Responses of aquatic macrophyte assemblages to nutrient enrichment in a lowland river basin of western Greece

Abstract

In Greece, as in many other Mediterranean countries, there is a lack of information enabling the use of aquatic macrophytes as biological indicators of the water trophic status. This research aimed to investigate the trophic preferences of the aquatic macrophyte assemblages encountered in selected standing water bodies of a lowland river basin of western Greece. It also aimed to assess the response of the macrophyte species that occur in the studied water bodies to different nutrient concentrations. A total of 56 macrophyte species were identified. TWINSPAN analysis distinguished four main vegetation groups potentially related to three trophic types. The Trophic Ranking Score developed in the UK was applied in order to investigate the trend in aquatic macrophytes in response to the different trophic conditions. The results indicated that TRS_UK was not in accordance to the water trophic indices. After the addition of 14 new species and the re-scoring of the plants from the UK list, the re-calculation of TRS enabled a better classification of the trophic status convergent with the information from the water trophic indices. The current study constitutes a reference document providing basic information, and must be improved by updating the plant list with new data from other sites.     

Archaeorhizomyces borealis sp. nov. and a sequence-based classification of related soil fungal species

The class Archaeorhizomycetes (Taphrinomycotina, Ascomycota) was introduced to accommodate an ancient lineage of soil-inhabiting fungi found in association with plant roots. Based on environmental sequencing data Archaeorhizomycetes may comprise a significant proportion of the total fungal community in soils. Yet the only species described and cultivated in this class is Archaeorhizomyces finlayi. In this paper, we describe a second species from a pure culture, Archaeorhizomyces borealis NS99-600^T (=CBS138755^ExT) based on morphological, physiological, and multi-locus molecular characterization. Archaeorhizomyces borealis was isolated from a root tip of a Pinus sylvestris seedling grown in a forest nursery in Lithuania. Analysis of Archaeorhizomycete species from environmental samples shows that it has a Eurasian distribution and is the most commonly observed species. Archaeorhizomyces borealis shows slow growth in culture and forms yellowish creamy colonies, characteristics that distinguish A. borealis from its closest relative A. finlayi. Here we also propose a sequence-based taxonomic classification of Archaeorhizomycetes and predict that approximately 500 species in this class remain to be isolated and described.     

The method matters: A guide for indicator aggregation in ecological assessments

Ecological assessment requires the integration of many physical, chemical, and/or biological quality elements. The choice of the aggregation method of such partial assessments into an overall assessment can considerably affect the assessment outcome – an issue that has been controversially discussed within the scientific community for the last decade. Current practice often considers only two different aggregation methods, the weighted arithmetic mean (additive aggregation) and the one-out, all-out method (minimum aggregation). However, both have important drawbacks. Additive aggregation compensates a bad status of one quality element by a number of elements featuring good status. Minimum aggregation can lead to overly pessimistic assessment results, since only the quality element in the worst status is considered. Here, we introduce a toolbox containing current and new aggregation methods, demonstrate and discuss their properties with simple, didactical examples, and suggest in which situations best to use them. Then, we illustrate the consequences of selected aggregation schemes for ecological river assessment with the case study of the Swiss Modular Concept of stream assessment (SMC), which we apply to ten river reaches in the Mönchaltdorfer Aa catchment in Switzerland. To be able to do so, we used multi-criteria decision analysis, i.e., multi-attribute value theory, to arrange the SMC quality elements into an objectives hierarchy, and to translate their individual assessments into value functions. Our case study revealed that choosing the most appropriate aggregation method particularly matters, if objectives with significantly different qualities are aggregated. We argue that redundant objectives (i.e., quality elements), often found at the lower levels of the objectives hierarchy, should best be aggregated additively allowing for compensation to increase the statistical significance of the results. Further, we suggest that complementary sub-objectives that often occur at higher levels may be optimally aggregated with a mixture of additive and minimum aggregation. Such a mixed method will allow some compensation, but nevertheless penalize for very bad states. Since here we compare commonly used aggregation methods with some which we believe have never been discussed in an assessment context before, our study concurrently informs ecological assessment in theory and in practice.     

