Variation in microbial biomass and community structure in sediments of peter the great bay (sea of japan/east sea), as estimated from fatty acid biomarkers

Variation in the microbial biomass and community structure found in sediment of heavily polluted bays and the adjacent unpolluted areas were examined using phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Total microbial biomass and microbial community structure were responding to environmental determinants, sediment grain size, depth of sediment, and pollution due to petroleum hydrocarbons. The marker fatty acids of microeukaryotes and prokaryotes - aerobic, anaerobic, and sulfate-reducing bacteria -were detected in sediments of the areas studied. Analysis of the fatty acid profiles revealed wide variations in the community structure in sediments, depending on the extent of pollution, sediment depth, and sediment grain size. The abundance of specific bacterial fatty acids points to the dominance of prokaryotic organisms, whose composition differed among the stations. Fatty acid distributions in sediments suggest the high contribution of aerobic bacteria. Sediments of polluted sites were significantly enriched with anaerobic bacteria in comparison with clean areas. The contribution of this bacterial group increased with the depth of sediments. Anaerobic bacteria were predominantly present in muddy sediments, as evidenced from the fatty acid profiles. Relatively high concentrations of marker fatty acids of sulfate-reducing bacteria were associated with organic pollution in this site. Specific fatty acids of microeukaryotes were more abundant in surface sediments than in deeper sediment layers. Among the microeukaryotes, diatoms were an important component. Significant amounts of bacterial biomass, the predominance of bacterial biomarker fatty acids with abundance of anaerobic and sulfate-reducing bacteria are indicative of a prokaryotic consortium responsive to organic pollution.     

LMWOA (low molecular weight organic acid) exudation by salt marsh plants: Natural variation and response to Cu contamination

This work aimed to evaluate, in vitro, the capability of roots of two salt marsh plants to release low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs) and to ascertain whether Cu contamination would stimulate or not organic acids exudation. The sea rush Juncus maritimus and the sea-club rush Scirpus maritimus, both from the lower Douro river estuary (NW Portugal), were used. Plants were collected seasonally, four times a year in 2004, during low tide. After sampling, plant roots were washed for removal of adherent particles and immersed for 2 h in a solution that matched salinity (3) and pH (7.5) of the pore water from the same location to obtain plant exudates. In one of the seasons, similar experiments were carried out but spiking the solution with different amounts of Cu in order to embrace the range between 0 and 1600 nM. In the final solutions as well as in sediment pore water LMWOAs were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Plants were able to release, in a short period of time, relatively high amounts of LMWOAs (oxalate, citrate, malate, malonate, and succinate). In the sediment pore water oxalate, succinate and acetate were also detected. Therefore, plant roots probably contributed to the presence of some of these organic compounds in pore water. Exudation differed between the plant species and also showed some seasonally variation, particularly for S. maritimus. The release of oxalate by J. maritimus increased with Cu increase in the media. However, exudation of the other LMWOAs did not seem to be stimulated by Cu contamination in the media. This fact is compatible with the existence of alternative internal mechanisms for Cu detoxification, as denoted by the fact that in media contaminated with Cu both plant species accumulated relatively high amounts (29–83%) of the initially dissolved Cu. This study expands our knowledge on the contribution of globally dominant salt marsh plants to the release of LMWOAs into the environment.     

Terrigenous dissolved organic matter along an estuarine gradient and its flux to the coastal ocean

The contribution of terrigenous organic matter (TOM) to high molecular weight dissolved and particulate organic matter (POM) was examined along the salinity gradient of the Delaware Estuary. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) was fractionated by ultrafiltration into 1–30 kDa (HDOM) and 30 kDa–0.2 μm (VHDOM) nominal molecular weight fractions. Thermochemolysis with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) was used to release and quantify lipids and lignin phenols. Stable carbon isotopes, fatty acids and lignin content indicated shifts in sources with terrigenous material in the river and turbid region and a predominantly algal/planktonic signal in the lower estuary and coastal ocean. Thermochemolysis with TMAH released significant amounts of short chain fatty acids (C₉–C₁₃), not seen by traditional alkaline hydrolysis, which appear to be associated with the macromolecular matrix. Lignin phenol distributions in HDOM, VHDOM and particles followed predicted sources with higher concentrations in the river and turbid region of the estuary and lower concentrations in the coastal ocean. TOM comprised 12% of HDOM within the coastal ocean and up to 73% of HDOM within the turbid region of the estuary. In the coastal ocean, TOM from high molecular weight DOM comprised 4% of total DOC. The annual flux of TOM from the Delaware Estuary to the coastal ocean was estimated at 2.0×10¹⁰ g OC year⁻¹ and suggests that temperate estuaries such as Delaware Bay can be significant sources of TOM on a regional scale.     

