Prevention of hepatorenal toxicity with Sonchus asper in gentamicin treated rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Sonchus asper </it>possesses antioxidant capacity and is used in liver and kidney disorders. We have investigated the preventive effect of methanolic extract of <it>Sonchus asper </it>(SAME) on the gentamicin induced alterations in biochemical and morphological parameters in liver and kidneys of Sprague-Dawley male rat.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Acute oral toxicity studies were performed for selecting the therapeutic dose of SAME. 30 Sprague-Dawley male rats were equally divided into five groups with 06 animals in each. Group I received saline (0.5 ml/kg bw; 0.9% NaCl) while Group II administered with gentamicin 0.5 ml (100 mg/kg bw; i.p.) for ten days. Animals of Group III and Group IV received gentamicin and SAME 0.5 ml at a dose of 100 mg/kg bw and 200 mg/kg bw, respectively while Group V received only SAME at a dose of 200 mg/kg bw. Biochemical parameters including aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT), total cholesterol, triglycerides, total protein, albumin, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), total bilirubin and direct bilirubin were determined in serum collected from various groups. Urinary out puts were measured in each group and also assessed for the level of protein and glucose. Lipid peroxides (TBARS), glutathione (GSH), DNA injuries and activities of antioxidant enzymes; catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined in liver and renal samples. Histopathological studies of liver and kidneys were also carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>On the basis of acute oral toxicity studies, 2000 mg/kg bw did not induce any toxicity in rats, 1/10^thof the dose was selected for preventive treatment. Gentamicin increased the level of serum biomarkers; AST, ALT, ALP, LDH, γ-GT, total cholesterol, triglycerides, total protein, albumin, creatinine, BUN, total and direct bilirubin; as were the urinary level of protein, glucose, and urinary output. Lipid peroxidation (TBARS) and DNA injuries increased while GSH contents and activities of antioxidant enzymes; CAT, POD, SOD decreased with gentamicin in liver and kidney samples. SAME administration, dose dependently, prevented the alteration in biochemical parameters and were supported by low level of tubular and glomerular injuries induced with gentamicin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggested the preventive role of SAME for gentamicin induced toxicity that could be attributed by phytochemicals having antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties.</p

The Changes in China's Forests: An Analysis Using the Forest Identity

Changes in forest carbon stocks are a determinant of the regional carbon budget. In the past several decades, China has experienced a pronounced increase in forest area and density. However, few comprehensive analyses have been conducted. In this study, we employed the Forest Identity concept to evaluate the changing status of China's forests over the past three decades, using national forest inventory data of five periods (1977–1981, 1984–1988, 1989–1993, 1994–1998, and 1999–2003). The results showed that forest area and growing stock density increased by 0.51% and 0.44% annually over the past three decades, while the conversion ratio of forest biomass to growing stock declined by 0.10% annually. These developments resulted in a net annual increase of 0.85% in forest carbon sequestration, which is equivalent to a net biomass carbon uptake of 43.8 Tg per year (1 Tg = 1012 g). This increase can be attributed to the national reforestation/afforestation programs, environmentally enhanced forest growth and economic development as indicated by the average gross domestic product

Above- and below-ground vertebrate herbivory may each favour a different subordinate species in an aquatic plant community

At least two distinct trade-offs are thought to facilitate higher diversity in productive plant communities under herbivory. Higher investment in defence and enhanced colonization potential may both correlate with decreased competitive ability in plants. Herbivory may thus promote coexistence of plant species exhibiting divergent life history strategies. How different seasonally tied herbivore assemblages simultaneously affect plant community composition and diversity is, however, largely unknown. Two contrasting types of herbivory can be distinguished in the aquatic vegetation of the shallow lake Lauwersmeer. In summer, predominantly above-ground tissues are eaten, whereas in winter, waterfowl forage on below-ground plant propagules. In a 4-year exclosure study we experimentally separated above-ground herbivory by waterfowl and large fish in summer from below-ground herbivory by Bewick’s swans in winter. We measured the individual and combined effects of both herbivory periods on the composition of the three-species aquatic plant community. Herbivory effect sizes varied considerably from year to year. In 2 years herbivore exclusion in summer reinforced dominance of Potamogeton pectinatus with a concomitant decrease in Potamogeton pusillus, whereas no strong, unequivocal effect was observed in the other 2 years. Winter exclusion, on the other hand, had a negative effect on Zannichellia palustris, but the effect size differed considerably between years. We suggest that the colonization ability of Z. palustris may have enabled this species to be more abundant after reduction of P. pectinatus tuber densities by swans. Evenness decreased due to herbivore exclusion in summer. We conclude that seasonally tied above- and below-ground herbivory may each stimulate different components of a macrophyte community as they each favoured a different subordinate plant species

