Commercialized European bumblebee can cause pollination disturbance: An experiment on seven native plant species in Japan

Non-native pollinator species are now widely utilized to facilitate pollination of agricultural crops. Evaluation of the ecological risk of alien pollinators is necessary because they could have a large impact on native ecosystems through disturbing native plant-pollinator interactions. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to examine the impact of the non-native commercialized European bumblebees, Bombus terrestris, on the pollination success of seven Japanese bumblebee-pollinated plant species. Plants were exposed to three groups of bumblebees: native bumblebee(s) only (NATIVE treatment); the alien bee only (ALIEN) and a mix of the two (MIX). ALIEN treatment had negative effects on fruitset and/or fruit quality of five plants, including self-incompatible and compatible, herb and woody, and queen- and worker-pollinated species. The negative effects were caused by a decrease in legitimate flower visitation due to (1) physical inaccessibility to nectary in deep-corolla flowers by the alien bee with insufficient tongue length and, (2) biased flower preference between short-corolla flowers. Fruitset tended to decrease drastically for the self-incompatible species while fruit quality decreased moderately for the self-compatible species. Effects of MIX were not intermediate between NATIVE and ALIEN in most plant species, and caused pollination success to vary in an unpredictable manner amongst plant species, probably due to interaction between native and alien bees. This non-linear relationship between plants’ pollination success and the relative density of the alien suggests that the alien bee can disturb pollination of a plant species even when only representing a small fraction of the total pollinator community.     

Antitumor activity of compounds isolated from leaves of Eriobotrya japonica

In a search for possible antitumor agents from natural sources, megastigmane glycosides and polyphenolic constituents isolated from the leaves of Eriobotrya japonica (Rosaceae) were found to inhibit the 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced activation of Epstein-Barr virus early antigen in Raji cells. Roseoside and procyanidin B-2 were among the active compounds found in an in vitro assay; these compounds were further assessed for antitumor activity in vivo in a two-stage carcinogenesis assay on mouse skin. Roseoside significantly delayed carcinogenesis induced by peroxynitrite (initiator) and TPA (promoter), and its potency was comparable to that of a green tea polyphenol, (-)-epigallocatechin 3-O-gallate, in the same assay.     

Nitrogen-fixing activity in decomposing litter of three tree species at a watershed in eastern Japan

Nitrogen fixation during litter decomposition was studied for 34 months using litterbags containing newly fallen litter of coniferous species Cryptomeria japonica and Pinus densiflora and that of deciduous species Quercus serrata. Litterbags were set in contact with the forest floor in a deciduous broad-leaved forest near the top of a slope and in a C. japonica stand at the middle of the slope at a watershed in eastern Japan. Nitrogen-fixing activity, estimated by acetylene reduction after 16 and 19 months of incubation, was 62.65–3.86 nmoles C₂H₄ h⁻¹ g⁻¹ DW in Cryptomeria litter, but only 1.07–0.09 in Pinus and 0.72–0.04 in Quercus. The rate of N increase in decomposing litter was highest in Cryptomeria. Fungal biomass in decomposing litter, estimated by ergosterol content, increased during the initial 16 months of incubation in Cryptomeria and Quercus, and during the initial 19 months of incubation in Pinus. The litter decomposition rate was highest in Cryptomeria among the three species, due to increased N content and fungal biomass in Cryptomeria litter. Thus, N increase in decomposing Cryptomeria litter affects the subsequent N dynamics and decomposition pattern.     

Effects of Inoculation of Phototrophic Purple Bacteria on Grain Yield of Rice and Nitrogenase Activity of Paddy Soil in a Pot Experiment

Phototrophic purple bacteria (PPB) are one group of dinitrogen (N₂)-fixing bacteria often found in the anoxic and photic zone of paddy soil. In the present study, the effects of inoculation of PPB on grain yield of rice and changes in their populations and nitrogenase activity were investigated with and without surface application of rice straw in a pot experiment. As an inoculant, Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain KN122 isolated from a paddy soil was selected, and the cell suspension was inoculated into the floodwater once or three times during the cultivation. As a result, the inoculation of PPB increased the grain yield of rice. Compared to the control, the grain yield was 9% higher in the inoculated plot without rice straw application. The treatment was more effective in combination with rice straw application. In the plots where PPB were inoculated with rice straw, grain yields were 21% (single inoculation) and 29% (triple inoculation) higher. Populations of PPB in the plots without rice straw application significantly increased by the inoculation, unlike those in the plots with rice straw application, except for the bulk soil. Phototrophic and heterotrophic nitrogenase activities (acetylene-reducing activity) associated with the soils or residues of the rice straw were not affected by PPB inoculation throughout the experiment. This indicates that the inoculation of PPB into floodwater may not be effective for enhancing N₂ fixation in paddy soils and that the beneficial effect of PPB inoculation on the grain yield of rice may be due to unidentified functions of PPB other than biological N₂ fixation.     

