Transfer of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins via Marine Food Chains:A Simulated Experiment

Objective To study the transfer of paralytic shellfish toxins （PST） using four simulated marine food chains： dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense→Artemia Artemia salina→Mysid shrimp Neomysis awatschensis; A. tamarense→N. awatschensis; A. tamarense→A, salina→Perch Lateolabrax japonicus; and A. tamarense→L, japonicus. Methods The ingestion of A. tamarense, a producer of PST, by L. japonicus, N. awatschensis, and A. salina was first confirmed by microscopic observation of A. tamarense cells in the intestine samples of the three different organisms, and by the analysis of Chl.a levels in the samples. Toxin accumulation in L. japonicus and N. awatschensis directly from the feeding on A. tamarense or indirectly through the vector of A. salina was then studied, The toxicity of samples was measured using the AOAC mouse bioassay method, and the toxin content and profile of A. tamarense were analyzed by the HPLC method. Results Both A. salina and N. awatschensis could ingest A. tamarense cells. However, the ingestion capability of A. salina exceeded that of N. awatschensis. After the exposure to the culture of A. tamarense （2 000 cells·mL^-1） for 70 minutes, the content of Chl.a in A. salina and N. awatschensis reached 0.87 and 0.024 μg.mg^-1, respectively. Besides, A. tamarense cells existed in the intestines of L. japonicus, N. awatschensis and A. salina by microscopic observation. Therefore, the three organisms could ingest A. tamarense cells directly. A. salina could accumulate high content of PST, and the toxicity of A. salina in samples collected on days 1, 4, and 5 of the experiment was 2.18, 2.6, and 2.1 MU.g^-1, respectively. All extracts from the samples could lead to death of tested mice within 7 minutes, and the toxin content in anemia sample collected on the 1st day was estimated to be 1.65×10 ^5 μg STX equal/individual. Toxin accumulation in L japonicus and N. awatschensis directly from the feeding on A. tamarense or indirectly from the vector ofA. salina was also studied. The mice injected with extracts from L japonicus and N. awatschensis samples that accumulated PST either directly or indirectly showed PST intoxication symptoms, indicating that low levels of PST existed in these samples. Conclusion Paralytic shellfish toxins can be transferred to L. japonicus, N. awatschensis, and A. salina from A. tamarense directly or indirectly via the food chains.

Biotransfer of heavy metals along a soil-plant-insect-chicken food chain:Field study

The accumulation and transfer of Pb,Zn,Cu,and Cd along a soil-plant-insect-chicken food chain at contaminated sites were investigated.The study site nearing the Pb/Zn mine had been contaminated by heavy metals severely.Cadmium and Pb concentrations steadily declined with increasing trophic level（p 〈 0.01）,but concentrations of Zn and Cu slightly increased from plant to insect larva（p 〉 0.05）.The concentrations of heavy metals were the highest in chicken muscle,with lower values in liver and blood.The bioaccumulation of Pb was observed in chicken livers.The eliminations of Pb,Zn,Cu,and Cd via insect and chicken feces avoid metal bioaccumulation in insect and chicken body.These results suggest that the accumulation of heavy metals in specific animal organ of tissues could not be neglected,although transfer of metals to chicken from plant and insect was limited.

Optimal harvesting for an age-dependent n-dimensional food chain model

This paper is concerned with optimal harvesting policy for an age-dependent n-dimensional food chain model. The existence and uniqueness of non-negative solution of the system are proved using the fixed point theorem. By Mazur＇s theorem, the existence of optimal control strategy is demonstrated and optimality conditions derived by means of normal cone.

Deterministic and Stochastic Fractional-Order Hastings-Powell Food Chain Model

In this paper,a deterministic and stochastic fractional-order model of the tri-trophic food chain model incorporating harvesting is proposed and analysed.The interaction between prey,middle predator and top predator population is investigated.In order to clarify the characteristics of the proposed model,the analysis of existence,uniqueness,non-negativity and boundedness of the solutions of the proposed model are examined.Some sufficient conditions that ensure the local and global stability of equilibrium points are obtained.By using stability analysis of the fractional-order system,it is proved that if the basic reproduction number R_(0)<1,the predator free equilibrium point E_(1) is globally asymptotically stable.The occurrence of local bifurcation near the equilibrium points is investigated with the help of Sotomayor’s theorem.Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical findings.The impact of harvesting on prey and themiddle predator is studied.We conclude that harvesting parameters can control the dynamics of the middle predator.A numerical approximation method is developed for the proposed stochastic fractional-order model.