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of natural products

Ultrasound-assisted extraction (USAE) is an interesting process to obtain high valuable compounds and could contribute to the increase in the value of some food by-products when used as sources of natural compounds. The main benefits will be a more effective extraction, thus saving energy, and also the use of moderate temperatures, which is beneficial for heat-sensitive compounds. For a successful application of the USAE, it is necessary to consider the influence of several process variables, the main ones being the applied ultrasonic power, the frequency, the extraction temperature, the reactor characteristics, and the solvent-sample interaction. The highest extraction rate is usually achieved in the first few minutes, which is the most profitable period. To optimize the process, rate equations and unambiguous process characterization are needed, aspects that have often been lacking. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.The authors thank the Generalitat Valenciana for their financial support in project PROMETEO/2010/062 and the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo for M.D. Esclapez's pre-doctoral grant.Esclapez Vicente, MD.; García Pérez, JV.; Mulet Pons, A.; Cárcel Carrión, JA.; Esclapez, MD. (2011). Ultrasound-assisted extraction of natural products. Food Engineering Reviews. 3(2):108-120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-011-9036-6S10812032Abad Romero B, Bou-Maroun E, Reparet JM, Blanquet J, Cayot N (2010) Impact of lipid extraction on the dearomatisation of an Eisenia foetida protein powder. Food Chem 119:459–466Adewuyi YG (2001) Sonochemistry: environmental science and engineering applications. Ind Eng Chem Res 40:4681–4715Atchley AA, Crum LA (1988) Acoustic cavitation and bubble dynamics. In: Suslick KS (ed) Ultrasound, its chemical, physical, and biological effects. VHS Publishers, Weinheim, pp 1–64Arnold G, Leiteritz L, Zahn S, Rohm H (2009) Ultrasonic cutting of cheese: composition affects cutting work reduction and energy demand. Int Dairy J 19:314–320Barbero GF, Liazid A, Palma M, Barroso CG (2008) Ultrasound-assisted extraction of capsaicinoids from peppers. Talanta 75:1332–1337Benedito J, Carcel JA, Sanjuan N, Mulet A (2000) Use of ultrasound to assess Cheddar cheese characteristics. Ultrasonics 38:727–730Benedito J, Carcel JA, Rossello C, Mulet A (2001) Composition assessment of raw meat mixtures using ultrasonics. Meat Sci 57:365–370Bhaskaracharya RK, Kentish S, Ashokkumar M (2009) Selected applications of ultrasonics in food processing. Food Eng Rev 1:31–49Boonkird S, Phisalaphong C, Phisalaphong M (2008) Ultrasound-assisted extraction of capsaicinoids from Capsicum frutescens on a lab- and pilot-plant scale. Ultrason Sonochem 15:1075–1079Cárcel JA, Benedito J, Bon J, Mulet A (2007) High intensity ultrasound effects on meat brining. Meat Sci 76:611–619Cárcel JA, Benedito J, Rosselló C, Mulet A (2007) Influence of ultrasound intensity on mass transfer in apple immersed in a sucrose solution. J Food Eng 78:472–479Cavitus (2009) Grape colour and flavour extraction (Pat. Pend.) for red must extraction http://www.cavitus.com . Crafers. Accessed 10 Jan 2011Chea Chua S, Ping Tan C, Mirhosseini H, Ming Lai O, Long K, Sham Baharin B (2009) Optimization of ultrasound extraction condition of phospholipids from palm-pressed fiber. J Food Eng 92:403–409Chena R, Menga F, Zhang S, Liu Z (2009) Effects of ultrahigh pressure extraction conditions on yields and antioxidant activity of ginsenoside from ginseng. Sep Purif Technol 66:340–346Chivate MM, Pandit AB (1995) Quantification of cavitation intensity in fluid bulk. Ultrason Sonochem 2:19–25Da Porto C, Decorti D (2009) Ultrasound-assisted extraction coupled with under vacuum distillation of flavour compounds from spearmint (carvone-rich) plants: comparison with conventional hydrodistillation. Ultrason Sonochem 16:795–799Da Porto C, Decorti D, Kikic I (2009) Flavour compounds of Lavandula angustifolia L. to use in food manufacturing: Comparison of three different extraction methods. Food Chem 112:1072–1078Domínguez H, Núñez MJ, Lema JM (1994) Enzymatic pretreatment to enhance oil extraction from fruits and oilseeds: a review. Food Chem 49:271–286Dong J, Liu Y, Liang Z, Wanga W (2010) Investigation on ultrasound-assisted extraction of salvianolic acid B from Salvia miltiorrhiza root. Ultrason Sonochem 17:61–65Entezari MH, Kruus P (1994) Effect of frequency on sonochemical reactions. I: oxidation of iodide. Ultrason Sonochem 1:75–79Esclapez MD, Sáez V, Milán-Yáñez D, Tudela I, Louisnard O, González-García J (2010) Sonoelectrochemical treatment of water polluted with trichloroacetic acid: from sonovoltammetry to pre-pilot plant scale. Ultrason Sonochem 17:1010–1020Ferraro V, Cruz IB, Ferreira R, Malcata JFX, Pintado ME, Castro PML (2010) Valorisation of natural extracts from marine source focused on marine by-products: review. Food Res Int 43:2221–2233Fischer CH, Hart EJ, Henglein AJ (1986) Hydrogen/deuterium isotope exchange in the hydrogen deuteride-water system under the influence of ultrasound. Phys Chem 90:3059–3060Garcia-Noguera J, Weller CL, Oliveira FIP, Rodrigues S, Fernandes FAN (2010) Dual-stage sugar substitution in strawberries with a Stevia-based sweetener. Innovative Food Sci Emerg Technol 11:225–230García-Pérez JV, Cárcel JA, de la Fuente-Blanco S, Riera-Franco de Sarabia E (2006) Ultrasonic drying of foodstuff in a