Terrestrial life in Antarctica has been described as some of the simplest on the planet, and mainly confined to soil microfaunal communities. Studies have suggested that the lack of diversity is due to extreme environmental conditions and thought to be driven by abiotic factors. In this study we investigated soil microfauna composition, abundance, and distribution in East Antarctica, and assess...

A method for simultaneous determination of nine sulfonylurea herbicides in water and soil samples with solvent demulsification-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on solidification of floating organic drop coupled with high perfomence liquid chromatography was established. 120 μL of 1-dodecanol as extractant and 400 μL of methanol as dispersing reagent were injected into the sample s...

BACKGROUND Soil is increasingly recognized as an important source in the transmission of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of T. gondii in the soil and to grasp the relationships between the contamination of soil and chicken infections. METHODS PCR method based on T. gondii-conserved gene internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) as target gene a...

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the acetochlor degradation rate in soils and investigate acetochlor contamination of maize grains and soil. Two kinds of soil: medium silty loam (soil A) and heavy loamy sand (soil B) were collected for the laboratory experiment. The degradation data were plotted. Good linearity was found between logarithmic concentration of acetochlor residues and time,...

Soil is an important environment for crop growth. Quick and accurately access to soil nutrient content information is a prerequisite for scientific fertilization. In this work, hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology was applied for the classification of soil types and the measurement of soil total nitrogen (TN) content. A total of 183 soil samples collected from Shangyu City (People's Republic ...

BACKGROUND The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii can infect any warm blooded nucleated cells. One of the ways for human infection is ingestion of oocysts directly from soil or via infected fruits or vegetables. To survey the potential role of T. gondii oocyst in soil samples, the present study was conducted in Tehran City, Iran. METHODS A total of 150 soil samples were collected around rub...