The Risk of <i>Fusarium</i>and Their Mycotoxins in the Food Chain

Fusarium sp. and mycotoxins of these species pose a major risk to consumer health, agriculture and the food industry. This paper is a worldwide bibliographic study on impact of Fusarium and mycotoxins on the food chain. The factors influencing the development of fungi Fusarium sp., the formation of mycotoxins and their microbiological risk on the food chain must be considered as a whole. For cereals and oilseeds before and after harvest, fungal infections and mycotoxin contamination present serious problems worldwide. This paper is an overview of the factors that include the microbiological risk and impact of Fusarium in the food chain mentioned in national and international studies. The methods and results obtained in this direction internationally are mentioned, such as: infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectrometry and hyperspectral imaging. Also, in review are presented solutions to reduce this impact on the food chain.

Preventing Hg Transference from Soil to Terrestrial Food Chain

Hg in acid soil could be activited by liming and become available to plant,if excessive or insufficient amount of line was applied.The changes of Hg activity in acid soil with different rates of CaCO3 amendment were studied by a pot experiment.To predict the adequate amount of lime application,a simple method using the pH(EDTA) as an indicator was suggested.The suitable range of lime application was the amount of lime addition when the pH of soil-EDTA system was raised to 4.0-4.3.

COPPER ACCUMULATION AND TRANSPORT IN A MARINE FOOD CHAIN COMPOSED OF PLATYMONAS SUBCORDIFORMIS, BRACHIONUS PLICATILIS AND PENAEUS MONODON

Accumulation, transport and toxicity of Cu in the food chain consisting of Platymonas subcordiformis,Brachionus plicatilis and Penaeus monodon were studied,Effects of Cu on the growth of organisms in the food chain were investigated and the inhibiting the concentration (EC50) of Cu was then determined according to the dynamics of the relative number of cells or total individuals of organisms, expressed in percentagn with reference to the controlled system under different culture conditions. On the basis of the variations in accumulation and percentages of accumulation of Cu in the biological phase, tbe reationship between the accumulation of Cu in organisms and its toxicity was analyzed and the main approach for determining the transport of Cu in the food chain was then discussed.

Antibiotic susceptibility and molecular characterization of resistance genes among Escherichia coli and among Salmonella subsp. in chicken food chains

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of resistance genes among Escherichia coli(E. coli) and Salmonella subsp. isolated in chicken food chains in Phnom Penh, 2012–2013.Methods: Six hundred eighty two E. coli and 181 Salmonella Albany, Corvallis, and Kentucky strains were examined for susceptibilities to eight antimicrobials and following resistance genes were identified by PCR: blaTem, Str A, aad A, sul1, sul2, gyr A, Tet(A), and Tet(B).Results: E. coli presented high resistances to tetracycline, amoxicillin, and sulfamethoxazole(63.1%–76.1%). Salmonella Albany and Salmonella Kentucky traduced high resistance percentages to amoxicillin, tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, and nalidixic acid(84.6%–100%). Among amoxicillin-resistant isolates, blaTemgenes were observed for 62% of E. coli isolates and 20% of 65 Salmonella Kentucky. The Str A gene was prevalent in 36% of 331 aminoglycoside-resistant E. coli and 90% of 40 aminoglycoside-resistant Salmonella Corvallis. The sul2 gene was predominant among sulfamethoxazole-resistant isolates, for 56% of 431 E. coli and 53% of 66 Salmonella Corvallis; the sul1 gene was observed in 54% of Salmonella Albany. The Tet(A) resistance gene was prevalent in E.coli(86%), Salmonella Corvallis(82%), Salmonella Kentucky(84%). High percentages of gyr A genes observed among nalidixic-acid resistant E. coli(91%), Salmonella Albany(92%), Salmonella Corvallis(75%) and Salmonella Kentucky(85%).Conclusions: Important occurrences of resistance gene were observed among E. coli and Salmonella in chicken food chains in Cambodia.

