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Aggressively Expand the RSA Database
Published in Lawrence V. Tannenbaum, Ecological Risk Assessment, 2017
None of us have a crystal ball available that can foretell outcomes of the sensitive direct health status assessment method for mammals that is RSA. We are therefore free to anticipate the outcomes of what hopefully will be tens and scores of additional RSA applications to happen. Earlier in the premise, the study’s straightforward nature was mentioned. More than simply alluding to the novelty of the existence of some outcome information (albeit not as much as would be preferred), it was alluding to what appears to be an already-demonstrated trend, or, more correctly, a small series of trends. First, there have been no instances of sperm parameter threshold exceedance observed (where count, motility, and morphology have all been monitored). Second, the count is almost always (nominally) lowered at the contaminated sites, but not lowered enough (of course) to trigger a conclusion of compromised reproduction. Third, in numerous instances, the motility has been (nominally) higher at the contaminated sites relative to the reference location condition, with this suggested to be an earmark of a certain compensatory effect occurring, as follows. Since a lower count can (at some point) serve as an impediment to reproductive success, a bolstered motility score (i.e., an increase in the percentage of properly swimming sperm relative to the percentage of proper swimmers in reference location samples) can only be a reproductive success asset. In that these trends or quasi-trends have arisen for rodents assessed at sites with highly variable patterns of contamination, in widely divergent habitants of distinct geographic regions, and for more than half-a-dozen species, the proverbial writing may be on the wall. It might simply be that mammal reproduction, as viewed through the lens of responses of rodents that all share an intimate contact with affected soils, cannot be offset in the actual contaminated site setting. We cannot guess at this, and thereby the value that lies in the data yet to be acquired is both acknowledged and great. Those truly fluent with RSA theory and those who recognize that instances of ecological impact having occurred at chemically contaminated terrestrial sites are virtually unknown already understand that the intended work is so very unlikely to identify instances of sperm parameter threshold exceedance. The intent of greatly augmenting the existing repository of RSA outcomes, then, is to raise consciousness. Recalcitrant ERA practitioners can come to shed their bias that takes the form of an insistence that ecological impacts abound at sites, when a wealth of information spanning different types of sites, and reporting on multiple species, indicates otherwise. Where an appreciation is secured that ecological receptors in the wild are more resilient to chemical stressors than they’ve been given credit for, the door is left open for instituting a shift in ecological assessment gears. Should a great many, if not all, RSA outcomes indicate that reproductive impacts are absent at contaminated sites—a reasonable finding—ERA practitioners, to include regulators, can be expected to latch onto the development of other direct health status assessment methods for other mammals, and a number of other animal groups occupying terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Characterization of Pb and Cd contamination in the feces and feathers of rook (Corvus frugilegus) and the scalp hair of residents in Qiqihar, northeastern China
Published in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 2018
Jinming Luo, Xiaohua Li, Yongjie Wang, Hongying Li
Aloupi et al. (2015) and Orłowski et al. (2015) demonstrated that approximately 90% Pb and 92% Cd intake via prey in birds could be eliminated rather than transferring along the food chain. Therefore, feathers and feces were frequently used to indicate the degree of environmental exposure to trace element Cd. Our observation of high Cd contents in the feces (0.69 mg kg−1 dw) and feathers (1.04 mg kg−1 dw) of C. frugilegus implies that the external tissues of the target species can be considered as an indicator of potential Cd toxic risk in this species, which is coincided with previous findings. According to Eeva et al. (2005), the change in food abundance and food web structure caused by toxic effects of trace elements would affect the reproductive success of avian species and lead to population decline. However, the observed trace element level did not support the notion that Cd contamination contributed to the obvious low reproductive success or population decline of the target species.
Lessons learned from 25 Years of Research into Long term Consequences of Prenatal Exposure to the Dutch famine 1944–45: The Dutch famine Birth Cohort
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2021
Susanne R. De Rooij, Laura S. Bleker, Rebecca C. Painter, Anita C. Ravelli, Tessa J. Roseboom
We were unable to detect differences in sexual orientation and gender identity between men and women who had or had not been exposed to famine prenatally, which may have been due to underreporting (De Rooij et al. 2009). Women who were exposed to the famine during gestation were more reproductively successful than unexposed women. They had more children, more often gave birth to twins, were less likely to remain childless and started reproducing at a younger age (Painter et al. 2008a). These findings suggest that poor nutrition during fetal development, followed by improved nutrition after birth can give rise to a female phenotype characterized by greater reproductive success.