Predicting Streambed Sediment and Water Column Escherichia coli Levels at Watershed Scale

A sub‐model for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is developed to predict Escherichia coli levels in the streambed sediment as well as in the water column. New formulations to estimate the levels of E. coli in streambed sediment and the water column are derived. These equations include calculations of E. coli resuspension from the streambed sediment to the water column, E. coli deposition from the water column to the streambed sediment, E. coli growth in the streambed sediment and the water column, and instream E. coli routing. These formulations were programmed in FORTRAN and integrated into SWAT. The modified SWAT model was applied to Squaw Creek Watershed, Iowa, to predict E. coli levels in the stream. Escherichia coli concentrations in the streambed sediment and the water column were monitored extensively in this watershed, and observations were used to verify the model predictions. The model proposed here can predict E. coli concentrations in streambed sediment as well as in the water column. Approximately 58% of the predictions of E. coli levels in the bed sediment were within 1 order of magnitude from the observed value, and in the water column 83% of the predictions of E. coli levels were within 1 order of magnitude. Results suggest that the proposed model will help predictions of instream bacterial contamination.     

污泥自热高温好氧消化工艺及影响因素

介绍了污泥自热高温好氧消化(ATAD)技术,其具有污泥稳定与杀菌的双重功效,处理效率高,体积小、运行方便。经过消化处理后的污泥,大部分病原菌被灭活,可以作为一种富养分、高质量的肥土应用于农田。文中对ATAD的工艺原理、流程、反应器构造及影响因素等进行了探讨。     

Insights into effects of algae on decay and distribution of bacterial pathogens in recreational water: Implications for microbial risk management

The decay and distribution of bacterial pathogens in water is an important information for the health risk assessment to guide water safety management, and suspended algae might affect bacterial pathogens in water. This study established microcosms to investigate the effects of algae-related factors on the representative indicators and opportunistic pathogen species in water. We found that suspended algae increased the persistence of targeted species by 1-2 orders of magnitude of concentrations ...     

Effects of Invasive Parasites on Bumble Bee Declines

Abstract: Bumble bees are a group of pollinators that are both ecologically and economically important and declining worldwide. Numerous mechanisms could be behind this decline, and the spread of parasites from commercial colonies into wild populations has been implicated recently in North America. Commercial breeding may lead to declines because commercial colonies may have high parasite loads, which can lead to colonization of native bumble bee populations; commercial rearing may allow higher parasite virulence to evolve; and global movement of commercial colonies may disrupt spatial patterns in local adaptation between hosts and parasites. We assessed parasite virulence, transmission mode, and infectivity. Microparasites and so‐called honey bee viruses may pose the greatest threat to native bumble bee populations because certain risk factors are present; for example, the probability of horizontal transmission of the trypanosome parasite Crithidia bombi is high. The microsporidian parasite Nosema bombi may play a role in declines of bumble bees in the United States. Preliminary indications that C. bombi and the neogregarine Apicystis bombi may not be native in parts of South America. We suggest that the development of molecular screening protocols, thorough sanitation efforts, and cooperation among nongovernmental organizations, governments, and commercial breeders might immediately mitigate these threats.     

Statistical models of health risk due to microbial contamination of foods

Between 6 million and 33 million cases of food-related illness are estimated to occur in the United States each year, with about 5000 episodes resulting in death. Growing concerns about the safety of food prompted the National Food Safety Initiative of 1997, the goal of which is to reduce the incidence of illness caused by food-borne pathogens. A key component of the food safety initiative is the improvement of farm-to-table risk assessment capabilities, including the development of improved dose-response models for estimating risk. When sufficient data are available, allowable contamination levels of specific micro-organisms in food are established using dose-response models to predict risk at very low doses based on experimental data at much higher doses. This necessitates having reliable models for setting allowable exposures to food-borne pathogens. While only limited data on relatively few micro-organisms that occur in food are available at present for dose-response modeling and risk estimation, still none of the two-parameter models proposed so far, including the popular Beta-Poisson (BP) model, appears to be completely satisfactory for describing and fitting all of the present data (Holcomb et al., 1999). The Weibull–Gamma (WG) model is the only three-parameter model that has been proposed to date. In this paper, new competitive three-parameter models are derived, using a formulation that can be parameterized to represent statistical variation with respect to the dose of micro-organism received by the host and the hosts susceptibility to infection. Parameters of the models are estimated using the maximum likelihood method. Experimental data on several common microbial contaminants in food are used to illustrate the methodology.     

