Remediation of complex remazol effluent using biochar derived from green seaweed biomass.

The unique property of biochar, synthesized from a green seaweed (Ulva lactuca), to remediate complex Remazol dye bearing wastewater was investigated. Preliminary trials were targeted to explore the remediation capacity of biochar towards each of Remazol dyes (Remazol brilliant blue R (RBBR), Remazol brilliant orange 3R (RBO3R), Remazol brilliant violet 5R (RBV5R), and Remazol Black B (RBB)) in single-solute system. The results show that equilibrium pH played a vital part with maximum sorption observed at pH 2.0. The isotherm experiments confirmed that biochar exhibited high uptakes of 0.301, 0.292, 0.265, and 0.224 mmol/g for RBO3R, RBBR, RBV5R, and RBB, respectively. Due to the presence of multiple dyes as well as high concentration of auxiliary chemicals, the performance of biochar to remediate Remazol effluent was inhibited markedly compared to single solute systems. Nevertheless, the dye removal efficiency was above 77.5% and the decolorization rate was high with more than 95% of total dye decolorization completed within 240 min. Our results provide novel insights into the potential of biochar to remove Remazol dyes from complex dye wastewaters.

Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds.

To better determine the history of modern birds, we performed a genome-scale phylogenetic analysis of 48 species representing all orders of Neoaves using phylogenomic methods created to handle genome-scale data. We recovered a highly resolved tree that confirms previously controversial sister or close relationships. We identified the first divergence in Neoaves, two groups we named Passerea and Columbea, representing independent lineages of diverse and convergently evolved land and water bird species. Among Passerea, we infer the common ancestor of core landbirds to have been an apex predator and confirm independent gains of vocal learning. Among Columbea, we identify pigeons and flamingoes as belonging to sister clades. Even with whole genomes, some of the earliest branches in Neoaves proved challenging to resolve, which was best explained by massive protein-coding sequence convergence and high levels of incomplete lineage sorting that occurred during a rapid radiation after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event about 66 million years ago.

Ancestral population genomics: the coalescent hidden Markov model approach.

With incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), the genealogy of closely related species differs along their genomes. The amount of ILS depends on population parameters such as the ancestral effective population sizes and the recombination rate, but also on the number of generations between speciation events. We use a hidden Markov model parameterized according to coalescent theory to infer the genealogy along a four-species genome alignment of closely related species and estimate population parameters. We analyze a basic, panmictic demographic model and study its properties using an extensive set of coalescent simulations. We assess the effect of the model assumptions and demonstrate that the Markov property provides a good approximation to the ancestral recombination graph. Using a too restricted set of possible genealogies, necessary to reduce the computational load, can bias parameter estimates. We propose a simple correction for this bias and suggest directions for future extensions of the model. We show that the patterns of ILS along a sequence alignment can be recovered efficiently together with the ancestral recombination rate. Finally, we introduce an extension of the basic model that allows for mutation rate heterogeneity and reanalyze human-chimpanzee-gorilla-orangutan alignments, using the new models. We expect that this framework will prove useful for population genomics and provide exciting insights into genome evolution.