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Author: search.filters.author.Chen JSubject: search.filters.subject.Animals

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    Early evolution of beetles regulated by the end-Permian deforestation.
    (eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, 2021-11-08) Zhao X; Yu Y; Clapham ME; Yan E; Chen J; Jarzembowski EA; Zhao X; Wang B; Perry GH
    The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) led to a severe terrestrial ecosystem collapse. However, the ecological response of insects-the most diverse group of organisms on Earth-to the EPME remains poorly understood. Here, we analyse beetle evolutionary history based on taxonomic diversity, morphological disparity, phylogeny, and ecological shifts from the Early Permian to Middle Triassic, using a comprehensive new dataset. Permian beetles were dominated by xylophagous stem groups with high diversity and disparity, which probably played an underappreciated role in the Permian carbon cycle. Our suite of analyses shows that Permian xylophagous beetles suffered a severe extinction during the EPME largely due to the collapse of forest ecosystems, resulting in an Early Triassic gap of xylophagous beetles. New xylophagous beetles appeared widely in the early Middle Triassic, which is consistent with the restoration of forest ecosystems. Our results highlight the ecological significance of insects in deep-time terrestrial ecosystems.
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    Crawfish shell- and Chinese banyan branch-derived biochars reduced phytoavailability of As and Pb and altered community composition of bacteria in a contaminated arable soil.
    (20/03/2023) Gu S; Yang X; Chen H; Jeyakumar P; Chen J; Wang H
    Globally, soil contamination with arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) has become a severe environmental issue. Herein, a pot experiment was conducted using pak choi (Brassica chinensis L.) to investigate the effects of biochars derived from crawfish (Procambarus clarkia) shells (CSB) and Chinese banyan (Ficus microcarpa) branches (CBB) on the phytoavailability of As and Pb, and bacterial community composition in soils. Our results showed that the application of CSB and CBB decreased the concentrations of DTPA-extractable Pb in soils ranging from 26.8 % to 28.8 %, whereas CSB increased the concentration of NH4H2PO4-extractable As in soils, compared to the control. Application of both biochars reduced the uptake of As and Pb in the edible part of pak choi. In addition, application of CBB significantly (P < 0.05) increased the activities of α-glucosidase, β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, and acid phosphomonoesterase by 55.0 %, 54.4 %, 195.1 %, and 76.7 %, respectively, compared to the control. High-throughput sequencing analysis revealed that the predominant bacteria at the phyla level in both biochar-treated soils were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteriota. Redundancy and correlation analyses showed that the changes in bacterial community composition could be related to soil organic carbon content, As availability, and nutrient availability in soils. Overall, the Chinese banyan branch biochar was more suitable than the crawfish shell biochar as a potential amendment for the remediation of soils co-contaminated with As and Pb.