气候和土地利用变化影响下生态屏障带水土流失趋势研究

受气候和地形等诸多因素影响，我国"两屏三带"国家生态屏障带中的川滇-黄土高原区域和南方丘陵带水土流失十分严重，自然灾害频发。但是，针对川滇-黄土高原区域和南方丘陵带水土流失时空格局变化，特别是未来气候变化和土地利用变化影响下水土流失变化趋势的研究很少。因此，本研究以川滇-黄土高原区域和南方丘陵带为研究对象，利用修正土壤流失方程（RUSLE）定量分析了该区在2000-2015年水土流失的时空变化规律及其影响因素，并预测了在RCP2.6和RCP4.5的未来气候情景下及土地利用变化条件下水土流失的变化趋势。研究结果表明：（1）黄土高原地区在植被恢复的积极作用下，水土流失显著缓解；（2）川滇地区的西南部因植被盖度的增长和降雨的减少水土流失显著缓解，但四川省境内人口密集区农田面积增加以及降水增加造成水土流失大幅度加剧；（3）南方丘陵带受降水增加影响导致了部分区域的水土流失恶化；（4）在未来气候变化情景下，由于大部分地区降雨将减少使土壤侵蚀趋于缓解，但四川、黄土高原和南方丘陵带大部分地区仍然面临未来农田面积增加带来的水土侵蚀压力。考虑到未来气候变化情景下降雨减少的趋势，建议在黄土高原地区提高草地在土地利用类型中的占比，在减少耗水量的同时维持地表盖度，缓解水土侵蚀；此外，各区域仍需控制农田面积，而且需通过加强坡耕地上保水保土耕作措施降低农田区域的土壤侵蚀压力。     

Spatio‐temporal variation of salt marsh seedling establishment in relation to the abiotic and biotic environment

Contrary to our expectations, soil salinity and moisture explained little of the spatial variation in plant establishment in the upper intertidal marsh of three southern California wetlands, but did explain the timing of germination. Seedlings of 27 species were identified in 1996 and 1997. The seedlings were abundant (maximum densities of 2143/m² in 1996 and 1819/m² in 1997) and predominantly annual species. CCAs quantified the spatial variation in seedling density that could be explained by three groups of predictor variables: (1) perennial plant cover, elevation and soil texture (16% of variation), (2) wetland identity (14% of variation) and (3) surface soil salinity and moisture (2% of variation). Increasing the spatial scale of analysis changed the variables that best predicted patterns of species densities. Timing of germination depended on surface soil salinity and, to a lesser extent, soil moisture. Germination occurred after salinity had dropped below a threshold or, in some cases, after moisture had increased above a critical level. Between 32% and 92% of the seedlings were exotic and most of these occurred at lower soil salinity than native species. However, Parapholis incurva and Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum were found in the same environments as the native species. In 1997, the year of a strong El Niño/Southern Oscillation event with high rainfall and sea levels, the elevation distribution of species narrowed and densities of P. incurva and other exotic species decreased but densities of native and rare species did not change. The ‘regeneration niche’ of wetland plant communities includes the effects of multiple abiotic and biotic factors on both the spatial and temporal variations in plant establishment.     

Ultrastructure of Nitrosospira sp. X101 with crystalline outer membrane protein (COMP)

Abstract The outer membrane (OM) structure of Nitrosospira sp. X101 was studied by different electron microscopic techniques and SDS-PAGE. A crystalline outer membrane protein was visible in freeze-etched cells, occasionally seen also in the thin sectioned cells, but was difficult to see in a negatively-stained preparation. The lattice probably consists of large globular protein subunits with a hexagonal arrangement. The molecular weights of the major proteins in the cell envelope are 35 kDa, 40 kDa and 42 kDa.     