fluidized bed: parametric study. Ultrasonics 44:539–543García-Pérez JV, García-Alvarado MA, Carcel JA, Mulet A (2010) Extraction kinetics modeling of antioxidants from grape stalk (Vitis vinifera var. Bobal): Influence of drying conditions. J Food Eng 101:49–58González-García J, Sáez V, Tudela I, Díez-Garcia MI, Esclapez MD, Louisnard O (2010) Sonochemical treatment of water polluted by chlorinated organocompounds. A review. Water 2:28–74Handa SS, Preet S, Khanuja S, Longo G, Rakesh DD (2008) Extraction Technologies for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Centre for Science and High Technology, TriesteHemwimol S, Pavasant P, Shotipruk A (2006) Ultrasound-assisted extraction of anthraquinones from roots of Morinda citrifolia. Ultrason Sonochem 13:543–548Hielscher (2011) Teltow http:// www.hielscher.com . Accessed 10 Jan 2011Hu Y, Wang T, Wang M, Han S, Wan P, Fan M (2008) Extraction of isoflavonoids from Pueraria by combining ultrasound with microwave vacuum. Chem Engin Process 47:2256–2261Ince NH, Tezcanli G, Belen RK, Apikyan PG (2001) Ultrasound as a catalyzer of aqueous reaction systems: the state of the art and environmental applications. Appl Catal B 29:167–176Jadhav D, Rekha BN, Gogate PR, Rathod VK (2009) Extraction of vanillin from vanilla pods: a comparison study of conventional soxhlet and ultrasound assisted extraction. J Food Eng 93:421–426Ji J-b, Lu X-h, Cai M-q, Xu C-c (2006) Improvement of leaching process of Geniposide with ultrasound. Ultrason Sonochem 13:455–462Kanthale PM, Gogate PR, Pandit AB, Wilhelm AM (2003) Mapping of an ultrasonic horn: link primary and secondary effects of ultrasound. Ultrason Sonochem 10:331–335Karki B, Lamsal BP, Jung S, van Leeuwen JH, Pometto AL III, Grewell D, Khanal SK (2010) Enhancing protein and sugar release from defatted soy flakes using ultrasound technology. J Food Eng 96:270–278Kardos N, Luche J-L (2001) Sonochemistry of carbohydrate compounds. Carbohydr Res 332:115–131Kotronarou A, Mills G, Hoffmann MR (1991) Ultrasonic Irradiation of para-Nitrophenol in Aqueous Solution. J Phys Chem 95:3630–3638Kuijpers MWA, Kemmere MF, Keurentjes JTF (2002) Calorimetric study of the energy efficiency for ultrasound-induced radical formation. Ultrasonics 40:675–678Leighton TG (2007) What is ultrasound? Prog Biophys Mol Biol 93:3–83Leonelli C, Mason TJ (2010) Microwave and ultrasonic processing: now a realistic option for industry. Chem Eng Process 49:885–900Li H, Pordesimo L, Weiss J (2004) High intensity ultrasound-assisted extraction of oil from soybeans. Food Res Int 37:731–738Liu J, Li J-W, Tang J (2010) Ultrasonically assisted extraction of total carbohydrates from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni and identification of extracts. Food Bioprod Process 88:215–221Lianfu Z, Zelong L (2008) Optimization and comparison of ultrasound/microwave assisted extraction (UMAE) and ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) of lycopene from tomatoes. Ultrason Sonochem 15:731–737Liazid A, Schwarz M, Varela RM, Palma M, Guillén DA, Brigui J, Macías FA, Barroso CG (2010) Evaluation of various extraction techniques for obtaining bioactive extracts from pine seeds. Food Bioprod Process 88:247–252Londoño-Londoño J, Rodrigues de Lima V, Lara O, Gil A, Crecsynski Pasa TB, Arango GJ, Ramirez Pineda JR (2010) Clean recovery of antioxidant flavonoids from citrus peel: optimizing an aqueous ultrasound-assisted extraction method. Food Chem 119:81–87Lou Z, Wang H, Zhang M, Wang Z (2010) Improved extraction of oil from chickpea under ultrasound in a dynamic system. J Food Eng 98:13–18Louisnard O, González-García J, Tudela I, Klima J, Sáez V, Vargas-Hernández Y (2009) FEM simulation of a sono-reactor accounting for vibrations of the boundaries. Ultrason Sonochem 16:250–259Luque de Castro MD, Priego-Capote F (2007) Analytical Applications of Ultrasound, Vol. 26, Techniques and Instrumentation in Analytical Chemistry. Elsevier Science, AmsterdamMa Y, Ye X, Hao Y, Xu G, Xu G, Liu D (2008) Ultrasound-assisted extraction of hesperidin from Penggan (Citrus reticulata) peel. Ultrason Sonochem 15:227–232Ma Y, Chen J-C, Liu Dong-Hong, Ye X-Q (2009) Simultaneous extraction of phenolic compounds of citrus peel extracts: effect of ultrasound. Ultrason Sonochem 16:57–62Makino K, Mossoba MM, Riesz P (1982) Chemical effects of ultrasound on aqueous solutions. Evidence for hydroxyl and hydrogen free radicals (.cntdot. OH and. cntdot. H) by spin trapping. J Chem Soc 104:3537–3539Margulis MA, Margulis IM (2003) Calorimetric method for measurement of acoustic power absorbed in a volume of liquid. Ultrason Sonochem 10:343–345Martin CJ, Law ANR (1983) Design of thermistor probes for measurement of ultrasound intensity distributions. Ultrasonics 21:85–90Mason TJ, Lorimer JP, Bates DM, Zhao Y (1994) Dosimetry in sonochemistry: the use of aqueous terephthalate ion as a fluorescence monitor. Ultrason Sonochem 1:91–95Meinhardt (2011) Leipzig. http://www.meinhardt-ultraschall.de . Accessed 10 Jan 2011Montalbo-Lomboy M, Khanal SK, van Leeuwen JH, Raman DR, Dunn L Jr, Grewell D Jr (2010) Ultrasonic pretreatment of corn slurry for saccharification: a comparison of batch and continuous Systems. Ultrason Sonochem 17:939–946Mulet A, Cárcel JA, Sanjuán N, Bon J (2003) New food drying technologies. Use of ultrasound. Food Sci Technol Int 9:215–221Naguleswaran S, Vasanthan T (2010) Dry milling of field pea (Pisum sativum L.) groats prior to wet fractionation influences the starch yield