Isolation and characterization of bioactive fungi from shark <Emphasis Type="Italic">Carcharodon carcharias</Emphasis>’ gill with biopharmaceutical prospects

Until recently, little was known about the fungi found in shark gills and their biomedicinal potential. In this article, we described the isolation, bioactivity, diversity, and secondary metabolites of bioactive fungi from the gill of a shark (Carcharodon carcharias). A total of 115 isolates were obtained and grown in 12 culture media. Fifty-eight of these isolates demonstrated significant activity in four antimicrobial, pesticidal, and cytotoxic bioassay models. Four randomly selected bioactive isolates inhibited human cancer cell proliferation during re-screening. These active isolates were segregated into 6 genera using the internal transcribed spacer-large subunit (ITS-LSU) rDNA-sequence BLAST comparison. Four genera, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Mucor, and Chaetomium were the dominant taxa. A phylogenic tree illustrated their intergenera and intragenera genetic diversity. HPLC-DAD-HRMS analysis and subsequent database searching revealed that nine representative strains produced diverse bioactive compound profiles. These results detail the broad range of bioactive fungi found in a shark’s gills, revealing their biopharmaceutical potential. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study characterizing shark gill fungi and their bioactivity.     

Experimental constraints on the origins of primitive potassic lavas from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

Primitive magmas in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) span a wide geochemical range that includes calc-alkaline basalt and basaltic andesite, potassic shoshonites, and intraplate alkaline basalts, indicating that the subarc mantle wedge is chemically heterogeneous. The aim of this study is to experimentally constrain the origins of potassic lavas that have erupted along the volcanic front in the TMVB. We used a piston-cylinder apparatus to determine the P–T–H₂O near-liquidus phase relations for two primitive potassic lavas: a hornblende trachybasalt (shoshonite) from Cerro La Pilita in the central TMVB and a high-K calc-alkaline basalt from Ayutla in the western TMVB. Experiments were conducted at mantle pressures (0.8–2.5 GPa) and temperatures (1,100–1,400 °C) with 1.5–6 wt% H₂O. Results show that both samples were last equilibrated with an olivine + clinopyroxene assemblage at upper mantle pressures. Integrating our results with trace element characteristics, we conclude that the potassic magmas formed by a complex, multistage process in which melts from the hottest part of the mantle wedge either reequilibrated with clinopyroxene-rich veins in the shallow upper mantle or caused melting of such veins by advective heating. We combine our results with previous experiments on TMVB lavas to provide an along-arc perspective of melt equilibration depths in the mantle wedge. The results suggest that although melts may initially form deep in the wedge, they commonly reequilibrate with heterogeneous mantle at shallower depths. Primitive, medium-K basaltic andesites in the TMVB form by reequilibration with harzburgite, which we infer to be a common lithology in the upper mantle, whereas some potassic magmas like the ones studied here form through reequilibration with or melting of veins of olivine + clinopyroxene ± phlogopite. Though somewhat rare at the volcanic front relative to the more abundant medium-K volcanic rocks, the potassic magmas are an important lava type for revealing mantle chemical heterogeneities.     

Colony growth of corals transplanted for restoration depends on their site of origin and environmental factors

We determined that growth differences among coral fragments transplanted for restoration were influenced by both source population and environmental factors. In two common garden experiments, storm‐generated fragments of Acropora palmata were transplanted from two source populations in the British Virgin Islands to a restoration site (a ‘common garden’) that lacked A. palmata. In the first experiment, colonies from different sources grew at different rates in the first year after transplanting, suggesting either genetic differences among source populations or enduring acclimation to conditions at the source site. No differences in growth among source populations were detected in the second common garden experiment. To isolate environmental effects on growth, we subdivided fragments from three source populations to create genetically identical pieces that were attached separately at both source and restoration sites. Genetically identical pieces from all source populations grew slightly faster at their source than at the restoration site, implying a subtle home‐site advantage. Overall, our results suggest that matching environmental conditions at source and restoration sites may increase the success of restoration projects.     

Late Cenozoic tectonic activity and its significance in the Northern Junggar Basin,Northwestern China

The Dingshan area located in the northern part of the Junggar Basin of northwestern China is a significant prospect area for sandstone-type uranium deposits in China, where mainly Cenozoic rocks were deposited. The Cenozoic strata can be divided into four units according to the prior data and our own field observation. Sedimentary studies indicate that most Cenozoic strata were deposited under a hot and arid climate in a continental environment. The sedimentary facies are alluvial-fan, meandering-fluvial, and fluvio-lacustrine. Field investigation and interpretation of satellite images suggest that Cenozoic tectonics in the area is characterized by reactivation of early deep-seated thrusts, resulting in extensional fractures and formation of many small depressions in the shallow crustal level. Measurement of joint orientations suggests that regional shortening direction trends in north–south in the middle Pleistocene as indicated by the ESR (Electronic Spin Resonance) age of 0.1–0.4 Ma obtained from fault gouge and gypsum deposits. A four-stage sedimentation-tectonic evolution model of the northern Junggar Basin during the Late Cenozoic can be established based on reconstruction of sedimentary filling processes and Cenozoic tectonic movements. We suggest that landform evolution and groundwater movement are controlled by active tectonics, indicating that Late Cenozoic tectonic activities may also play important roles in the formation of sandstone-type uranium deposits. Therefore, a new metallogenic model for sandstone-type uranium deposits is proposed.     

