Fungi originating from tree leaves contribute to fungal diversity of litter in streams

Biomass production and decomposition are key processes in ecology, where plants are primarily responsible for production and microbes act in decomposition. Trees harbor foliar microfungi living on and inside leaf tissues, epiphytes, and endophytes, respectively. Early researchers hypothesized that all fungal endophytes are parasites or latent saprophytes, which slowly colonize the leaf tissues for decomposition. While this has been proven for some strains in the terrestrial environment, it is not known whether foliar microfungi from terrestrial origin can survive or perform decomposition in the aquatic environment. On the other hand, aquatic hyphomycetes, fungi which decompose organic material in stream environments, have been suggested to have a plant-associated life phase. Our aim was to study how much the fungal communities of leaves and litter submerged in streams overlap. Ergosterol content on litter, which is an estimator of fungal biomass, was 5–14 times higher in submerged litter than in senescent leaves, indicating active fungal colonization. Leaves generally harbored a different microbiome prior to than after submergence in streams. The Chao1 richness was significantly higher (93.7 vs. 60.7, p = 0.004) and there were more observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (78.3 vs. 47.4, p = 0.004) in senescent leaves than in stream-immersed litter. There were more Leotiomycetes (9%, p = 0.014) in the litter. We identified a group of 35 fungi (65%) with both plant- and water-associated lifestyles. Of these, eight taxa had no previous references to water, such as lichenicolous fungi. Six OTUs were classified within Glomeromycota, known as obligate root symbionts with no previous records from leaves. Five members of Basidiomycota, which are rare in aquatic environments, were identified in the stream-immersed litter only. Overall, our study demonstrates that foliar microfungi contribute to fungal diversity in submerged litter

Helsinki, Vantaa vai uusi uljas Vanki; tutkimus Helsingin ja Vantaan kaupunkien teoreettisen yhdistymisen vaikutuksista kuntien kiinteistötekniikkaan

Opinnäytetyössä tutkittiin Helsingin ja Vantaan kaupunkien teoreettisen yhdistymisen vaikutuksia kuntien kiinteistötekniikkaan, yhdistymisen edellyttämiä toimenpiteitä kiinteistörekisterijärjestelmän toimivuuden turvaamiseksi sekä toteutettavien muutosten määrää ja laajuutta. Tutkimuksen sisältöä laajennettiin vuoden 2009 kuntaliitoskunnille suunnatulla kyselytutkimuksella, jolla kartoitettiin kuntaliitoksista saatuja käytännön kokemuksia mm. rekisterijärjestelmien, kartaston, tunnusmuutosten sekä itse teknisen toteutuksen osalta. Työn lähtökohtana oli Helsingin ja Vantaan kaupunkien yhdistymisestä viime vuosina käyty runsas ja näkyvä keskustelu. Tutkimuksessa tehtiin lähtöaineistoon perustuvia kvantitatiivisia ja kvalitatiivisia tilastoanalyysejä. Helsingin ja Vantaan yhdistymiseen liittyvän osion lähtötietoina käytettiin Helsingin seudun ympäristöpalveluiden julkaisemaa SeutuCD’11 kuntien kiinteistö- ja kaavayksikköaineistoa vuodelta 2011 sekä Helsingin ja Vantaan kaupunkien Facta-kuntarekisteristä poimittuja nimistötietoja. Tutkimuksessa todettiin, että Helsingin ja Vantaan kuntien yhteenlasketun 61 376 sijaintialuetunnukseltaan rekisterikylä- ja kaupunginosajaotuksen piiriin kuuluvan kiinteistön sekä 62 122 kaupunginosajakoon perustuvan kaavayksikön alueilla sijaitsee yhteensä 30 samannimistä rekisterikylää sekä 23 samannimistä kaupunginosaa. Vertailtaessa tutkimustulosten perusteella eri kuntaliitosvaihtoehtoja päädyttiin nimen Helsinki valintaan. Yhteensä 10 463 nimeä kattavan suomenkielisen nimistöaineiston vertailussa löytyi yhteensä 416 täysin vastaavaa nimeä, joista muutettaviksi kohteiksi jäi noin 355 kappaletta. Kyselytutkimuksessa merkittävimmiksi tekijöiksi kuntaliitoksien onnistumiselle nousivat Maanmittauslaitoksen vankka asiantuntemus ja vetovastuu hankkeessa sekä sen ylläpitämän kiinteistörekisterijärjestelmän monipuolinen hyödyntämismahdollisuus mm. uuden kunnan kartta-aineiston laadun yhtenäistämisessä ja parantamisessa. Hyvin toteutetun kuntaliitoksen edellytys näytti myös olevan kuntien tiivis yhteistyö, yhdessä laadittu suunnitelma sekä ammattitaitoinen henkilökunta ja tahtotila, tai yhden kunnan ottama vastuu tehtävän onnistumisesta. Myös kuntien teknisillä valmiuksilla oli merkittävä rooli liitoksissa.The purpose of this thesis was to study the effects of merger of the cities of Helsinki and Vantaa on the municipalities’ land subdivision, as well as the actions required during the merger in order to ensure the continued functionality of the real estate registry system and the scope and amount of changes needed. The study’s content was further broadened with a survey on consolidated municipalities formed in 2009. The survey charted practical experiences from the consolidation in regard to registry systems, maps and changes in real estate codes as well as the technical implementation itself. The starting point of the study was the active and visible recent debate on the merging of the cities of Helsinki and Vantaa. The study includes quantitative and qualitative statistical analyses based on the source material. Regarding the merger of Helsinki and Vantaa, the source information used originated from the municipalities’ real estate and planning unit material from 2011 (the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority) as well as nomenclature information obtained from the Facta municipality register for the cities of Helsinki and Vantaa. The study concluded that out of the total of 61,376 properties which, on the basis of their area code, are part of the registered village (rekisterikylä) and district division of Helsinki and Vantaa, and the 62,122 plan units based on the district division, there are 30 registered villages and 23 districts with the same names. When different municipality consolidation options were compared on the basis of the study results, the name of Helsinki was chosen. Examining the nomenclature material, out of a total of 10,463 Finnish names there were 416 exact matches, of which 355 were to be changed. The survey showed that the key factors for successful consolidation were the expertise and management responsibility of the National Land Survey of Finland as well as the versatile utilisation of its real estate register system, e.g. in unifying and improving the quality of the new municipality’s map materials. Successful consolidation also seemed to require close cooperation of the municipalities, a collaborative plan the expertise and motivation of the personnel, or one municipality taking charge of completing the task successfully. Also, the municipalities’ technical abilities played a significant role

