Kelleherjepsen3193

agement. Fish are frequently affected by environmental stressors, such as temperature changes and heavy metal exposure, in aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated the combined effects of cadmium (Cd) toxicity and temperature (rearing temperature of 26 °C and heat stress at 34 °C) on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. The survival and heart rates of zebrafish embryos decreased at relatively high Cd concentrations of 0.07 and 0.1 mg L-1. Abnormal morphology was induced by exposure to a combination of Cd toxicity and heat stress. The yolk sac edema size was not significantly different between the control- and Cd-treated groups. Cd exposure induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell death in the live zebrafish. High temperature (34 °C) triggered Cd-induced cell death and intracellular ROS production to a greater extent than the rearing temperature of 26 °C. check details Transcriptional levels of six genes-CAT, SOD, p53, BAX, Dnmt1, and Dnmt3b-were investigated. The mRNA expression of CAT and SOD, molecular indicators of oxidative stress, was increased significantly at 34 °C after Cd exposure. The mRNA expression of CAT was more sensitive to temperature than that of SOD in Cd-treated zebrafish. p53 and BAX, apoptosis-related genes, were upregulated upon combined exposure to high temperature and Cd. In addition, at 34 °C, the expression of Dnmt1 and Dnmt3b transcripts, markers of DNA methylation, was increased upon exposure of zebrafish to all concentrations of Cd. Overall, these results suggest that high temperature facilitates the potential role of Cd toxicity in the transcriptional regulation of genes involved in the antioxidant system, apoptosis, and DNA methylation. V.The successful invasion of one invasive alien plant (IAP) can generate a favorable habitat in the invaded communities that beneficial to the successful invasion of the subsequent IAP. Advanced variations in the species number of IAP have the potential to alter the functional similarity and dissimilarity between IAP and co-existing native plant species (NPS), plant taxonomic diversity, plant functional diversity, community stability, and community invasibility. This study aims to evaluate the effects of the co-invasion of two notorious IAP, Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. and Solidago canadensis L., on the functional similarity and dissimilarity between IAP and co-existing NPS, plant taxonomic diversity, plant functional diversity, community stability, and community invasibility in East China by using a comparative study. Results presented that (I) IAP and co-existing NPS tend to converge functionally under E. annuus invasion and the functional similarity between IAP and co-existing NPS under E. annuus invasion supports the habitat filtering; (II) IAP and co-existing NPS tend to diverge functionally under S. canadensis invasion and the co-invasion condition and the functional dissimilarity between IAP and co-existing NPS under S. canadensis invasion and the co-invasion condition supports the niche differentiation; (III) plant taxonomic diversity was dramatically reduced under invasion condition, especially under S. canadensis invasion; (IV) Mason's α functional diversity was remarkably elevated under S. canadensis invasion and the co-invasion condition; (V) E. annuus and S. canadensis antagonistically affect community stability and community invasibility under the co-invasion condition compared with their independent invasion. The spatiotemporal change of cultivated land can exert significant effects on food production and the associated water consumption. The quantification of these effects is meaningful for guiding relevant policies. However, few studies have explored systematic methods assessing changes of food production and water consumption and the relations between them, caused by cultivated land change. This study developed new spatially explicit datasets for constant food crop yield and constant food crop water consumption, combining agricultural statistical data, the China-AEZ model, and the GIS spatial analysis method, and estimated the impact of cultivated land change on food crop production, food crop water consumption and food-water relations characterized by two major indicators, i.e., crop water productivity (CWP) and green water proportion (GWP), in China during 1990-2015. The results showed that the increase of approximately 0.80% in cultivated land area in China resulted in a decrease of approximately 0.37% in avr resources. Ureolytic microorganisms play a crucial role in soil nitrogen transformation. Soil aggregates and associated microbes are reported to modify the impact of agricultural management on soil nutrient cycling. However, the responses of ureolytic microbial communities in various soil aggregates to long-term fertilization regimes are still unclear in acid soils. In this study, we characterized the ureolytic microflora as well as urease activity in three soil aggregate fractions (2-0.25, 0.25-0.053, less then 0.053 mm) from an Ultisol with 26-year fertilization experiment. The results showed that long-term chemical fertilization (NPK) significantly decreased the abundance, richness and activity of ureolytic microbial community across soil aggregates (P  less then  .05) due to strong soil acidification. While manure application (M and MNPK) could mitigate these negative impacts and markedly (P  less then  .05) improved the abundance, α-diversity and activity of soil ureolytic microflora. Long-term fertilization regimes also drove the differentiation of ureolytic microbial compositions in soil aggregates (Adonis, F = 17.4, P = .001, R2 = 33.6%), and manure application appeared to be the most important driver. This variation partly contributed to the aberrance of soil urease activity (structure equation model, path coefficient 0.45, P = .008). No significant differences were found for ureolytic microbial community among soil aggregates, which was in accordance with the distribution patterns of soil nutrients, indicating the dominant role of resources availability in determining ureolytic microbiota in micro-environment. The ureolytic microbial community among different soil aggregates responded uniformly to long-term fertilizations. Our study revealed that manure application was a sustainable fertilization regime to alleviate the loss of soil ureolytic microbial diversity and activity in acid soils.