Climate Change Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Climate Change, including details on causes, effects, impact, facts, myths, information.

Optical diagnostic test of stress conditions of aquatic organisms.

Axenov-Gribanov DV, Gurkov AN, Shakhtanova NS, Bedulina DS, Timofeyev MA, Meglinski I

Baikal Research Centre, Irkutsk State University, Karl-Marx St. 510, 664003, Irkutsk, Russia.

Global climate change has become a dire reality and its impact is expected to rise dramatically in the near future. Combined with the day-to-day human activities the climatic changes heavily affect the environment. In particular, a global temperature increase accompanied by a number of anthropogenic chemicals falling within the freshwater ecosystem results in a dramatic enhancement of the overall stress for most aquatic organisms. This leads to a significant shift in the species inventory and potential breakdown of the water ecosystem with severe consequences for local economies and water supply. In order to understand and predict the influence of climatic changes on the physiological and biochemical processes that take place in living aquatic organisms we explore the application of optical spectroscopy for monitoring and quantitative assessment of antioxidant enzymes activity in benthic amphipods of Lake Baikal. We demonstrate that the changes of the enzymes activity in Baikal amphipods undergoing thermal and/or hypoxia stress can be observed and documented by UV and optical spectroscopy both in vivo and in vitro. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim).

Published 6 May 2011 in J Biophotonics.
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Articles on Climate Change published 6 May 2011:

Greenhouse gas and alcohol emissions from feedlot steers and calves.   J Environ Qual, 40(3): 899-906.

Livestock's contributions to climate change and smog-forming emissions are a growing public policy concern. This study quantifies greenhouse gas (GHG) and alcohol emissions from calves and feedlot steers. Carbon dioxide (CO) methane (CH), nitrous oxide (NO), ethanol (EtOH), and methanol (MeOH) were measured from a total of 45 Holstein and Angus steers and 9 Holstein calves representative of four different growth stages commonly present on calf ranches and commercial feedlots. Individuals from ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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It is widely recognized that forest and water resources are intricately linked. Globally, changes in forest cover to accommodate agriculture and urban development introduce additional challenges for water management. The U.S. Southeast typifies this global trend as predictions of land-use change and population growth suggest increased pressure on water resources in coming years. Close attention has long been paid to interactions between people and water in arid regions; however, based on ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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Articles on Climate Change published 5 May 2011:

Greening health care: how hard can that be?   J Health Serv Res Policy.

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Articles on Climate Change published 4 May 2011:

Temperature tolerance and stress proteins as mechanisms of invasive species success.   PLoS One, 6(4): e14806.

Invasive species are predicted to be more successful than natives as temperatures increase with climate change. However, few studies have examined the physiological mechanisms that theoretically underlie this differential success. Because correlative evidence suggests that invasiveness is related to the width of a species' latitudinal range, it has been assumed - but largely untested - that range width predicts breadth of habitat temperatures and physiological thermotolerances. In this study, ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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