Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain recent, widespread increases in concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the surface waters of glaciated landscapes across eastern North America and northern and central Europe. Some invoke anthropogenic forcing through mechanisms related to climate change, nitrogen deposition or changes in land use, and by implication suggest that current concentrations and fluxes are without precedent. All of these hypotheses imply that DOC levels will continue to rise, with unpredictable consequences for the global carbon cycle. Alternatively, it has been proposed that DOC concentrations are returning toward pre-industrial levels as a result of a gradual decline in the sulphate content of atmospheric deposition. Here we show, through the assessment of time series data from 522 remote lakes and streams in North America and northern Europe, that rising trends in DOC between 1990 and 2004 can be concisely explained by a simple model based solely on changes in deposition chemistry and catchment acid-sensitivity. We demonstrate that DOC concentrations have increased in proportion to the rates at which atmospherically deposited anthropogenic sulphur and sea salt have declined. We conclude that acid deposition to these ecosystems has been partially buffered by changes in organic acidity and that the rise in DOC is integral to recovery from acidification. Over recent decades, deposition-driven increases in organic matter solubility may have increased the export of DOC to the oceans, a potentially important component of regional carbon balances. The increase in DOC concentrations in these regions appears unrelated to other climatic factors.

SUMMARY Apoptosis, the terminal morphological and biochemical events of programmed cell death, is characterized by specific changes in cell surface and nuclear morphology. In addition, DNA fragmentation in an internucleosomal pattern is detectable in mass cultures of apoptotic cells. However, DNA fragmentation and nuclear morphological changes may not necessarily be associated events. In this study, we examined OVCAR-3 and KB human carcinoma cells using time-lapse video phase-contrast microscopy to characterize the surface and nuclear morphological features of apoptosis in response to treatment with either taxol or ricin. The surface morphological features of apoptosis were the same in both cell types and with both drugs. Using an in situ nick-translation histochemical assay, these single cells were also examined for DNA strand breaks during apoptosis. Surface morphological changes demonstrated discrete stages of cell rounding, surface blebbing, followed by cessation of movement and the extension of thin surface microspikes, followed much later by surface blistering and cell lysis. Nuclear features examined by DAPI cytochemistry demonstrated apoptotic nuclear condensation very early in this sequence, usually at the time of initial surface blebbing. The nick-translation assay, however, demonstrated DNA strand breaks at a much later time, only after the formation of separated apoptotic bodies or after final cell lysis. This study points out the differences between surface and nuclear morphological changes in apoptosis, and the large temporal separation between nuclear morphological changes and major DNA fragmentation detectable by this in situ technique. This result suggests caution in using in situ nick-translation as a direct correlate of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in apoptosis. (J Histochem Cytochem 45:923-934, 1997)

Skjelkvåle, B. L.; Stoddard, J. L.; Jeffries, D. S.; Tørseth, K.; Høgåsen, T.; Bowman, J.; Mannio, J.; Monteith, D.T.; Mosello, R.; Rogora, M.; Rzychon, D,; Vesely, J.; Wieting, J.; Wilander, A.; and Worsztynowicz, A., "Regional scale evidence for improvements in surface water chemistry 1990-2001" (2005 Data demonstrates a continued regional-scale chemical response of acid sensitive lakes and streams to emissions controls programs which is conducive to biological recovery. AbstractThe main aim of the international UNECE monitoring program ICP Waters under the Convention of Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) is to assess, on a regional basis, the degree and geographical extent of the impact of atmospheric pollution, in particular acidification, on surface waters. Regional trends are calculated for 12 geographical regions in Europe and North America, comprising 189 surface waters sites. From 1990e2001 sulphate concentrations decreased in all but one of the investigated regions. Nitrate increased in only one region, and decreased in three North American regions. Improvements in alkalinity and pH are widely observed. Results from the ICP Waters programme clearly show widespread improvement in surface water acid-base chemistry, in response to emissions controls programs and decreasing acidic deposition. Limited site-specific biological data suggest that continued improvement in the chemical status of acid-sensitive lakes and streams will lead to biological recovery in the future.

Water quality data for 56 long-term monitoring sites in eight European countries are used to assess freshwater responses to reductions in acid deposition at a large spatial scale. In a consistent analysis of trends from 1980 onwards, the majority of surface waters (38 of 56) showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) decreasing trends in pollution-derived sulphate. Only two sites showed a significant increase. Nitrate, on the other hand, had a much weaker and more varied pattern, with no significant trend at 35 of 56 sites, decreases at some sites in Scandinavia and Central Europe, and increases at some sites in Italy and the UK. The general reduction in surface water acid anion concentrations has led to increases in acid neutralising capacity (significant at 27 of 56 sites) but has also been offset in part by decreases in base cations, particularly calcium (significant at 26 of 56 sites), indicating that much of the improvement in runoff quality to date has been the result of decreasing ionic strength. Increases in acid neutralising capacity have been accompanied by increases in pH and decreases in aluminium, although fewer trends were significant (pH 19 of 56, aluminium 13 of 53). Increases in pH appear to have been limited in some areas by rising concentrations of organic acids. Within a general trend towards recovery, some inter-regional variation is evident, with recovery strongest in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, moderate in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, and apparently weakest in Germany.

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