World-wide coral reefs are in a state of decline as a result of many local and regional factors. Recent global mass mortalities of reef corals due to record warm sea temperatures have led researchers to consider global warming as one of the most significant threats to the persistence of coral reef ecosystems over the next 100 years. It is well established that elevated sea surface temperatures (SSTs) cause widespread coral bleaching, yet confusion lingers as to what facet of extreme temperatures is most important. Utilizing long-term in situ datasets, nine thermal stress indices were calculated and their effectiveness at segregating bleaching years a posteriori for multiple reefs on the Florida Reef Tract was tested. Simple bleaching thresholds based on deviations above the climatological maximum monthly SST were just as effective at identifying bleaching years as complex thermal stress indices. Near real-time bleaching alerts issued by NOAA's Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON) are now based upon a running 30-day average SST, such that alerts are only issued when the running 30-day average SST exceeds the estimated bleaching threshold for a particular site. In addition to three widespread, mass-coral bleaching events, the Florida Reef Tract was impacted by three tropical storms and 12 hurricanes from 1997-2005. Sea surface cooling associated with the high frequency of hurricanes that impacted Florida in 2005 likely acted to ameliorate the severity and duration of bleaching. Nonetheless, hurricane-associated cooling is not expected to nullify the proposed effects of climate change on coral reefs. The role of thermal stress in coral bleaching has been extensively studied for eastern tropical Pacific (ETP) coral reefs. However, the ETP presents a unique opportunity as this region has sub-optimal conditions for coral reef development because of upwelling of carbon dioxide-enriched deep water along the shallow thermocline. This upwelling results in a depressed aragonite saturation state which is likely an additional factor in the poor reef development throughout the ETP. The highest aragonite saturation documented in this study occur in the Gulf of Chiriquí, which corresponds with the greatest reef development of the entire ETP. Seasonal upwelling had a significant effect on the carbonate chemistry of surface waters in Pacific Panamá. This regionally-depressed aragonite saturation state of the ETP appears to result in corals with a less dense skeleton. Density values of poritid corals from the Galápagos, where aragonite saturation was the lowest documented in this study, were significantly less dense relative to those from Panamá and the Great Barrier Reef. The density of non-living pocilloporid framework components were no different across the ETP aragonite saturation gradients. This could be a result of the activity of boring sponges removing the primary carbonate material within the dead coral skeleton, thus lowering density, albeit physical-chemical dissolution cannot be ruled out. These studies provide real-world examples of the ramifications of global climate change upon coral reef ecosystems.

