Inhibition of regrowth of planktonic and biofilm bacteria after peracetic acid disinfection.

Peracetic acid (PAA) is a promising alternative to chlorine for disinfection; however, bacterial regrowth after PAA disinfection is poorly understood. This study compared the regrowth of bacteria (Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and Gram-positive Bacillus sp.) after disinfection with PAA or free chlorine. In the absence of organic matter, PAA and free chlorine prevented the regrowth of planktonic cells of P. aeruginosa PAO1 at C·t (= disinfectant concentration × contact time) doses of (28.5 ±â€¯9.8) mg PAA·min·L-1 and (22.5 ±â€¯10.6) mg Cl2·min·L-1, respectively, suggesting that they had comparable efficiencies in preventing the regrowth of planktonic bacteria. For comparison, the minimum C·t doses of PAA and free chlorine to prevent the regrowth of P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilm cells in the absence of organic matter were (14,000 ±â€¯1,732) mg PAA·min·L-1 and (6,500 ±â€¯2,291) mg Cl2·min·L-1, respectively. PAA was less effective than free chlorine in killing bacteria within biofilms in the absence of organic matter most likely because PAA reacts with biofilm matrix constituents slower than free chlorine. In the presence of organic matter, although the bactericidal efficiencies of both disinfectants significantly decreased, PAA was less affected due to its slower reaction with organic matter and/or slower self-decomposition. For instance, in a dilute Lysogeny broth-Miller, the minimum concentrations of PAA and free chlorine to prevent the regrowth of planktonic P. aeruginosa PAO1 were 20 mg PAA·L-1 and 300 mg Cl2·L-1, respectively. While both disinfectants are strong oxidants disrupting cell membrane, environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) revealed that PAA made holes in the center of the cells, whereas free chlorine desiccated the cells. Overall, this study shows that PAA is a powerful disinfectant to prevent bacterial regrowth even in the presence of organic matter.

Long-term agroecosystem research in the central Mississippi river basin: introduction, establishment, and overview.

Many challenges currently facing agriculture require long-term data on landscape-scale hydrologic responses to weather, such as from the Goodwater Creek Experimental Watershed (GCEW), located in northeastern Missouri, USA. This watershed is prone to surface runoff despite shallow slopes, as a result of a significant smectitic clay layer 30 to 50 cm deep that restricts downward flow of water and gives rise to a periodic perched water table. This paper is the first in a series that documents the database developed from GCEW. The objectives of this paper are to (i) establish the context of long-term data and the federal infrastructure that provides it, (ii) describe the GCEW/ Central Mississippi River Basin (CMRB) establishment and the geophysical and anthropogenic context, (iii) summarize in brief the collected research results published using data from within GCEW, (iv) describe the series of papers this work introduces, and (v) identify knowledge gaps and research needs. The rationale for the collection derives from converging trends in data from long-term research, integration of multiple disciplines, and increasing public awareness of increasingly larger problems. The outcome of those trends includes being selected as the CMRB site in the USDA-ARS Long-Term Agro-Ecosystem Research (LTAR) network. Research needs include quantifying watershed scale fluxes of N, P, K, sediment, and energy, accounting for fluxes involving forest, livestock, and anthropogenic sources, scaling from near-term point-scale results to increasingly long and broad scales, and considering whole-system interactions. This special section informs the scientific community about this database and provides support for its future use in research to solve natural resource problems important to US agricultural, environmental, and science policy.

Temporal and spatial distributions of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria and their ratio as an indicator of oligotrophic conditions in natural wetlands.

Ammonia-oxidizing organisms play an important role in wetland water purification and nitrogen cycling. We determined soil nitrification rates and investigated the seasonal and spatial distributions of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in three freshwater wetlands by using specific primers targeting the amoA genes of AOA and AOB and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The nitrifying potentials of wetland soils ranged from 1.4 to 4.0 µg g(-1) day(-1). The specific rates of ammonia oxidation activity by AOA and AOB at the Bee Hollow wetlands were 1.9 fmol NH(3) cell(-1) day(-1) and 36.8 fmol NH(3) cell(-1) day(-1), respectively. Soil nitrification potential was positively correlated with both archaeal and bacterial amoA abundance. However, the gene copies of AOA amoA were higher than those of AOB amoA by at least an order of magnitude in wetland soils and water in both summer and winter over a three year study period. AOB were more sensitive to low temperature than AOA. The amoA gene copy ratios of AOA to AOB in top soils (0-10 cm) ranged from 19 ± 4 to 100 ± 11 among the wetland sites. In contrast, the ratio of the wetland boundary soil was 10 ± 2, which was significantly lower than that of the wetland soils (P < 0.001). The NH(4)(+)-N concentrations in wetland water were lower than 2 mg/L throughout the study. The results suggest that ammonium concentration is a major factor influencing AOA and AOB population in wetlands, although other factors such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, and soil organic matter are involved. AOA are more persistent and more abundant than AOB in the nutrient-depleted oligotrophic wetlands. Therefore, ratio of AOA amoA gene copies to AOB amoA gene copies may serve as a new biological indicator for wetland condition assessment and wetland restoration applications.