Journal Articles

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    Globally invariant metabolism but density-diversity mismatch in springtails
    (Springer Nature Limited, 2023-02-07) Potapov AM; Guerra CA; van den Hoogen J; Babenko A; Bellini BC; Berg MP; Chown SL; Deharveng L; Kováč Ľ; Kuznetsova NA; Ponge J-F; Potapov MB; Russell DJ; Alexandre D; Alatalo JM; Arbea JI; Bandyopadhyaya I; Bernava V; Bokhorst S; Bolger T; Castaño-Meneses G; Chauvat M; Chen T-W; Chomel M; Classen AT; Cortet J; Čuchta P; Manuela de la Pedrosa A; Ferreira SSD; Fiera C; Filser J; Franken O; Fujii S; Koudji EG; Gao M; Gendreau-Berthiaume B; Gomez-Pamies DF; Greve M; Tanya Handa I; Heiniger C; Holmstrup M; Homet P; Ivask M; Janion-Scheepers C; Jochum M; Joimel S; Claudia S Jorge B; Jucevica E; Ferlian O; Iuñes de Oliveira Filho LC; Klauberg-Filho O; Baretta D; Krab EJ; Kuu A; de Lima ECA; Lin D; Lindo Z; Liu A; Lu J-Z; Luciañez MJ; Marx MT; McCary MA; Minor MA; Nakamori T; Negri I; Ochoa-Hueso R; Palacios-Vargas JG; Pollierer MM; Querner P; Raschmanová N; Rashid MI; Raymond-Léonard LJ; Rousseau L; Saifutdinov RA; Salmon S; Sayer EJ; Scheunemann N; Scholz C; Seeber J; Shveenkova YB; Stebaeva SK; Sterzynska M; Sun X; Susanti WI; Taskaeva AA; Thakur MP; Tsiafouli MA; Turnbull MS; Twala MN; Uvarov AV; Venier LA; Widenfalk LA; Winck BR; Winkler D; Wu D; Xie Z; Yin R; Zeppelini D; Crowther TW; Eisenhauer N; Scheu S
    Soil life supports the functioning and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Springtails (Collembola) are among the most abundant soil arthropods regulating soil fertility and flow of energy through above- and belowground food webs. However, the global distribution of springtail diversity and density, and how these relate to energy fluxes remains unknown. Here, using a global dataset representing 2470 sites, we estimate the total soil springtail biomass at 27.5 megatons carbon, which is threefold higher than wild terrestrial vertebrates, and record peak densities up to 2 million individuals per square meter in the tundra. Despite a 20-fold biomass difference between the tundra and the tropics, springtail energy use (community metabolism) remains similar across the latitudinal gradient, owing to the changes in temperature with latitude. Neither springtail density nor community metabolism is predicted by local species richness, which is high in the tropics, but comparably high in some temperate forests and even tundra. Changes in springtail activity may emerge from latitudinal gradients in temperature, predation and resource limitation in soil communities. Contrasting relationships of biomass, diversity and activity of springtail communities with temperature suggest that climate warming will alter fundamental soil biodiversity metrics in different directions, potentially restructuring terrestrial food webs and affecting soil functioning.
