Marine debris in five national parks in Alaska.

Marine debris is a management issue with ecological and recreational impacts for agencies, especially on remote beaches not accessible by road. This project was implemented to remove and document marine debris from five coastal National Park Service units in Alaska. Approximately 80km of coastline were cleaned with over 10,000kg of debris collected. Marine debris was found at all 28 beaches surveyed. Hard plastics were found on every beach and foam was found at every beach except one. Rope/netting was the next most commonly found category, present at 23 beaches. Overall, plastic contributed to 60% of the total weight of debris. Rope/netting (14.6%) was a greater proportion of the weight from all beaches than foam (13.3%). Non-ferrous metal contributed the smallest amount of debris by weight (1.7%). The work forms a reference condition dataset of debris surveyed in the Western Arctic and the Gulf of Alaska within one season.

Beneath the surface: profiling blubber depth in pinnipeds with infrared imaging.

Infrared thermography (IRT) was assessed as a non-invasive tool to evaluate body condition in juvenile female harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), (n=6) and adult female Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), (n=2). Surface temperature determined by IRT and blubber depth assessed with portable imaging ultrasound were monitored concurrently at eight body sites over the course of a year in long-term captive individuals under controlled conditions. Site-specific differences in surface temperature were noted between winter and summer in both species. Overall, surface temperature was slightly higher and more variable in harbor seals (9.8±0.6°C) than Steller sea lions (9.1±0.5°C). Limited site-specific relationships were found between surface temperature and blubber thickness, however, insulation level alone explained a very small portion of the variance. Therefore, while validated IRT data collection can potentially provide valuable information on the health, condition and metabolic state of an animal, it cannot provide a generalized proxy for blubber depth.

Metabolic indicators in the skeletal muscles of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina).

The goal of this study was to determine the distribution of citrate synthase (CS), beta-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase (HOAD), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities and myoglobin (Mb) concentration in the locomotor muscles (epaxial muscles) and heart of harbor seals. The entire epaxial musculature, which produces most of the power for submerged swimming, was removed and weighed, and three transverse sections (cranial, middle, and caudal) were taken along the muscle bundle. Multiple samples were taken along points on a circular grid using a 6-mm biopsy. A single sample was taken from the left ventricle of the heart. Muscle groups of similar function were taken from three dogs as a control. Mean values were calculated for four roughly equal quadrants in each transverse section of the epaxial muscles. There were no significant differences among the quadrants within any of the transverse sections for the three enzymes or Mb. However, there were significant differences in the mean enzyme activities and Mb concentrations along the length of the muscle. The middle and caudal sections had significantly higher mean levels of CS, LDH, and Mb than the cranial section, which may be correlated with power production during swimming. The enzyme ratios CS/HOAD and LDH/CS exhibited no variation within transverse sections or along the length of the epaxial muscles. Relative to the dog, the epaxial muscles and heart of the harbor seal had higher HOAD levels and lower CS/HOAD, which, taken together, indicate an increased capacity for aerobic lipid metabolism during diving.

Aerobic capacities in the skeletal muscles of Weddell seals: key to longer dive durations?

In contrast to terrestrial animals that function under hypoxic conditions but display the typical exercise response of increasing ventilation and cardiac output, marine mammals exercise under a different form of hypoxic stress. They function for the duration of a dive under progressive asphyxia, which is the combination of increasing hypoxia, hypercapnia and acidosis. Our previous studies on short-duration, shallow divers found marked adaptations in their skeletal muscles, which culminated in enhanced aerobic capacities that are similar to those of athletic terrestrial mammals. The purpose of the present study was to assess the aerobic capacity of skeletal muscles from long-duration divers. Swimming and non-swimming muscles were collected from adult Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli, and processed for morphometric analysis, enzymology, myoglobin concentrations and fiber-type distribution. The results showed that the skeletal muscles of Weddell seals do not have enhanced aerobic capacities compared with those of terrestrial mammals but are adapted to maintain low levels of an aerobic lipid-based metabolism, especially under the hypoxic conditions associated with diving. The lower aerobic capacity of Weddell seal muscle as compared with that of shorter-duration divers appears to reflect their energy-conserving modes of locomotion, which enable longer and deeper dives.

Heterogeneity of myoglobin distribution in the locomotory muscles of five cetacean species.

