Exploring the Toxicity of Oxytetracycline in Earthworms (Eisenia fetida) Based on the Integrated Biomarker Response Method.

Antibiotic contamination has become a global environmental issue of widespread concern, among which oxytetracycline contamination is very severe. In this study, earthworm (Eisenia fetida) was exposed to oxytetracycline to study its impact on the soil environment. The total protein (TP), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) oxidative stress indicators in earthworms were measured, and the integrated biomarker response (IBR) approach was used to evaluate the toxic effect of oxytetracycline on earthworms. A Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and a path analysis model were used to explore the physiological and metabolic processes of earthworms after stress occurs. The results showed that SOD, GPX, and GST play important roles in resisting oxytetracycline stress. In addition, stress injury showed a good dose-effect relationship, and long-term stress from pollutants resulted in the most serious damage to the head tissue of earthworms. These results provide a theoretical basis for understanding the toxic effect of oxytetracycline on soil animals, monitoring the pollution status of oxytetracycline in soil, and conducting ecological security risk assessment.

Pedogenesis of typical zonal soil drives belowground bacterial communities of arable land in the Northeast China Plain.

Belowground bacterial communities play essential roles in maintaining ecosystem multifunction, while our understanding of how and why their distribution patterns and community compositions may change with the distinct pedogenetic conditions of different soil types is still limited. Here, we evaluated the roles of soil physiochemical properties and biotic interactions in driving belowground bacterial community composition across three typical zonal soil types, including black calcium soil (QS), typical black soil (HL) and dark brown soil (BQL), with distinct pedogenesis on the Northeast China Plain. Changes in soil bacterial diversity and community composition in these three zonal soil types were strongly correlated with soil pedogenetic features. SOC concentrations in HL were higher than in QS and BQL, but bacterial diversity was low, and the network structure revealed greater stability and connectivity. The composition of the bacterial community correlated significantly with soil pH in QS but with soil texture in BQL. The bacterial co-occurrence network of HL had higher density and clustering coefficients but lower edges, and different keystone species of networks were also detected. This work provides a basic understanding of the driving mechanisms responsible for belowground bacterial biodiversity and distribution patterns over different pedogenetic conditions in agroecosystems.

Research progress and trend of effects of organophosphorus pesticides on aquatic organisms in the past decade.

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) are widely used in agricultural production due to their chemical stability, high efficiency and low cost. It should be emphasized that OPPs can seriously harm aquatic organisms after entering the water environment through leaching and other ways. To this end, this review combines a new method to quantitatively visualize and summarize information on developments in this field to review the latest progress in OPPs toxicity, propose scientific trends and research hotspots. Among all countries, China and the United States have published a large number of articles and played a leading role. Based on the detection of co-occurrence keywords, it is emphasized that "OPPs cause oxidative stress in organisms", which reflects that the main factor of OPPs toxicity is the occurrence of oxidative stress. Researchers also focused on studies involving AchE activity, acute toxicity and mixed toxicity. This reveals that OPPs mainly affect the nervous system, and higher organisms are more resistant to the toxic effects of OPPs than lower organisms due to their strong metabolic capacity. As for the mixed toxicity of OPPs, most OPPs have synergistic toxic effects. Moreover, the analysis of keyword bursts revealed that the study of OPPs on the immune response of aquatic organisms and the effect of temperature on toxicity will become new research trends. In conclusion, this scientometric analysis can provide a scientific basis for improving the aquatic ecological environment and rationally using OPPs.

Rational construction of yolk-shell structured Co3Fe7/FeO@carbon composite and optimization of its microwave absorption.

The construction of yolk-shell composites with dielectric/magnetic multiple loss mechanisms has become a promising strategy to obtain high-efficiency microwave absorbing materials. An ideal microwave absorber should possess dielectric and magnetic loss abilities, thereby leading to the attenuation and absorption of incident electromagnetic radiation. Herein, the yolk-shell structured CoFe2O4@carbon (YS-CoFe2O4@C) and Co3Fe7/FeO@carbon (YS-Co3Fe7/FeO@C) composites were designed and synthesized through a series of processes, which include in-situ coating, heat-treating, etching and subsequent carbonization reduction reaction. The composite materials with specific structure, composition, and electromagnetic parameters could be effectively obtained by controlling the reaction conditions. The combination of alloy with high magnetic loss and carbon with advanced dielectric loss as well as the unique yolk-shell structure endow YS-Co3Fe7/FeO@C improved impendence matching and large attenuation constant. The YS-Co3Fe7/FeO@C composites show optimized microwave absorption behaviors, the minimum reflection loss is up to -57.6 dB at 12.30 GHz with the of 2.5 mm and the corresponding effective absorption bandwidth is 5.27 GHz (10.10-15.37 GHz). Moreover, the widest effective bandwidth could reach 7.0 GHz (11-18 GHz) with the thickness of 2.3 m. This design provides a novel concept for tuning microwave absorption efficiency of magnetic/dielectric composites to prepare high-performance microwave absorbers.