Στην παρούσα μελέτη διερευνώνται οι πιθανές επιπτώσεις των αποβλήτων που προέρχονται από ελαιοτριβεία τριών φάσεων σε ιστούς του μυδιού Mytilus galloprovincialis. Άτομα που εκτέθηκαν για 5 ημέρες σε διαφορετικές αραιώσεις/συγκεντρώσεις του αποβλήτου παρουσίασαν μεγάλη θνησιμότητα σε αραιώσεις 1/1000 και 1/500, ενώ έκθεση των μυδιών σε μεγαλύτερες αραιώσεις του αποβλήτου (1/1000 και 1/10000), έδειξε μικρότερη θνησιμότητα. Οι υπο-θανατογόνες συγκεντρώσεις του αποβλήτου χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την εκτίμηση α) της σταθερότητας των λυσοσωμικών μεμβρανών σε αιμοκύτταρα της αιμολέμφου (lysosomal membrane stability/LMS), β) της συχνότητας εμφάνισης μικροπυρήνων (micronuclei frequency/MN) και κυτταρικών ανωμαλιών σε αιμοκύτταρα, γ) της δραστικότητας της ακετυλ-χολινεστεράσης (AChE) στην αιμόλεμφο και τα βράγχια των εκτιθέμενων ατόμων, καθώς και ε) την εκτίμηση των επιπέδων των μεταλλοθειονινών (ΜΤ) στα βράγχια. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, άτομα που εκτέθηκαν σε αραιώσεις 1/1000 και 1/1000 του αποβλήτου, εμφάνισαν σημαντική μείωση του χρόνου αποσταθεροποίησης των λυσοσωμικών μεμβρανών των αιμοκυττάρων τους, με ταυτόχρονη αύξηση της συχνότητας εμφάνισης μικροπυρήνων και κυτταρικών ανωμαλιών. Επιπλέον, σημαντική μείωση της δραστικότητας της AChE παρατηρήθηκε σε όλους τους ιστούς (αιμόλεμφος και βράγχια), σε σχέση με τα αντίστοιχα επίπεδα δραστικότητας που μετρήθηκαν στους ιστούς ατόμων που δεν εκτέθηκαν στο απόβλητο, ενώ σημαντική αύξηση των επιπέδων ΜΤ παρατηρήθηκαν στα βράγχια των εκτιθέμενων ατόμων. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, το υψηλό οργανικό φορτίο, η μεγάλη συγκέντρωση φαινολών, καθώς και η ύπαρξη μεταλλικών στοιχείων μπορεί να ευθύνονται για την πρόκληση των επιβλαβών επιπτώσεων του αποβλήτου σε υδρόβιους οργανισμούς, όπως τα Δίθυρα μαλάκια, προκαλώντας σημαντικές βλάβες τόσο σε κυτταρικό όσο και σε μοριακό επίπεδο. / The present study investigates the biological effects of olive oil mill wastewaters (OMW) on tissues of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis. Mussels exposed to different quantities of OMW (dilution factors 1/100 and 1/500) for 5 days showed increased levels of mortality, while mussels’ mortality observed after exposure to lower quantities of the OMW (dilution factors 1/1000 and 1/1000) was negligible. According to the latter, prepathological alterations occurred in tissues of mussels exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of OMW were further investigated with the use of stress-indices, such as lysosomal membrane stability (via the neutral red retention time assay/NRRT), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, metallothionein (MT) content and micronuclei frequency (MN). According to the results of the present study, decreased NRR time values and significantly elevated levels of MN and nuclear abnormalities were observed in haemocytes of exposed mussels in each case. Moreover, mussels exposed to either 1/1000 or 1/10000 diluted OMW showed significantly decreased levels of AChE activity in haemolymph and gills, as well as increased MT levels in gills, compared with levels measured in the respective tissues of control mussels. The results of the present study indicates that biological effects of OMW could be due to the high organic loading toxicity of OMW, its high levels of phenolic compounds, as well as the presence of metallic anions, thus giving rise to the hypothesis that short-time exposure of marine organism to OMW could resulted in the induction of severe cytotoxic and genotoxic damage.

