Contamination of the marine environment by Antarctic research stations: Monitoring marine pollution at Casey station from 1997 to 2015.

The contamination of the marine environment surrounding coastal Antarctic research stations remains insufficiently understood in terms of its extent, persistence, and characteristics. We investigated the presence of contaminants in marine sediments near Casey Station, located in the Windmill Islands of East Antarctica, during the period spanning from 1997 to 2015. Metals, hydrocarbons, PBDEs, PCBs, and nutrients were measured in sediments at anthropogenically disturbed sites, including the wastewater outfall, the wharf area, two former waste disposal sites, and various control locations.

Inexpensive portable capillary electrophoresis instrument for Monitoring Zinc(II) in remote areas.

A compact, inexpensive capillary electrophoresis instrument was developed for monitoring metal ions and evaluated for Zn(II) in remote contaminated locations in western Tasmania, Australia. The portable instrument, measuring 21 cm x 10 cm x 7 cm, was powered from the USB port of a laptop computer and built from off-the-shelf components costing ∼$1200 USD. Electrophoretic separations were conducted using a fused silica capillary (10-50 µm I.

Protein sources influence both apparent digestibility and gastrointestinal evacuation rate in juvenile slipper lobster (Thenus australiensis).

Apparent digestibility and gastrointestinal evacuation rate were measured to assess the potential of five commercially available protein sources for their inclusion in feeds for juvenile slipper lobster, Thenus australiensis. Protein sources tested were fishmeal, krill meal, lupin meal, soybean meal and squid by-product meal. Apparent digestibility of crude protein ranged from 79.

Scalable 3D printing method for the manufacture of single-material fluidic devices with integrated filter for point of collection colourimetric analysis.

Assembly and bonding are major obstacles in manufacturing of functionally integrated fluidic devices. Here we demonstrate a single-material 3D printed device with an integrated porous structure capable of filtering particulate matter for the colourimetric detection of iron from soil and natural waters. Selecting a PolyJet 3D printer for its throughput, integrated filters were created exploiting a phenomenon occurring at the interface between the commercially available build material (Veroclear-RGD810) and water-soluble support material (SUP707).

Pre-concentration of thorium and neodymium isotopes using Nobias chelating resin: Method development and application to chromatographic separation.

The isotopes of thorium (Th) and neodymium (Nd) are used as tracers in oceanography, and are key parameters in the international GEOTRACES program. The very low concentrations of Th and Nd as well as the reactive nature of Th isotopes makes the analysis of seawater samples a complex process. Analysis requires time-consuming pre-concentration from over 5 L of seawater.

Critical evaluation of a seaFAST system for the analysis of trace metals in marine samples.

A seawater preconcentration system (seaFAST) with offline sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) detection was critically evaluated for ultra-low trace elemental analysis of Southern Ocean samples over a four-year period (2015-2018). The commercially available system employs two Nobias PA1 resin columns for buffer cleaning and sample preconcentration, allowing salt matrix removal with simultaneous extraction of a range of trace elements. With a primary focus on method simplicity and practicality, a range of experimental parameters relevant to oceanographic analysis were considered, including reduction of blank levels (over weeks and years), instrument conditioning, extraction efficiencies over different pH ranges (5.

Seawater temperature effect on metal accumulation and toxicity in the subantarctic Macquarie Island isopod, Exosphaeroma gigas.

Very little is currently known of subantarctic nearshore invertebrates' sensitivity to environmental metals and the role of temperature in this relationship. This study investigated Cu and Zn toxicity in the common subantarctic intertidal isopod, Exosphaeroma gigas, and the influence of temperature on Cu toxicity and bioaccumulation kinetics. Adult E.

Direct electrokinetic injection of inorganic cations from whole fruits and vegetables for capillary electrophoresis analysis.

A novel approach for the direct injection from plant tissues without any sample pre-treatment has been developed by simply placing a small piece of the tissue into a capillary electrophoresis vial followed by application of a voltage for electrokinetic injection. Separations of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium were achieved using a BGE comprising 10mM imidazole and 2.5mM 18-crown-6-ether at pH 4.

Drosophila muller f elements maintain a distinct set of genomic properties over 40 million years of evolution.

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D.

Microbial life at -13 °C in the brine of an ice-sealed Antarctic lake.

The permanent ice cover of Lake Vida (Antarctica) encapsulates an extreme cryogenic brine ecosystem (-13 °C; salinity, 200). This aphotic ecosystem is anoxic and consists of a slightly acidic (pH 6.2) sodium chloride-dominated brine.

Historical lead isotope record of a sediment core from the Derwent River (Tasmania, Australia): a multiple source environment.