Uncertainty associated with river health assessment in a varying environment: The case of a predictive fish-based index in France

Sensitive biological measures of river ecosystem quality are needed to assess, maintain or restore ecological conditions of water bodies. Since our understanding of these complex systems is imperfect, decision-making requires recognizing uncertainty. In this study, a new predictive multi-metric index based on fish functional traits was developed to assess French rivers. Information on fish assemblage structure, local environment and human-induced disturbances of 1654 French river sites was compiled. A Bayesian framework was used to predict theoretical metric values in absence of human pressure and to estimate the uncertainty associated with these predictions. The uncertainty associated with the index score gives the confidence associated with the evaluation of site ecological conditions.Among the 228 potential metrics tested, only 11 were retained for the index computation. The final index is independent from natural variability and sensitive to human-induced disturbances. In particular, it is affected by the accumulation of different degradations and specific degradations including hydrological perturbations. Predictive uncertainty is globally lower for IPR+ than for underlying metrics.This new methodology seems appropriate to develop bio-indication tools accounting for uncertainty related to reference condition definition and could be extended to other biological groups and areas. Our results support the use of multi-metric indexes to assess rivers and strengthen the idea that examination of uncertainty could contribute greatly to the improvement of the assessment power of bio-indicators.     

Hydrogen evolution by co-immobilized Chlorella vulgaris and Clostridium butyricum cells

Whole cells of Chlorella vulgaris and Clostridium butyricum were co-immobilized in 2% agar gel. NADP was suitable as an electron carrier. The rate of hydrogen evolution increased with increasing NADP concentration. The optimum conditions for hydrogen evolution were pH 7.0 and 37°C. The immobilized C. vulgaris-NADP-immobilized Cl. butyricum system continuously evolved hydrogen at a rate of 0.29–1.34 μmol/h per mg Chl for 6 days. On the other hand, the system without NADP evolved only a trace amount of hydrogen.     

Evaluation of integrating topographic wetness index with backscattering coefficient of TerraSAR-X image for soil moisture estimation in a mountainous region

The estimation of soil moisture by using the backscattering coefficient of radar in a mountainous region is a challenging task due to the complex topography, which impacts the distribution of soil moisture and changes the backscattering coefficient. Complicated terrain can disturb empirical moisture estimation models, thereby, the resulting estimates of soil moisture are very unlikely reliable. This article proposed an innovative way of integration of the topographic wetness index (TWI) and the backscattering coefficient of soil obtained from the TerraSAR-X image, which improves the accuracy of measurement of the soil moisture. The standard estimation error and the coefficient of determination from the model were used to evaluate the performance of TWI. Our results show that the standard estimation error was decreased from: (1) 4.0% to 3.3% cm³ cm⁻³ at a depth of 5 cm and (2) 4.5% to 3.9% cm³ cm⁻³ at a depth of 10 cm. The most reliable estimation was observed at a depth of 5 cm, when it was compared with those of 0–5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm. The TWI from the digital elevation model (DEM) is useful as a constraint condition for modeling work. This article concludes that the integration of the backscattering coefficient of soil with TWI can significantly reduce the uncertainty in the estimation of soil moisture in a mountainous region.     

Yeasts and yeast-like fungi in tap water and groundwater,and their transmission to household appliances

In the present study we describe the occurrence of fungi in 100 tap water and 16 groundwater samples from Slovenia. We used culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques. 28 fungal species belonging to 16 genera were isolated with selected culturing conditions, targeting human opportunistic yeasts and yeast-like fungi. Of special concern was the detection of Aureobasidium melanogenum, Exophiala dermatitidis, Rhinocladiella similis, Candida parapsilosis and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. The DGGE analysis of ITS1 rDNA revealed from 6 to 16 bands hypothetically corresponding to different taxa, while pyrosequencing showed the presence of Aspergillus and Exophiala. According to the statistic machine learning methodology, the profile of fungi in water is determined by the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions and the presence of nitrate. Exophiala spp., C. parapsilosis and R. mucilaginosa are known as dominant contaminants of household appliances. It appears that they are transferred with water to dishwashers and washing machines, where they subsequently proliferate.