Myoglobin is an important storage site for oxygen in the swimming muscles of diving marine mammals. However, little is known about its distribution within muscles since previous studies have relied on single samples. The goal of this study was to determine the distribution of myoglobin within the swimming muscles of five species of cetacean: dusky dolphin, false killer whale, striped dolphin, humpbacked dolphin and bottlenose dolphin. The entire dorsal (epaxial) and ventral (hypaxial) swimming muscles were removed from each animal and weighed. Transverse sections were taken from the cranial, middle and caudal regions of each muscle and sampled along a circular grid with a minimum of 30 sites per section. Spectrophotometric analysis was used to measure the myoglobin concentration of each sample. Contour maps of myoglobin concentration were made for each transverse section. Myoglobin concentration was found to be non-uniformly distributed within the muscle. The interior of the muscle lying closest to the vertebrae showed a significantly higher (11 %) mean myoglobin concentration than the exterior of the muscle for all five species. In the epaxial muscles, the mean myoglobin concentration was significantly higher in the caudal region closest to the flukes. The two deep-water species (false killer whale and striped dolphin) had significantly higher myoglobin concentrations than the three species (dusky, humpbacked and bottlenose dolphins) that occur in shallow, coastal waters. These results show that myoglobin is not homogeneously distributed in the locomotory muscle of cetaceans and that levels may be highest in those areas that produce greater force and consume more oxygen during aerobic swimming. Enhancing oxygen stores in those areas of the muscle that work the hardest would theoretically lengthen the aerobic dive limit of the animal during submerged swimming.

[Preparation of derivatives of 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)propanic acid and a study of its biological activity]. / Príprava derivátu kyseliny 3-(3,4-dimetoxyfenyl)propenové a sledování jejich biologické aktivity.

From 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)propenic acid chloride and substituted amines and hydrazides, the appropriate amides and hydrazides (Table 1) were synthesized at 60-80 degrees C in the medium of benzene or toluene. The reaction of this chloride with benzaldehyde hydrazone at 70-80 degrees C yielded N,N'-bis[3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)propenoyl]hydrazine (VIII). At ambient temperature the benzylidene hydrazide of 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)propenic acid (VII) and a small amount of compound VIII were isolated. In the reaction of 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)propenic acid chloride with benzylidene hydrazide (VII) at 70-80 degrees C, compound VIII was obtained (Scheme 1). Compounds I, VII, VIII and IX possessed higher indices of increase in fortnight tests of the first degree in the roosters of meat hybrides compared to the negative control, but the indices of conversion were unfavourable. The compounds did not reach the efficacy of the avoparcin standard. Derivatives II and VI possessed 67.5 and 63.5%, respectively, of anthelmintic activity of levamisol against Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. The prepared compounds were not antibacterially effective and they were not mutagenic in the tests following the method of Ames, either.

[The effect of a diet enriched with vitamin E on selected hematological and biochemical indicators in chickens]. / Vliv diety obohacené vitamínem E na vybrané hematologické a biochemické ukazatele u kurat.

The influence of the Czechoslovak developmental preparation of vitamin E, added to the feeding mixture in loose form (40 mg . kg-1) for the broiler-type chickens (from the 1st day after hatching to the 49th day of age), on the red blood count, peroxidase haemolysis of erythrocytes and on the activities of glutamate-oxalacetate transaminase (AST) and glutamate-pyruvale transminase (ALT) was studied. The results were compared with those achieved with chickens administered the same dose of the so far used vitamin E in the oil form, Soviet-made preparation and the Swiss-made preparation Rovimix E, and with the group of chickens fed the diets containing no vitamin E. Up to the age of 21 days no marked differences in the erythrograms were observed, and the erythrocyte oxidation haemolysis and the AST and ALT activities were high in all groups of chickens. Similarly, from the 28th day to the day of killing the values of red blood picture showed no substantial changes. In the chickens fed no vitamin E, the degree of erythrocyte haemolysis was statistically significantly the highest (14.0-38.8%), however, beginning the 28th day, the high haemolysis values were also observed in the chickens fed the oil preparation of vitamin E (16.8-21,7%). The lowest erythrocyte haemolysis was found in the chickens fed the Czechoslovak-made preparation (1.2-12.1%) and chickens fed the diet without vitamin E supplement (2.1-3.39 mukat . 1(-1); the administered preparation had no effect on the ALT activity.