A 105 cm sediment core from the Derwent River (Tasmania, Australia) was collected in 2004 and was characterised considering both physical (loss on ignition at 550 °C and grain size) and chemical (Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb concentrations, Pb isotope ratios and (210)Pb dating) properties. The core was analysed to (i) investigate the historical profiles of some important elements associated with the Risdon zinc refinery adjacent to the Derwent River, (ii) determine Pb isotopic signatures of sediment samples, and (iii) assess the veracity of Pb isotope ratios as indicators of contaminant Pb input. Extractable metal concentrations were (all values as mgkg(-1), non-normalised for grain size) Fe: 20,000-35,000, Zn: 42-4500, Pb: 5-1090, Cu: 13-141, and Cd: 1-31; with a close correlation between Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb.

Modern sampling and analytical methods for the determination of trace elements in marine particulate material using magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

Trace elements often limit phytoplankton growth in the ocean, and the quantification of particulate forms is essential to fully understand their biogeochemical cycling. There is presently a lack of reliable measurements on the trace elemental content of marine particles, in part due to the inadequacies of the sampling and analytical methods employed. Here we report on the development of a series of state-of-the-art trace metal clean methods to collect and process oceanic particulate material in open-ocean and sea ice environments, including sampling, size-fractionated filtration, particle digestions and analysis by magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

The application of lead isotope ratios in the Antarctic macroalga Iridaea cordata as a contaminant monitoring tool.

Lead (Pb) isotope ratios were measured in the marine macroalga Iridaea cordata collected from four locations in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. Based on the masses of thalli collected, samples analysed in this study were likely to be a mixture of one and two year old thalli. For a sample of thalli of various ages (<12 months to 2 years old) from the same site there was no apparent variation in Pb concentration or Pb isotope ratio with thallus mass/age, indicating that contaminant sources had been constant over the lifetime of the thalli sampled.

A comparison of an optimised sequential extraction procedure and dilute acid leaching of elements in anoxic sediments, including the effects of oxidation on sediment metal partitioning.

The effect of oxidation of anoxic sediment upon the extraction of 13 elements (Cd, Sn, Sb, Pb, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As) using the optimised Community Bureau of Reference of the European Commission (BCR) sequential extraction procedure and a dilute acid partial extraction procedure (4h, 1 molL(-1) HCl) was investigated. Elements commonly associated with the sulfidic phase, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Fe exhibited the most significant changes under the BCR sequential extraction procedure. Cd, Cu, Zn, and to a lesser extent Pb, were redistributed into the weak acid extractable fraction upon oxidation of the anoxic sediment and Fe was redistributed into the reducible fraction as expected, but an increase was also observed in the residual Fe.

Baseline metal concentrations in Paramoera walkeri from East Antarctica.

Remediation of the Thala Valley waste disposal site near Casey Station, East Antarctica was conducted in the austral summer of 2003/2004. Biomonitoring of the adjacent marine environment was undertaken using the gammaridean amphipod Paramoera walkeri as a sentinel species [Stark, J.S.

Selenoprotein P analysis in human plasma: a discrepancy between HPLC fractionation of human plasma with heparin-affinity chromatography and SDS-PAGE with immunoblot analysis.

Several recent analytical methods for determination of Se and selenoprotein P have involved high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using heparin-affinity columns coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for Se detection. HPLC-ICP-MS chromatography using tandem HPLC columns with ICP-MS detection was used to detect the major selenium-containing proteins in plasma (glutathione peroxidase, albumin, and selenoprotein P). The efficiency of HPLC separation of plasma selenoprotein P was investigated by analyzing HPLC fractions using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with immunoblot analysis.

Mechanisms of arsenic attenuation in acid mine drainage from Mount Bischoff, western Tasmania.

There is a dearth of research concerning the geochemistry of arsenic in acid mine drainage (AMD) in western Tasmania. To help address this, the controls on the mobility and fate of arsenic in AMD and its associated sediment at the Mount Bischoff mine site in western Tasmania were investigated. AMD issuing from the adit mouth contained dissolved arsenic and iron concentrations of 2.

Determination of vanadium as 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol-hydrogen peroxide ternary complexes by ion-interaction reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

The separation and determination of the vanadium(V) ternary complex formed with 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol (PAR) and hydrogen peroxide using ion-interaction reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on a C18 column has been investigated. The optimal mobile phase was a methanol-water solution (32:68, v/v) containing 3 mM tetrabutylammonium bromide, 5 mM acetic acid and 5 mM citrate buffer at pH 7, with absorbance detection at 540 nm. The stoichiometry of the ternary complex of vanadium at pH 6 in 10 mM acetate buffer using the mole ratio and Job's method by HPLC indicated that the mole ratio of V(V):PAR:H2O2 was 1:1:1.