渤海湾、黄河口和长江口海域海水中颗粒氨基酸含量的分布

海水中除含有大量无机物质外，还含有种类繁多，但含量很低的有机物质，其含量约为C 0.5-2.0mg/L。海水有机物质可分为溶解有机物质(DOM)和颗粒有机物质(POM)。前者为主要组分，后者所含比例很小。在大洋中POM的主要来源有:①浮游生物，尤其是浮游植物活体、死骸及其分解碎屑;②海水中进行的DOM-POM的动力平衡产物。近岸海水还受河流流入的陆地POM和大气带入的陆源尘埃的影响。POM主要由蛋白质、碳水化合物、脂类等组成。POM是食碎屑动物的良好食物，它构成海洋食物链的一环，与水域生物生产力有直接的联系。POM中蛋白质含量以颗粒氨基酸(PAA)表示。Daumas(1976)曾报道过沿岸海水中PAA含量的季节变异，纪明侯等(1992年)于1980-1981年首次对青岛胶州湾内PAA含量在不同站位和不同季节中的变化特征进行调査研究。作者等继而于1982年7月、1983年10月和1984年5、7、8月乘“金星二号”考察船前后首次研究了渤海湾、黄河口和长江口附近水域中颗粒氨基酸的组成与含量在不同站位中的分布。所得结果如下。     

超声波对湛江等鞭金藻生长和脂肪酸组成的影响

设计了一个超声频率、超声功率和处理时间三因素四水平的正交实验,研究了超声波对湛江等鞭金藻的生物学效应.实验结果表明,超声频率对湛江等鞭金藻的生物学效应显著,而超声功率和处理时间的影响相对较小.对于提高湛江等鞭金藻生长速率常数,最佳超声条件为20kHz,6W,10s3次;对于提高其脂肪酸不饱和度和主要不饱和脂肪酸百分比,最佳超声条件为20kHz,4～6W,30s.在最佳超声条件下,湛江等鞭金藻生长速率常数最高可达0.630d,是对照组的2.02倍,其脂肪酸不饱和度最高可达79.6%,比对照组提高7.8%,其中主要不饱和脂肪酸的百分含量均得到不同程度的提高.     

盐湖相低熟油脂肪酸的组成与分布特征

对泌阳凹陷碱性盐湖相、舞阳凹陷盐湖相、襄城凹陷膏盐湖相、南阳凹陷淡水湖相低熟油脂肪酸组成和分布特征进行了分析与研究。结果表明这些不同盐湖相的低熟原油的脂肪酸为丰度不同的饱和正构酸、不饱和正构酸、少量异构酸、类异戊二烯酸及脂肪酸乙酯系列化合物。脂肪酸的组成和分布反映了原始有机质的来源。     

壳聚糖碱性氨基酸衍生物的合成及抑菌活性研究

利用接枝反应,采用碱性氨基酸修饰壳聚糖,制备壳聚糖赖氨酸衍生物、壳聚糖精氨酸衍生物、壳聚糖组氨酸衍生物。通过红外(FT-IR)、核磁(~1H-NMR)、元素分析(EA)对其进行表征,并研究了不同壳聚糖氨基酸衍生物的抑菌活性。结果表明,壳聚糖赖氨酸衍生物、壳聚糖精氨酸衍生物、壳聚糖组氨酸衍生物、壳聚糖对金黄色葡萄球菌的最低抑菌浓度(MIC)分别为320、160、320、640μg/mL,对大肠杆菌的最低抑菌浓度(MIC)分别为320、320、320、640μg/mL,三种壳聚糖氨基酸衍生物的抑菌活性均明显高于未修饰壳聚糖。通过引入碱性氨基酸增加壳聚糖的正电荷有利于提高其抑菌活性。     

贡嘎山现代植物叶蜡脂肪酸氢同位素组成及对海拔变化的响应

文章探讨了贡嘎山东坡不同海拔高度植物和土壤饱和脂肪酸的δDwax值,结果显示,土壤δDwax值与海拔显著负相关(R2=0.71),与前人报道的贡嘎山东坡土壤水、土壤正构烷烃δD值与海拔间的关系存在相同的趋势。植物δDwax值与海拔间的关系与土壤水及土壤相似,但相关性不明显(R2=0.11),然而,研究结果显示木本植物和草本植物的δDwax值随海拔变化存在明显的差异,总体上草本植物的氢同位素要更负。贡嘎山木本植物、草本植物和土壤的εwax-sw值随海拔的变化波动较小,但木本植物的加权平均δDwax值和εwax-sw值(土壤水和叶蜡之间的氢同位素分馏系数)比草本植物大约偏正38‰和43‰,表明它们各自对随海拔高度降水同位素变化有不同的响应。也即,沿海拔植物δDwax值同时受降水δD值和植物类型两个因素控制。因此,结果揭示土壤δDwax值随海拔的变化与木本植物和草本植物存在相同的趋势,木本植物的δD值比草本植物大约偏正了38‰,这个趋势显示植物类型的变化将不可避免的影响土壤饱和脂肪酸δDwax值与海拔间的关系。由于植物类型随海拔增加会有较大的变化,建议利用饱和脂肪酸δDwax值重建古海拔前需要对植物类型进行评估。     

In-situ Formation of Light-Absorbing Organic Matter in Cloud Water

Current climate models seem to underestimate the flux of solar energy absorbed by the global troposphere. All of these models are constrained with the assumption that cloud droplets consist of pure water. Here we demonstrate in a simple laboratory experiment that aromatic hydroxy-acids which are found in continental fine aerosol can react with hydroxyl radicals under typical conditions prevalent in cloud water influenced by biomass burning. The reactions yield colored organic species which do absorb solar radiation. We also suggest that the products of such reactions may be humic-like substances whose presence in continental aerosol has been confirmed but their source mechanisms are still much sought after. We also attempt to give a first order estimate of the enhancement of water absorption at a visible wavelength under atmospheric conditions.