and purity. Food Chem 118:627–633Orozco-Solano M, Ruiz-Jiménez J, Luque de Castro MD (2010) Ultrasound-assisted extraction and derivatization of sterols and fatty alcohols from olive leaves and drupes prior to determination by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1217:1227–1235Patist A, Bates D (2008) Ultrasonic innovations in the food industry: from the laboratory to commercial production. Innovative Food Sci Emerg Technol 9:147–154Price GJ (1990) The use of ultrasound for the controlled degradation of polymer solutions. In: Mason TJ (ed) Advances in sonochemistry, vol 1. Jai Press, Cambridge, pp 231–287Riener J, Noci G, Cronin DA, Morgan DJ, Lyng JG (2010) A comparison of selected quality characteristics of yoghurts prepared from thermosonicated and conventionally heated milks. Food Chem 119:1108–1113Riera E, Golás Y, Blanco A, Gallego JA, Blasco M, Mulet A (2004) Mass transfer enhancement in supercritical fluids extraction by means of power ultrasound. Ultrason Sonochem 11:241–244Riera E, Blanco A, García J, Benedito J, Mulet A, Gallego-Juárez JA, Blasco M (2010) High-power ultrasonic system for the enhancement of mass transfer in supercritical CO2 extraction processes. Physics Procedia 3:141–146Roldán-Gutiérrez JM, Ruiz-Jiménez J, Luque de Castro MD (2008) Ultrasound-assisted dynamic extraction of valuable compounds from aromatic plants and flowers as compared with steam distillation and superheated liquid extraction. Talanta 75:1369–1375Romdhane M, Gourdon C (2002) Investigation in solid–liquid extraction: influence of ultrasound. Chem Eng J 87:11–19Rong L, Kojima Y, Koda S, Nomura H (2008) Simple quantification of ultrasonic intensity using aqueous solution of phenolphthalein. Ultrason Sonochem 8:11–15Sáez V, Frias-Ferrer A, Iniesta J, Gonzalez-Garcıa J, Aldaz A, Riera E (2005) Chacterization of a 20 kHz sonoreactor. Part I: analysis of mechanical effects by classical and numerical methods. Ultrason Sonochem 12:59–65Sáez V, Frias-Ferrer A, Iniesta J, Gonzalez-Garcıa J, Aldaz A, Riera E (2005) Characterization of a 20 kHz sonoreactor. Part II: analysis of chemical effects by classical and electrochemical methods. Ultrason Sonochem 12:67–72Sahena F, Zaidul ISM, Jinap S, Karim AA, Abbas KA, Norulaini NAN, Omar AKM (2009) Application of supercritical CO2 in lipid extraction–A review. J Food Eng 95:240–253Science Direct Database (2011) www.sciencedirect.com (Data of consulting: February 2011)Soria AC, Villamiel M (2010) Effect of ultrasound on the technological properties and bioactivity of food: a review. Trends Food Sci Technol 21:323–331Starmans DAJ, Nijhuis HH (1996) Extraction of secondary metabolites from plant material: a review. Trends Food Sci Technol 7:191–197Sivakumar V, Lakshmi Anna J, Vijayeeswarri J, Swaminathan G (2009) Ultrasound assisted enhancement in natural dye extraction from beetroot for industrial applications and natural dyeing of leather. Ultrason Sonochem 16:782–789Stanisavljevic IT, Lazic ML, Veljkovic VB (2007) Ultrasonic extraction of oil from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) seeds. Ultrason Sonochem 14:646–652Sun Y, Liu D, Chen J, Ye X, Yu D (2011) Effects of different factors of ultrasound treatment on the extraction yield of the all-trans-b-carotene from citrus peels. Ultrason Sonochem 18:243–249Suslick KS (2001) Sonoluminescence and sonochemistry. In: Meyers RA (ed) Encyclopedia of physical science and technology, vol 17, 3rd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 363–376Trabelsi F, Ait-Iyazidi H, Berlan J, Fabre PL, Delmas H, Wilhelm AM (1996) Electrochemical determination of the active zones in a high-frequency ultrasonic reactor. Ultrason Sonochem 3:125–130Veillet S, Tomao V, Chemat F (2010) Ultrasound assisted maceration: an original procedure for direct aromatisation of olive oil with basil. Food Chem 123:905–911Velickovic DT, Milenovic DM, Ristic MS, Veljkovic VB (2008) Ultrasonic extraction of waste solid residues from the Salvia sp. Essential oil hydrodistillation. Biochem Eng J 42:97–104Vercet A, Burgos J, Crelier S, Lopez-Buesa P (2001) Inactivation of proteases and lipases by ultrasound. Innovative Food Sci Emerg Technol 2:139–150Vilkhu K, Mawson R, Simons L, Bates D (2008) Applications and opportunities for ultrasound assisted extraction in the food industry—A review. Innovative Food Sci Emerg Technol 9:161–169Vinatoru M (2001) An overview of the ultrasonically assisted extraction of bioactive principles from herbs. Ultrason Sonochem 8:303–313Virot M, Tomao V, Le Bourvellec C, Renard CMCG, Chemat F (2010) Towards the industrial production of antioxidants from food processing by-products with ultrasound-assisted extraction. Ultrason Sonochem 17:1066–1074Wang J, Sun B, Cao Y, Tian Y, Li X (2008) Optimisation of ultrasound-assisted extraction of phenolic compounds from wheat bran. Food Chem 106:804–810Wang L, Weller CL (2006) Recent advances in extraction of nutraceuticals from plants. Trends Food Sci Technol 17:300–312Wei X, Chen M, Xiao Ja, Liu Y, Yu L, Zhang H, Wang Y (2010) Composition and bioactivity of tea flower polysaccharides obtained by different methods. Carbohydr Polym 79:418–422Weissler A, Cooper HW, Snyder S (1950) Chemical effects of ultrasonic waves: oxidation of potassium iodide solution by carbon tetrachloride. 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Habitat properties are key drivers of Borrelia burgdorferi (s.l.) prevalence in Ixodes ricinus populations of deciduous forest fragments

