Isolation of polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing bacteria from an integrated-farming pond and palm-oil mill effluent ponds

Bacterial isolates from two environments, an integrated-farming pond in the university and palm-oil mill effluent (POME) ponds at a local palm-oil-processing factory, were screened for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Initially Sudan Black B staining was performed to detect lipid cellular inclusions. Lipid-positive isolates were then grown in a nitrogen-limiting medium containing 2% (w/v) glucose to promote accumulation of PHA before the subsequent Nile Blue A staining. The PHA extracted from positive isolates was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The proportion of PHA-positive bacterial isolates was higher in the POME ponds compared to the integrated-farming pond.     

Elimination of sugarcane grassy shoot disease through apical meristem culture

Elimination of sugarcane grassy shoot disease (SGSD) through apical meristem culture technique for producing clean planting material of sugarcane has been attempted in the present study. The results showed that meristems length of 2 and 3 mm were free from the SGSD pathogen at higher frequency than larger meristem length of 4 mm. However, the frequency of survival of explants during initiation of shoot cultures was higher in larger meristems (60%) in comparison to smaller ones (40%). The micropropagated plantlets raised from meristem culture were confirmed for disease-free by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis at monthly interval up to 6 months. This is the first report on the elimination of SGSD phytoplasma through meristem culture in India.     

Fluctuating water levels control water chemistry and metabolism of a charophyte‐dominated pond

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Does the presence of grassy strips and landscape grain affect the spatial distribution of aphids and their carabid predators?

• 1 We investigated, over the course of 2 years, the spatial distribution and abundance of two species of aphid, Metopolophium dirhodum and Sitobion avenae, and predatory species of carabid. This was undertaken in 24 wheat fields in ‘coarse‐grain’ and ‘fine‐grain’ landscapes in western France. A greater percentage of the latter landscape was covered by hedgerows and grassland and the total area covered by fields and the average size of the fields were smaller.
• 2 The effects on aphid abundance of the distance from field margins, the presence of grassy strips and carabid abundance were determined in both landscapes.
• 3 Both aphid species were more abundant in the ‘fine‐grain’ landscape, which may have been a result of the higher density of semi‐natural elements. In both types of landscape, the total numbers of aphids were negatively correlated with the distance from the field margin. This may have been because aphids were dispersing from overwintering sites in field margins. The abundance of M. dirhodum was strongly negatively correlated with the presence of grassy strips in the ‘coarse‐grain’ landscape, although there were no such significant correlations for either of the aphid species in the ‘fine‐grain’ landscape.
• 4 Aphid and carabid abundances were negatively correlated in the ‘fine‐grain’ and positively in ‘coarse‐grain’ landscape.
• 5 The results obtained in the present study emphasize the importance of semi‐natural areas in agricultural landscapes in shaping the spatial distribution of aphids and carabid beetles, their natural enemies, at different spatial scales.

     

An effective method for ecosystem‐scale manipulation of bird abundance and species richness

Manipulation experiments are a cornerstone of ecological research, but can be logistically challenging to execute—particularly when they are intended to isolate the ecological role of large, vagile species, like birds. Despite indirect evidence that birds are influential in many ecosystems, large‐scale, multi‐year bird manipulation experiments are rare. When these studies are conducted, they are typically realized with caged or netted exclosures, an approach that can be expensive, risky for wildlife, and difficult to maintain. In cases where caged exclosures are not appropriate, alternate approaches are needed to allow rigorous empirical studies on the ecological role of birds. Here, we present and validate a method for experimentally increasing the abundance and richness of birds at the scale of entire aquatic ecosystems. Unlike bird exclusion, this approach is experimentally tractable, appealing to land managers, and possible to deploy over large spatial scales. We tested the efficacy of our approach for increasing bird abundance and species richness at 16 central California ponds. Based on bird visitation data obtained by summer camera trapping, our approach significantly increased bird species richness and abundance at manipulated ponds compared to control ponds. Attractant treatments mitigated the negative effects of a major drought on bird species richness and generated a near doubling of bird abundance in the presence of attractants. Treatments had no effect on most mammal species, with the exception of ground squirrels, which increased in abundance in the presence of attractants. These results suggest that attractants are effective in increasing bird abundance and richness. We encourage researchers to consider this approach for experimentally isolating the ecological role of birds in aquatic and open terrestrial ecosystems, especially in cases where cost or logistical constraints preclude the use of caged or netted exclosures.     