<p>Thermal and multispectral imagery can provide users with insights into the water stress status and evapotranspiration demand of crops. However, traditional platforms, such as satellites, for these thermal and multispectral sensors are limited in their usefulness due to low spatial and temporal resolution. Small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) have the potential to have similar sensors installed and provide canopy temperature and reflectance information at spatial and temporal resolutions more useful for crop management; however, most of the existing research on the calibration or the estimation of water status were established based on the satellite platforms either for the sensors calibration or water status quantification. There is, therefore, a need to develop methods specifically for UAS-mounted sensors. In this research, a pixel-based calibration and an atmospheric correction method based on in-field approximate blackbody sources were developed for an uncooled thermal camera, and the higher accurate vegetative temperature acquired after calibration was used as inputs to an algorithm developed for high-resolution thermal imagery for calculating crop latent heat flux. At last, a thermal index based on the Bowen ratio is proposed to quantify the water deficit stress in a crop field, along with this, a method for plot-level analysis of various vegetation and thermal indices have been demonstrated to illustrate its broad application to genetic selection. The objective was to develop a workflow to use high-resolution thermal and multispectral imagery to derive indices that can quantify crops water status on a plot level which will facilitate the research related to breeding selection.</p> <p>The camera calibration method can effectively reduce the root mean square error (RMSE) and variability of measurements. The pixel-based thermal calibration method presented here was able to reduce the measurement uncertainty across all the pixels in the images, thus improving the accuracy and reducing the between-pixel variability of the measurements. During field calibration, the RMSE values relative to ground reference targets for two flights in 2017 were reduced from 6.36°C to 1.24°C and from 4.56°C to 1.32°C, respectively. The latent heat flux estimation algorithm yields an RMSE of 65.23 W/m² compared with the ground reference data acquired from porometer. The Bowen ratio has a high correlation with drought conditions quantified using the soil moisture index, stomatal conductance, and crop water stress index (CWSI), which indicates the potential of this index to be used as a water deficit stress indicator. The thermal and multispectral indices on a plot level displayed will facilitate the breeding selection.</p>

Breeding maize (Zea mays L.) for tolerance to acidic soils could improve maize yields. The current study aims to identify maize genotypes with tolerance to acidic soils, as well as identifying secondary traits associated with the tolerance to soil acidity. Ten maize varieties were screened for tolerance to aluminium (Al) toxicity under glasshouse, laboratory and field conditions. In the glasshouse, two soil acidity levels (limed and unlimed soil) were used and the experiment was set up in a complete randomised design (CRD) with three replications. The experiment lasted for 10 days and measurements were taken on plant height (PH), leaf area, stem diameter and dry matter. In the laboratory, a haematoxylin staining (HS) experiment was conducted to determine the response of 10 maize varieties to Al toxicity. Two Al concentrations (0 and 222 μM) were used and the experiment was set up in a completely randomized design with three replications. After 7 days, shoot length, was recorded. Five stress tolerance indices were estimated to determine the resilience of each genotype. A root growth stress tolerance index was also computed for both experimental procedures. In the field, two trials were established at two sites, namely Mbinja and Mpumaze. Limed and unlimed plots were used, and the trial was set up in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Maize kernel yield and other standard field parameters were recorded. Selection of tolerant genotypes from the field screening was also done using three indices, namely harmonic mean (HM), stress tolerance index (STI) and stress susceptibility index (SSI). Both the glasshouse and laboratory assays identified similar genotypes of maize as being tolerant. These tolerant genotypes were Ngoyi, PANBG3492 BT, PAN 6Q408 and PHB 3442 based on the root growth stress tolerance index (RGSTI). It was therefore demonstrated that these two assays produced the same level of efficiency in identifying tolerant genotypes using this index. Based on ranking of seedling vigour index under soil acidity stress, the top three genotypes at Mpumaze were PHB32W71, PAN6616 and Sahara while at Mbinja, the top three were PAN6616, PAN6Q408 CB and PAN6P110. The genotypes PANBG3492 BT, PAN6Q408 and PHB3442 were also found to be tolerant to acidic soils at seedling stage. These genotypes are recommended for further evaluation in more sites to confirm their tolerance and yield potential under acidic soils. The study also revealed that plant height, leaf area and stem diameter could be used for indirect selection for tolerance to Al toxicity under glasshouse conditions. The seedling vigour index was also effective in identifying tolerant genotypes under glasshouse conditions. On the other hand, shoot length stress tolerance index and the haematoxylin score were useful for indirect selection for tolerance to Al toxicity in the laboratory. In the field, it was observed that ear length, leaf area and ear diameter can be useful in identifying genotypes that are tolerant to soil acidity. They can therefore be useful as indirect selection criteria under field conditions. Additionally, the best selection indices for identifying soil acidity tolerant genotypes under field conditions were the HM and the STI. It is recommended that varieties that were identified as tolerant be further evaluated in several soil acidity hot spots to confirm their tolerance and stability of performance under field conditions. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sc. (Agriculture)