Editorial: Advancements in the Understanding of Anthropogenic Impacts on the Microbial Ecology and Function of Aquatic Environments

Aquatic environments are important ecosystems providing multiple services to humankind and directly affecting economic income worldwide. These ecosystems have increasingly been threatened by changes in global climate and diverse anthropogenic activities—from agriculture to industry (Häder et al., 2020). In general, the continuous exploitation of aquatic ecosystems has caused severe impacts on biological diversity despite some efforts to control habitat exploitation via local legislation (Popper et al., 2020). For instance, the leaching of pollutants and chemical hazards, the eutrophisation caused by extensive use of chemicals in agriculture and aquaculture, changes in land use, and the disposal of urban wastes; are the major factors responsible for most of the anthropogenic impacts on these ecosystems worldwide (Cotta et al., 2019). As such, properly monitoring the effects of these human activities is critical to aid the early detection of potential chemicals and activities with large impacts in aquatic ecosystems. Besides, advances in ecological research can provide the basis for developing new strategies of remediation and recovery of impacted systems (Taketani et al., 2010)

Draft genome sequence of Bacillus thuringiensis strain BrMgv02-JM63, a chitinolytic bacterium isolated from oil-contaminated mangrove soil in Brazil.

Here, we report the draft genome sequence and the automatic annotation of Bacillus thuringiensis strain BrMgv02-JM63. This genome comprises a set of genes involved in the metabolism of chitin and N-acetylglucosamine utilization, thus suggesting the possible role of this strain in the cycling of organic matter in mangrove soils

DiSCount: computer vision for automated quantification of Striga seed germination

Microbial Biotechnolog