Resistance of soil biota and plant growth to disturbance increases with plant diversity.

Plant diversity is critical to the functioning of ecosystems, potentially mediated in part by interactions with soil biota. Here, we characterised multiple groups of soil biota across a plant diversity gradient in a long-term experiment. We then subjected soil samples taken along this gradient to drought, freezing and a mechanical disturbance to test how plant diversity affects the responses of soil biota and growth of a focal plant to these disturbances. High plant diversity resulted in soils that were dominated by fungi and associated soil biota, including increased arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and reduced plant-feeding nematodes. Disturbance effects on the soil biota were reduced when plant diversity was high, resulting in higher growth of the focal plant in all but the frozen soils. These results highlight the importance of plant diversity for soil communities and their resistance to disturbance, with potential feedback effects on plant productivity.

Biogeochemical Approaches to Assess PAH Pollution in an Urban Waterway.

Biogeochemical approaches were applied to enhance the study on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollution in an urban waterway. Chemical characterizations of PAHs in the studied area were identified, geochemical factors were revealed, and related mechanisms were discussed. It was found that, during summer, an early diagenetic process in the sediment could play a major role for the existence of high PAH concentrations, especially high molecular weight PAHs (≥ 4 rings), in the water column and sediment porewater. This effect could vary with tidal cycling, and higher PAH concentration in the water column would be expected during low tide. Other potential pollution sources were also evaluated in the studied creek. Results showed that pyrogenic sources dominated in the creek, generally. Nevertheless, petroleum products from a metal recycling plant could be an important point source to the waterway during wet weather. Comparing with previous studies in other waterways of the same watershed and published literature suggested that the limited toxicity to the ecosystem was only detected in sediments. More information needs to be collected during low tide for a more objective evaluation of PAH toxicity in the creek.

Some factors affecting SPME analysis and PAHs in Philadelphia's urban waterways.

Solid phase microextraction (SPME) opened up a new era in separation science and the technique has developed quickly over the past two decades. However, there are still aspects deserving more study. In this study, the effects of salt-addition, SPME fiber thickness and sample vial size on the analysis of PAHs in the aqueous phase were evaluated. An analytical method based on EPA Method 8272 was devised for the analysis of PAHs in environmental water. PAHs were analyzed in selected waterways of the greater Philadelphia area. The results show the feasible application of this method to determine the range, spatial variation of PAH concentration, composition profile and relationship with dissolved organic matter for the Philadelphia watershed. Based on above information, PAH pollution sources were evaluated along with their dynamic backgrounds. Comparison of PAH concentration in the studied area with those of other urban waterways worldwide shows that PAHs in the studied waterways were found, in this study, to be within the low range of reported concentrations and meet the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO). The results also demonstrate that this method is suitable and reliable in monitoring PAH concentrations in environmental water.

Purification and characterization of rhodobactin: a mixed ligand siderophore from Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain OFS.

The siderophore produced by Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain OFS, rhodobactin, was isolated from iron-deficient cultures and purified by a combination of XAD-7 absorptive/partition resin column and semi-preparative HPLC. The siderophore structure was characterized using 1D and 2D (1)H, (13)C and (15)N NMR techniques (DQFCOSY, TOCSY, NOESY, HSQC and LR-HSQC) and was confirmed using ESI-MS and MS/MS experiments. The structural characterization revealed that the siderophore, rhodobactin, is a mixed ligand hexadentate siderophore with two catecholate and one hydroxamate moieties for iron chelation. We further investigated the effects of Fe concentrations on siderophore production and found that Fe limiting conditions (Fe concentrations from 0.1 microM to 2.0 microM) facilitated siderophore excretion. Our interests lie in the role that siderophores may have in binding metals at mixed contamination sites (containing metals/radionuclides and organics). Given the broad metabolic capacity of this microbe and its Fe scavenging ability, R. rhodochrous OFS may have a competitive advantage over other organisms employed in bioremediation.

Actinide and metal toxicity to prospective bioremediation bacteria.

Bacteria may be beneficial for alleviating actinide contaminant migration through processes such as bioaccumulation or metal reduction. However, sites with radioactive contamination often contain multiple additional contaminants, including metals and organic chelators. Bacteria-based bioremediation requires that the microorganism functions in the presence of the target contaminant, as well as other contaminants. Here, we evaluate the toxicity of actinides, metals and chelators to two different bacteria proposed for use in radionuclide bioremediation, Deinococcus radiodurans and Pseudomonas putida, and the toxicity of Pu(VI) to Shewanella putrefaciens. Growth of D. radiodurans was inhibited at metal concentrations ranging from 1.8 microM Cd(II) to 32 mM Fe(III). Growth of P. putida was inhibited at metal concentrations ranging from 50 microM Ni(II) to 240 mM Fe(III). Actinides inhibited growth at mM concentrations: chelated Pu(IV), U(VI) and Np(V) inhibit D. radiodurans growth at 5.2, 2.5 and 2.1 mM respectively. Chelated U(VI) inhibits P. putida growth at 1.7 mM, while 3.6 mM chelated Pu(IV) inhibits growth only slightly. Pu(VI) inhibits S. putrefaciens growth at 6 mM. These results indicate that actinide toxicity is primarily chemical (not radiological), and that radiation resistance does not ensure radionuclide tolerance. This study also shows that Pu is less toxic than U and that actinides are less toxic than other types of metals, which suggests that actinide toxicity will not impede bioremediation using naturally occurring bacteria.