Recent activities of the Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee

Ecology and evolution

Agricultural education

Evolution and education

Education division elections

ISII in Europe

Tree project

Science teaching scholarship

Biology of terrestrial arthropods

A microscopied museum     

Present and future needs for algae and algal products

A review of the present needs, mainly for production of phycocolloids and food condiments, is given. Supply and demand vary from balanced, in some, to disproportionate in other fields. World-wide shortage of agarophytes contrasts with huge, unexploited beds of brown seaweeds.In future, partly conflicting trends will decide the needs for algae and algal products. Growth in the human population, pollution, overexploitation of land and lack of freshwater will encourage use of seaweeds. Modern biotechnology will favour this development, but will also be a serious threat to industrial exploitation of seaweeds. Future uses of marine algae will be decisively influenced by the effort put into and the results coming out of seaweed research.     

Root development and configuration in intensively managed radiata pine plantations

Summary In south-east Australia, where radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) is grown on sandy soils low in nutrients and short of water, early establishment, and rapid growth to canopy closure lead to increased productivity. At this stage demands for nutrients and water are high, and trees respond vigorously to silvicultural inputs.For several months after transplanting in winter roots are confined within a narrow planting wedge, low temperature restricts new root growth and slows recovery from water stress in plants. From spring, depending upon the configuration and vigour of the roots transplanted, lateral roots extend radially throughout the soil.Although there were small decreases in concentration of roots radially from the stems of very young trees, such spatial differences disappeared between ages 2 and 3, so that rooting density was independent of distance from the stem. The pattern of vertical distribution of lateral roots was not influenced by age and 80–90% of the lateral roots were within the top 30 cm soil. Roots developed rapidly as the trees grew towards canopy closure, but in general the rooting densities of these pines are among the lowest reported for plants. In rapidly growing trees approaching canopy closure, the secondary thickening of the lateral roots was sufficient to double the weight of roots without altering root length.Knowledge about root growth and root configuration during the early phase of plantation development will assist management decisions where intensive silviculture is practiced, and hence ensure the most efficient use of nutrients and water.     

Potency of Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus subtilis against the cotton leafworm,Spodoptera littoralis (Bosid.) Larvae

The biological activities of two species of bacteria isolated from soil of cotton fields identified as Bacillus subtilis strain NRC313 (BS NRC313) and Bacillus thuringiensis strain NRC335 (BT NRC335) were evaluated against the third larval instar of the cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.). The different entomopathogenic bacteria of BS NRC313and BT NRC335 contained 10 × 10⁸ cell/ml, and caused mortality of 100 and 97.3% for the above mentioned strains, respectively. Concentrations of 2.5 × 10⁸ to 10 × 10⁸ cell/ml of strains BS NRC313 and BT NRC335 were applied to the larvae: LC₅₀ were 3.3 × 10⁸ and 3.9 × 10⁸ cell/ml respectively. The influence of exposure to toxin concentrations manifested in terms of decreasing the adult emergence and prolongation of the generation period. The percentage of larvae that survived and succeeded to pupate increased by decreasing the concentration. The longevity of adult emergence that resulted from larvae treated with Bacillus subtilis were 6.0 ± 0.51 and 9.0 ± 0.63 days at 5 × 10⁸ and 2.5 × 10⁸ cell/ml, respectively compared with 9.8 ± 0.47 in control. The results indicated that Bacillus subtilis was more potent than Bacillus thuringiensis. Field applications of B. thuringiensis, B. subtilis and Reldan achieved 55.6, 67.4 and 89.4% reduction of the cotton leafworm larvae Spodoptera littoralis in clover plants under field conditions.     

Faunistische Untersuchungen im hyporheischen Interstitial des Flusses Mur (Steiermark, Österreich)

Faunistic Investigations of the Hyporheic Interstitial of the River Mur (Styria, Austria) Two distinct sections of the River Mur (Styria, Austria), one almost unpolluted and the other heavily polluted by domestic and industrial waste waters, were investigated for two years. Faunistic, hydrographic, and ecological investigations were carried out at the river bottom, including particularly the hyporheic interstitial zone. All species found were investigated qualitatively and quantitatively, and ecological factors are stressed. The composition of the fauna of the unpolluted area differs markedly from that in the polluted section.     

Antarctic nemerteans: Heteronemertea– descriptions of new taxa, reappraisals of the systematic status of existing species and a key to the heteronemerteans recorded south of latitude 50oS