Soil Organic Carbon Mineralization and Its Temperature Sensitivity under Different Substrate Levels in the Mollisols of Northeast China.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization plays an important role in global climate change. Temperature affects SOC mineralization, and its effect can be limited by the substrate available. However, knowledge of the effects of temperature and substrate quality on SOC mineralization in the Mollisols of Northeast China is still lacking. In this study, based on a spatial transplant experiment, we conducted a 73-day incubation to examine the effects of temperature on SOC mineralization and its temperature sensitivity under different carbon levels. We found that the SOC content, incubation temperature and their interaction had significant effects on SOC mineralization. A higher SOC content and higher incubation temperature resulted in higher SOC mineralization. The temperature sensitivity of SOC mineralization was affected by the substrate quality. The temperature sensitivity of SOC mineralization, showed a downward trend during the incubation period, and the range of variation in the Q10 declined with the increment in the SOC content. The study suggested that there was a higher SOC mineralization in high levels of substrate carbon when the temperature increased. Further, SOC mineralization under higher SOC contents was more sensitive to temperature changes. Our study provides vital information for SOC turnover and the CO2 sequestration capacity under global warming in the Mollisols of Northeast China and other black soil regions of the world.

Fluorinated Polyurethane-Based Enameled Wires with a Low Friction Coefficient.

Fluorinated polyurethane (FPU) with a different fluorine content was prepared using perfluoropolyether glycols, poly(propylene glycol), and isophorone diisocyanate as starting materials, and 1,4-butanediol as a chain extender. The structure and molecular weight of FPU were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. A solution of FPU in xylene and cresol was then coated on copper wires using an enameled machine to prepare enameled wires. The friction coefficient and adhesion performance of the enameled wires were tested. The friction coefficient of the as-prepared enameled wires reached 0.095, which was much lower than 0.149 of the polyurethane without fluorine. FPU-based enameled wires also showed good mechanical performances and increased breakdown voltages. In addition, FPU exhibited good hydrophobic and oleophobic characterization.

Responses of Labile Organic Nitrogen Fractions and Enzyme Activities in eroded Mollisols After 8-year Manure Amendment.

Soil erosion will cause a degradation in soil nitrogen supplying capacity (SNSC) and manure amendment is an effective way to restored eroded soils. Both labile fractions of soil organic N (SON) and N transformation enzymes are indicators for SNSC, but the effect of manure amendments on labile SON fractions and the relationship between labile SON fractions and enzyme activities remains unclear. In this study, five degrees of erosion were simulated in Mollisols (removal of 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 cm of topsoil) to analyse the changes in labile SON fractions and nitrogen transformation enzyme activities after 8-year manure amendment. We found that soil total N (TN), labile SON fractions and enzyme activities all increased after manure amendments. The largest labile SON fraction was particle organic nitrogen (POM-N) and the second was light fraction organic nitrogen (LFOM-N), which accounted >60% for TN in total. Correlation analysis showed that both urease and protease activities were significantly correlated with POM-N, LFOM-N, microbial biomass N and dissolvable organic N, indicating that both urease and protease activities can be used to predict labile SON pools and enzyme activities worked similarly in indicating SNSC with labile SON fractions. Altogether, 8-year manure amendment could recover SNSC of lightly eroded Mollisols to natural levels, i.e. erosion depths at 5 cm and 10 cm; however, it is not able to recover SNSC in Mollisols suffering severe erosion.

Effects of slow-release urea fertilizers on urease activity, microbial biomass, and nematode communities in an aquic brown soil.

A field experiment was carried out at the Shenyang Experimental Station of Ecology (CAS) in order to study the effects of slow-release urea fertilizers high polymer-coated urea (SRU1), SRU1 mixed with dicyandiamide DCD (SRU2), and SRU1 mixed with calcium carbide CaC2 (SRU3) on urease activity, microbial biomass C and N, and nematode communities in an aquic brown soil during the maize growth period. The results demonstrated that the application of slow-release urea fertilizers inhibits soil urease activity and increases the soil NH4+-N content. Soil available N increment could promote its immobilization by microorganisms. Determination of soil microbial biomass N indicated that a combined application of coated urea and nitrification inhibitors increased the soil active N pool. The population of predators/omnivores indicated that treatment with SRU2 could provide enough soil NH4+-N to promote maize growth and increased the food resource for the soil fauna compared with the other treatments.

[Effects of urease/nitrification inhibitors on soil available N and microbial biomass N and on N uptake of wheat].

With an aquic brown earth as test soil, this paper studied the effects of urease inhibitor (NBPT), nitrification inhibitor (DCD) and their combinations on the dynamics of soil available N and microbial biomass N. The results showed that the treatments of inhibitors, especially the combined application of NBPT and DCD, could increase soil NH4+-N by 2%-53%, inhibit NH4+ oxidation, decrease soil NO3(-)-N concentration, increase soil total available N by 34%-44%, and increase wheat N uptake by 0.26%-6.79%. The best treatment was urease inhibitor combined with nitrification inhibitor. The application of inhibitors increased soil microbial biomass N immobilization at the early growth stage of wheat, and promoted soil N mineralization at filling stage.