Moonmilk is a karstic speleothem mainly composed of fine calcium carbonate crystals (CaCO3) with different textures ranging from pasty to hard, in which the contribution of biotic rock-building processes is presumed to involve indigenous microorganisms. The real microbial input in the genesis of moonmilk is difficult to assess leading to controversial hypotheses explaining the origins and the m...

The use of fungicides is the continuous exercise particularly in orchard crops where fungal diseases, such as white root rot, have the potential to destroy horticultural crops rendering them unsaleable. In view of above problem, the present study examines the effect of different concentrations of mancozeb (0-2000 ppm) at different incubation periods for their harmful side effects on various mic...

Biological treatment of high-strength nitrogen wastewater by a combined anaerobic (upflow sludge bed filter, UBF)/aerobic (membrane bioreactor, MBR) system has been studied. This system exhibited high performance on the removal of organic matter and nitrogen simultaneously. Organic and nitrogen concentrations increased from 6,000 to 14,500 mg/L and 300 to 1,000 mg/L, respectively. At the intern...

To find environmental variables (EVs) shaping the ecological niche of the archaeal phylum Thaumarchaeota in terrestrial environments, we determined the abundance of Thaumarchaeota in various soil samples using real-time PCR targeting thaumarchaeotal 16S rRNA gene sequences. We employed our previously developed primer, THAUM-494, which had greater coverage for Thaumarchaeota and lower tolerance ...

Nitrogen (N) applications can have a significant effect on soil N availability. The effect of 3 years of N fertilization on soil net N mineralization during the growing season (May–September) was studied in 2005 and 2006 in grassland of northern China. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications of five rates of N addition as urea (0, 2, 4, 8 and 16 g N m year...

Nitrogen (N) availability is generally a limiting factor in highly acidic soil, which could be improved by amending these soils with alkaline materials. Soil extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) plays an important role N transformation; current knowledge gap how this occurs amended material. The present 45-day incubation experiment was designed to examine the effects of different amounts materia...

Rotation and fertilization are important methods used to improve crop yield. In particular, rotation is an effective means of enhancing ecosystem diversity; however, there exist relatively few studies regarding the effects long-term maize–soybean on soil microbial communities. To further understand changes in community structure under fertilization, we a 9-year-old experimental site with as res...

Members of the NapC/NrfH family are multihaem c-type cytochromes that exchange electrons with oxidoreductases situated at the outside of the cytoplasmic membrane or in the periplasmic space of many proteobacteria. They form a group of membrane-bound quinol dehydrogenases that are essential components of several electron transport chains, for example those of periplasmic nitrate respiration and ...

Nitrogen (N) availability is projected to increase in a warming climate. But whether the more available N is immobilized by microbes (thus stimulates soil carbon (C) decomposition), or is absorbed by plants (thus intensifies C uptake) remains unknown in the alpine meadow ecosystem. Infrared heaters were used to simulate climate warming with a paired experimental design. Soil ammonification, nit...