Microbial Mineralization

Soil is a complex ecosystem comprised of several and mutually interacting components, both abiotic (organo-mineral associations) and biotic (microbial and pedofaunal populations and plants), where a single parameter depends on other factors and affects the same and other factors, so that a network of influences among organisms coexists with the reciprocal actions between organisms and their environment. Therefore, it is difficult to undoubtedly determine what is the cause and what the effect within relationships between factors and processes. Soil is commonly studied through the evaluation and measurement of single parameters (e.g. the content of soil organic matter (SOM), microbial biomass, enzyme activities, pH, etc.), events (e.g. soil erosion, compaction, etc.) and processes (e.g. soil respiration, carbon fluxes, nitrification/denitrification, etc.), often carried out in laboratory conditions in order to limit the number of factors acting within the ecosystem under study, but missing the information about the global soil environment that way. In the last decade, several scientists have proposed and suggested the need for a holistic approach to soil ecosystems in different contexts. Recently, we have applied a sensing system developed in the last decades and capable of analysing complex mixtures of gases and volatiles (odours or aromas) in atmospheres, namely called electronic nose (EN). Typically, ENs are devices consisting of an array of differentially and partially specific, despite selective, sensors upon diverse coatings of sensitive films, i.e. interacting with single analytes of the same chemical class, despite not highly specific for a single substance, only, but showing also lower extent of cross-selectivity towards compounds of other chemical classes. ENs can be used in the classifications of odours by processing the collected responses of all sensors in the array through pattern recognition analyses, in order to obtain a chemical fingerprint (olfactory fingerprint) typical of the analysed air sample. Due to these features, we decided to apply such a sensing technology to the analyses of soil atmospheres, because several processes in soil, both abiotic and biotic, result in gas and/or volatile production and the dynamics of such releases may also be affected by several additional environmental factors, such as soil moisture, temperature, gas exchange rates with outer atmosphere, adsorption/desorption processes, etc. Then, the analysis of soil atmosphere may provide information about global soil conditions (e.g. soil quality and health), according to a holistic approach, where several factors are contemporarily taken into account. At the same time, the use of such a technology, if adequately trained on purpose, can supply information about a single or a pool of processes sharing similar features, which occur in soil over a certain period of time and mostly affecting soil atmosphere. According to these premises and hypotheses, we demonstrated that EN is an useful technology to measure soil microbial activity, through its correlation to specific metabolic activities occurring in soil (i.e. global and specific respiration and some enzyme activities), but also soil microbial biomass. On the basis of such evidences, we also were able to use this technology to assess the quality and health conditions of soil ecosystems in terms of metabolic indices previously identified, according to some metabolic parameters and biomass quantification of microbial populations. In other studies, we also applied EN technology, despite using a different set of sensors in the array, to analyse the atmosphere of soil ecosystems in order to assess their environmental conditions after contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (i.e. semivolatile - SVOCs - organic pollutants). In this case, EN technology resulted capable of distinguishing between contaminated and uncontaminated soils, according to the differences in a list of substances, occurring in the atmospheres of differently treated soils, which were identified through SPME-GC/MS analyses and then suggested to be responsible for the different classification. Analysing the EN responses, it was also possible to follow the degradation process of pollutants by resident microbial populations over time, on the basis of the contemporary decrease of contaminant and the increased release of CO2. Then, we suggest that EN technology may be usefully employed in the analyses of soil ecosystems in order to both supply information about global soil environment, according to the holistic approach, and about specific processes occurring therein. Furthermore, since EN technology resulted to be effective and successful in detecting processes in soil, in both natural and perturbed conditions, involving microbial populations, which are commonly considered as the most sensitive and responsive to soil environmental modifications, we suggest it might be reasonably employed in analyses concerning the assessment of soil quality and health. Consequently, such a technology may also be used to study several processes involving soil ecosystems, such as soil management practices, soil restoration, soil contamination and remediation, soil fertility, etc.

Hydrozoan cnidarians are widespread in modern
environments, but their polyps or hydroids, when not
biomineralized, are generally rare in the fossil record. To
assess the affinities of four hydrozoan taxa previously
described on the basis of supposed fossils of non-biomineralized
hydroids, we re-analysed the type specimens of these
taxa using a combination of light and electron microscopic
tools, including backscattered electron (BSE) scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(EDS). New morphological, ultrastructural and
taphonomic data were generated for Archaeoantennularia
byersi from the Devonian of Michigan, Archaeocryptolaria
compacta from the Ordovician of Virginia, and Mazohydra
megabertha and Drevotella proteana from the Carboniferous
Mazon Creek Lagerst€atte of Illinois, which are preserved as
carbonaceous fossils, aluminosilicate films and iron carbonate
minerals in siderite concretions, respectively. In the context
of these results, we provide a review of the fossil record
of non-biomineralized hydroids, describe possible biases and
changes through time in their occurrence and preservation,
and evaluate the criteria commonly used to identify and
interpret their fossils. Although hydroids have been reported
from Phanerozoic (particularly lower Palaeozoic) rocks
around the world, many putative hydroids from the Palaeozoic
are poorly substantiated and may actually be hemichordates.
Indeed, none of the type specimens in this study
represent unequivocal hydrozoans. As shown in BSE images,
metatype specimens of A. byersi possess autothecae, fusellae,
stolons, stolothecae and bithecae, which decisively indicate
that they are dendroid graptolites rather than hydroids. The
analyses yielded no evidence that A. compacta, Mazohydra
and Drevotella are hydrozoans, as their holotypes lack the
diagnostic morphological, taphonomic and ecological features
characteristic of purported hydroid analogues. Consequently,
our results suggest that many Palaeozoic hydroids
may be hemichordates and that interpretations of hydroid
fossils should be tested and refined using data collected via
in situ analytical techniques like BSE-SEM and EDS.

