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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Distinct Distribution Of Archaea From Soil To Freshwater To Estuary: Implications Of Archaeal Composition And Function In Different Environments, Hualong Wang, Raven Bier, Laura Zgleszewski, Marc Peipoch, Emmanuel Omondi, Atanu Mukherjee, Feng Chen, Chuanlun Zhang, Jinjun Kan Oct 2020

Distinct Distribution Of Archaea From Soil To Freshwater To Estuary: Implications Of Archaeal Composition And Function In Different Environments, Hualong Wang, Raven Bier, Laura Zgleszewski, Marc Peipoch, Emmanuel Omondi, Atanu Mukherjee, Feng Chen, Chuanlun Zhang, Jinjun Kan

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

In addition to inhabiting extreme territories, Archaea are widely distributed in common environments spanning from terrestrial to aquatic environments. This study investigated and compared archaeal community structures from three different habitats (representing distinct environments): agriculture soils (from farming system trials FST, PA, United States), freshwater biofilms (from White Clay Creek, PA, United States), and estuary water (Chesapeake Bay, United States). High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes indicated that Thaumarchaeota, Euryarchaeota, Nanoarchaeota, Crenarchaeota, and Diapherotrites were the commonly found dominant phyla across these three environments. Similar to Bacteria, distinct community structure and distribution patterns for Archaea were observed in soils vs. …


Sunflower Seedlings Fail To Remove Uranium Pollution In The Navajo Nation: Participatory Science As A Path To Build Community And Address Environmental Injustice, Zak R. Webber Mar 2020

Sunflower Seedlings Fail To Remove Uranium Pollution In The Navajo Nation: Participatory Science As A Path To Build Community And Address Environmental Injustice, Zak R. Webber

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mid-20th century mining on Naabeehó Bináhásdzo (Navajo Nation) polluted groundwater with high concentrations of uranium and arsenic. The Navajo Nation and other rural residents of this region use groundwater for drinking, livestock, and irrigation. However, many individuals and communities must purchase and transport treated water from locations that are often hours away. Sunflowers have been shown to preferentially take up heavy metals, including uranium and arsenic, potentially representing a tool to improve water quality through on-site, low-cost phytoremediation. We carried out a collaborative research project with a high school class on the Navajo Nation in 2018 and 2019. The students …


Invasive Vegetation Affects Amphibian Skin Microbiota And Body Condition, Obed Hernandez-Gomez, Allison Q. Byrne, Alex R. Gunderson, Thomas S. Jenkinson, Clay F. Noss, Andrew P. Rothstein, Molly C. Womack, Erica B. Rosenblum Feb 2020

Invasive Vegetation Affects Amphibian Skin Microbiota And Body Condition, Obed Hernandez-Gomez, Allison Q. Byrne, Alex R. Gunderson, Thomas S. Jenkinson, Clay F. Noss, Andrew P. Rothstein, Molly C. Womack, Erica B. Rosenblum

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

Invasive plants are major drivers of habitat modification and the scale of their impact is increasing globally as anthropogenic activities facilitate their spread. In California, an invasive plant genus of great concern is Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus leaves can alter soil chemistry and negatively affect underground macro- and microbial communities. Amphibians serve as excellent models to evaluate the effect of Eucalyptus invasion on ground-dwelling species as they predate on soil arthropods and incorporate soil microbes into their microbiotas. The skin microbiota is particularly important to amphibian health, suggesting that invasive plant species could ultimately affect amphibian populations. To investigate the potential for …


Integrative Experience: Soil Microbes And The Sustainability Of Organic Agriculture, Kristen Deangelis, Luiz Domeignoz Horta Jan 2020

Integrative Experience: Soil Microbes And The Sustainability Of Organic Agriculture, Kristen Deangelis, Luiz Domeignoz Horta

Microbiology Educational Materials

This curriculum describes a one-unit course designed to fulfill the University of Massachusetts requirement for Integrative Experience as part of the Gen Ed curriculum for undergraduates.


Diversity Analysis Of Soil Fungus Communities In Disturbed, Nursery, And Mature Forest Conditions, Dana Whitmore Jan 2020

Diversity Analysis Of Soil Fungus Communities In Disturbed, Nursery, And Mature Forest Conditions, Dana Whitmore

All Master's Theses

Populations of soil fungi were examined in Derby Canyon Natives, Coeur d’Alene Forest Service nursery, Swamp Lake, and the Keechelus Lake wildlife overcrossing soils. All sampling sites were connected by their relation to the revegetation and native soil plug inoculation of the wildlife overpass. This study was an effort to describe soil fungi communities present on the overpass before plant introduction, those that plants would be bringing in their pots, and the fungi that could be introduced via soil plug transplantation. DNA was extracted from soil samples, then sequenced using next-generation sequencing methods, allowing for the analysis of species richness …


An Evaluation Of Co-Culture Parameters Effecting Antibiotic Production In Soil Microbes, Rebecca Lindow Jan 2020

An Evaluation Of Co-Culture Parameters Effecting Antibiotic Production In Soil Microbes, Rebecca Lindow

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The rise of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, compounded by a reduction in antibiotic discovery and development, jeopardizes human health. Historically, antibiotics derive from secondary metabolites produced by soil microbes in pure culture, but recent genetic evidence suggests that microbes can produce more secondary metabolites than are currently observed. The modified crowded plate technique directly identifies antibiotic-producing soil microbes that were co-plated with a target pathogen. Here, this technique was refined by testing the effect of a D-alanine auxotrophic target pathogen rather than a prototrophic pathogen as well as investigating conditions most conducive to antibiotic production. Antibiotic producing conditions …