A fungal perspective on conservation biology

Hitherto fungi have rarely been considered in conservation biology, but this is changing as the field moves from addressing single species issues to an integrative ecosystem‐based approach. The current emphasis on biodiversity as a provider of ecosystem services throws the spotlight on the vast diversity of fungi, their crucial roles in terrestrial ecosystems, and the benefits of considering fungi in concert with animals and plants. We reviewed the role of fungi in ecosystems and composed an overview of the current state of conservation of fungi. There are 5 areas in which fungi can be readily integrated into conservation: as providers of habitats and processes important for other organisms; as indicators of desired or undesired trends in ecosystem functioning; as indicators of habitats of conservation value; as providers of powerful links between human societies and the natural world because of their value as food, medicine, and biotechnological tools; and as sources of novel tools and approaches for conservation of megadiverse organism groups. We hope conservation professionals will value the potential of fungi, engage mycologists in their work, and appreciate the crucial role of fungi in nature. Una Perspectiva Micótica de la Biología de la Conservación     

Mycological assessment of sediments in Ligurian beaches in the Northwestern Mediterranean: pathogens and opportunistic pathogens

Sediments of five Ligurian beaches in compliance with European Union bathing water regulations were studied based on the characteristics of the fungal assemblage during the tourism season. Among the 179 taxa of filamentous fungi isolated, 120 were opportunistic pathogens, such as Acremonium sp., and the genus Penicillium was also present as the pathogenic species P. citrinum. Furthermore, 5% of the total filamentous fungi belonged to the dermatophyte genus Microsporum, whose species can cause mycoses. Beach sediments showed elevated densities of opportunistic pathogens, of pathogenic filamentous fungi, and of yeasts during the tourism season. Although monitoring of beach sediments for microbiological contamination is not mandatory, and disease transmission from sediments has not yet been demonstrated, our study suggests that beach sediments may act as a reservoir of potential pathogens, including fungi. In addition, the mycoflora displayed high sensitivity to critical environmental situations in the beaches studied. Therefore, the fungal community can be a useful tool for assessing the quality of sandy beaches in terms of sanitary and environmental quality.     

Kinetic and equilibrium isotherm studies for the adsorptive removal of Brilliant Green dye from aqueous solution by rice husk ash

The present study deals with the adsorption of Brilliant Green (BG) on rice husk ash (RHA). RHA is a solid waste obtained from the particulate collection equipment attached to the flue gas lines of rice husk fired boilers. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like initial pH (pH0), contact time, adsorbent dose and initial concentration (C0) on the removal of BG. Optimum conditions for BG removal were found to be pH0 approximately 3.0, adsorbent dose approximately 6 g L(-1) of solution and equilibrium time approximately 5 h for the C0 range of 50-300 mg L(-1). Adsorption of BG followed pseudo-second-order kinetics. Intra-particle diffusion does not seem to control the BG removal process. Equilibrium isotherms for the adsorption of BG on RHA were analyzed by Freundlich, Langmuir, Redlich-Peterson (R-P), Dubnin-Radushkevich (D-R), and Temkin isotherm models using a non-linear regression technique. Langmuir and R-P isotherms were found to best represent the data for BG adsorption onto RHA. Adsorption of BG on RHA is favourably influenced by an increase in the temperature of the operation. Values of the change in entropy (DeltaS0) and heat of adsorption (DeltaH0) for BG adsorption on RHA were positive. The high negative value of change in Gibbs free energy (DeltaG0) indicates the feasible and spontaneous adsorption of BG on RHA.     

Identification and characterization of Fe3O4/peroxodisulfate advanced oxidation products from sulfameter

