Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 5 Jul 2003 to 6 Jul 2003 (#2003-171)
There is one message totalling 128 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. News: Pharmaceutical Contamination of Water Resources
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Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 15:07:44 -0700
From: Ashwani Vasishth <vasishth@USC.EDU>
Subject: News: Pharmaceutical Contamination of Water Resources
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v424/n6944/f
ll/424005a_fs.html
Nature 424, 5 (03 July 2003); doi:10.1038/424005a
Studies assess risks of drugs in water cycle
QUIRIN SCHIERMEIER
Antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals given to humans and livestock are
increasingly contaminating rivers, groundwater and soils, according to
early results from three European studies.
Drug-contaminated waste water is a potential risk to both human health and
the environment, the studies' participants say. Treating sewage with ozone
would be the best way of cutting the drug residues, they suggest.
Groups behind the three European Union-funded studies released their
results at a Gothenburg press conference on 27 June. They reported that
high concentrations of excreted antibiotics have been found in hospital
and household sewage, slurry and water used for irrigation. Antibiotics
and their metabolites also reach the environment directly from the urine
and faeces of farm animals, the scientists find.
Researchers worry that the growing levels of antibiotics in the
environment may damage ecosystems and fuel a surge in antibiotic
resistance among humans and animals. "Antibacterial resistance from farm
animals can be transferred to humans, and is increasingly threatening the
effective management of infectious diseases," says Wolfgang Witte, a
microbiologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Wernigerode, Germany.
EU
[Illustration omitted]
Ozone treatment such as that used on drinking water (above) could
strip drugs from sewage.
Officials at the European Union say the studies, and other similar ones,
are likely to form the basis of new management procedures for medicines.
Water companies and hospitals could also be required to take further steps
to extract antibiotics from certain stages of the water cycle. This could
be done, for example, by using separation techniques on the urine from
hospital patients, and by injecting ozone into effluent at sewage plants.
Scientists involved in one of the projects, called Poseidon, found 35
pharmaceutical compounds, including five antibiotics, in the effluent of a
local sewage plant in Braunschweig, Germany, and in local rivers.
Concentrations in the effluent reached several micrograms per litre, with
those in rivers and groundwater measuring 1.02.5 micrograms per litre,
depending on the compound. Measurements taken at sewage plants in Poland,
Switzerland, France and Austria revealed similarly high drug
concentrations.
"Concentrations were particularly high in small rivers and streams that
take a large amount of municipal waste water," says Thomas Ternes, a
chemist at Germany's Federal Institute of Hydrology, and project
coordinator of Poseidon.
In a parallel project, called ERAVMIS, researchers in Denmark, the
Netherlands, Britain and Spain assessed the fate of veterinary medicines
in slurry, made from manure, that is applied to the land as fertilizer.
They found that tetracyclines, a group of antibiotics widely used in
livestock, cling to soil, degrading slowly. Concentrations remained high
six months after application.
A third project, carried out by researchers in Sweden, Greece, Italy and
France, also monitored effluents from sewage plants.
"There is clear evidence that some veterinary antibiotics persist in
soils, and can move to rivers and streams and enter groundwater," says
Alistair Boxall, an environmental chemist at Cranfield University, UK, and
project coordinator of ERAVMIS.
The environmental effects of these compounds remain unclear, however.
Researchers found no acute toxic effects on crops, worms, insects or fish.
But they did find adverse effects on soil bacteria and some aquatic
plants.
"Antibiotics can change the growth, enzyme activity and diversity of soil
microbes," says Boxall. This may lead to a larger ecological problem, he
adds, "but we don't know how big it is". More research is needed to
determine whether microbial pathogens are becoming resistant to standard
antibiotics, he says.
One recent analysis of raw sewage at the University Hospital of Wrzburg,
Germany, found that concentrations of antibiotics were not high enough to
allow the selection of pathogenic bacteria resistant to them (K. Ohlsen et
al. Environ. Microbiol.; in the press). But risks cannot be discounted on
the basis of this result, says study co-author Thomas Ternes, a chemist at
Germany's Federal Institute of Hydrology in Koblenz.
