Phylogenetic diversity of endolithic bacteria in Bole granite rock in Xinjiang

The endolithic environment is a ubiquitous microbial habitat for microorganisms, such as lichens, Cyanobacteria and fungi, and it provides mineral nutrients and growth surfaces. In extremely environments, such as hot and cold desert, endolithic communities are often the main form of life. More recently, endolithic microbial communities have been observed inhabiting a variety of rock types ranging from hard granite to porous rocks such as basalt, dolomite, limestone, sandstone and granites. Regardless of geographic location and rock type, each of these habitats is characterized by a subsurface microclimate that prevents endolithic microorganisms growth. Photosynthesis-based endolithic microbial communities commonly inhabit the outer millimeters to centimeters of rocks exposed to the surface. The ability to fix carbon dioxide and in some cases atmospheric dinitrogen, gives the Cyanobacteria a clear competitive advantage over heterotrophic bacteria, so it is been called the main primary producer. Light quality and intensity appear to be the main determinant of the maximum depth to which growth occurs in endolithic phototrophic communities. Valleys of Fantastic Rocks in Bole is close to Alashankou Port of Xinjiang which belongs to extreme continental climate. In order to investigate the structure, composition and diversity of endolithic bacterial community in exposed granitic porphyry in the Valleys of Fantastic Rocks, environmental DNA was directly extracted from granite rock, the 16S rRNA genes were amplified from the total DNA by PCR with bacterial-specific primers, and an endolithic bacterial clone library was constructed. Positive clones were randomly selected from the library and identified by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). The unique rRNA types clones were sequenced, analysised and then constructed phylogenetic tree. In total, 129 positive clones were screened and grouped into 46 operational taxonomic unites (OTUs). The clone coverage C value was 89.15%, indicating that most of the estimated endolithic bacterial diversity was sampled. BLAST analysis indicated that 46 OTUs were divided into seven phyla (Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria) and five unknown groups. Cyanobacteria (43%), especially the Gp I, form the functional basis for an endolithic bacteria community which contain a wide spectrum species of chemotrophic bacteria (33%) with mainly Actinobacteria, α-Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria. Additionally, most clones that derived from the endolithic bacteria clone library showed high similarity to the sequence deposited in GenBank database with 97%–99%. Besides, 35% of the clones showed less than 97% of sequence similarity, of which 12% sequences were affiliated to genus Rubrobacter. The results suggested that endolithic bacteria in Valleys of Fantastic Rocks in Xinjiang were highly diverse in species richness, and maybe have a diversity of potential novel species and lineages.     

Long-term tillage effects on soil organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon in a purple paddy soil of Southwest China

The impact of conservation tillage practices on soil carbon has been of great interest in recent years. Conservation tillage might have the potential to enhance soil carbon accumulation and alter the depth distribution of soil carbon compared to conventional tillage based systems. Changes in the soil organic carbon (SOC) as influenced by tillage, are more noticeable under long-term rather than short-term tillage practices. The objective of this study was to determine the impacts of long-term tillage on SOC and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) status after 19 years of four tillage treatments in a Hydragric Anthrosol. In this experiment four tillage systems included conventional tillage with rotation of rice and winter fallow system (CTF), conventional tillage with rotation of rice and rape system (CTR), no-till and ridge culture with rotation of rice and rape system (NT) and tillage and ridge culture with rotation of rice and rape system (TR). Soils were sampled in the spring of 2009 and sectioned into 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–50 and 50–60 cm depth, respectively.Tillage effect on SOC was observed, and SOC concentrations were much larger under NT than the other three tillage methods in all soil depths from 0 to 60 cm. The mean SOC concentration at 0–60 cm soil depth followed the sequence: NT (22.74 g kg^?1) > CTF (14.57 g kg^?1) > TR (13.10 g kg^?1) > CTR (11.92 g kg^?1). SOC concentrations under NT were significantly higher than TR and CTR (P < 0.01), and higher than CTF treatment (P < 0.05). The SOC storage was calculated on equivalent soil mass basis. Results showed that the highest SOC storage at 0–60 cm depth presented in NT, which was 158.52 Mg C ha^?1, followed by CTF (106.74 Mg C ha^?1), TR (93.11 Mg C ha^?1) and CTR (88.60 Mg C ha^?1). Compared with conventional tillage (CTF), the total SOC storage in NT increased by 48.51%, but decreased by 16.99% and 12.77% under CTR and TR treatments, respectively. The effect of tillage on DOC was significant at 0–10 cm soil layer, and DOC concentration was much higher under CTF than the other three treatments (P < 0.01). Throughout 0–60 cm soil depth, DOC concentrations were 32.92, 32.63, 26.79 and 22.10 mg kg^?1 under NT, CTF, CTR and TR, and the differences among the four treatments were not significant (P > 0.05). In conclusion, NT increased SOC concentration and storage compared to conventional tillage operation but not for DOC.     