Sulfonamides (SAs) are one of the most widely used antibiotics and their residuals in the environment could cause some negative environmental issues. Advanced oxidation such as Fenton-like reaction has been widely applied in the treatment of SAs polluted water. Degradation rates of 95%-99.7% were achieved in this work for the tested 8 SAs, including sulfisomidine, sulfameter (SME), phthalylsulfathiazole, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfamonomethoxine, sulfisoxazole, sulfachloropyridazine, and sulfadimethoxine, in the Fe₃O₄/peroxodisulfate (PDS) oxidation system after the optimization of PDS concentration and pH. Meanwhile, it was found that a lot of unknown oxidation products were formed, which brought up the uncertainty of health risks to the environment, and the identification of these unknown products was critical. Therefore, SME was selected as the model compound, from which the oxidation products were never elucidated, to identify these intermediates/products. With liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS), 10 new products were identified, in which 2-amino-5-methoxypyrimidine (AMP) was confirmed by its standard. The investigation of the oxidation process of SME indicated that most of the products were not stable and the degradation pathways were very complicated as multiple reactions, such as oxidation of the amino group, SO₂ extrusion, and potential cross-reaction occurred simultaneously. Though most of the products were not verified due to the lack of standards, our results could be helpful in the evaluation of the treatment performance of SAs containing wastewater.     

土地集约利用程度对华北潮土农田土壤微生物群落丰度和死生物物质积累的影响

土壤微生物决定着土壤生态系统的养分周转状况,其死生物物质在土壤有机碳(SOC)积累中发挥关键作用.然而,目前缺乏对土壤微生物群落丰度及其死生物物质如何响应农业土地集约利用程度调整的了解.为弥补这一知识缺口,基于土地集约化利用程度,设置小麦-玉米周年轮作(CC)、临时草地与小麦种植交替(TG)和多年生草地(PG)这3个处理开展长期定位试验,采用基于数字PCR和微生物标志物氨基糖的检测技术,以探究农业土地集约利用程度调整对土壤细菌和真菌数量,以及细菌、真菌和总微生物死生物物质C积累及其对土壤SOC封存贡献的影响,进一步明确驱动细菌、真菌和总微生物死生物物质C积累的关键因子.结果表明,与土壤细菌群落丰度相比,真菌群落丰度受到农业土地集约利用程度调整的强烈影响,随土地集约利用程度的降低而增加.在3种土地集约利用程度处理下,土壤总微生物死生物物质C均主导SOC积累,对SOC的贡献率分别达到52.78%、 58.36%和68.87%,呈现随土地集约利用程度降低而升高的趋势;真菌死生物物质C占总微生物死生物物质C的比例均大于80%,说明其对总微生物死生物物质C的绝对主导地位,且受土地集约利用程度降低...     

Theoretical insights into the degradation mechanisms, kinetics and eco-toxicity of oxcarbazepine initiated by OH radicals in aqueous environments

As an anticonvulsant, oxcarbazepine (OXC) has attracted considerable attention for its potential threat to aquatic organisms. Density functional theory has been used to study the mechanisms and kinetics of OXC degradation initiated by OH radicals in aqueous environment. A total of fourteen OH-addition pathways were investigated, and the addition to the C8 position of the right benzene ring was the most vulnerable pathway, resulting in the intermediate IM8. The H-abstraction reactions initiated by OH radicals were also explored, where the extraction site of the methylene group (C14) on the seven-member carbon heterocyclic ring was found to be the optimal path. The calculations show that the total rate constant of OXC with OH radicals is 9.47 × 10⁹ (mol/L)⁻¹sec⁻¹, and the half-life time is 7.32 s at 298 K with the [·OH] of 10⁻¹¹ mol/L. Moreover, the branch ratio values revealed that OH-addition (89.58%) shows more advantageous than H-abstraction (10.42%). To further understand the potential eco-toxicity of OXC and its transformation products to aquatic organisms, acute toxicity and chronic toxicity were evaluated using ECOSAR software. The toxicity assessment revealed that most degradation products such as OXC-2OH, OXC-4OH, OXC-1O-1OOH, and OXC-1OH' are innoxious to fish and daphnia. Conversely, green algae are more sensitive to these compounds. This study can provide an extensive investigation into the degradation of OXC by OH radicals and enrich the understanding of the aquatic oxidation processes of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs).     

Heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of diuron on zinc oxide: Influence of surface-dependent adsorption on kinetics, degradation pathway, and toxicity of intermediates

Heterogeneous photocatalytic reaction has been generally applied for degradation of toxic contaminants. Degradations of a compound using the same kind of catalyst that was synthesized differently are commonly found in literature. However, the reported degradation intermediates are normally inconsistent. This issue is especially important for the degradation of toxic compounds because intermediates may be more toxic than their parent compounds and understanding the reason is necessary if appropriate catalysts are to be designed. This work systematically compares the photocatalytic degradation of diuron, a toxic recalcitrant herbicide, on two forms of zinc oxide (ZnO), i.e., conventional particles with zinc- and oxygen-terminated polar surfaces as the dominating planes, and nanorods with mixed-terminated nonpolar surfaces. Experimental and theoretical results indicate that both the rate of reaction and the degradation pathway depend on the adsorption configuration of diuron onto the surface. Diuron molecules adsorb in different alignments on the two surfaces, contributing to the formation of different degradation intermediates. Both the aliphatic and aromatic sides of diuron adsorb on the polar surfaces simultaneously, leading to an attack by hydroxyl radicals from both ends. On the other hand, on the mixed-terminated surface, only the aliphatic part adsorbs and is degraded. The exposed surface is therefore the key factor controlling the degradation pathway. For diuron degradation on ZnO, a catalyst confined to mixed-terminated surfaces, i.e., ZnO nanorods, is more desirable, as it avoids the formation of intermediates with potent phytotoxicity and cytogenotoxicity.     

Contribution of the Kodama and 4S pathways to the dibenzothiophene biodegradation in different coastal wetlands under different C/N ratios

Dibenzothiophene (DBT) degradation mechanisms and the transformation of pathways during the incubation of three types of coastal sediments with C/N ratios ranging from 1 to 9 were investigated. The DBT degradation efficiencies were clearly improved with increasing C/N ratio in reed wetland sediments, tidal wetlands sediments and estuary wetland sediments. The quantitative response relationships between DBT degradation rates and related functional genes demonstrate that the Kodama pathway-related gene groups were dominant factors at low C/N ratios, while the 4S-related gene groups mainly determined the degradation rate when the C/N ratio was up to 5. Network analysis also shows that the pathway shifts from the Kodama pathway to the 4S pathway occurred through changes in the connections between functional genomes and rates. Furthermore, there were competition and collaboration between the Kodama and 4S pathways. The 4S pathway-related bacteria were more active in estuary wetland sediments compared with reed wetland sediments and tidal wetland sediments. The higher degradation efficiency in estuary wetland sediments may indicate the greater participation of the 4S pathway in the DBT biodegradation reaction. And the effects of ring cleavage of Kodama pathway caused more complete metabolizing of DBT.     

一株甲醛降解真菌Aspergillus spp.H4的分离鉴定

甲醛是一种广泛使用和很重要的化工原材料,但它同时也是对大多数生物有机体有高毒性的物质。通过添加甲醛的选择性培养基从淤泥里分离了一株甲醛耐受真菌,将其接种于加孟加拉红的PDA培养基、察氏培养基、麦芽汁培养基平板培养,观察它的培养特征和孢子结构,结合DNA提取、PCR扩增、产物测序、GenBank比对等分子鉴定手段,结果表明:其培养特征、显微特征和黄曲霉(Aspergillus flavus)相似,18SrDNA序列与黄曲霉(Aspergillus flavus)同源率达99.8%。我们把它命名为Aspergillus flavus H4。该真菌最适生长pH值为pH5.5,在培养的144h内ρ(甲醛)从1241mg·L-1下降到4mg·L-1。在培养的96h内ρ(甲醛)下降迅速,A值上升缓慢,当ρ(甲醛)下降到10mg·L-1时,也就是120h时,A值迅速上升,ρ(甲醛)下降缓慢。结论是这株Aspergillus flavus H4是甲醛耐受(降解)真菌。     

"川中岛"白桃雄性不育小孢子发育的细胞形态学

“川中岛”白桃是 2 0世纪 90年代初期从日本引进的优良晚熟品种 ,系日本长野县池田正元以“上海”ד白桃”杂交育种 .在生产中发现该品种花粉少、无发芽力 ,需配置授粉树 ,属于雄性败育品种[1～ 3 ] .关于“川中岛”白桃花粉败育的途径、机制尚未见报道 ;因此 ,对其小孢子发生发育细胞学特征进行观察研究 ,以揭示其雄性败育的途径 .1　材料与方法1.1　材料2年生盆栽”川中岛”白桃和对照品种庆丰 .1.2　方法为了避免早春低温等不适的环境因子对桃花器官发育造成不良的影响 ,试验在控制环境条件下进行 ,即在人工生长箱内对 2年生盆栽庆丰 …