Ternes, the project coordinator of Poseidon, suggests that 'ozonation' of
sewage is the most efficient way to eliminate unwanted residues. Ozone can
be readily extracted from air, and it breaks down 99% of antibiotics and
other drugs, he says.
2003 Nature Publishing Group
==========
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Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 2 Jul 2003 to 4 Jul 2003 (#2003-169)
There are 2 messages totalling 58 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Hawaiian Forest Bird Internships
2. Ambio
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Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 10:17:15 -1000
From: Patrick J Hart <pjhart@USGS.GOV>
Subject: Hawaiian Forest Bird Internships
FIELD RESEARCH INTERNS (12 POSITIONS) NEEDED August 25 to December 19, 2003
to conduct research on avian demography and disease in Hawaii. The
Biocomplexity of Avian Disease project is a 5-year NSF-funded research
program. Field Research Interns will conduct field work at 9 sites from
sea level to 6,000 ft elevation on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa Volcano,
Hawaii. Field sites range from extremely hot and dry to extremely wet,
muddy, and rainy. Field work will consist primarily of mist-netting and
banding forest birds and collecting data on plant phenology and vegetation
structure. Some computer data entry is also required. Work schedule and
duties will vary during the course of the internship. Applicants must be
in excellent physical condition, able to walk long distances over rugged,
uneven terrain, work in remote locations (field research interns will be
required to camp for up to 9 days at a time), live and work in close
proximity with other volunteers, and be U.S. citizens. DESIRABLE
QUALIFICATIONS: undergraduate coursework in ecology, ornithology, or
wildlife biology, and prior experience mistnetting, handling, and
identifying forest birds. Food and laundry stipend of $400 per month,
dormitory-style housing, field equipment, and field training are provided;
interns must provide their own airfare to Hilo, Hawaii. Days start early
and field work may be demanding, but schedule provides ample time for
relaxation and exploring Hawaii (snorkeling, swimming, surfing, diving,
hiking, biking). Please send cover letter, resume, and names and current
telephone numbers of 3 references to: PATRICK HART, KILAUEA FIELD STATION,
P.O. BOX 44, HAWAII NATIONAL PARK, HI 96718, EMAIL (preferable):
Patrick_J_Hart@usgs.gov, FAX: 808-967-8568. Applications will be accepted
until the positions are filled.
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Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 10:29:33 -0400
From: Dan Tufford <tufford@SC.EDU>
Subject: Ambio
I have Ambio v27-29 (1998-2000) that I will send to anyone for shipping
costs.
Regards,
Daniel L. Tufford, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
University of South Carolina
Department of Biological Sciences
701 Sumter Street, Room 401
Columbia, SC 29208
e-mail: tufford@sc.edu
Ph: 803.777.3292 Fx: 803.777.4002
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Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 4 Jul 2003 to 5 Jul 2003 (#2003-170)
There is one message totalling 21 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. postdoc: plant-animal interactions, FL
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Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 22:56:42 -0600
From: David Inouye <inouye@umd.edu>
Subject: postdoc: plant-animal interactions, FL
Postdoctoral position in plant-animal interactions for recently funded NSF
grant. Start date flexible, September-October preferred but
November/December OK. Funding available for 3 years. Work involves research
on population ecology of Florida salt marshes, especially
plant-insect-enemy interactions, but experience in other habitats or other
fields of ecology is acceptable. Applications should include cover letter,
CV, at least two letters of reference, representative reprints and a brief
(1-2 page) statement of future directions to Peter Stiling, Department of
Biology, SCA 110, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue,
Tampa, FL 33620 or to
<mailto:pstiling@chuma1.cas.usf.edu>pstiling@chuma1.cas.usf.edu or cal
to
discuss (813)974-3754. I will be at ESA in Savannah in August.
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End of ECOLOG-L Digest - 4 Jul 2003 to 5 Jul 2003 (#2003-170)
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Thanks to discussion with TVR, I have decided to put a link to back files of the discussion group. This months back files.
The link to complete archives is available elsewhere.
This text was originally an e-mail. It was converted using a program
RUPANTAR- a simple e-mail-to-html converter.
(c)Kolatkar Milind. kmilind@ces.iisc.ernet.in