Dartmouth-led study illuminates pollutant's movement from aquatic to land food webs
You taste like mercury, said the spider to the fly
HANOVER, N.H. - More mercury than previously thought is moving from aquatic to land food webs when stream insects are consumed by spiders, a Dartmouth College-led study shows.
The findings, which appear in the journal Ecological Applications, shed new light on the influence of dissolved organic carbon in the spread of mercury contamination. A PDF is available on request.
Mercury concentrations in aquatic environments have increased globally, exposing consumers of aquatic organisms to high mercury levels. Exposure to mercury depends on their food sources as well as environmental factors influencing mercury's bioavailability. The majority of the research on the transfer of methylmercury, a toxic and bioaccumulating form of mercury, between aquatic and terrestrial food webs has focused on land carnivores that primarily eat fish. But a gap exists in our understanding of the factors regulating methylmercury bioaccumulation by other terrestrial predators, specifically consumers of adult aquatic insects.
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Labor Protests Multiply in China as Economy Slows
After more than two decades of breakneck growth, strikes and labor protests have erupted across the country. Factories, mines and other businesses are withholding wages and benefits, laying off staff or shutting down altogether. Worried about their prospects in a gloomy job market, workers are fighting back with unusual ferocity.
Beef Ban Hysteria: Two Men Lynched To Death In Jharkhand
Two Muslims herding eight buffaloes to a local market were bashed and hanged from a tree in Jharkhand state of India. The locals claimed the assailants were Hindu radicals. The men were subjected to extreme levels of brutality. One Government Minister has said that “Muslims can continue to live in this country, but they will have to give up eating beef because the cow is an article of faith here”.
Seafood Slaves
Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand investigation into slavery in the multi-billion dollar seafood industry shows thousands of migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos in search of higher-paying jobs were lured onto Thai fishing boats with empty promises about jobs "on the other side" and into years of ongoing seaborne labour.
Renewable energy investments: Major milestones reached,
New World Record Set
For first time, developing world investments in renewables (up 19 percent in 2015) topped developed nations' (down 8%); World record total of $286 billion invested in renewables last year, makes $2.3 trillion over 12 years
Frankfurt / Nairobi -- Coal and gas-fired electricity generation last year drew less than half the record investment made in solar, wind and other renewables capacity -- one of several important firsts for green energy announced today in a UN-backed report.
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