Assessment of soil quality in agroecosystems based on soil fauna

Soil arthropods respond sensitively to land management practices and correlate with beneficial soil functions. The aim of this research was to determine soil quality using the QBS index in different types of crops and influence of soil variables (pH soil, soil moisture, potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen) on soil arthropods. Between the years 2018 and 2020, we studied different types of crops (Brassica napus, Pisum sativum, Triticum aestivum, T. spelta, Zea mays, Grass mixture and Hordeum vulgare) and recorded 14 taxa. Our results suggest a higher QBS index value in crops grass mixture, Pisum sativum, Triticum aestivum, T. spelta. The EMI value grew with increasing values of soil moisture, soil pH, phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen; indicating the presence of soil arthropods occurring in higher quality soil. Our results suggest that agricultural intensification affects soil arthropods, which are important for the production of biomass, which also affects crop yields

Adolescents' perspectives on traditional, nontraditional, and direct political activities: The role of identity-processing styles and political beliefs

The study examined whether adolescents’ tendency to employ informational, or normative identity-processing style predicts their perceived effectiveness of different political activities. Data were taken from the broader longitudinal study conducted in the Czech Republic, and included reports from 179 participants (Time 1 = age 17; Time 2 = age 19). Path analyses suggested that adolescents who sought information tended to perceive non-traditional political activity (e.g., in civic organizations) as effective, while participants’ normative conformism predicted disbelief in direct activity (e.g., petitions). Perceived effectiveness of traditional activity (e.g., voting) reflected adolescents’ actual political trust rather than their identity-processing styles. These results complement previous findings on the correlates of identity-processing styles and adolescents’ political thinking

Chemical, biochemical and microbial diversity through a Pachic Humudept profile in a temperate upland grassland.

There is great interest in understanding the factors that drive soil microbial activity and community composition in upland grassland ecosystems. We investigated the role of vertical gradients of chemical properties and various soluble C and N pools on soil microbial community structure by using a combination of chemical and biochemical methods coupled with PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) community fingerprinting and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiling. Soil samples were collected at increasing depth from a temperate upland grassland. Soil organic matter-related pools (total organic C and total Kjeldahl N) and functionally related active pools (microbial biomass C and N, K2SO4-extractable C and N, extractable organic N) markedly decreased with soil depth and were positively related to each other. The microbial community deep in the soil profile appeared neither C- nor N-limited. Conversely, DGGE community fingerprinting of bacteria, α-Proteobacteria, β-Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria revealed that each soil horizon was conducive to the dominance of particular ribotypes thus confirming links between soluble nutrients gradients and community structure. Soil microbial biomass C assessed by PLFA content decreased with soil depth less steeply than when estimated by the chloroform fumigation-extraction method. This suggests that chloroform fumigation efficiency in lysing microbial cells varied with soil depth with the varying amount and distribution of total and soluble C. The PLFA biomarker for fungal biomass markedly decreased throughout the three upper horizons, whereas that for arbuscular mycorrhizae strongly decreased in the deeper AB horizon only. Taken together with the increase across soil profile of total saturated-to-total monounsaturated fatty acids ratio, the PLFA data suggest that a compositional shift from fungal to bacterial dominance has taken place throughout the grassland layers

Evaluation of Electrospun Self-Supporting Paper-Like Fibrous Membranes as Oil Sorbents

Presently, adsorption/absorption is one of the most efficient and cost-effective methods to clean oil spill up. In this work, self-supporting paper-like fibrous membranes were prepared via electrospinning and carbonisation at different temperatures (500, 650 or 800 °C) by using polyacrylonitrile/polymethylmethacrylate blends with a different mass ratio of the two polymers (1:0, 6:1 or 2:1). After morphological and microstructural characterisation, the as-produced membranes were evaluated as sorbents by immersion in vegetable (sunflower seed or olive) and mineral (motor) oil or in 1:4 (v:v) oil/water mixture. Nitrogen-rich membrane carbonised at the lowest temperature behaves differently from the others, whose sorption capacity by immersion in oil, despite the great number of sorbent and oil properties involved, is mainly controlled by the fraction of micropores. The encapsulation of water nanodroplets by the oil occurring during the immersion in oil/water mixture causes the oil-from-water separation ability to show an opposite behaviour compared to the sorption capacity. Overall, among the investigated membranes, the support produced with 2:1 mass ratio of the polymers and carbonisation at 650 °C exhibits the best performance both in terms of sorption capacity (73.5, 54.8 and 12.5 g g−1 for olive, sunflower seed and motor oil, respectively) and oil-from-water separation ability (74, 69 and 16 for olive, sunflower seed and motor oil, respectively)

Challenges to evidence synthesis and identification of data gaps in human biomonitoring

The increasing number of human biomonitoring (HBM) studies undertaken in recent decades has brought to light the need to harmonise procedures along all phases of the study, including sampling, data collection and analytical methods to allow data comparability. The first steps towards harmonisation are the identification and collation of HBM methodological information of existing studies and data gaps. Systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses have been traditionally put at the top of the hierarchy of evidence, being increasingly applied to map available evidence on health risks linked to exposure to chemicals. However, these methods mainly capture peer-reviewed articles, failing to comprehensively identify other important, unpublished sources of information that are pivotal to gather a complete map of the produced evidence in the area of HBM. Within the framework of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) initiative—a project that joins 30 countries, 29 from Europe plus Israel, the European Environment Agency and the European Commission—a comprehensive work of data triangulation has been made to identify existing HBM studies and data gaps across countries within the consortium. The use of documentary analysis together with an up-to-date platform to fulfil this need and its implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland