INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Year:2012 | Volume:2 | Issue:4|Papers Count:6

Crude oil is enriched in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many PAH analogs have proved to potentially damage DNA. DNA damage can be assessed using various biomarkers to find out the degree of genotoxicity of pollutants following in vitro exposure. In this research the comet assay and micronucleus (MN) test were used to detect DNA damages and cytogenetic changes following crude oil exposure. For this purpose, freshwater bivalve mollusks (Anodonta cygnea) were exposed for ten days to 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 ppm of crude oil. For the comet assay and for the MN test, hemolymph and gill cells of mussels were sampled respectively. Statistically, significant increase of DNA damage and micronuclei were found with 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 ppm of crude oil. This study was performed to ascertain that A. cygnea is a good bioindicator of pollutants in aquatic environments; also identified hemolymph and gill of A.cygnea are most effective and practical tissues for genotoxicity studies.

pollutions. Recently, both Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are experiencing several types of pollution including oil spills and heavy metal pollutions as well as Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) caused by biological and environmental changes. Their occurrence of the red tide or harmful algal bloom during fall and winter 2008-2009 caused numerous unknown factors in the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman which left many destructive effects on fishery, aquaculture, tourism industry and environmental conditions of the region as some of them have not vanished absolutely yet. This paper deals with the analysis of application of the marine satellite imaging sensors to study and monitor the adverse environmental factors, particularly those associated with algal bloom occurred in 2008-2009. Data obtained by the MODIS sensors used to monitor the relevant environmental factors of the red tide. Our results showed that the occurred algal bloom was the result of seawater temperature drop, water circulation and the adverse environmental pollutions caused by industrial and urban sewages entering the coastal waters in this region of the Persian Gulf., This red tide phenomenon started in the Strait of Hormuz and eventually covered about 140,000 km2 of the Persian Gulf and total area of Strait of Hormuz. It survived for 9 months which is a record amongst the occurred algal blooms across the world.

Butachlor (N-(butoxymethyl)-2-chloro-N-2, 6-diethylacetanillide) is widely used chloroacetanilide herbicide in Asian region, especially in the north of Iran. Several studies have been reported on toxicity of butachlor, but little information is accessible on DNA damaging potential. Thus, the present study was undertaken to investigate of DNA damage by butachlor in Cyprinus carpio (Pisces: Cyprinidae) using single cell gel electrophoresis. This study was done according to static method. The specimens were exposed to different concentrations of butachlor (0.07, 0.15 and 0.3 mgl-1) and sampling was carried out after 48 hour (short-time exposed). Based on the results, a significant increase in genetic damage index was observed in treatments compared with control samples (P<0.01). Also, the results showed the genotoxicity potential of this herbicide on fish. This study corroborated that comet assay is applied on the fish is a functional method to determine potential genotoxicity pollutants.

Reliability of a system is the probability that it will function as intended for the required period of time. The opposite of reliability is failure probability per unit time or over time, such as a life cycle. Following a review of existing reliability codes and approaches, comprehensive approaches to assess the reliability of offshore structures are described, including probabilistic analysis by employing fault tree model.

Wetlands are often considered sinks for contaminants, and Aquatic plants have been shown to play important roles in wetland biogeochemistry through their active and passive circulation of elements. In this research, in order to evaluate the concentration level of heavy metals released by the urban, industrial and agricultural activities at the margin of the rivers flowing into Anzali lagoon, as well as finding lead and cadmium accumulated in two plant species quoted below, a sampling has been made on two kinds of aquatic plants in the lagoon at three randomized stations based on the density of the plant coverage. In this project two regional aquatic plant species asHyrocotyleranocloides, Ceratophyllumdemersumhave been investigated for absorption of lead and cadmium. Results show an average concentration of lead in Ceratophyllum being 53.11 ppm, for Hydrocotyle 77.8 ppm, and of cadmium in Ceratophyllum being 4.46 ppm and for Hydrocotyle 6.28 ppm. According to results, lead has been the most abundant between these two metals inside plant organs regardless the specie. The statistic test gives the results under the confidence level 95% proving the amount of the absorption being significant in the stem of Hydrocotyle plant rather than in the root or the leaf compared with other species.

Pesticides are used extensively in agricultural lands in Northern provinces of Iran which makes river ecosystems more vulnerable to pesticides pollution. This study was conducted in three river estuaries (Babolrud, Tajanrud and Gorganrud), focusing mainly on the concentration levels of organophosphate pesticides (diazinon, malathion, azinphos-methyl) in the muscle tissue of golden mullet fish, an economically important and highly consumed fish in the region. The research was conducted in 2011-12. During the study, 27 samples of mullet fish were collected. After extraction and purification process, the average level of concentrations of diazinon, malathion in mullet fish muscle tissue were measured using Gas Chromatography. Based on the results, the highest average concentrations of azinphos-methyl belonged to samples taken from Babolrud river estuary (1.28 mg/kg), while these concentrations for Tajan and Gorganrud samples were respectively 0.76 and 0.04 mg/kg. The highest concentration of malathion in mullet fish muscle was found in the samples taken from Tajan River (0.19 mg/kg). The concentration of malathion in samples taken from Babolrud and Gorganrud rivers were also 0.17 and 0.07 mg/kg, respectively. The highest concentration of diazinon in mullet fish muscle was found in samples taken from Babolroud River (0.27 mg/kg), and then in samples from Tajan and Gorganroud rivers (respectively 0.09 and 0.08 mg/kg). It was concluded that the most contaminated river estuary was Babolrud river estuary.