inexpensive way to transport coral tissue samples, it is unclear whether the coral microbiota DNA would be adversely affected by this storage medium either by degradation of the DNA, or a bias in the DNA recovered during the extraction process created by variations in extraction efficiencies among the various community members. Tests to determine the efficacy of SSDE as an ambient temperature storage medium for coral mucus samples are presented here.

Description: This report presents an initial characterization of chemical contamination in coral tissues (Porites astreoides) from southwest Puerto Rico. It is the second technical report from a project to characterize chemical contaminants and assess linkages between contamination and coral condition. The first report quantified chemical contaminants in sediments from southwest Puerto Rico. This document summarizes the analysis of nearly 150 chemical contaminants in coral tissues. Although only eight coral samples were collected, some observations can be made on the correlations between observed tissue and sediment contaminant concentrations. The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), typically associated with petroleum spills and the combustion of fossil fuels, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the coral tissues were comparable to concentrations found in adjacent sediments. However, the concentration of a chemical contaminant (e.g., PAHs) in the coral tissues at a particular site was not a good predictor of what was in the adjacent sediments. In addition, the types of PAHs found in the coral tissues were somewhat different (higher ratios of alkylated PAHs) than in sediments. The levels of PCBs and DDT in coral tissues appeared higher just outside of Guanica Bay, and there was evidence of a downstream concentration gradient for these two contaminant classes. The trace elements copper, zinc and nickel were frequently detected in coral tissues, and the concentration in the corals was usually comparable to that found in adjacent sediments. Chromium was an exception in that it was not detected in any of the coral tissues analyzed. Additional work is needed to assess how spatial patterns in chemical contamination affect coral condition, abundance and distribution.

Description: National Status and Trends Program for Marine Environmental Quality

Description: Models that help predict fecal coliform bacteria (FCB) levels in environmental waters can be important tools for resource managers. In this study, we used animal activity along with antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA), land cover, and other variables to build models that predict bacteria levels in coastal ponds that discharge into an estuary. Photographic wildlife monitoring was used to estimate terrestrial and aquatic wildlife activity prior to sampling. Increased duck activity was an important predictor of increased FCB in coastal ponds. Terrestrial animals like deer and raccoon, although abundant, were not significant in our model. Various land cover types, rainfall, tide, solar irradiation, air temperature, and season parameters, in combination with duck activity, were significant predictors of increased FCB. It appears that tidal ponds allow for settling of bacteria under most conditions. We propose that these models can be used to test different development styles and wildlife management techniques to reduce bacterial loading into downstream shellfish harvesting and contact recreation areas.

Description: Investigators at the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory (COL) diagnose and study crustaceans, mollusks, finfish, and a variety of other marine and estuarine invertebrates to assess animal health. This edition updates the Histological Techniques for Marine Bivalve Mollusks manual by Howard and Smith (1983) with additional chapters on molluscan and crustacean techniques. The new edition is intended to serve as a guide for histological processing of shellfish, principally bivalve mollusks and crustaceans. Basically, the techniques included are applicable for histopathological preparation of all marine animals, recognizing however that initial necropsy is unique to each species. Photographs and illustrations are provided for instruction on necropsy of different species to simplify the processing of tissues. Several of the procedures described are adaptations developed by the COL staff. They represent techniques based on principles establishedfor the histopathologic study of mammalian and other vertebrate tissues, but modified for marine and aquatic invertebrates. Although the manual attempts to provide adequate information on techniques, it is also intended to serve as a useful reference source to those interested in the pathology of marine animals. General references and recommended reading listed in the back of the manual will provide histological information on species not addressed in the text.

Description: This edition updates the Histological Techniques for Marine Bivalve Mollusks manual by Howard and Smith (1983) with additional chapters on molluscan and crustacean techniques.

Description: This chapter describes the procedures for determining the reproductive stage of oysters, mytilid mussels, and dreissenid mussels collected for NOAA’s National Status and Trends Mussel Watch Project. Analyses are conducted on paraffin-embedded tissues sectioned at a 5-μm thickness and stained using a pentachrome staining procedure. Each slide is examined microscopically to determine the animal’s sex and stage of gonadal development. A semi-quantitative ranking is assigned.

Description: Executive Summary:Information found in this report covers the years 1986 through 2005. Mussel Watch began monitoring a suite of trace metals and organic contaminants such as DDT, PCBs and PAHs. Through time additional chemicals were added, and today approximately 140 analytes are monitored. The Mussel Watch Program is the longest running estuarine and coastal pollutant monitoring effort conducted in the United States that is national in scope each year. Hundreds of scientific journal articles and technical reports based on Mussel Watch data have been written; however, this report is the first that presents local, regional and national findingsacross all years in a Quick Reference format, suitable for use by policy makers, scientists, resource managers and the general public.Pollution often starts at the local scale where high concentrations point to a specific source of contamination, yet some contaminants such as PCBs are atmospherically transported across regional and national scales, resulting in contamination far from their origin. Findings presented here showed few national trends for trace metals and decreasing trends for most organic contaminants; however, a wide variety of trends, both increasing and decreasing, emerge at regional and local levels. For most organic contaminants, trends have resulted from state andfederal regulation. The highest concentrations for both metal and organic contaminants are found near urban and industrial areas.In addition to monitoring throughout the nation’s coastal shores and Great Lakes, Mussel Watch samples are stored in a specimen bank so that trends can be determined retrospectively for new and emerging contaminants ofconcern. For example, there is heightened awareness of a group of flame retardants that are finding their way into the marine environment. These compounds, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are now being studied using historic samples from the specimen bank and current samples to determine their spatial distribution. We will continue to use this kind of investigation to assess new contaminant threats.We hope you find this document to be valuable, and thatyou continue to look towards the Mussel Watch Programfor information on the condition of your coastal waters. (PDF contains 118 pages)

Description: Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment

Description: This report summarizes the results of a characterizationof chemical contaminants in the sediments in southwestPuerto Rico. The report is part of a project to integratevarious analytical specialties to assess linkages betweenchemical contaminants and the condition of coral reefs. In this phase of the project, over 120 chemical contaminants were analyzed in sediments collected, including a number of organic (e.g., hydrocarbons), inorganic (e.g., metals), and biological (bacterial) compounds/analytes. The report also provides a preliminary analysis of the association betweensediment contaminants and coral species richness.Overall, the levels of chemical contaminants in the study area between Guanica Bay and the town of La Parguera were fairly low. At most of the sites sampled, particularlyadjacent to the town of La Parguera, concentrations oforganic and inorganic contaminants were below the median values from NOAA’s National Status and Trends Program, which monitors the Nation’s coastal and estuarine waters for chemical contaminants. Elevated levels of a number of contaminant classes were seen at the two sites sampled within Guanica Bay.An initial analysis of modeled PAH (hydrocarbon) data and coral species richness (reef building species) indicated a strong negative correlation between the presence of PAHs in the sediments and coral species richness. Additional work is needed to assess possible reasons for this observed pattern. (PDF contains 126 pages).

Description: Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment