辐照对瓜实蝇遗传区性品系成虫肠道微生物的影响

为研究辐照对瓜实蝇肠道微生物群落多样性和结构组成的影响,以100 Gy137Cs辐照来自瓜实蝇遗传区性品系(GSS)的5、8、11和13日龄的雌、雄成虫,并采用Illumina MiSeq测序技术分别对其肠道菌群进行测序分析。结果表明,瓜实蝇雌雄成虫的肠道中存在19个主要的菌属,包括17个属名已知,1个属名未知和1个属不可培养。其中,17个已知属分别属于4个细菌门,即变形菌门(Proteobacteria)(占总量的50%~98%)、厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)(占总量的2%~47%)、拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)(占总量的1%~16%)和1个至今微生物界还未确定的稀少菌门(unclassified rare phyla)(总量1%)。此外,辐照降低了瓜实蝇肠道中的微生物多样性以及优势菌的丰富度,且这种影响与瓜实蝇的性别和成虫日龄无关。本研究结果为评估和修复辐照对瓜实蝇的损伤提供了参考。     

A Greener UV and Peroxide-Based Chemical Oxygen Demand Test

Water quality assessment typically includes the determination of chemical oxygen demand (COD) by oxidation of organic matter with Cr(VI) in an acidic medium followed by digestion. Unfortunately, the required reagents are harmful and the reaction times are rather long. We investigated earlier the use of H₂O₂ as a more environmentally friendly oxidizing agent to replace the hazardous chromates. In the present study, we have furthered this possibility by incorporating the use of H₂O₂ in the presence of UV light. A protocol has been devised and tested with standards and real samples that replaces toxic Cr(VI), halves the amount of silver sulfate required, and greatly reduces the necessary reaction time, thus yielding a faster and more environmentally sound method.     

Biochar improves sediment microbial fuel cell performance in low conductivity freshwater sediment

Purpose

The low conductivity of sediments for mass and electron transport is the most severe limiting factor in sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs), so that sediment ameliorations yielded more remarkable effects than electrode improvements. The objective of this research was to enhance the electricity generation of SMFCs with amendments of biochar to freshwater sediments for conductivity enhancement.

Materials and methods

Laboratory-scale SMFCs were constructed and biochars were produced from coconut shells at different temperatures. Variations in the power output, electrode potential, internal resistance, total organic carbon (TOC) content, and microbial communities were measured.

Results and discussion

Amending with biochar reduced the charge transfer resistances of SMFCs and enriched the Firmicutes (mainly Fusibacter sp.) in the sediment, which improved the SMFC power generation by two- to tenfold and enhanced the TOC removal rate by 1.7- to fourfold relative to those without the amendment.

Conclusions

The results suggested that biochar amendment is a promising strategy to enhance SMFC power production, and the electrical conductivity of biochar should be considered important when interpreting the impact biochar has on the electrical performance of soil or freshwater sediment MFCs.

     

Capillary electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography determination of polyglutamyl 5-methyltetrahydrofolate forms in citrus products

The 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5mTHF) polyglutamates in citrus products were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Folate species were purified from citrus products and concentrated from 2- to 100-fold using combined folate-affinity chromatography and C18 extraction. Seven polyglutamyl 5mTHFs were found in most not-from-concentrate (NFC) orange juices (OJ) in total amounts of approximately 1 nmol/mL, with varying distributions of individual polyglutamates. Folate amounts and distributions were also measured in orange fractions, single-strength OJ from concentrate, NFC grapefruit juice, and citrus peel molasses. Models containing ascorbic acid had folate thermal degradation rates one-seventh that of models without ascorbic acid. Pasteurization studies demonstrated that folate loss was <2% for commercial OJ pasteurization conditions (i.e., 93 degrees C for 5 s, 88 degrees C for 15 s, and 82 degrees C for 30 s). Both methods were precise, reproducible, and potentially faster than traditional analytical procedures requiring enzymatic deconjugation and microbial assays.     

Soil carbon dioxide fluxes following tillage in semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystems

In semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystems, low and erratic annual rainfall together with the widespread use of mouldboard ploughing (conventional tillage, CT), as the main traditional tillage practice, has led to a depletion of soil organic matter (SOM) and with increases in CO₂ emissions from soil to the atmosphere. In this study, we evaluated the viability of conservation tillage: RT, reduced tillage (chisel and cultivator ploughing) and, especially, NT (no-tillage) to reduce short-term (from 0 to 48 h after a tillage operation) and mid-term (from 0 h to several days since tillage operation) tillage-induced CO₂ emissions. The study was conducted in three long-term tillage experiments located at different sites of the Ebro river valley (NE Spain) across a precipitation gradient. Soils were classified as: Fluventic Xerocrept, Typic Xerofluvent and Xerollic Calciorthid. Soil temperature and water content were also measured in order to determine their influence on tillage-induced CO₂ fluxes. The majority of the CO₂ flux measured immediately after tillage ranged from 0.17 to 6 g CO₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ and was from 3 to 15 times greater than the flux before tillage operations, except in NT where soil CO₂ flux was low and steady during the whole study period. Mid-term CO₂ emission showed a different trend depending on the time of the year in which tillage was implemented. Microclimatic soil conditions (soil temperature and water content) had little impact on soil CO₂ emission following tillage. In the semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystems studied, NT had low short-term soil CO₂ efflux compared with other soil tillage systems (e.g., conventional and reduced tillage) and therefore can be recommended to better manage C in soil.     