Implications of land-cover types for soil erosion on semiarid mountain slopes: Towards sustainable land use in problematic landscapes

The impact of land-cover types on soil erosion and runoff, as well as on physico-chemical soil properties, was monitored. The study area, an agroforestry landscape was located in Sierra Nevada Mountains in south-eastern Spain. Eight land-cover types were investigated: farmland planted with olive, almond, and cereals; forest with P. halepensis and P. sylvestris; shrubland; grassland; and abandoned farmland. The erosion plots replicated twice were located on hillslopes, where erosion and runoff were measured after 22 storm events. Forest dominated by Pinus stands exhibited significantly the lowest amounts of erosion and runoff, contrasting with abandoned farmland. Olive had higher erosion than did almond, cereals, or grasslands, but with the highest runoff rate under almond groves. The erosion and runoff response to shrubland showed an intermediate situation between forest and farmland–grassland uses. Under forest and shrubland, better soil properties were determined, especially higher organic C and total N, and lower soil-bulk density. Erosion was highly dependent on runoff, bulk density, soil organic C, and the degree of soil surface covered. Thus, the alteration in land cover is essential to an understanding of productivity of soil undergoing erosion, as sustainable planning can mitigate soil-degradation processes in the overall agroforestry landscape.     

Fungal ovicidal activity on Toxocara canis eggs

BackgroundVisceral toxocariasis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by Toxocara canis. The prevalence of this parasite in dogs, soil contamination and the resistance of eggs increase human exposure to the disease. Moreover, the difficulties of the control measures justify the need for alternative ones.AimsThe objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro ovicidal activity of fungi isolated from soils from public places in the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on Toxocara canis.MethodsSamples of soil from ten localities were inoculated onto Petri dishes with 2% water–agar (WA) that contained antibiotics, and incubated at 25 °C/21 days. Isolated fungi were tested in vitro for ovicidal activity, with five replicates. One mL of an embryonated Toxocara canis egg suspension (10³ eggs) was poured over the fungal cultures after 10 days of growth. At intervals of 7, 14 and 21 days, 100 eggs were removed from each plaque and evaluated by optical microscopy.ResultsAcremonium, Aspergillus, Bipolaris, Fusarium, Gliocladium, Mucor and Trichoderma were isolated from the soil. A significant ovicidal type 3 effect was observed in Trichoderma, Fusarium solani complex and Acremonium. Those isolates from the genus Trichoderma showed their ovicidal effect on the 14th day of fungus–egg interaction. The other fungal genera tested showed a type 2 effect.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the use of Trichoderma and Fusarium solani complex in biological control of T. canis is promising; however, further studies should be performed.     