莲虾共作池塘夏季浮游植物群落及其与环境因子关系

为研究莲虾共作生态系统夏季浮游植物的群落结构特征,于2018年6月至8月对洪湖莲虾共作池塘的浮游植物和水质进行了定量调查监测,并探讨了浮游植物群落结构变化与环境因子之间的关系。结果显示,共鉴定有浮游植物7门71种属,其中绿藻门种类最多,蓝藻门和硅藻门种类次之,三者共占浮游植物总种类数的83.1%。浮游植物优势种有8种,以蓝藻门和绿藻门为主。莲虾共作池塘夏季浮游植物密度和生物量分别变化在2.50×10⁶~6.20×10⁷ cells/L和0.93~24.36 mg/L之间,浮游植物密度总体表现为逐渐升高的趋势,而浮游植物生物量为先升高后降低的趋势,且浮游植物各门的密度、生物量月份间差异不显著(P>0.05)。浮游植物Shannon-Wiener指数和Pielou均匀度指数均以7月最高出现峰值,不具有明显的月份差异(P>0.05);夏季各月的浮游植物多样性指数均较好,表明莲虾共作池塘浮游植物群落结构处于较稳定的状态。冗余分析（RDA）显示养殖期间的浮游植物物种密度受水温（WT）、总氮（TN）、氨氮（NH₄ ⁺—N）、高锰酸钾指数（COD_Mn）等多种环境因子的影响,而影响莲虾共作池塘各月浮游植物分布的关键环境因子是WT、NH₄ ⁺—N、TN。     

Pond Acoustic Sampling Scheme: A draft protocol for rapid acoustic data collection in small waterbodies

1. Freshwater conservation is vital to the maintenance of global biodiversity. Ponds are a critical, yet often under‐recognized, part of this, contributing to overall ecosystem functioning and diversity. They provide habitats for a range of aquatic, terrestrial, and amphibious life, often including rare and declining species.
2. Effective, rapid, and accessible survey methods are needed to enable evidence‐based conservation action, but freshwater taxa are often viewed as “difficult”—and few specialist surveyors are available. Datasets on ponds are therefore limited in their spatiotemporal coverage.
3. With the advent of new recording technologies, acoustic survey methods are becoming increasingly available to researchers, citizen scientists, and conservation practitioners. They can be an effective and noninvasive approach for gathering data on target species, assemblages, and environmental variables. However, freshwater applications are lagging behind those in terrestrial and marine spheres, and as an emergent method, research studies have employed a multitude of different sampling protocols.
4. We propose the Pond Acoustic Sampling Scheme (PASS), a simple protocol to allow a standardized minimal sample to be collected rapidly from small waterbodies, alongside environmental and methodological metadata. This sampling scheme can be incorporated into a variety of survey designs and is intended to allow access to a wide range of participants, without requiring complicated or prohibitively expensive equipment.
5. Adoption of this sampling protocol would enable consistent sound recordings to be gathered by researchers and conservation organizations, and allow the development of landscape‐scale surveys, data sharing, and collaboration within an expanding freshwater ecoacoustic community—rather than individual approaches that produce incompatible datasets. The compilation of standardized data would improve the prospects for effective research into the soundscapes of small waterbodies and aid freshwater conservation efforts.

     

Ecological niche breadth and microhabitat guild structure in temperate Australian reptiles: Implications for natural resource management in endangered grassy woodland ecosystems

Ecological theory predicts that species with narrow niche requirements (habitat specialists) are more vulnerable to anthropocentric disturbances than those with broad niche requirements (habitat generalists). Hence, understanding a species ecological niche and guild membership would serve as a valuable management tool for providing a priori assessments of a species extinction risk. It also would help to forecast a species capacity to respond to land use change, as what might be expected to occur under financial incentive schemes to improve threatened ecological vegetation communities. However, basic natural history information is lacking for many terrestrial species, particularly reptiles in temperate regions of the world. To overcome this limitation, we collated 3527 reptile observations from 52 species across an endangered woodland ecoregion in south‐eastern Australia and examined ecological niche breadth and microhabitat guild structure. We found 30% of species had low ecological niche values and were classified as habitat specialists associated with large eucalypt trees, woody debris, surface rock or rocky outcrops. Cluster analysis separated species into six broad guilds based on microhabitat similarity. Approximately 80% of species belonged to guilds associated with old growth vegetation attributes or non‐renewable litho‐resources such as surface rock or rocky outcrops. Our results suggest that agri‐environment schemes that focus purely on grazing management are unlikely to provide immediate benefits to broad suites of reptiles associated with old growth vegetation and litho‐resources. Our classification scheme will be useful for identifying reptile species that are potentially vulnerable to anthropocentric disturbances and may require alternative strategies for improving habitat suitability and reptile conservation outcomes in grassy woodland ecosystems.