Resistance and resilience of soil biological indicators: A case study with multi-walled carbon nanotube

Soil ecosystem is experiencing stresses due to climate change, and soil inhabitants try to demonstrate their inherent resistance and resilience against those stresses. Application of nanomaterials as agricultural inputs could bring shifts in resistance and resilience patterns of soil microbes and associated enzymes, especially under short-term heat stress. With this background, the impacts of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on the resistance and resilience of soil biological indicators were evaluated. An incubation experiment was conducted with varied MWCNT concentrations (0, 50, 100, 250, and 500 mg kg^-1 soil) for 90 d after 24-h heat stress at 48 ±2 ℃ to assess the impacts of MWCNT on soil enzyme activities and microbial populations vis-à-vis their resistance and resilience indices under short-term exposure to heat stress. Enzyme activities were reduced after exposure to heat stress. Resistance indices of enzyme activities were enhanced by MWCNT application on day 1 after heat stress, whereas there was no recovery of enzyme activities after 90-d incubation. Like soil enzyme activities, resistance index values of soil microbial populations followed the similar trend and were improved by MWCNT application. Multi-walled carbon nanotube has the potential to improve resistance indices of soil enzyme activities and microbial populations under heat stress, although they could not recover to their original state during periodical incubation after heat stress. This study helps to understand the relative changes of biological indicators under MWCNT and their ability to withstand heat stress.     

Photosynthate distribution patterns in cherrybark oak seedling sprouts

We used 14C tracers to determine photosynthate distribution in cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.) seedling sprouts following release from competing mid-story vegetation. Fall acquisition of labeled photosynthates by seedlings followed expected source-sink patterns, with root and basal stem tissues serving as the primary sinks. Four months after the seedlings had been labeled with 14C, they were clipped to induce sprouting. First-flush stem and leaf tissues of the resulting seedling sprouts were the primary sinks for labeled photosynthates stored in root tissues. Second-flush stem and leaf tissues, and first-flush stem and leaf tissues the following growing season, were not primary sinks for labeled photosynthates stored in root tissues despite the high radioactivity in root tissues. Root tissues appeared to deposit photosynthates in a layering process whereby the last photosynthates stored in new xylem were the first to be depleted during the initiation of a growth flush the following spring. There were more labeled photosynthates in roots of released seedling sprouts compared with non-released seedling sprouts, indicating increased vigor of released seedling sprouts in response to greater light availability. In contrast, stem and source leaf tissues of non-released seedling sprouts contained greater percentages of labeled photosynthates compared with released seedling sprouts, indicating either greater sink strength or poorly developed xylem and phloem pathways that created inefficiencies in distribution to root tissues. The 14C distribution coefficients confirmed the distribution patterns and provided additional information on the important sinks in released and non-released cherrybark oak seedling sprouts.     

Chromosomal and nucleolar RNA synthesis in root tips during mitosis

Comparative rates of RNA synthesis in chromatin and nucleolar fractions during mitosis in root-tip cells of Allium and Nigella were studied by pulse-labeling of cells with tritiated cytidine. Although the rate of RNA synthesis decreases in the condensing chromosomes during prophase, it remains normal in the nucleolar fraction as long as nucleoli are maintained. RNA synthesis stops in mitotic cells lacking distinct nucleoli. In the late telophase or very early interphase cells, RNA synthesis resumes at a faster rate in the pronucleolar bodies than in the chromatin.     

Soil quality and financial performance of biodynamic and conventional farms in new zealand

Biodynamic farming practices and systems show promise in mitigating some of the detrimental effects of chemical-dependent, conventional agriculture on the environment. The physical, biological, and chemical soil properties and economic profitability of adjacent, commercial biodynamic and conventional farms (16 total) in New Zealand were compared. The biodynamic farms in the study had better soil quality than the neighboring conventional farms and were just as financially viable on a per hectare basis.     

Preliminary biochemical observations of fishes inhabiting an acidified lake in Ontario,Canada

Blood serum and other tissues of white suckers (Catostomus commersoni) and other species of fish have been examined in a preliminary effort to understand losses of fish from acid lakes. Maturing females of highly acid George Lake failed to show the normal degree of increase in serum Ca over males captured in the same location. Elevated serum Ca was always observed in females, relative to males, from non-acid locations when maturation stages were similar. A number of body tissues were examined to determine whether the distributions of Ca or other elements were altered and the only striking change evident in fish from George Lake was their high Mn content. Bone in particular was examined for N, Na, Mg, P, K, and Ca and no evidence of demineralization was found. Other tests such as hemoglobin indicated that an anticipated adaptive response to asphyxia was absent. Our results indicate that potential mechanisms of fish losses such as asphyxia and starvation are unlikely to have been significant, however, they do not firmly establish any alternate mechanism. As a working hypothesis we suggest that Ca dynamics may limit ovarian development and that absorption of this metal at exchange surfaces may be impaired.     

Current and historical inputs of mercury to high-latitude lakes in Canada and to Hudson Bay

Sediment cores collected from several lakes in northern Canada have been analyzed for mercury and several other chemical contaminants. Sites ranged from the Experimental Lakes Area of northwestern Ontario, north to Cornwallis Island, and west to the southern Yukon. Cores were sliced at sites of collection and individual slices were freeze dried and analyzed for Pb-210 and Cs-137 to estimate average time intervals of deposition. The earliest date estimated by Pb-210 was about 1850, and mercury concentrations in some lakes were clearly increasing before then, assuming no vertical movements of mercury within the sediments. Extrapolation of dates downward to deeper slices, assuming a constant sedimentation rate, indicated that in some lakes mercury inputs increased slowly even in the 1500's, more rapidly after 1750, and more rapidly yet over the current century. These increases are interpreted as increased fluxes of mercury to the lakes as a result of long-range transport of atmospheric mercury, since there are no local industrial sources of mercury. Slices taken near the bottom of a core are taken to estimate the geological component while elevations in excess of that in surface slices are taken to represent contamination from fallout. This partitioning suggests that sediments in the eastern Northwest Territories are dominated by pollution, while those from the western Northwest Territories are influenced more by their geological settings. Two cores from Hudson Bay suggest that mercury is increasing there too, but has not yet exceeded geological sources. Mercury shows little or no tendency to decline in the most recent slices; indicating that inputs of mercury remain at or near their historical maxima. Given relatively high and continuing inputs of mercury to northern lakes it seems likely that some portion of that mercury may find its way into the food chain, hence the long-term prospect is for increasing levels of mercury in northern fish.