Soil microorganisms in the urban ecosystems of the russian subarctic (Murmansk region, Apatity)

A comprehensive study of the quantitative and qualitative parameters of soil microfungi, bacteria and algae communities in the Apatity city, located in the subarctic zone of Russia, was carried out for the first time. Urban soil samples were taken from various landuse zones (residential, recreational) and compared to arable and forest soils. In the residential zone, a decrease in the number of microfungi in the topsoil horizon to 1.1 thous. CFU/g compared to 22.7 thous. CFU/g in forest soil was revealed. In the residential zone, an increase was found in the number of saprotrophic bacteria to 7.8 million cells g-1 and oligotrophic to 10.9 million cells g-1 compared to 2.6 million cells g-1 and 1.8 million cells g-1 respectively in forest soils. In the recreational zone, the number of soil microorganisms was similar to that in the forest. A decrease in the species diversity of microfungi in the soil of the residential zone and an increase in the diversity of soil algae were revealed. Among the dominant species of fungi in urban soils, atypical species, including pathogenic ones for humans (Penicillium dierckxii, Stachybotris echinatus, Fusarium sp.), were found. In the algal community, diatoms, yellow-green algae, and cyanobacteria appeared in urban soils in comparison with forest soil. As a result of changes in the quantitative and qualitative indicators of soil microbial communities, a decrease in the enzymatic activity of soils has been noted. This may indicate a weakening of the ecosystem functions of urban soils and an increase in the degree of toxicity for living organisms and humans

OPPORTUNISTIC FUNGI IN THE POLLUTED SOILS OF KOLA PENINSULA

The species diversity and the structure of the opportunistic fungi complexes in the forest Albic Podzols under the impact of the Aluminum and Copper-Nickel Plants emissions, as well as in the Hortic Anthrosol contaminated by the oil products (diesel fuel, gas condensate, mazut) in the north-west region of Russia (the Kola Peninsula) have been investigated. The share of the opportunistic fungi increase up to 15% in the zones of the Aluminum and Copper-Nickel Plants emissions comparable to the background soil, and up to 20-25% in the soils contaminated by the oil products has been revealed. The majority of the fungi species belong to the following genera: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Mucor, Lecanicillium, Phoma and Cladosporium. The structure of the fungal complexes has changed in the polluted soil, that is, the species abundance and the frequency of the opportunistic fungi occurrence have increased. The strains of the fungi isolated from the contaminated soil reveal the potential pathogenicity in a greater degree, than the strains isolated from the clean soil. 55% of the total amount of fungi strains isolated from the soils contaminated by the Aluminum Plant emissions had the potential pathogenicity. The most dangerous for a human’s health were Amorphotheca resinae, Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, Paecilomyces variotii, Penicillium commune, P. purpurеogenum, Trichoderma viride isolated from the soils contaminated by the Aluminum Plant emissions; and P. aurantiogriseum, P. glabrum, P. commune, P. simplicissimum, Rhizopus nigricans isolated from the soils contaminated by the oil products. Those species revealed protease, phospholipase activity, as well as the growth ability at the temperature 37°

Development And Optimization Of Biological Treatment Of Quarry Waters From Mineral Nitrogen In The Subarctic

The new concept of bioremediation  of anthropogenic water bodies and quarry wastewaters treatment by phytoextraction and phytotransformation in the Subarctic conditions is presented.  This technology is based on transformating  the man-caused water reservoirs  into nature-like  marsh ecosystems.  At the first stage,  a new patented method for advanced waste treatment using floating bioplate was developed and implemented. After implementing  the bioplate, the concentration of ammonium ions in water decreased by 53-90%, nitrate nitrogen reduced by 15-20%. At the second stage, the floating bioplate technology was modified into the highly efficient purificating marsh ecosystem, which allowed to cover the waterbody  territory to the greatest possible extent. The technology is based on the creation of phytomats enabling in the accelerated mode to form plant blocks of three different types. They are aimed both at local grassing down, and at swamping deep and shallow areas of sediment ponds. In forming phytomats, two soil substitutional substrates (thermovermiculite  and wood sawdust) and regionally-optimized  assortment of 24 plant species are used. The proposed technology does not require energy, chemicals and soil components which are scarce in the region. The predominance of natural ecosystem  processes in the formed phytocenoses allows to achieve maximum efficiency, and the use of available materials contributes to minimizing the costs of creating and maintaining the system. The introduction of this technology and formation of the artificial phytocenosis  with the area of about 30% of the man-caused  reservoirs territory made it possible to increase the efficiency of wastewater treating from mineral nitrogen compounds  by 22%

Diversity and Source of Airborne Microbial Communities at Differential Polluted Sites of Rome

Biogenic fraction of airborne PM10 which includes bacteria, viruses, fungi and pollens, has been proposed as one of the potential causes of the PM10 toxicity. The present study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the microbial community variations associated to PM10, and their main local sources in the surrounding environment in three urban sites of Rome, characterized by differential pollution rate: green area, residential area and polluted area close to the traffic roads. We combined high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, with detailed chemical analysis of particulate matter sampled from air, paved road surfaces and leaf surfaces of Quercus ilex. Our results demonstrated that bacterial and fungal airborne communities were characterized by the highest alpha-diversity and grouped separately from epiphytic and road dust communities. The reconstruction of source-sink relationships revealed that the resuspension/deposition of road dust from traffic might contribute to the maximum magnitude of microbial exchanges. The relative abundance of extremotolerant microbes was found to be enhanced in epiphytic communities and was associated to a progressively increase of pollution levels as well as opportunistic human pathogenicity in fungal communities