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    Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure
    (Springer Nature Limited, 2024-01-03) Potapov AM; Chen T-W; Striuchkova AV; Alatalo JM; Alexandre D; Arbea J; Ashton T; Ashwood F; Babenko AB; Bandyopadhyaya I; Baretta CRDM; Baretta D; Barnes AD; Bellini BC; Bendjaballah M; Berg MP; Bernava V; Bokhorst S; Bokova AI; Bolger T; Bouchard M; Brito RA; Buchori D; Castaño-Meneses G; Chauvat M; Chomel M; Chow Y; Chown SL; Classen AT; Cortet J; Čuchta P; de la Pedrosa AM; De Lima ECA; Deharveng LE; Doblas Miranda E; Drescher J; Eisenhauer N; Ellers J; Ferlian O; Ferreira SSD; Ferreira AS; Fiera C; Filser J; Franken O; Fujii S; Koudji EG; Gao M; Gendreau-Berthiaume B; Gers C; Greve M; Hamra-Kroua S; Handa IT; Hasegawa M; Heiniger C; Hishi T; Holmstrup M; Homet P; Høye TT; Ivask M; Jacques B; Janion-Scheepers C; Jochum M; Joimel S; Jorge BCS; Juceviča E; Kapinga EM; Kováč Ľ; Krab EJ; Krogh PH; Kuu A; Kuznetsova N; Lam WN; Lin D; Lindo Z; Liu AWP; Lu J-Z; Luciáñez MJ; Marx MT; Mawan A; McCary MA; Minor MA; Mitchell GI; Moreno D; Nakamori T; Negri I; Nielsen UN; Ochoa-Hueso R; Oliveira Filho LCI; Palacios-Vargas JG; Pollierer MM; Ponge J-F; Potapov MB; Querner P; Rai B; Raschmanová N; Rashid MI; Raymond-Léonard LJ; Reis AS; Ross GM; Rousseau L; Russell DJ; Saifutdinov RA; Salmon S; Santonja M; Saraeva AK; Sayer EJ; Scheunemann N; Scholz C; Seeber J; Shaw P; Shveenkova YB; Slade EM; Stebaeva S; Sterzynska M; Sun X; Susanti WI; Taskaeva AA; Tay LS; Thakur MP; Treasure AM; Tsiafouli M; Twala MN; Uvarov AV; Venier LA; Widenfalk LA; Widyastuti R; Winck B; Winkler D; Wu D; Xie Z; Yin R; Zampaulo RA; Zeppelini D; Zhang B; Zoughailech A; Ashford O; Klauberg-Filho O; Scheu S
    Springtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised. Despite covering all continents, most of the sample-level data come from the European continent (82.5% of all samples) and represent four habitats: woodlands (57.4%), grasslands (14.0%), agrosystems (13.7%) and scrublands (9.0%). We included sampling by soil layers, and across seasons and years, representing temporal and spatial within-site variation in springtail communities. We also provided data use and sharing guidelines and R code to facilitate the use of the database by other researchers. This data paper describes a static version of the database at the publication date, but the database will be further expanded to include underrepresented regions and linked with trait data.
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    Meta-analysis of New Zealand's nitrous oxide emission factors for ruminant excreta supports disaggregation based on excreta form, livestock type and slope class.
    (Elsevier B.V., 2020-08-25) van der Weerden TJ; Noble AN; Luo J; de Klein CAM; Saggar S; Giltrap D; Gibbs J; Rys G; Jenerette D
    Globally, animal excreta (dung and urine) deposition onto grazed pastures represents more than half of anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. To account for these emissions, New Zealand currently employs urine and dung emission factor (EF3) values of 1.0% and 0.25%, respectively, for all livestock. These values are primarily based on field studies conducted on fertile, flatland pastures predominantly used for dairy cattle production but do not consider emissions from hill land pastures primarily used for sheep, deer and non-dairy cattle. The objective of this study was to determine the most suitable urine and dung EF3 values for dairy cattle, non-dairy cattle, and sheep grazing pastures on different slopes based on a meta-analysis of New Zealand EF3 studies. As none of the studies included deer excreta, deer EF3 values were estimated from cattle and sheep values. The analysis revealed that a single dung EF3 value should be maintained, although the value should be reduced from 0.25% to 0.12%. Furthermore, urine EF3 should be disaggregated by livestock type (cattle > sheep) and topography (flatland and low sloping hill country > medium and steep sloping hill country), with EF3 values ranging from 0.08% (sheep urine on medium and steep slopes) to 0.98% (dairy cattle on flatland and low slopes). While the mechanism(s) causing differences in urine EF3 values for sheep and cattle are unknown, the 'slope effect' on urine EF3 is partly due to differences in soil chemical and physical characteristics, which influence soil microbial processes on the different slope classes. The revised EF3 values were used in an updated New Zealand inventory approach, resulting in 30% lower national N2O emissions for 2017 compared to using the current EF3 values. We recommend using the revised EF3 values in New Zealand's national greenhouse gas inventory to more accurately capture N2O emissions from livestock grazing.
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    A perspective on green, blue, and grey spaces, biodiversity, microbiota, and human health.