Environmental refuge from disease-driven amphibian extinction

Species that are tolerant of broad environmental gradients may be less vulnerable to epizootic outbreaks of disease. Chytridriomycosis, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has been linked to extirpations and extinctions of amphibian species in many regions. The pathogen thrives in cool, moist environments, and high amphibian mortality rates have commonly occurred during chytridiomycosis outbreaks in amphibian populations in high-elevation tropical rainforests. In Australia several high-elevation species, including the armored mist frog (Litoria lorica), which is designated as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), were believed to have gone extinct during chytridiomycosis outbreaks in the 1980s and early 1990s. Species with greater elevational ranges disappeared from higher elevations, but remained common in the lowlands. In June 2008, we surveyed a stream in a high-elevation dry sclerophyll forest and discovered a previously unknown population of L. lorica and a population of the waterfall frog (Litoria nannotis). We conducted 6 additional surveys in June 2008, September 2008, March 2009, and August 2009. Prevalences of B. dendrobatidis infection (number infected per total sampled) were consistently high in frogs (mean 82.5%, minimum 69%) of both species and in tadpoles (100%) during both winter (starting July) and summer (starting February). However, no individuals of either species showed clinical signs of disease, and they remained abundant (3.25 - 8.75 individuals of L. lorica and 6.5-12.5 individuals of L. nannotis found/person/100 m over 13 months). The high-elevation dry sclerophyll site had little canopy cover, low annual precipitation, and a more defined dry season than a nearby rainforest site, where L. nannotis was more negatively affected by chytridiomycosis. We hypothesize this lack of canopy cover allowed the rocks on which frogs perched to warm up, thereby slowing growth and reproduction of the pathogen on the hosts. In addition, we suggest surveys for apparently extinct or rare species should not be limited to core environments.     

粉葛根腐病的病原鉴定

近年来发现一种严重为害粉葛块根的土传病害。经显微镜直接检查、病原菌分离培养观察、致病性测定及田间病害调查，初步鉴定该病为粉葛镰刀菌根腐病，病原菌为腐皮镰刀菌(Fusarium solani，属半知菌亚门真菌)；该病的发生是由于腐皮镰刀菌与植物线虫复合感染所致。该报道在中国尚属首例。     

黑水虻转化厨余垃圾过程中病原菌灭活规律的研究与综合评价

黑水虻能够有效取食厨余垃圾等有机固体废弃物,其自身转化为昆虫蛋白和脂肪等生物质,将厨余垃圾转化为虫沙有机肥,处理过程是一种有机固体废弃物的资源化新方法.为评估黑水虻处理厨余垃圾的效率与安全性,本课题研究黑水虻在厨余垃圾处理过程中,对大肠杆菌O157：H7（EC）、鼠伤寒沙门氏菌（ST）及金黄色葡萄球（SA）的灭活能力,评价黑水虻体内的抑菌因子,分析3种病原菌对黑水虻生长增重及厨余转化效率的影响.经过18 d的黑水虻处理,研究发现：①第0和第6 d两次以6.4~7.1 log₁₀ CFU·g^-1的浓度向厨余垃圾中分别接种EC、ST和SA以后,EC经4~6 d处理被全部灭活、ST经3~4 d处理被全部灭活,SA经6 d处理,浓度下降到1.9~2.6 log₁₀ CFU·g^-1,但不能被全部灭活,病原菌的灭活效率呈现EC=ST>SA的趋势（p < 0.001）,且黑水虻体内无EC、ST或SA残留;②厨余垃圾降解过程中,初期和中期pH值主要呈现酸性（4.0~5.3）,对抑制EC、ST和SA起到了促进作用,后期pH值呈中性至弱碱性;③黑水虻对于EC和ST能够产生自身免疫抑制因子,且抑制活性ST>EC,但对SA无明显的免疫抑制能力,SA的灭活主要依赖于黑水虻肠道菌群的竞争性抑制作用;④黑水虻的体长、体重、预蛹率、产率,以及厨余垃圾的生物转化率和减量化率未受病原菌存在的影响,18 d后EC组、ST组和SA组的预蛹率均达到在80%以上,厨余减量化率分别达到74.0%、79.1%和78.5%,生物转化率分别达到13.0%、13.2%、19.4%.综上,黑水虻能够在彻底灭活EC、ST,99%灭活SA的同时,高效降解厨余垃圾（减量化率>74%）,并转化为虫体有机质（虫产率>10%）,是一种高效卫生的厨余垃圾资源化方法.今后的研究中,还需要加强以金葡菌为代表的抗逆性病原菌的灭活机制的探讨.     