Urbanization affects soil microbiome profile distribution in the russian arctic region

Urbanization in the Arctic results in considerable and still poorly known environmental consequences. The effect of urbanization on soil microbiome—an ecosystem component highly sensi-tive to anthropogenic disturbance—remains overlooked for the Arctic region. The research compared chemical and microbial properties of the natural Podzol soils and urban soils of Murmansk—the largest Arctic city. Particular attention was given to the profile distribution, which is almost com-pletely ignored by most microbial studies. Soil microbiome was investigated by the quantitative indicators based on fluorescence microscopy (microbial biomass) and PCR real-time methods (amount of rRNA genes copies of archaea, bacteria, and fungi). The principal changes in urban soils’ properties compared to the natural references included a shift in pH and an increase in C and nutrients’ contents, especially remarkable for the subsoil. The numbers of rRNA genes copies of archaea, bacteria, and fungi in urban topsoils (106 –1010, 109 –1010, and 107 –109, respectively) were lower than in Podzol; however, the opposite pattern was shown for the subsoil. Similarly, the total microbial biomass in urban topsoils (0.55–0.75 mg g−1 ) was lower compared to the 1.02 mg g−1 in Podzols, while urban subsoil microbial biomass was 2–2.5 times higher than in the natural conditions. Both for urban and natural soils and throughout the profiles, fungi were dominated by mycelium forms; however, the ratios of mycelium–spores were lower, and the amount of thin mycelium was higher in urban soils than in natural Podzols. Urbanization in the Arctic altered soil morphological and chemical properties and created a new niche for microbial development in urban subsoils; its contribution to biodiversity and nutrient cycling promises to become increasingly important under projected climate change

Microscopic fungi in big cities : Biodiversity, source, and relation to pollution by potentially toxic metals

For the first time, a mycological analysis of outdoor urban environment (air, leaves, sealed surfaces) was carried in the cities of subarctic (Murmansk) and temperate (Moscow) climatic zones. The chemical composition of dust deposited on leaves of dominant tree species was taken as an indicator of the air quality. Assessment of the complex impact of factors (climate zone, type of substrate, anthropogenic load) on the quantitative and qualitative parameters of mycobiome was performed. Compared to Moscow, Murmansk was characterized by an increased number and concentrations of pollutants in the deposited dust. The number of culturable airborne fungi in Murmansk was substantially lower than in Moscow. Half of the species belonged to the opportunistic in both cities. Most dangerous opportunistic fungi were absent in the air of recreational zones but present on leaves surface and in road dust in all assessed zones of the cities. Dust chemical composition affected the diversity of fungi species. While the relationship of biological parameters with concentration of potentially toxic metals was generally negative, Cd increased the fraction of opportunistic fungi in road dust. The study revealed an importance of substrate in determining the sensitivity of outdoor mycobiome to pollution and highlighted its biological characteristics sensitive to climate

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria in Three Different Functional Zones of the Cities of Moscow and Murmansk

We performed a comparative study of the total bacterial communities and communities of cultivable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)-degrading bacteria in different functional zones of Moscow and Murmansk that were formed under the influence of the PAH composition in road and leaf dust. The PAHs were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); the bacterial communities’ diversity was assessed by metabarcoding. The degraders were isolated by their direct plating on a medium with the PAHs. The PAH total quantity declined in the leaf dust from the traffic to the recreational zone. For the road dust, a negative gradient with pollution was observed for Rhodococcus and Acinetobacter degraders and for their relative abundance in the microbiome for the functional zones of Moscow. The opposite effect was observed in the Murmansk leaf dust for the Rothia and Pseudomonas degraders and in the Moscow road dust for Microbacterium. The PCA and linear regression analyses showed that the Micrococcus degraders in the dust were sensitive to anthropogenic pollution, so they can be used as a tool for monitoring anthropogenic changes in the biosphere. The data on the degraders’ and microbial communities’ diversity suggest that minor degrading strains can play a key role in PAH degradation

Phylloplane Biodiversity and Activity in the City at Different Distances from the Traffic Pollution Source

The phylloplane is an integrated part of green infrastructure which interacts with plant health. Taxonomic characterization of the phylloplane with the aim to link it to ecosystem functioning under anthropogenic pressure is not sufficient because only active microorganisms drive biochemical processes. Activity of the phylloplane remains largely overlooked. We aimed to study the interactions among the biological characteristics of the phylloplane: taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and activity, and the pollution grade. Leaves of Betula pendula were sampled in Moscow at increasing distances from the road. For determination of phylloplane activity and functional diversity, a MicroResp tool was utilized. Taxonomic diversity of the phylloplane was assessed with a combination of microorganism cultivation and molecular techniques. Increase of anthropogenic load resulted in higher microbial respiration and lower DNA amount, which could be viewed as relative inefficiency of phylloplane functioning in comparison to less contaminated areas. Taxonomic diversity declined with road vicinity, similar to the functional diversity pattern. The content of Zn in leaf dust better explained the variation in phylloplane activity and the amount of DNA. Functional diversity was linked to variation in nutrient content. The fraction of pathogenic fungi of the phylloplane was not correlated with any of the studied elements, while it was significantly high at the roadsides. The bacterial classes Gammaproteobacteria and Cytophagia, as well as the Dothideomycetes class of fungi, are exposed to the maximal effect of distance from the highway. This study demonstrated the sensitivity of the phylloplane to road vicinity, which combines the effects of contaminants (mainly Zn according to this study) and potential stressful air microclimatic conditions (e.g., low relative air humidity, high temperature, and UV level). Microbial activity and taxonomic diversity of the phylloplane could be considered as an additional tool for bioindication