Impact of atmospheric CO2 and plant life forms on soil microbial activities

From the global change perspective, increase of atmospheric CO₂ and land cover transformation are among the major impacts caused by human activities. In this study, we are addressing the combined issues of the effect of CO₂ concentration increase and plant type on soil microbial activities by asking how annual and perennial plant groups affect soil microbial processes under elevated CO₂. The experimental design used a mix of species of different growth forms for both annuals and perennials. Our objective was: (1) to determine how two years of annual or perennial plant cover and CO₂ enrichment could affect Mediterranean soil microbial processes; (2) to test the resistance and the resilience of these soil functional processes after a natural perturbation. We determined the effects of 2 years atmospheric CO₂ enrichment on soil potential respiration (SIR), denitrification (DEA) and nitrification (NEA) activities. We could not find any significant effect of CO₂ increase on SIR, DEA and NEA. However, we found a strong effect of the plant cover type, i.e. annuals versus perennials, on the potential microbial activity related to N cycling. DEA and NEA were significantly higher in soil under annual plants while SIR was not significantly different. To determine whether these changes would survive a natural perturbation, we carried out a rain event experiment once the experimental treatments (i.e. different plant cover and atmospheric CO₂ concentration) were stopped. The soil potential respiration, as expressed by the SIR, was not affected and remained stable. DEA rates converged rapidly under annuals and perennials after the rain event. Under both annuals and perennials NEA increased significantly after the rain event but remained significantly higher in the soil with annual plants. The relative change of the soil microbial processes induced by annual and perennial plants was inversely related to the density and the diversity of the corresponding microbial functional groups.     

沙枣树胶对红葡萄树提取液抗氧活性保护作用的研究

该文就沙枣树胶对红葡萄树提取液抗氧性的保护作用及其变化进行了初步研究,结果表明红葡萄树提取液具有极强的抗羟自由基(H0·)能力,而抗超氧阴离子自由基(O-2·)的能力较弱,即在空气中易氧化、抗氧活性迅速降低、消失;当加入沙枣树胶初期,其抗氧性能迅速降低,3d后开始上升,15d后其对超氧阴离子自由基清除率达到30%,60d后对羟自由基清除率达到68%,其后,一直保持稳定.在沙枣树胶的多糖活性成分的作用下,红葡萄树胶的抗氧活性显著增强,稳定性提高.研究结果初步表明,沙枣树胶对红葡萄树提取液的抗氧活性具有显著的保护作用.     

A bayesian model for the analysis of lactation curves of dairy goats

This article aims to determine the effect of certain covariates, such as season of kidding, parity, and time of kidding on the characteristics of the lactation curve of Saanen dairy goats. Characteristics investigated are peak milk yield, time of peak milk yield, total milk production, persistency, and the relationship between fat and protein in milk composition, as well as between lactation curves of the same animal in successive years. The analysis is carried out using a hierarchical Bayesian approach, together with Wood’s model, to model lactation. Posterior distributions of quantities of interest are obtained by means of the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. These clearly illustrate the significant effect of especially parity, but also season and time of kidding on the characteristics of the lactation curve. Total and peak milk yield increase with increasing parity up to about the third or fourth parity, while peak yield is later for first than for later parities. The analysis also enables estimation of lactation characteristics of untested animals, prediction of future characteristics and identification of exceptional animals.     

Effect of bensulfuron-methyl (a sulfonylurea herbicide) on the soil bacterial community of a paddy soil microcosm

The effect of bensulfuron-methyl (BSM) on a soil microbial community in a model paddy microcosm was studied. Total bacterial numbers in the overlying water and surface soil were monitored for 2 months after the application of BSM at the field rate and a ten-fold field rate. Pentachlorophenol (PCP) was used for comparison. Neither chemical affected the total bacterial numbers remarkably, either in the overlying water or in the surface soil. In contrast, the nitrification potential was significantly suppressed by the BSM application. The bacterial community structure, as evaluated by the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR amplification products from bacterial 16S rDNA, was unaffected by the BSM treatments over 8 weeks in the surface soil, compared with the control (no pesticide). In contrast, the surface soil exposed to PCP at a ten-fold field rate showed different patterns from the controls at 4 weeks and 8 weeks after application. The DGGE patterns of the overlying water were much more variable than those of the surface soil in any treatments. Cluster analysis showed that the BSM plots were classified within the same group as the control at 1 week after application and that the BSM and PCP plots from 2 weeks onward after application were grouped differently from the control. Of 22 clones excised from the DGGE gels, 20 clones belonged to the Proteobacteria and two belonged to the Verrucomicrobia. It was considered that the impact of BSM on the overall microbial community (total numbers, community structure of soil) was negligible, although BSM had an impact on some specific functions of the soil microbial community (nitrification) and a part of the community (overlying water).     

林地开垦后坡面侵蚀过程与土壤养分流失的研究

林地被人为开垦破坏后 ,加速侵蚀是导致坡面土壤养分流失的根本原因。坡面土壤养分流失的空间分布与坡面侵蚀方式和侵蚀强度的空间分布相一致 ,浅沟沟槽是坡面土壤养分流失最严重的部位。土壤养分流失在开垦初期非常迅速 ,开垦耕种 5 a后 ,土壤养分含量可减少 5 0 %。土壤剖面中 A层的流失是土壤养分流失的标志。