16S rRNA高通量测序研究集雨窖水中微生物群落结构及多样性

为探究集雨窖水中细菌多样性及功能与主要水质因子之间关系,应用16S rRNA基因-Illumina MiSeq高通量测序技术分析和比较了不同类型集雨水窖中窖水的微生物群落结构及多样性.通过提取4组样品基因组DNA,对16S rRNA V4区测序,共获得用于物种分类的OTU 1605条,涵盖了22门、42纲、71目、115科、146属的细菌.微生物多样性分析表明,窖水具有很高的细菌多样性,不同样品多样性存在差异,细菌优势菌群分布呈现出大量的稀有种和少数常见种的模式.菌群分类发现,拟杆菌门（Bacteroidetes）、变形菌门（Proteobacteria）、放线细菌门（Actinobacteria）、疣微菌门（Verrucomicrobia）和OD1是主要的细菌菌门,其相对丰度占群落的87.1%~94.8%;放线菌门的放线细菌纲（Actinobacteria）、酸微菌纲（Acidimicrobiia）,拟杆菌门的噬纤维菌纲（Cytophagia）、黄杆菌纲（Flavobacteriia）、鞘脂杆菌纲（Sphingobacteriia）,变形菌门中α-变形菌纲（α-Proteobacteria）、β-变形菌纲（β-Proteobacteria）、γ-变形菌纲（γ-Proteobacteria）,疣微菌门丰收神菌纲（Opitutae）、疣微菌纲（Verrucomicrobiae）、Pedosphaerae,OD1的ZB2为纲层次上的优势菌;红细菌属（Rhodobacter）、脱氮单孢菌属（Dechloromonas）、黄杆菌属（Flavobacterium）、不动杆菌属（Acinetobacter）、丛毛单孢菌属（Comamonas）、假单孢菌属（Pseudomonas）、嗜氢菌属（Hydrogenophaga）等优势菌属大多数为具有脱氮除磷功能的反硝化菌和异养硝化-好氧反硝化菌;RDA分析表明,不同环境因子对微生物群落的影响有着明显的不同,即第Ⅱ簇内的菌属主要与反映窖水有机物含量的指标UV₂₅₄、高锰酸盐指数、BOD₅之间呈显著正相关关系,而第Ⅲ簇内的菌属主要与反映窖水氮、磷水平的指标TN、NO₂^--N、NO₃^--N、TP、NH₄⁺-N显著正相关,体现了生态功能的簇内相似性及簇间差异性.研究结果加深了对窖水微生物群落结构和多样性的认识,为深入研究窖水细菌多样性及功能与水质因子之间关系提供了借鉴.     

Construction and functional analysis of Trichoderma harzianum mutants that modulate maize resistance to the pathogen Curvularia lunata

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) was used to generate an insertional mutant library of the mycelial fungus Trichoderma harzianum. From a total of 450 mutants, six mutants that showed significant influence on maize resistance to C. lunata were analyzed in detail. Maize coated with these mutants was more susceptible to C. lunata compared with those coated with a wild-type (WT) strain. Similar to other fungal ATMT libraries, all six mutants were single copy integrations, which occurred preferentially in noncoding regions (except two mutants) and were frequently accompanied by the loss of border sequences. Two mutants (T66 and T312) that were linked to resistance were characterized further. Maize seeds coated with T66 and T312 were more susceptible to C. lunata than those treated with WT. Moreover, the mutants affected the resistance of maize to C. lunata by enhancing jasmonate-responsive gene expression. T66 and T312 induced maize resistance to C. lunata infection through a jasmonic acid-dependent pathway.