Twenty-three species representative of 15 heteronemertean genera are recorded from Antarctic and Subantarctic waters south oflatitude 50^oS. Five new genera are established and seven new species are fully described and illustrated. These are Cephalurichus antarcticus gen. et sp. nov., Dokonemertes magellanensis gen. et sp. nov., Dokonemertes macquariensis sp. nov., Micrellides multiperula gen. et sp. nov., Paramicrurinella falklandica gen. et sp. nov., Parborlasia landrumae sp. nov. and Zodionemertes chilensis gen. et sp. nov. Baseodiscus antarcticus Baylis, Antarctolineus scotti (Baylis), Lineus longifissus (Hubrecht) and Parborlasia fueguina Serna de Esteban & Moretto are redescribed and illustrated and the nature of rhynchodaeal pouches protruding into the cephalic blood lacunae of Parborlasia corrugatus (Mcintosh) is reexamined and discussed. The main anatomical characters of the remaining 11 species are recorded and it is concluded that of these only Parapolia grytvikenensis Wheeler, Cerebratulus malvini Wheeler, Chilineus glandulosa (Burger), Huilkia ushuaiensis Serna de Esteban & Moretto, Micrura pacifica Friedrich and Wiolkenia friedrichi Serna de Esteban & Moretto can at present be accepted as valid, although incompletely described, taxa. Cerebratulus larseni Wheeler, Cerebratulus validus Bürger, Lineus autrani Joubin and Lineus turqueli Joubin are so poorly and inadequately described that their taxonomic status cannot be verified, and the recorded occurrence of Lineus nigricans Burger in southern latitudes cannot be substantiated on the available evidence. Maps showing the recorded distribution of all the species are included and a key to the 18 validated species is provided.     

不同坡向高寒草甸土壤理化特性和微生物数量特征

阐明不同坡向草地土壤性质的空间分异格局,为退化草地的精准修复和科学管理提供参考。研究了青藏高原东缘高寒草甸退化草地不同坡向(北坡N、西北坡NW、西坡W、东坡E、东北坡NE、西南坡SW和南坡S)土壤理化性质和微生物数量特征。结果发现:从N→S坡向上,土壤有机质、碳氮比和全氮含量均呈下降趋势,土壤全磷含量和pH值在不同坡向间均无显著差异(P0.05),E坡向全磷含量最高((2.83±0.95)g/kg),NW坡向含量最低((2.07±0.12)g/kg);土壤细菌、真菌和放线菌数量变化呈波动现象,NW坡向的细菌((13.0×10~5±1.0×10~5)个/g)、真菌((14.0×10~3±0.0)个/g)和放线菌((24.0×10~4±1.0×10~4)个/g)数量最低,E坡向的细菌数量最高((85.5×10~5±2.5×10~5)个/g),S坡向的真菌((24.0×10~3±0.0)个/g)和放线菌((209.5×10~4±4.5×10~4)个/g)数量最高;回归分析表明,在E→S坡向上,随土壤含水量、有机质、碳氮比和全氮含量的增加,土壤细菌和放线菌数量均显著降低(P0.05),而土壤真菌数量随含水量、pH值、土壤养分含量的增加略有降低(P0.05)。可见,不同坡向高寒草甸土壤理化特征差异明显,也导致了土壤微生物数量分配格局的不同。     

Comparison of the ribosomal RNA genes in four closely relatedCucurbitaceae

Cucurbitaceae are characterized by a high copy number for nuclear ribosomal RNA genes. We have investigated the genomic ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of four closely related species of this family with respect to structure, length heterogeneity, and evolution. InCucumis melo (melon) there are two main length variants of rDNA repeats with 10.7 and 10.55kb.Cucumis sativus (cucumber) shows at least three repeat types with 11.5, 10.5, and 10.2kb.Cucurbita pepo (zucchini) has two different repeat types with 10.0 and 9.3kb. There are also two different repeat types inCucurbita maxima (pumpkin) of about 11.2 and 10.5kb. Restriction enzyme mapping of the genomic rDNA of these four plants and of cloned repeats ofC. sativus shows further heterogeneities which are due to methylation or point mutations. By comparison of the restriction enzyme maps it was possible to trace some evolutionary events in the family ofCucurbitaceae. Some aspects of regulation and function of the middle repetitive rRNA genes (here between 2000 and 10000 copies) are discussed.     

中国斑叶蝉族昆虫地理分布格局聚类分析

分析了斑叶蝉族昆虫在中国以及贵州动物地理区的分布情况,探讨其分布格局形成、起源和演化原因。根据中国和贵州斑叶蝉族的地理分布数据,运用MEGA 6.0、SPSS 22.0和ArcGIS 10.2等软件,对斑叶蝉族昆虫的区及亚区分布进行支序聚类分析,结果表明我国斑叶蝉族现代分布中心为西部山地高原亚区、华南区的台湾亚区及滇南山地亚区,分布热点地区为西双版纳地区、海南地区和台湾地区。贵州斑叶蝉现代分布中心为黔东低山丘陵省、黔北中山峡谷省和黔南低山河谷省,分布热点地区为铜仁北部的沿河地区、遵义的务川地区及贵州黔东南州的榕江、雷山地区。斑叶蝉族昆虫中国分布区形成的顺序先是东北区,其次是青藏区和蒙新区,最后是西南区、华北区、华南区和华中区。贵州分布区形成的顺序先是黔西高原中山省和黔中山原丘陵省,其次是黔南低山河谷省,最后是黔北中山峡谷省和黔东低山丘陵省。中国分布区中,B21和B22聚类群属级阶元的相似性最高,区间关联性最强。在贵州分布区中黔东低山丘陵省和黔北中山峡谷省属级阶元的相似性最高,物种交流最为频繁。目前,斑叶蝉族昆虫的地理分布格局主要是历史气候变化、当前气候条件以及植被覆盖等生态环境共同作用的结果;区系起源和演化主要受地质构造运动作用;斑叶蝉在各区的分布相似性可能与气候变化引起的物种由南向北扩散有关。