Bacterial diversity and functional characteristics of natural rainwater lakes in Saihanba artificial forest farm as revealed by 16S rRNA sequencing

The Saihanba Mechanical Forest is an artificial national forest park with a forest-steppe landscape. The flora and fauna have been extensively studied, but a comprehensive understanding of the bacterial community composition and structure of the natural rainwater lakes present in the area has rarely been reported. In this study, the structure and functional characteristics of bacterial communities in lake sediments and water samples in the Saihanba artificial forest were investigated using 16s rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Microbial diversity analyses revealed that Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidota and Verrucomicrobiota microbiota dominated. The abundance of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota was significantly higher (p < .05) in water samples compared to sediment samples. PICRUSt2 functional analysis predicted genes associated with the degradation of xenobiotics and the execution of essential metabolic processes. Here, we report differences in the composition of native bacterial communities in sediments and water under the Saihanba artificial forest and make functional gene predictions. This study provides a reference for further exploring the structure and functional characteristics of microbial communities in water samples and sediment environments of lakes under planted forests.</p

Polymeric Carbon Nitride from Inorganic Precursor in Eutectic Salts: Enhanced Exciton Dissociation and Photocatalytic H₂O₂ Production

Photocatalysis is one of the environmental-friendly approaches toward the sustainable production of the versatile hydrogen peroxide. Polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) frameworks are especially favorable for the photocatalytic 2e– oxygen reduction reaction. High crystallinity of the PCN is favorable for enhancing the solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency. Employing the ionic compound of ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN) as the precursor, the crystallinity of AT-CN was significantly improved as compared to its counterpart synthesized with the organic melamine as the precursor (m-CN). Spectroscopic investigations revealed that the exciton dissociation was remarkably enhanced for the crystalline AT-CN. AT-CN thus exhibited remarkable photocatalytic performance in the H2O2 production and pollutant degradation. This work demonstrates a novel approach of tuning the miscibility of the precursor in the molten salt for enhancing the crystallinity of the polymeric carbon nitride framework