Cyanobacteria constitute one of the largest subgroups of Gram-negative photosynthetic prokaryotes and are of great evolutionary antiquity, dating back to the Precambrian (2.8–3.5 billion years ago). They are found worldwide in highly diverse ecosystems, from aquatic (limnic and marine) habitats to terrestrial systems and from polar to tropical regions of the globe. In terrestrial systems, nitro...

Bioassays on aqueous and solid phases of contaminated soils were compared, belonging to a wide array of trophic and response levels and using ecoscores for evaluating ecotoxicological and genotoxicological endpoints. The method was applied to four coke factory soils contaminated mainly with PAHs, but also to a lesser extent by heavy metals and cyanides. Aquatic bioassays do not differ from terr...

Ecosystem functioning is one of the most striking topics in ecological research. All human beings depend on the functioning of ecosystems and the services provided by ecosystems [1]. Ecosystem services provide food from e.g. agriculture and fish as well as clean water and air. Thus, the functioning of ecosystems is a crucial topic of experimental studies in ecology. The first known ecological e...

Terrestrial spiders transfer methyl mercury (MeHg) to terrestrial consumers such as birds, but how spiders become contaminated with MeHg is not well understood. In the present study, the authors used stable isotopes of nitrogen in combination with MeHg to determine the source of MeHg to terrestrial long-jawed orb weaver spiders (Tetragnatha sp). The authors collected spiders and a variety of ot...

Background: Evaluation of herbicide pollution in aquatic environments needs the great concern and the most important echo-pollutant effects of herbicides are related to their effects on non target aquatic organisms. Native fish can serve as a proper bio-indicator for evaluation  of pollution on aquatic ecosystems. OBJECTIVES: To find environmentally friendly herbicides, in this study the acute ...

Aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals, while resting at the water surface or ashore, breathe with a low frequency (f) by comparison to terrestrial mammals of the same body size, the difference increasing the larger the species. Among various interpretations, it was suggested that the low-f breathing is a consequence of the end-inspiratory breath-holding pattern adopted by aquatic mammals to favour b...