Dioxins in the Food Chain: Contamination Fingerprint Analysis in Breeding Hens, Hatching Eggs and Broilers

While routine monitoring poultry meat was obtained from breeding hens, dioxins contaminations were detected in Portugal. Levels of 430.9 pg PCDD/F-WHO-TEQ/g1 were found, which are higher than the official limits legally allowed for this matrix (1.75 pg PCDD/F-WHO-TEQ/g). To identify the magnitude of the contaminations, 60 samples were collected from poultry farms and different matrices, namely: feed, water, wood shavings from the litters, muscle of the breeding hens, hatching eggs collected in the positive farm and muscle collected from broilers farms supplied by the positive breeding farm. The comparison of the dioxins congeners profiles showed that there was a coincidence of peaks of higher relative concentrations in the wood shavings, with the peaks of the highest relative concentration in the hatching eggs, especially the relative concentrations of the congeners 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD and OCDD, which may be explained by the role of VLDLy in the delivery of triglycerides to the oocyte, where they will be used as the energy source for the developing embryo. The comparison of the dioxins congeners profiles of the breeding hens muscle with the poultry muscle, showed a coincidence of peaks of higher relative concentrations in the congeners 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD, 1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD and OCDD which may indicate a dechlorination pathway “in vivo”. Results allowed concluding that those wood shavings, improperly used as poultry litters, were certainly the source of contamination of the food chain.

Pattern Formation in Tri-Trophic Ratio-Dependent Food Chain Model

In this paper, a spatial tri-trophic food chain model with ratio-dependent Michaelis-Menten type functional response under homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions is studied. Conditions for Hopf and Turing bifurcation are derived. Sufficient conditions for the emergence of spatial patterns are obtained. The results of numerical simulations reveal the formation of labyrinth patterns and the coexistence of spotted and stripe-like patterns.

Nonisospectral Lotka–Volterra Systems as a Candidate Model for Food Chain

In this paper,we derive a generalized nonisospectral semi-infinite Lotka-Volterra equation,which possesses a determinant solution.We also give its a Lax pair expressed in terms of symmetric orthogonal polynomials.In addition,if the simplified case of the moment evolution relation is considered,that is,without the convolution term,we also give a generalized nonisospectral finite Lotka-Volterra equation with an explicit determinant solution.Finally,an application of the generalized nonisospectral continuous-time Lotka-Volterra equation in the food chain is investigated by numerical simulation.Our approach is mainly based on Hirota’s bilinear method and determinant techniques.

The Effects of Disruptive Thinking on the Food Industry*

This study aimed to understand disruptive thinking and how its ideas can change the food industry. This was achieved by identifying, studying, and understanding the impacts, current trends, and different disruptive ideas and innovations emerging in the food industry. The study was conducted through interpretive research philosophy by carrying out secondary data collection processes, where both qualitative and quantitative information was presented. Deductive approaches were also selected to apply existing theories and models, which were used to construct research hypotheses and present detailed findings. The study finds that, with disruptive thinking, enhancements in the product life cycle, new flavors, and improvements in food packaging have been possible. The supply chain, which is always considered a complex part of the food industry, has been streamlined, offering greater transparency and real-time tracking and improving quality control across distribution systems.

Mercury distribution and bioaccumulation up the soil-plant-grasshopper-spider food chain in Huludao City, China

The purpose of this study is to investigate total mercury （THg） distribution and its bioaccumulation up the soil-plant-grasshopperspider in the Huludao City, which is polluted seriously by chlor-alkali and zinc smelting industry in Northeast of China. Results indicated that average THg concentrations in soil, plant leaves, grasshopper Locusta migratoria manilensis and Acrida chinensis, and spider were 0.151, 0.119, 0.167 and 0.134 mg/kg, respectively. THg spatial distribution suggested that most of mercury came from the chlor-alkali plant and the two zinc smelteries. The highest mercury concentration was found in the wings among different grasshoppers’ organs. Although spiders are the predatory, THg concentrations in their bodies were not high, and only on the same level as in grasshoppers, which might be due to spiders’ special living habits. In the light of the mercury transportation at every stage of the soil-plant-grasshopper-spider food chain, the bioaccumulation factors were 0.03, 0.79–1.11 and 0.80–1.13 respectively. It suggested that mercury biomagnification up terrestrial food chains was not so large and obvious as it was in the aquatic food chain.

A dynamic food-chain model and program for predicting the consequences of nuclear accident

A dynamic food chain model and program, DYFOM 95, for predicting the radiological consequences of nuclear accident has been developed, which is not only suitable to the West food chain but also to Chinese food chain. The following processes, caused by accident release which will make an impact on radionuclide concentration in the edible parts of vegetable were considered: dry and wet deposition interception and initial retention, translocation, percolation, root uptake and tillage. Activity intake rate of animals, effects of processing and activity intake of human through ingestion pathway ware also considered in calculations. The effects of leaf area index LAI of vegetable were considered in dry deposition model. A method for calculating the contribution of rain with different period and different intensity to total wet deposition was established. The program contains 1 main code and 5 sub codes to calculate dry and wet deposition on surface of vegetable and soil, translocation of nuclides in vegetable, nuclide concentration in the edible parts of vegetable and in animal products and activity intake of human and so on.

