Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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Author: search.filters.author.Kim NDSubject: search.filters.subject.12 Built Environment and Design

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    Co-selection of Heavy Metal and Antibiotic Resistance in Soil Bacteria from Agricultural Soils in New Zealand
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2022-02-04) Heydari A; Kim ND; Horswell J; Gielen G; Siggins A; Taylor M; Bromhead C; Palmer BR
    Accumulation of trace elements (including heavy metals) in soil from usage of superphos-phate fertilisers induces resistance of soil bacteria to trace elements of environmental concern (TE-oEC) and may co‐select for resistance to antibiotics (Ab). This study aimed to investigate selection of co‐resistance of soil bacteria to Cd, Zn and Hg, and Ab in soils with varied management histories. Genetic diversity of these bacteria and horizontal transfer of Cd resistance genes (cadA and czcA) were also investigated. Soils with either pastoral and arable management histories and either high levels of Cd and Zn, or indigenous bush with background levels of these TEoEC from the Waikato region, New Zealand were sampled. Plate culturing with a range of TEoEC and Ab concentrations, Pollution Induced Community Tolerance (PICT) assay, antibiotic sensitivity, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) analyses were em-ployed to investigate co‐selection of TEoEC and Ab resistance. Higher levels of bacterial resistance to TEoEC and Ab correlated with higher levels of TEoEC in soil. Bacterial community structures were altered in soils with high TEoEC levels. Cd resistance genes were transferred from donor bacterial isolates, to recipients and the transconjugants also had resistance to Zn and/or Hg and a range of Ab.
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    Development and Deployment of a Framework to Prioritize Environmental Contamination Issues
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 11/11/2020) Kim ND; Taylor MD; Caldwell J; Rumsby A; Champeau O; Tremblay LA
    Management and regulatory agencies face a wide range of environmental issues globally. The challenge is to identify and select the issues to assist the allocation of research and policy resources to achieve maximum environmental gain. A framework was developed to prioritize environmental contamination issues in a sustainable management policy context using a nine-factor ranking model to rank the significance of diffuse sources of stressors. It focuses on contamination issues that involve large geographic scales (e.g., all pastoral soils), significant population exposures (e.g., urban air quality), and multiple outputs from same source on receiving environmental compartments comprising air, surface water, groundwater, and sediment. Factor scores are allocated using a scoring scale and weighted following defined rules. Results are ranked enabling the rational comparison of dissimilar and complex issues. Advantages of this model include flexibility, transparency, ability to prioritize new issues as they arise, and ability to identify which issues are comparatively trivial and which present a more serious challenge to sustainability policy goals. This model integrates well as a planning tool and has been used to inform regional policy development.