Soil microbes alter plant fitness under competition and drought

Plants exist across varying biotic and abiotic environments, including variation in the composition of soil microbial communities. The ecological effects of soil microbes on plant communities are well known, whereas less is known about their importance for plant evolutionary processes. In particular, the net effects of soil microbes on plant fitness may vary across environmental contexts and among plant genotypes, setting the stage for microbially mediated plant evolution. Here, we assess the effects of soil microbes on plant fitness and natural selection on flowering time in different environments. We performed two experiments in which we grew Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes replicated in either live or sterilized soil microbial treatments, and across varying levels of either competition (isolation, intraspecific competition or interspecific competition) or watering (well‐watered or drought). We found large effects of competition and watering on plant fitness as well as the expression and natural selection of flowering time. Soil microbes increased average plant fitness under interspecific competition and drought and shaped the response of individual plant genotypes to drought. Finally, plant tolerance to either competition or drought was uncorrelated between soil microbial treatments suggesting that the plant traits favoured under environmental stress may depend on the presence of soil microbes. In summary, our experiments demonstrate that soil microbes can have large effects on plant fitness, which depend on both the environment and individual plant genotype. Future work in natural systems is needed for a complete understanding of the evolutionary importance of interactions between plants and soil microorganisms.     

洞察景观环境影响蜜蜂之新视角: 肠道微生物

作为生态服务提供者的传粉蜜蜂与景观生态息息相关, 而以农田为主的景观组成显著降低了传粉蜜蜂的多样性。目前调查研究显示, 农田的扩张与蜜蜂多样性下降相关, 且农药残留对蜜蜂损害严重。景观中的开花植物决定了蜜蜂的食物(营养)组成, 其中花粉蛋白含量与蜜蜂的生长发育紧密相关。尽管研究已证实景观环境会显著影响蜜蜂蜂群的发展和个体的生长繁殖能力, 但未来还需要加强景观组成变化直接作用于蜜蜂的机制研究。另一方面, 大量研究表明蜜蜂肠道共生菌是影响宿主健康的重要因素: 可促进宿主吸收营养和抵抗病原菌。作为传粉者, 蜜蜂接触到的主要外部环境——花粉和花蜜都含有特殊的微生物, 很多研究暗示花源微生物是蜜蜂肠道菌来源之一。研究表明景观环境相关的食物(营养)、农药残留以及环境微生物都会显著影响肠道微生物。现有少量的研究证明不同景观的蜜蜂肠道微生物有差异, 景观环境可能通过作用于蜜蜂肠道微生物进而影响蜜蜂健康。然而不同景观环境中的微生物, 尤其是花源微生物和蜜蜂肠道菌之间的关联有待证明。景观对蜜蜂肠道微生物的影响值得研究, 希望可以从肠道菌的视角鉴别对蜜蜂友好的景观环境, 进而指导土地合理利用和蜜蜂保护。     

三峡库区水体中固氮微生物多样性及其影响因素

【目的】研究分析不同时空条件下三峡库区水体固氮微生物多样性,并探讨其与地球化学参数的相关性。【方法】采集三峡库区不同时间(三月份和六月份)和空间(干流与支流)的水体样品,对其进行地球化学参数分析,并通过构建克隆文库分析样品中固氮功能基因(nifH)的多样性进而探讨其与水体地化参数的相关关系。【结果】统计分析显示三峡库区水体固氮微生物α-多样性和群落组成具有时空差异。支流水体样品的固氮微生物α-多样性高于干流水体样品;六月水体样品的固氮微生物α-多样性高于三月水体样品。三峡库区三月水体样品中的固氮微生物群落以Proteobacteria (50.3%)和Firmicutes (40.0%)为主;六月水体样品的固氮微生物群落以Proteobacteria(48.4%)、Firmicutes(25.4%)和Cyanobacteria(19.0%)为主。Mantel检验结果显示:固氮微生物群落结构的差异与温度、pH和DIC等地球化学参数具有显著(P0.05)相关性,其中温度和pH的相关性系数最大。【结论】三峡库区固氮微生物的种群结构和多样性具有时空差异,影响三峡水库水体中固氮微生物群落结构与多样性的主要环境因素为温度和pH,同时浊度、DIC、氨氮也对库区水体固氮微生物群落结构和多样性有一定的影响。