Marsh Bulletin

The bivalve C. fluminalis was exposed to a single doses of sublethal concentrations (20,60, and 120 ppm) of Basrah regular crude oil-in water emulsions for a month period, underthe laboratory conditions. The pattern of accumulation and release of petroleumhydrocarbons, the depuration time (biological half-life, TB50), and the mechanisms oftransport of petroleum hydrocarbons into the bivalve were determined. The bivalveaccumulated the highest amount of petroleum hydrocarbons during the first week of exposureto crude oil emulsions. The accumulated petroleum hydrocarbons decreased each week as thepetroleum hydrocarbons content of the exposure water decreased. The capillary gaschromatography analysis revealed that the dominant petroleum hydrocarbons accumulated bythe bivalve after the four weeks of exposure to crude oil emulsions were naphthalene,phenanthrene, C12, C13, and C14. The depletion of petroleum hydrocarbons from the exposurewater, and the accumulation and release of petroleum hydrocarbons by the C. fluminalisinvolved formation a complex of mucus and crude oil by the bivalve. The depuration periodwas began when the bivalve was transferred to a clean river water for two weeks subsequentto the month exposure to crude oil emulsions. The accumulated petroleum hydrocarbons wererapidly, although incompletely released. At the end of the depuration period, the capillary gaschromatography analysis showed that the petroleum hydrocarbons retain in the bivalve wasnaphthalene. The biological half-life (TB50) for depuration of the bivalve calculated were 55days, 14.5 days, and 18 days for 20 ppm, 60 ppm, and 120 ppm respectively

The process of hybridization was carried out between female of Barbus xanthopterus X maleofBarbus sharpeyi by artificial reproduction in Marine Science Center hatchery. Environmental factors(Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH) of the hatchery water were measured. Theenvironmental factors within the optimum limits for the process of artificial breeding of these twospecies. The fertilized eggs were hatched and the larvae were reared inside the hatchery for six days. Later the hybrid larvae transferred to floating cages in the earthen pond, the initial larval weight was5.2 mg. The rearing of hybrid larvae continued for 20 days and the average of final length was 20 mmand average of final weight was 41mg

Trace elements (cobalt, iron, nickel, manganese, copper and cadmium) were studied at three organs(muscles, liver and gills) of the body of fish, silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) duringtheperiod from autumn 2009 to summer 2010. The concentrations of these elements were measured usingFlame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Results showed that the trace elements (cobalt, iron,
nickel, manganese, copper and cadmium) in muscles were ranged from ((ND (spring) to 5.54(summer) ; 40.68 (winter) to 72.10 (summer) ; 55.23 (autumn) to 69.23 (summer) ; 3.12 (winter) to5.72 (spring) ; ND (winter) to 14.34 (summer) ; 1.16 (autumn) to 2.89 (spring)) µg/g dry weight,
respectively. While in liver were ranged from ((5.22 (spring) to 16.71 (summer) ; 55.80 (winter) to98.90 (autumn) ; 70.45 (winter) to 89.18 (autumn) ; 6.01 (summer) to 10.99 (spring) ; 20.10 (autumn)to 30.22 (summer) ; 6.50 (autumn) to 12.69 (summer)) µg/g dry weight, respectively. Also, in gillswere ranged from ((11.13 (spring) to 19.36 (summer) ; 50.50 (winter) to 83.91 (summer) ; 58.28(summer) to 78.91 (winter) ; 7.00 (summer) to 13.62 (autumn) ; 11.30 (autumn) to 23.61 (summer) ;8.51 (summer) to 10.22 (winter)) µg/g dry weight, respectively. Generally, the concentrations of theseelements in liver were higher than in muscles and gills. The trace elements concentration had beendistributed during the seasons as follow: summer > spring > autumn > winte

After extensively drained of Mesopotamian wetlands, southern Iraq in 1990s Ceratophyllumdemersum L. reappeared as response to re-flooding. This investigation was conducted to studydistribution of Ceratophyllum demersum in Al-Mashb marsh, Hor Al-Hammar, and thephysical-chemical properties of its habitat, Water depth (WD), light penetration (LP), watertemperature (WT), water salinity (Sal.), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), calcium (Ca+2),magnesium (Mg+2), nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate were seasonally determined during 2008.Its vegetation cover percentage was 85 % with its peak in summer, while the lowest value was35 % in winter. CANOCO ordination program (CCA) was used to analyze the data.Statistically, Positive relationships for WT, pH, Ca+2, Mg+2, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphatewith the vegetation cover percentage were observed. However, negative relationships for Sal,WD, LP, and DO with the vegetation cover percentage were observed. Myriophyllumspicatum L. and Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle were recorded as associated species withC.demersum community in this study

The Rotifers community along Shatt Al-Arab River was investigated during fourseasons of 2006. 49 species belonging to 27 genera recorded. The genus Brachiouns thehighest number of species (7) following by Monostyla and Trichocerca 4 each constitutedand Keratella (3) species..
In general Brachionus calyciflorus and Keraktella valga were most frequent anddominant species. Within the five investigated sites, Al- Karoon station was characterized byhighest rotifers density(369 ind./l) and Abu Al-Khaseeb station showed the less density ( 230ind. / l ). However, summer was the period of highest densities. Diversity Indices for the fivestudied stations were calculated, the value ranged between 1.43 – 1.61 for Shannon – Weaverindex, 6.29 – 8.47 for richness index, and between 0.51 – 0.55 for uniformity index

Phenol is one of the organic pollutants in various industrial wastewaters especiallypetrochemical and oil refining. Biological treatment is one of the considerable choices forremoving of phenol from these wastewaters. Identification of effective microbial species isconsidered as one of the important priorities for bacteria producting biomass in order toachieve desirable kinetic of biological reactions. Basic purpose of this research isidentification of phenol-degrading Pseudomonas putida by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) that has high speed and specificity . Amplification gene coding the N fragment inPseudomonas putida-derived methyl phenol operon (DmpN gene) was used for specificidentification of phenol-degrading Pseudomonas putida,According to the results of this study7 of 10 isolated bacteria Pseudomonas putida showed a 199 bp PCR product by DmpNprimers

Palynological features of the pollen grains of Dicots wetland plants of the SouthernMarshlands of Iraq were studied. Forty nine species belong to twenty five families wereinvestigated .The results showed that there were significant difference and high diversity inshape, size, ornamentation and apertures of the pollen grains of most genera and speciesstudied. Most families and genera have their own characteristic pollen types. On the basis ofornamentation and apertural types, nineteen distinct pollen types were recognized.Pantoporate pollen grains were showed in several families such as Chenopodiaceae andAmaranthaceae. Most species contain three colpi as in Bacopa monniera, while Myriophyllumspicatum contains 4-5 clopi, but many species contained colp and pore as in most of Dicotsspecies as in Compositae. Ornamentations were varied from psilate in the Utriculariaaustralis to echinate in some species of Compositae.