The Role of Low-Molecular-Weight Organic Carbons in Facilitating the Mobilization and Biotransformation of As(V)/Fe(III) from a Realgar Tailing Mine Soil

Several low-molecular-weight organic carbon (LMWOC) compounds (acetate, propionate, butyrate, lactate, and glucose) were added to flooded arsenic-rich tailing mine soil to investigate their effect to the mobilization of As/Fe and potential shift of microbial community. A promoting effect to the mobilization and biotransformation of As(V)/Fe(III) in the soils resulting from the supplementation with LMWOCs substrate was indicated compared to the biotic microcosm amended with deionized water alone. During 38-day biotic incubation, more than 2100 μg/L of As(III) and 4.2 mg/L of Fe(II) levels were released from the soils amended with LMWOCs substrates, compared to the levels of As(III) and Fe(II) (less 35 μg/L and 1.82 mg/L) derived from the biotic supplementation with deionized water alone. PCR-DGGE indicated that several LMWOCs-responded bacteria were mostly related to Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Moreover, a negligible impact on the abundance of Fe(III)-reducing family Geobacteraceae was indicated in the LMWOCs-amended soils. However, an increased abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria but a decreased abundance of arsenate-respiring bacteria were indicated upon the soils supplemented with acetate alone, compared with other LMWOC amendments. DNA-stable isotope probing analysis demonstrated that the dual roles of acetate was not only served as an electron donor for biotransformation of As(V)/Fe(III) in soil, but also assimilated as a powerful energy source to promote the growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria. The findings suggest that there are specific bacteria that preferentially respond to the additions of LMWOC for controlling the biochemical cycle process of As/Fe in soils.     

Elevational gradients in plant defences and insect herbivory: recent advances in the field and prospects for future research

Classic research on elevational gradients in plant–herbivore interactions holds that insect herbivore pressure is stronger under warmer, less seasonal climates characteristic of low elevations, and that this in turn selects for increased defence in low‐ (relative to high‐) elevation plants. However, recent work has questioned this paradigm, arguing that it overly simplifies the ecological complexity in which plant–insect herbivore interactions are embedded along elevational gradients. Numerous biotic and abiotic factors vary with elevation, and their simultaneous influences are the focus of current work on elevational gradients in insect herbivory and plant defences. The present review 1) synthesizes current knowledge on elevational gradients in plant–insect herbivore interactions; 2) critically analyses research gaps and highlights recent advances that contribute to filling these gaps; and 3) outlines new research opportunities to uncover underlying mechanisms and build towards a unified theory on elevational gradients. We conclude that the next generation of studies should embrace community complexity – including multi‐trophic dynamics and the multivariate nature of plant defence – and to do so by combining observational data, manipulative experiments and emerging analytical tools.     

Outlook on sponge reproduction science in the last ten years: are we far from where we should be?

To comprehend the state of the art of sponge reproduction science (SRS), we quantified and analyzed the trends in SRS in the last decade, aiming to answer three questions: (i) Were there fewer SRS works presented during the last sponge conference? (ii) Did the number of SRS publications decline in the last decade? (iii) Does the number of abstracts at sponge conferences influence overall SRS publications? In addition, we checked whether the SRS community has answered Ereskovsky’s ‘five important questions’, enabling us to advance SRS enough to be considered as a fourth period of this scientific field. We found that SRS was less represented at the last sponge conference, despite an increase in the number of publications during the last decade. Moreover, the number of abstracts presented at sponge conferences contributed to a small portion (25%) of the published works in this area during the last decade. In addition, we found that two of the five Ereskovsky’s questions are still mostly not answered. Thus, we conclude that SRS is healthy and advancing steadily, especially in some subareas (e.g. developmental biology and life history). There are still much to advance, but this is still a strong field of biological science research.     

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) power performance improvement through enhanced microbial electrogenicity

Within the past 5?years, tremendous advances have been made to maximize the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for both “clean” bioenergy production and bioremediation. Most research efforts have focused on parameters including (i) optimizing reactor configuration, (ii) electrode construction, (iii) addition of redox-active, electron donating mediators, (iv) biofilm acclimation and feed nutrient adjustment, as well as (v) other parameters that contribute to enhanced MFC performance. To date, tremendous advances have been made, but further improvements are needed for MFCs to be economically practical. In this review, the diversity of electrogenic microorganisms and microbial community changes in mixed cultures are discussed. More importantly, different approaches including chemical/genetic modifications and gene regulation of exoelectrogens, synthetic biology approaches and bacterial community cooperation are reviewed. Advances in recent years in metagenomics and microbiomes have allowed researchers to improve bacterial electrogenicity of robust biofilms in MFCs using novel, unconventional approaches. Taken together, this review provides some important and timely information to researchers who are examining additional means to enhance power production of MFCs.     

Conservation and human livelihoods at the crossroads: Local needs and knowledge in the management of Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Arabuko Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining single block of indigenous dry coastal tropical forest in Eastern Africa. Households within a 5 km buffer zone depend heavily on the forest for their livelihood needs, and the pressure on forest resources is on the increase. In May 2015, 109 households were interviewed on resources they obtain from the forest, in terms of the self‐reported level of monthly income. We found household income and farm size significantly positively correlated with benefits from the forest, highlighting the possible influence of household wealth in exploiting forest resources. A large proportion of households (32%) had limited knowledge of local birds, while human–bird conflict was reported by 44% of the households. While many households were keen to participate in conservation projects that maintain the forest, 44% had no knowledge of the forest management plan, and 60% of those interviewed had no idea of how forest zones were designated for particular activities. Drivers for local community participation in conservation projects appear to be sustainable income and fulfilment of basic household needs.     