Arsenic mobility in weathered gold mine tailings under a low-organic soil cover

Historical gold mining operations in Nova Scotia, Canada, resulted in numerous deposits of publicly accessible, arsenic (As)-rich mine waste that has weathered in situ for 75–150 years, resulting in a wide range of As-bearing secondary minerals. The geochemical heterogeneity of this mine waste creates a challenge for identifying a single remediation approach that will limit As mobility. A 30-cm-thick, low-organic content soil cover was evaluated in a laboratory leaching experiment where, to simulate natural conditions, the equivalent of 2 years of synthetic rainwater was leached through each column and two dry seasons were incorporated into the leaching protocol. Each column was a stratigraphic representation of the four major tailings types found at the historical Montague and Goldenville gold mine districts: hardpan tailings, oxic tailings, wetland tailings, and high Ca tailings. Hardpan tailings released acidic, As-rich waters (max 12 mg/L) under the soil cover but this acidity was buffered by surrounding oxic tailings. Leachate from the oxic tailings was circumneutral, with average As concentrations between 4.4 and 9.7 mg/L throughout the experiment. The presence of carbonates in the high Ca tailings resulted in near-neutral to weakly alkaline leachate pH values and average As concentrations between 2.1 and 6.1 mg/L. Oxidation of sulfides in the wetland tailings led to acidic leachate over time and a decrease in As concentrations to values that were generally less than 1 mg/L. This study shows that the use of a low-organic content soil cover does not create reducing conditions that would destabilize oxidized, As-bearing secondary phases in these tailings. However, oxygen penetration through the cover during dry seasons would continue to release As to tailings pore waters via sulfide oxidation reactions.     

Determining the impact of the Holocene highstand at the coastal‐fluvial interface,Shoalhaven River,south‐eastern Australia

With enhanced rates of sea‐level rise predicted for the next century, the upstream extent of sea‐level influence across coastal plains is a topic of public importance. Australian coastal rivers provide a testing ground for exploring this issue because the area is tectonically stable, was not glaciated, and experienced a Holocene highstand between 7.4 and 2 ka of up to 1.5 m above Australian Height Datum (AHD). In the Shoalhaven River of New South Wales, investigation of a confined bedrock reach at Wogamia, 32 km inland, has identified a unit of dark, cohesive silt and sand with marine diatoms, shell fragments, and enhanced pyrite content, interpreted as estuarine. The unit is up to 13 m thick, thickens downstream, and is overlain by fluvial channel and floodplain deposits. The estuarine unit on‐laps a remnant Pleistocene terrace and extends to approximately +2.2 m AHD. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon ages suggest that estuarine deposition commenced prior to 7.8 ka cal bp , predating the highstand by ~ 500 years, and that marine influence in the area continued to 5.3 ± 0.7 ka. During this period, a delta probably persisted at Wogamia, where a narrow upstream reach opens out, and subsequently advanced to fill the broad Shoalhaven coastal embayment. Although the effect of sea‐level rise depends on many factors, the results suggest that, during a highstand at or above present sea level, a strong marine influence may extend for tens of kilometres inland and penetrate confined bedrock reaches landward of coastal embayments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Quaternary mammalian zoogeography of eastern Washington

The late Quaternary mammalian zoogeographic history of eastern Washington as revealed by archaeological and paleontological research conforms to a set of past environmental conditions inferred from botanical data. During the relatively cool and moist late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Cervus cf. elaphus, Ovis canadensis, Vulpes vulpes, Martes americana, Alopex lagopus, and perhaps Rangifer sp., taxa with ecological preferences for mesic steppe habitats, were present in the now xeric Columbia Basin. As the climate became progressively warmer and drier during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Antilocapra americana, Onychomys leucogaster, Spermophilus townsendii, and Neotoma cinerea, taxa with ecological preferences for xeric steppe habitats, appear in the Columbia Basin. Bison sp. and Taxidea taxus may have been present in eastern Washington for the last 20,000 yr. Middle and late Holocene records for Oreamnos americanus, Spermophilus columbianus, S. townsendii, Lagurus curtatus, and Urocyon cinereoargenteus in central eastern Washington suggest fluctuations in the ranges of these taxa that conform to a middle Holocene period of less effective precipitation and a ca. 3500-yr-old period of more effective precipitation before essentially modern environmental conditions prevailed.     

A Test of Bycatch Reduction Devices on Commercial Crab Pots in a Tidal Marsh Creek in Virginia

The effectiveness of bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) on commercial pots designed to capture blue crabs Callinectes sapidus was tested in the York River on Felgates Creek (37.2667 N, −76.5850 W) over the period 4 June through 31 July 2009. For each of 10 pairs of pots, one had BRDs affixed to all four entrance gapes and the other had none. Pots were baited approximately once each week but were sampled for blue crabs and bycatch 6 of 7 days each week for the duration of the study. More than one fourth of 1,643 total crabs were caught on the first day after baiting, and for these 7 days, no statistical difference was detected between either the number or size of legal-size crabs caught in BRD versus non-BRD pots. Of 51 Malaclemys terrapin and 44 fish caught as bycatch throughout the study, all but three fish were captured in non-BRD pots. BRDs exclude bycatch and may reduce incidental mortality of crabs in pots that are not tended regularly.