Isolation and characterization of microorganisms capable of hydrolysing the herbicide mefenacet

Three strains—Nocardioides sp. MFC-A, Rhodococcus rhodochrous MFC-B, and Stenotrophomonas sp. MFC-C—were newly isolated from rice soil or bark compost as microorganisms capable of cometabolically degrading mefenacet (2-benzothiazol-2-yloxy-N-methyl-acetanilide). Several other species belonging to the genera Nocardioides, Rhodococcus, and Stenotrophomonas were also capable of degrading mefenacet, suggesting that the ability is not specific to these isolates, but common at least in these genera. N-methylaniline and 2-benzothiazoloxy acetic acid were identified as the metabolites by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Besides mefenacet, the isolates could degrade one or more other amide pesticides, such as flutolanil, mepronil, metolachlor, and pretilachlor. These results indicate that the strains Nocardioides sp. MFC-A, Rhodococcus rhodochrous MFC-B, and Stenotrophomonas sp. MFC-C degrade mefenacet via hydrolysis of the amide bond, but their substrate specificities differ.     

Biotic and abiotic processes of nitrogen immobilization in the soil-residue interface

The interface between decaying plant residues and soil is a hotspot for microbial immobilization of soil inorganic N. Recent studies on forest and grassland soils have demonstrated that rapid abiotic immobilization of inorganic N is also induced by the presence of plant residues. We, therefore, examined (1) how N immobilization varies with distance from the soil-residue interface and (2) whether abiotic immobilization occurs in agricultural soils. Spatiotemporal changes of N immobilization in the soil-residue interface were evaluated using a box that enabled soil to be sampled in 2 mm increments from a 4 mm-thick residue compartment (RC). The RC was filled with paddy soil containing ground plant residue (rice bran, rice straw or beech leaves) uniformly at a rate of 50 g dry matter kg⁻¹. Soil in the surrounding compartments contained no residue. After aerobic incubation for 5, 15 and 30 days at 25 °C, soils in each compartment were analyzed. After 5 days, significant depletion of inorganic N occurred throughout a volume of soil extending at least 10 mm from the RC in all residue treatments, suggesting extensive diffusion of inorganic N towards the RC. The depletion within 10 mm of the RC amounted to 5.0, 4.3 and 3.4 mg for rice bran, rice straw and beech leaf treatment, respectively. On the other hand, microbial N had increased significantly in the RC of the rice bran and rice straw treatments (11 mg and 5.5 mg, respectively) and insignificantly in the RC of the beech leaf treatment (0.06 mg). This increase amounted to 221% (rice bran), 129% (rice straw) and 1.7% (beech leaves) of the decrease in inorganic N within 10 mm of each RC. Thereafter the rate of N mineralization exceeded that of immobilization, and inorganic N levels had recovered almost to their original level by 15 days (rice bran) and 30 days (rice straw and beech leaves). These results suggested the predominance of biotic immobilization in soil near rice bran and rice straw and of abiotic immobilization in soil near beech leaves. No significant increase in both microbial and soluble organic N in the vicinity of beech leaves after incubation for 5 days further suggested that the abiotic process was responsible for the transformation of inorganic N into the insoluble organic N.     

Protostellar feedback halts the growth of the first stars in the universe

The first stars fundamentally transformed the early universe by emitting the first light and by producing the first heavy elements. These effects were predetermined by the mass distribution of the first stars, which is thought to have been fixed by a complex interplay of gas accretion and protostellar radiation. We performed radiation-hydrodynamics simulations that followed the growth of a primordial protostar through to the early stages as a star with thermonuclear burning. The circumstellar accretion disk was evaporated by ultraviolet radiation from the star when its mass was 43 times that of the Sun. Such massive primordial stars, in contrast to the often-postulated extremely massive stars, may help explain the fact that there are no signatures of the pair-instability supernovae in abundance patterns of metal-poor stars in our galaxy.     

Specialized inhibitory synaptic actions between nearby neocortical pyramidal neurons

We found that, in the mouse visual cortex, action potentials generated in a single layer-2/3 pyramidal (excitatory) neuron can reliably evoke large, constant-latency inhibitory postsynaptic currents in other nearby pyramidal cells. This effect is mediated by axo-axonic ionotropic glutamate receptor-mediated excitation of the nerve terminals of inhibitory interneurons, which connect to the target pyramidal cells. Therefore, individual cortical excitatory neurons can generate inhibition independently from the somatic firing of inhibitory interneurons.