Background: The tick Ixodes ricinus has considerable impact on the health of humans and other terrestrial animals because it transmits several tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) such as B. burgdorferi (sensu lato), which causes Lyme borreliosis (LB). Small forest patches of agricultural landscapes provide many ecosystem services and also the disservice of LB risk. Biotic interactions and environmental filtering shape tick host communities distinctively between specific regions of Europe, which makes evaluating the dilution effect hypothesis and its influence across various scales challenging. Latitude, macroclimate, landscape and habitat properties drive both hosts and ticks and are comparable metrics across Europe. Therefore, we instead assess these environmental drivers as indicators and determine their respective roles for the prevalence of B. burgdorferi in I. ricinus. Methods: We sampled I. ricinus and measured environmental properties of macroclimate, landscape and habitat quality of forest patches in agricultural landscapes along a European macroclimatic gradient. We used linear mixed models to determine significant drivers and their relative importance for nymphal and adult B. burgdorferi prevalence. We suggest a new prevalence index, which is pool-size independent. Results: During summer months, our prevalence index varied between 0 and 0.4 per forest patch, indicating a low to moderate disservice. Habitat properties exerted a fourfold larger influence on B. burgdorferi prevalence than macroclimate and landscape properties combined. Increasingly available ecotone habitat of focal forest patches diluted and edge density at landscape scale amplified B. burgdorferi prevalence. Indicators of habitat attractiveness for tick hosts (food resources and shelter) were the most important predictors within habitat patches. More diverse and abundant macro- and microhabitat had a diluting effect, as it presumably diversifies the niches for tick-hosts and decreases the probability of contact between ticks and their hosts and hence the transmission likelihood.[br/] Conclusions: Diluting effects of more diverse habitat patches would pose another reason to maintain or restore high biodiversity in forest patches of rural landscapes. We suggest classifying habitat patches by their regulating services as dilution and amplification habitat, which predominantly either decrease or increase B. burgdorferi prevalence at local and landscape scale and hence LB risk. Particular emphasis on promoting LB-diluting properties should be put on the management of those habitats that are frequently used by humans. In the light of these findings, climate change may be of little concern for LB risk at local scales, but this should be evaluated further