    (Elsevier B.V., 2023-09-20) Potter JD; Brooks C; Donovan G; Cunningham C; Douwes J
    Humans have lived from equator to poles for millennia but are now increasingly intruding into the wild spaces of other species and steadily extruding ourselves from our own wild spaces, with a profound impact on: our relationship with the natural world; survival of other species; pollution; climate change; etc. We have yet to grasp how these changes directly impact our own health. The primary focus of this paper is on the beneficial influence of proximity to the natural environment. We summarize the evidence for associations between exposure to green space and blue space and improvements in health. In contrast, grey space - the urban landscape - largely presents hazards as well as reducing exposure to green and blue space and isolating us from the natural environment. We discuss various hypotheses that might explain why green, blue, and grey space affect health and focus particularly on the importance of the biodiversity hypothesis and the role of microbiota. We discuss possible mechanisms and exposure routes - air, soil, and water. We highlight the problem of exposure assessment, noting that many of our current tools are not fit for the purpose of understanding exposure to green and blue space, aerosols, soils, and water. We briefly discuss possible differences between indigenous perspectives on the nature of our relationship with the environment and the more dominant international-science view. Finally, we present research gaps and discuss future directions, particularly focusing on the ways in which we might - even in the absence of a full understanding of the mechanisms by which blue, green, and grey space affect our health - begin to implement policies to restore some balance to our environment of with the aim of reducing the large global burden of ill health.
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    Internal Transcribed Spacer and 16S Amplicon Sequencing Identifies Microbial Species Associated with Asbestos in New Zealand
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-03-16) Doyle E; Blanchon D; Wells S; de Lange P; Lockhart P; Waipara N; Manefield M; Wallis S; Berry T-A; Henriques I
    Inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause lung inflammation and the later development of asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, and the use of asbestos is banned in many countries. In most countries, large amounts of asbestos exists within building stock, buried in landfills, and in contaminated soil. Mechanical, thermal, and chemical treatment options do exist, but these are expensive, and they are not effective for contaminated soil, where only small numbers of asbestos fibres may be present in a large volume of soil. Research has been underway for the last 20 years into the potential use of microbial action to remove iron and other metal cations from the surface of asbestos fibres to reduce their toxicity. To access sufficient iron for metabolism, many bacteria and fungi produce organic acids, or iron-chelating siderophores, and in a growing number of experiments these have been found to degrade asbestos fibres in vitro. This paper uses the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 16S amplicon sequencing to investigate the fungal and bacterial diversity found on naturally-occurring asbestos minerals, asbestos-containing building materials, and asbestos-contaminated soils with a view to later selectively culturing promising species, screening them for siderophore production, and testing them with asbestos fibres in vitro. After filtering, 895 ITS and 1265 16S amplicon sequencing variants (ASVs) were detected across the 38 samples, corresponding to a range of fungal, bacteria, cyanobacterial, and lichenized fungal species. Samples from Auckland (North Island, New Zealand) asbestos cement, Auckland asbestos-contaminated soils, and raw asbestos rocks from Kahurangi National Park (South Island, New Zealand) were comprised of very different microbial communities. Five of the fungal species detected in this study are known to produce siderophores.
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    Review and update of a Nutrient Transfer model used for estimating nitrous oxide emissions from complex grazed landscapes, and implications for nationwide accounting
    (John Wiley and Sons Inc on behalf of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, 2022-09-30) Vibart R; Giltrap D; Saggar S; Mackay A; Betteridge K; Costall D; Rollo M; Draganova I; Zhu-Barker. X
    In New Zealand, nitrous oxide emissions from grazed hill pastures are estimated using different emission factors for urine and dung deposited on different slope classes. Allocation of urine and dung to each slope class needs to consider the distribution of slope classes within a landscape and animal behavior. The Nutrient Transfer (NT) model has recently been incorporated into the New Zealand Agricultural GHG Inventory Model to account for the allocation of excretal nitrogen (N) to each slope class. In this study, the predictive ability of the transfer function within the NT model was explored using urine deposition datasets collected with urine sensor and GPS tracker technology. Data were collected from three paddocks that had areas in low (<12°), medium (12-24°), and high slopes (>24°). The NT model showed a good overall predictive ability for two of the three datasets. However, if the urine emission factors (% of urine N emitted as N2 O-N) were to be further disaggregated to assess emissions from all three slope classes or slope gradients, more precise data would be required to accurately represent the range of landscapes found on farms. We have identified the need for more geospatial data on urine deposition and animal location for farms that are topographically out of the range used to develop the model. These new datasets would provide livestock urine deposition on a more continuous basis across slopes (as opposed to broad ranges), a unique opportunity to improve the performance of the NT model.