Periodic Solution of a Nonautonomous Diffusive Food Chain System of Three Species with Time Delays

By using the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory, the existence of a positive periodic solution for a nonautonomous diffusive food chain system of three species.is established, where ri(t), aii(t) (i = 1.2,3,4), Di(t) (i = 1,2), a12(t), a21(t), a23(t) and a32(t) are all positive periodic continuous functions with period w > 0, Ti(i = 1,2) are positive constants.

Dynamics of an autonomous food chain model and existence of global attractor of the associated non-autonomous system

In this paper,we have analyzed a tri-trophic food chain model consisting of phytoplankton,zooplankton and fish population in an aquatic environment.Here,the pelagic water column is divided into two layers namely,the upper layer and the lower layer.The zooplankton population makes a diel vertical migration(DVM)from lower portion to upper portion and vice-versa to trade-off between food source and fear from predator(Fish).Here,mathematical model has been developed and analyzed in a rigorous way.Apart from routine calculations like boundedness and positivity of the solution,local stability of the equilibrium points,we performed Hopf bifurcation analysis of the interior equilibrium point of our model system in a systematic way.It is observed that the migratory behavior of zooplankton plays a crucial role in the dynamics of the model system.Both the upward and downward migration rates of DVM leads the system into Hopf bifurcation.The upward migration rate of zooplankton deteriorates the stable coexistence of all the species in the system,whereas the downward migration rate enhance the stability of the system.FYirther,we analyze the non-autonomous version of the system to capture seasonal effect of environmental variations.We have shown that under certain parametric restrictions periodic coexistence of all the species of our system is possible.Finally,extensive numerical simulation has been performed to support our analytical findings.

Comparison between two tritrophic food chain models with multiple delays and anti-predation effect

Exploring the predator prey linkage in food chain system is the most familiar research work in population biology.Recently,some research experiments show that predator-prey interaction not only governed by direct hunting but also influenced by some indirect effect such as fear effect(felt by prey)that may change the physiological behavior of prey.Based upon this fact,we consider a tritrophic food chain model incorporating with anti-predation response(fear effect)and multiple time delays for biomass conversion from prey to middle predator and middle to top predator.We analyze the resulting delay differential equations and explore how the anti-predation response level affects the population dynamics.We also investigate the effect of delay parameters,for which the model system switches its stability through Hopf-bifurcation.We compare all of our results between two different food chain models consisting of two different functional responses.Some numerical simulations are performed to validate the effectiveness of the derived theoretical results.

Numerical solution of time-fractional three-species food chain model arising in the realm of mathematical ecology

T'his research paper implements the fractional homotopy analysis transform technique to compute the approximate analytical solution of the nonlinear three-species food chain model with time-fractional derivatives.The offered technique is a fantastic blend of homotopy analysis method(HAM)and Laplace transform(LT)operator and has been used fruitfully in the numerical computation of various fractional differential equations(FDEs).This paper involves the fractional derivatives of Caputo style.The numerical solutions of this selected fractional-order food chain model are evaluated by making use of the associated initial conditions.It is revealed by the adopting procedure that the more desirable estimation of the solution can be easily acquired through the calculation of some number of iteration terms only-a fact which authenticates the easiness and soundness of the suggested hybrid scherne.The variations of fractional order of time derivative on the solutions for different specific cases have been depicted through graphical presentations.The outcomes demonstrated through the graphs expound that the adopted scheme is very fantastic and accurate.

Poverty reduction through the development of inclusive food value chains

Propelled by urbanization,rising incomes,and changing diets,food markets have been expanding in Africa and South Asia,creating the vast potential for job and income opportunities along food supply chains and,hence,for poverty reduction.The novel coronavirus(COVID-19)that spread to a pandemic in early 2020 provokes enormous setbacks to this expansion.This,however,should provide lessons regarding the importance of resilient and inclusive food systems.Emergency responses to COVID-19 should consider interventions towards that end and leverage the opportunities provided by food markets growth as economies recover from the present economic recession.This paper assesses options of how this could be done by facilitating the better functioning and interconnectedness of the many small and medium-sized enterprises that are proliferating along the"hidden middle"of food value chains in storage,logistics,transportation,and wholesale and retail distribution.It also explores how policies can help smallholder farmers connect to this"hidden middle"in more gainful ways and help them climb out of poverty as well.