No depth-dependence of fine root litter decomposition in temperate beech forest soils

Aims Subsoil organic carbon (OC) tends to be older and is presumed to be more stable than topsoil OC, but the reasons for this are not yet resolved. One hypothesis is that decomposition rates decrease with increasing soil depth. We tested whether decomposition rates of beech fine root litter varied with depth for a range of soils using a litterbag experiment in German beech forest plots. Methods In three study regions (Schorfheide-Chorin, Hainich-Dün and Schwäbische-Alb), we buried 432 litterbags containing 0.5 g of standardized beech root material (fine roots with a similar chemical composition collected from 2 year old Fagus sylvatica L. saplings, root diameter<2mm) at three different soil depths (5, 20 and 35 cm). The decomposition rates as well as the changes in the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations of the decomposing fine root litter were determined at a 6 months interval during a 2 years field experiment. Results The amount of root litter remaining after 2 years of field incubation differed between the study regions (76 ± 2 % in Schorfheide-Chorin, 85 ± 2 % in Schwäbische-Alb, and 88±2 % in Hainich-Dün) but did not vary with soil depth. Conclusions Our results indicate that the initial fine root decomposition rates are more influenced by regional scale differences in environmental conditions including climate and soil parent material, than by changes in microbial activities with soil depth. Moreover, they suggest that a similar potential to decompose new resources in the form of root litter exists in both surface and deep soils

Diversity in the Afterlife

Field experiments that varied the composition of both plant litter and the organisms that break it down have revealed that, across ecosystems, lower biodiversity slows the rate of litter decomposition