Two bed media were tested (gravel and Filtralite) in shallow horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) constructed wetlands in order to evaluate the removal of ammonia and nitrate for different types of wastewater (acetate-based and domestic wastewater) and different COD/N ratios. The use of Filtralite allowed both higher mass removal rates (1.1 g NH4–N m2 d1 and 3 g NO3–N m2 d1) and removal efficiencies (>62% for ammonia, 90–100% for nitrate), in less than 2 weeks, when compared to the ones observed with gravel. The COD/N ratio seems to have no significant influence on nitrate removal and the removal of both
ammonia and nitrate seems to have involved not only the conventional pathways of nitrification–denitrification.
The nitrogen loading rate of both ammonia (0.8–2.4 g NH4–N m2 d1) and nitrate (0.6–3.2 g NO3–N m2 d1) seem to have influenced the respective removal rates.

Abstract The fluids remaining after the digestion are a significant and growing problem as they contain large amounts of ammonia and phosphate that have high environmental impact. However, these nutrients are of considerable value replacing expensive manufactured fertiliser which typically have large carbon footprints and whose cost is linked directly to that of natural gas. Typical disposal of these fluids is by land spreading, but the capacity for this is limited as it threatens to contaminate ground and surface water causing eutrophication. Alternative practices of disposal are problematic as they need to be either integrated with AD sites or the materials be transported from digester site to a point of use. Transport soon becomes prohibitively expensive as the solutions are too dilute and bulky. Concentrating and reformulation of the nutrients as fertiliser or growth nutrient can add considerable value to these fluids so allowing transportation and distribution. As a first step ...

Tropical tree height-diameter (H: D) relationships may vary by forest type and region making large-scale estimates of above-ground biomass subject to bias if they ignore these differences in stem allometry. We have therefore developed a new global tropical forest database consisting of 39 955 concurrent H and D measurements encompassing 283 sites in 22 tropical countries. Utilising this database, our objectives were: 1. to determine if H: D relationships differ by geographic region and forest type (wet to dry forests, including ...

Tropical tree height-diameter (H:D) relationships may vary by forest type and region making large-scale estimates of above-ground biomass subject to bias if they ignore these differences in stem allometry. We have therefore developed a new global tropical forest database consisting of 39955 concurrent H and D measurements encompassing 283 sites in 22 tropical countries. Utilising this database, our objectives were:

Tropical tree height-diameter (H:D) relationships may vary by forest type and region making large-scale estimates of above-ground biomass subject to bias if they ignore these differences in stem allometry. We have therefore developed a new global tropical forest database consisting of 39 955 concurrent H and D measurements encompassing 283 sites in 22 tropical countries. Utilising this database, our objectives were:

1. to determine if H:D relationships differ by geographic region and forest type (wet to dry forests, including zones of tension where forest and savanna overlap).

2. to ascertain if the H:D relationship is modulated by climate and/or forest structural characteristics (e.g. stand-level basal area, A).

3. to develop H:D allometric equations and evaluate biases to reduce error in future local-to-global estimates of tropical forest biomass.

Annual precipitation coefficient of variation (PV), dry season length (SD), and mean annual air temperature (TA) emerged as key drivers of variation in H:D relationships at the pantropical and region scales. Vegetation structure also played a role with trees in forests of a high A being, on average, taller at any given D. After the effects of environment and forest structure are taken into account, two main regional groups can be identified. Forests in Asia, Africa and the Guyana Shield all have, on average, similar H:D relationships, but with trees in the forests of much of the Amazon Basin and tropical Australia typically being shorter at any given D than their counterparts elsewhere. The region-environment-structure model with the lowest Akaike's information criterion and lowest deviation estimated stand-level H across all plots to within amedian −2.7 to 0.9% of the true value. Some of the plot-to-plot variability in H:D relationships not accounted for by this model could be attributed to variations in soil physical conditions. Other things being equal, trees tend to be more slender in the absence of soil physical constraints, especially at smaller D. Pantropical and continental-level models provided less robust estimates of H, especially when the roles of climate and stand structure in modulating H:D allometry were not simultaneously taken into account.