(Methyl)Mercury,Arsenic, and Lead Contamination of the World’s Largest Wastewater Irrigation System: the Mezquital Valley (Hidalgo State—Mexico)

We investigate the potential of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to predict some heavy metals content (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr and Ni) in several soil types in Stara Zagora Region, South Bulgaria, as affected by the size of calibration set using partial least squares (PLS) regression models. A total of 124 soil samples from the 0–20 and 20–40 cm layers were collected from fields with different cropping systems. Total Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr and Ni concentrations were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. Spectra of air dried soil samples were obtained using an FT-NIR Spectrometer (spectral range 700–2,500 nm). PLS calibration models were developed with full-cross-validation using calibration sets of 90 %, 80 %, 70 % and 60 % of the 124 samples. These models were validated with the same prediction set of 12 samples. The validation of the NIR models showed Cu to be best predicted with NIR spectroscopy. Less accurate prediction was observed for Zn, Pb and Ni, which was classified as possible to distinguish between high and low concentrations and as approximate quantitative. The worst model performance in cross-validation and prediction was for Cr. Results also showed that values of root mean square error in cross-validation (RMSE_cv) increased with decreasing number of samples in calibration sets, which was particularly clear for Cu, Pb, Ni and Cr content. A similar tendency was observed in the prediction sets, where RMSEP values increased with a decrease in the number of samples, particularly for Pb, Ni and Cr content. This tendency was not clear for Zn, while even an increase in RMSEP for Cu with the sample size was observed. It can be concluded that NIR spectroscopy can be used to measure heavy metals in a sample set with different soil type, when sufficient number of soil samples (depending on variability) is used in the calibration set.     

Soil P fractions in a volcanic soil chronosequence of Central Mexico and their relationship to foliar P in pine trees

Phosphorus (P) is a major plant nutrient, however, its availability in volcanic ash soils is presumed to be small, due to its specific sorption on short‐range order minerals. We analyzed distinct P fractions in volcanic ash soils of different age (60 to > 100,000 y BP) under pine forests in Central Mexico to investigate their changes along a chronosequence of Regosols, Andosols, and Lixisols, and to evaluate if P availability limits tree growth at any particular stage. Top soil and subsoil samples were first analyzed by the Tiessen and Moir method, which failed to extract exhaustively “organic” and “occluded P”, and “P associated with apatite”. Therefore, we modified the fractionation scheme by including a “recalcitrant organic P” fraction obtained from the difference between P determined in air‐dried subsamples and subsamples burned at 300°C; P adsorbed to short‐range order minerals was assessed in an extraction with NH₄‐oxalate, and P in primary minerals by subtracting the sum of all other fractions from total P contents determined by XRF. This we did after discovering that primary P occurred in the form of fluorapatite included in plagioclase, volcanic glass or olivine. We also measured P contents in pine needles and related these with the “mobile soil P” fractions. The results show that “organic P” reaches maximum contents in 10,000‐y old soil, as does P associated with short‐range order minerals, while P occluded into crystalline oxides increases constantly over time. After 100,000 y, 31% of total P still remains in the form of primary P in A horizons. “Mobile P” was constant > 40 mg kg^?1 in Regosols and Andosols and related positively with foliar P contents, which were within adequate nutritional ranges. Only in Lixisols small “mobile P” concentrations in soil correspond with inadequate P contents in pine needles.     

Reacidification Effects on Water Chemistry and Plankton in a Limed Lake in Sweden

Water chemistry and plankton has been monitored in three Lakes in Tyresta National park SE of Stockholm since 1977. Liming operations started in Lake Långsjön and Lake Trehörningen in 1978 and were repeated every 3–5 years, while Lake Årsjön is an unlimed reference Lake. During 1991–1999, the annual pH median in Lake Långsjön and Lake Årsjön ranged between 6.6–7.1 and 5.2–5.8, respectively, and the composition of phyto- and zooplankton in these lakes did not change markedly. After a final treatment in 1991, the liming of Lake Trehörningen was terminated intentionally. As a result, pH decreased from an annual median 7.1 in 1991, to 6.1 in 1999 (5.8 in 1998). Total organic carbon (TOC) did not change markedly during this period, while the levels of calcium decreased. Metals, known to be influenced by acidification, especially cadmium, manganese and aluminium (Al), increased. The labile-inorganic forms of Al also reached higher levels, especially in 1998. Following the decreasing pH, the total number of phytoplankton taxa decreased by ca 40%. Among zooplankton, the cladocerans Holopedium gibberum, Diaphanosoma brachyurum and Daphnia longispina, common during the limed period, became rare.     

Intrinsic Tween 20 improves release and antilisterial properties of co-encapsulated nisin and thymol

Antimicrobial delivery systems have been proposed as potential solutions to improve effectiveness of antimicrobials in food matrixes by shielding antimicrobials from contacting food matrix components and releasing them continuously. In this work, spray-dried capsules were produced from zein solutions with the same concentrations of nisin and thymol but with varying Tween 20 contents for characterization of release kinetics of antimicrobials and antilisterial properties. At intermediate levels of Tween 20, sustained and more complete release of antimicrobials was observed at pH 6.0 and 8.0. Most capsule samples were more effective than free antimicrobials against Listeria monocytogenes in 2% reduced fat milk, and the best capsule treatment reduced the bacterial population by 2 log CFU/mL more than comparable free antimicrobials after 4 h incubation at 25 °C. Our work demonstrated that nonionic surfactant can be conveniently used to modulate characteristics of delivery systems to effectively improve antimicrobial functions in food systems.     