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    Integrating pH into the metabolic theory of ecology to predict bacterial diversity in soil
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2023-01-17) Luan L; Jiang Y; Dini-Andreote F; Crowther TW; Li P; Bahram M; Zheng J; Xu Q; Zhang X-X; Sun B; Brown J
    Microorganisms play essential roles in soil ecosystem functioning and maintenance, but methods are currently lacking for quantitative assessments of the mechanisms underlying microbial diversity patterns observed across disparate systems and scales. Here we established a quantitative model to incorporate pH into metabolic theory to capture and explain some of the unexplained variation in the relationship between temperature and soil bacterial diversity. We then tested and validated our newly developed models across multiple scales of ecological organization. At the species level, we modeled the diversification rate of the model bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens evolving under laboratory media gradients varying in temperature and pH. At the community level, we modeled patterns of bacterial communities in paddy soils across a continental scale, which included natural gradients of pH and temperature. Last, we further extended our model at a global scale by integrating a meta-analysis comprising 870 soils collected worldwide from a wide range of ecosystems. Our results were robust in consistently predicting the distributional patterns of bacterial diversity across soil temperature and pH gradients-with model variation explaining from 7 to 66% of the variation in bacterial diversity, depending on the scale and system complexity. Together, our study represents a nexus point for the integration of soil bacterial diversity and quantitative models with the potential to be used at distinct spatiotemporal scales. By mechanistically representing pH into metabolic theory, our study enhances our capacity to explain and predict the patterns of bacterial diversity and functioning under current or future climate change scenarios.
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    Unravelling the reservoirs for colonisation of infants with Campylobacter spp. in rural Ethiopia: protocol for a longitudinal study during a global pandemic and political tensions.
    (BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2022-10-05) Havelaar AH; Brhane M; Ahmed IA; Kedir J; Chen D; Deblais L; French N; Gebreyes WA; Hassen JY; Li X; Manary MJ; Mekuria Z; Ibrahim AM; Mummed B; Ojeda A; Rajashekara G; Roba KT; Saleem C; Singh N; Usmane IA; Yang Y; Yimer G; McKune S
    INTRODUCTION: Undernutrition is an underlying cause of mortality in children under five (CU5) years of age. Animal-source foods have been shown to decrease malnutrition in CU5. Livestock are important reservoirs for Campylobacter bacteria, which are recognised as risk factors for child malnutrition. Increasing livestock production may be beneficial for improving nutrition of children but these benefits may be negated by increased exposure to Campylobacter and research is needed to evaluate the complex pathways of Campylobacter exposure and infection applicable to low-income and middle-income countries. We aim to identify reservoirs of infection with Campylobacter spp. of infants in rural Eastern Ethiopia and evaluate interactions with child health (environmental enteric dysfunction and stunting) in the context of their sociodemographic environment. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This longitudinal study involves 115 infants who are followed from birth to 12 months of age and are selected randomly from 10 kebeles of Haramaya woreda, East Hararghe zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia. Questionnaire-based information is obtained on demographics, livelihoods, wealth, health, nutrition and women empowerment; animal ownership/management and diseases; and water, sanitation and hygiene. Faecal samples are collected from infants, mothers, siblings and livestock, drinking water and soil. These samples are analysed by a range of phenotypic and genotypic microbiological methods to characterise the genetic structure of the Campylobacter population in each of these reservoirs, which will support inference about the main sources of exposure for infants. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Florida Internal Review Board (IRB201903141), the Haramaya University Institutional Health Research Ethics Committee (COHMS/1010/3796/20) and the Ethiopia National Research Ethics Review Committee (SM/14.1/1059/20). Written informed consent is obtained from all participating households. Research findings will be disseminated to stakeholders through conferences and peer-reviewed journals and through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems.
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    Culture and genome-based analysis of four soil Clostridium isolates reveal their potential for antimicrobial production
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2021-12) Pahalagedara ASNW; Jauregui R; Maclean P; Altermann E; Flint S; Palmer J; Brightwell G; Gupta TB
    BACKGROUND: Soil bacteria are a major source of specialized metabolites including antimicrobial compounds. Yet, one of the most diverse genera of bacteria ubiquitously present in soil, Clostridium, has been largely overlooked in bioactive compound discovery. As Clostridium spp. thrive in extreme environments with their metabolic mechanisms adapted to the harsh conditions, they are likely to synthesize molecules with unknown structures, properties, and functions. Therefore, their potential to synthesize small molecules with biological activities should be of great interest in the search for novel antimicrobial compounds. The current study focused on investigating the antimicrobial potential of four soil Clostridium isolates, FS01, FS2.2 FS03, and FS04, using a genome-led approach, validated by culture-based methods. RESULTS: Conditioned/spent media from all four Clostridium isolates showed varying levels of antimicrobial activity against indicator microorganism; all four isolates significantly inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. FS01, FS2.2, and FS04 were active against Bacillus mycoides and FS03 reduced the growth of Bacillus cereus. Phylogenetic analysis together with DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH), average nucleotide identity (ANI), and functional genome distribution (FGD) analyses confirmed that FS01, FS2.2, and FS04 belong to the species Paraclostridium bifermentans, Clostridium cadaveris, and Clostridium senegalense respectively, while FS03 may represent a novel species of the genus Clostridium. Bioinformatics analysis using antiSMASH 5.0 predicted the presence of eight biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding for the synthesis of ribosomally synthesized post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) and non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs) in four genomes. All predicted BGCs showed no similarity with any known BGCs suggesting novelty of the molecules from those predicted gene clusters. In addition, the analysis of genomes for putative virulence factors revealed the presence of four putative Clostridium toxin related genes in FS01 and FS2.2 genomes. No genes associated with the main Clostridium toxins were identified in the FS03 and FS04 genomes. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of BGCs encoding for uncharacterized RiPPs and NRPSs in the genomes of antagonistic Clostridium spp. isolated from farm soil indicated their potential to produce novel secondary metabolites. This study serves as a basis for the identification and characterization of potent antimicrobials from these soil Clostridium spp. and expands the current knowledge base, encouraging future research into bioactive compound production in members of the genus Clostridium.
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    Copper induces nitrification by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in pastoral soils
    (Wiley, 12/12/2022) Matse D; Jeyakumar P; Bishop P; Anderson C
    Copper (Cu) is the main co-factor in the functioning of the ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) enzyme, which is responsible for the first step of ammonia oxidation. We report a greenhouse-based pot experiment that examines the response of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea (AOB and AOA) to different bioavailable Cu concentrations in three pastoral soils (Recent, Pallic, and Pumice soils) planted with ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Five treatments were used: control (no urine and Cu), urine only at 300 mg N kg-1 soil (Cu0), urine + 1 mg Cu kg-1 soil (Cu1), urine + 10 mg Cu kg-1 soil (Cu10), and urine + 100 mg Cu kg-1 soil (Cu100). Pots were destructively sampled at Day 0, 1, 7, 15, and 25 after urine application. The AOB/AOA amoA gene abundance was analyzed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction at Days 1 and 15. The AOB amoA gene abundance increased 10.0- and 22.6-fold in the Recent soil and 2.1- and 2.5-fold in the Pallic soil for the Cu10 compared with Cu0 on Days 1 and 15, respectively. In contrast, the Cu100 was associated with a reduction in AOB amoA gene abundance in the Recent and Pallic soils but not in the Pumice soil. This may be due to the influence of soil cation exchange capacity differences on the bioavailable Cu. Bioavailable Cu in the Recent and Pallic soils influenced nitrification and AOB amoA gene abundance, as evidenced by the strong positive correlation between bioavailable Cu, nitrification, and AOB amoA. However, bioavailable Cu did not influence the nitrification and AOA amoA gene abundance increase.