新疆巴里坤、七角井和台特玛盐湖沉积物中免培养放线菌群落组成与离子成分分析

【背景】新型病原微生物层出不穷,放线菌作为最重要的抗生素生产菌仍受制于纯培养困难和菌种资源不足,而对于盐湖沉积物中的丰富放线菌资源却鲜有报道。【目的】探索巴里坤、七角井和台特玛盐湖沉积物放线菌群落结构及其多样性,分析盐湖沉积物中化学离子成分对放线菌群落的影响。【方法】每个盐湖采集5份样品并混合,使用SDS-CTAB抽提法提取总DNA,使用放线菌特异性引物进行PCR扩增并构建16S r RNA基因文库,每个样品随机挑选220个克隆子,经过Hae III酶切筛选后对阳性克隆子进行测序分析;对每个样品的8种主要化学离子进行检测,并将沉积物化学离子成分与放线菌群落进行关联性分析。【结果】获得的381个克隆序列属于143个操作分类单元(Operational taxonomic Unit,OTU),聚类结果显示从3个盐湖中共探测到37个放线菌属(台特玛盐湖:24;巴里坤盐湖:16;七角井盐湖:14)。3个盐湖共有的放线菌属为Aciditerrimonas、Aquihabitans、Demequina、Dietzia、Ilumatobacter和Amycolatopsis。从放线菌群落结构上看,台特玛盐湖与其他两湖差异性很大,巴里坤盐湖与七角井盐湖群落相似性更高,巴里坤、七角井和台特玛盐湖未知放线菌的组成分别为47.59%、53.07%和51.53%。利用RDA(Redundancy analysis)分析盐湖沉积物化学离子与放线菌群落的关联性,结果显示与Na~+、Cl~-和K~+相比,Mg~(2+)、Ca~(2+)、SO_4~(2-)、HCO_3~-和CO_3~(2-)与盐湖放线菌类群的相关关系要更加紧密。【结论】3个盐湖中具有丰富的放线菌多样性,包含大量的未知放线菌。盐湖沉积物不同的化学离子成分影响着各自独特的放线菌群落,可为开发新的盐湖放线菌资源提供依据。     

蚂蚁对不同土地利用的物种响应及生物指示——以云南为例

为了揭示不同土地利用状态下蚂蚁群落在物种层面的变化,采用陷阱法调查了云南省绿春县天然次生林、桉树林、紫胶林、紫胶-玉米混农林、橡胶林、旱地和农田7种类型样地地表蚂蚁群落。共采集地表蚂蚁16704头,隶属于8亚科44属106种。不同类型样地地表蚂蚁群落结构有差异(ANOSIM Global R=0.786,P=0.01),桉树林、紫胶林和紫胶玉米混农林地表蚂蚁群落结构与天然次生林相似,与橡胶林和农田不相似。不同样地具有各自的特有种,旱地和农田中各为1种,其余样地有5-8种。在多个样地中均有出现的物种在不同类型样地中的多度变化明显。对群落结构相似性贡献率≥5%的特征物种分析显示,天然次生林中的特征物种明显与旱地和农田不同。天然次生林中的指示物种为毛发铺道蚁Tetramorium ciliatum,桉树林中为亮褐举腹蚁Crematogaster contemta,紫胶林中为飘细长蚁Tetraponera allaborans,旱地中为伊大头蚁Pheidole yeensis。不同特征物种及指示物种的生物学特性与不同样地特征相关联。地表蚂蚁通过物种组成及多度变化响应土地利用变化,蚂蚁特征物种可以作为指示物种的补充。     

The rpb2 gene represents a viable alternative molecular marker for the analysis of environmental fungal communities

Although the commonly used internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA (ITS) is well suited for taxonomic identification of fungi, the information on the relative abundance of taxa and diversity is negatively affected by the multicopy nature of rDNA and the existence of ITS paralogues. Moreover, due to high variability, ITS sequences cannot be used for phylogenetic analyses of unrelated taxa. The part of single‐copy gene encoding the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (rpb2) was thus compared with first spacer of ITS as an alternative marker for the analysis of fungal communities in spruce forest topsoil, and their applicability was tested on a comprehensive mock community. In soil, rpb2 exhibited broad taxonomic coverage of the entire fungal tree of life including basal fungal lineages. The gene exhibited sufficient variation for the use in phylogenetic analyses and taxonomic assignments, although it amplifies also paralogues. The fungal taxon spectra obtained with rbp2 region and ITS1 corresponded, but sequence abundance differed widely, especially in the basal lineages. The proportions of OTU counts and read counts of major fungal groups were close to the reality when rpb2 was used as a molecular marker while they were strongly biased towards the Basidiomycota when using the ITS primers ITS1/ITS4. Although the taxonomic placement of rbp2 sequences is currently more difficult than that of the ITS sequences, its discriminative power, quantitative representation of community composition and suitability for phylogenetic analyses represent significant advantages.