Ribosomal RNA phylogeny of bacterial and fungal pathogens of Agriotes wireworms

Wireworms, the polyphagous larvae of click beetles belonging to the genus Agriotes (Coleoptera: Elateridae), are severe and widespread agricultural pests affecting numerous crops. Biological control agents and methods for this general pest are highly solicited. In a screening for microbial Agriotes pathogens, an intracellular bacterium and a mitosporic fungus were isolated. Phylogenetic analysis based on ribosomal RNA operon sequences of both micro-organisms corroborated their previous morphology-based taxonomic classification. The bacterial pathogen has been assigned to the taxonomic genus Rickettsiella (Gammaproteobacteria) wherein it represents a new pathotype, ‘Rickettsiella agriotidis’, that appears most closely related to subjective synonyms of the nomenclatural type species, Rickettsiella popillae. The fungal pathogen has been shown to belong to the form-species Beauveria bassiana, i.e., an obligate anamorph related to the genus Cordyceps (Ascomycota: Hypocreales). Furthermore, the B. bassiana strain from Agriotes has been shown to be potentially susceptible to identification by gIi-diagnosis, i.e., a diagnostic method making use of the strain-specific presence of self-splicing group-I introns within the ribosomal RNA operons of certain hyphomycetous fungi.     

版纳甜龙竹笋材产量最优化的采伐方法

版纳甜龙竹(Dendrocalamus hamiltonii)是一个体型巨大的丛生竹类。它的竹笋味道鲜美且营养丰富,竹茎被广泛用做编织和建筑用材。版纳甜龙竹生长迅速,对改善不丹南部的贫穷现状具有很大的潜力。由于版纳甜龙竹是当地较好的可以用作商业用途的树种,所以为了防止不可持续的采伐,研究最大限度地提高版纳甜龙竹产量的营林措施时,要确保它的可持续发性。我们基于农民对竹产量的要求确定了3种版纳甜龙竹的采伐方式:择伐、U型伐(horseshoe cut)和皆伐,以无采伐为对照,试验对比了不同采伐方式的效果,试验期超过2个生长季。虽然3种采伐方式对竹笋产量没有差异,但采用U型伐时竹笋的产量最高。无采伐的竹林,竹材产量高于采伐过的竹林。在采伐的竹林中,竹材产量最高的是U型伐的竹林,但其产量与采用皆伐方式的竹林没有明显的差异。因此,U型伐技术能使竹笋和竹材产量最大化,虽然U型伐对新竹笋的萌发有促进作用,但其长期收获的可持续性仍需要进一步评估。即使竹材产量和当年的新竹数量似乎影响了新竹笋的发生,本研究仍发现竹材的收获量和竹笋的再生量有更强的关系,这表明补偿生长机制影响了竹笋的再生。     

Negligible contribution from roots to soil-borne phospholipid fatty acid fungal biomarkers 18:2ω6,9 and 18:1ω9

The phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers 18:1ω9, 18:2ω6,9 and 18:3ω3,6,9 are commonly used as fungal biomarkers in soils. They have, however, also been found to occur in plant tissues, such as roots. Thus, the use of these PLFAs as fungal biomarkers in sieved soil, which may still contain small remains of roots, has been questioned. We used data from a recent beech tree girdling experiment to calculate the contribution of roots to these biomarkers and were able to demonstrate that not more than 0.61% of 18:1ω9 and 18:2ω6,9 in sieved soil samples originated from roots (but 4% of 18:3ω3,6,9). Additionally, the abundance of the biomarker 18:2ω6,9 in the soil was found to be highly correlated to ectomycorrhizal root colonization, which further corroborates its fungal origin. PLFA biomarkers were substantially reduced in vital roots from girdled trees compared to roots of control trees (by up to 76%), indicating that the major part of PLFAs measured in roots may actually originate from ectomycorrhizal fungi growing inside the roots. We calculated, that even a near to 50% reduction in fine root biomass - as observed in the girdling treatment - accounted for only 0.8% of the measured decrease of 18:2ω6,9. Our results demonstrate that both 18:1ω9 and 18:2ω6,9 are suitable biomarkers for detecting fungal dynamics in soils and that especially 18:2ω6,9 is a reliable biomarker to study mycorrhizal dynamics in beech forests.     

Erosion characteristics and floc strength of Athabasca River cohesive sediments: towards managing sediment-related issues

Purpose  

This research aims to investigate: (1) the evolutional sequence of erosion of cohesive sediments entering the Athabasca River, (2) the influence of consolidation/biostabilization time on bed sediment stability, and (3) the implication of these results on contaminant transport within the Athabasca River.