Fungi originating from tree leaves contribute to fungal diversity of litter in streams

Abstract Biomass production and decomposition are key processes in ecology, where plants are primarily responsible for production and microbes act in decomposition. Trees harbor foliar microfungi living on and inside leaf tissues, epiphytes, and endophytes, respectively. Early researchers hypothesized that all fungal endophytes are parasites or latent saprophytes, which slowly colonize the leaf tissues for decomposition. While this has been proven for some strains in the terrestrial environment, it is not known whether foliar microfungi from terrestrial origin can survive or perform decomposition in the aquatic environment. On the other hand, aquatic hyphomycetes, fungi which decompose organic material in stream environments, have been suggested to have a plant-associated life phase. Our aim was to study how much the fungal communities of leaves and litter submerged in streams overlap. Ergosterol content on litter, which is an estimator of fungal biomass, was 5–14 times higher in submerged litter than in senescent leaves, indicating active fungal colonization. Leaves generally harbored a different microbiome prior to than after submergence in streams. The Chao1 richness was significantly higher (93.7 vs. 60.7, p = 0.004) and there were more observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (78.3 vs. 47.4, p = 0.004) in senescent leaves than in stream-immersed litter. There were more Leotiomycetes (9%, p = 0.014) in the litter. We identified a group of 35 fungi (65%) with both plant- and water-associated lifestyles. Of these, eight taxa had no previous references to water, such as lichenicolous fungi. Six OTUs were classified within Glomeromycota, known as obligate root symbionts with no previous records from leaves. Five members of Basidiomycota, which are rare in aquatic environments, were identified in the stream-immersed litter only. Overall, our study demonstrates that foliar microfungi contribute to fungal diversity in submerged litter

Microbiome of the first stool after birth and infantile colic

Abstract Background: Recent studies have shown a diverse microbiome in the first stool after birth. The clinical significance of the microbiome of the first stool is not known. Infantile colic has earlier been associated with the composition of the intestinal microbiome. Methods: We set out to test whether the microbiome of the first stool is associated with subsequent infantile colic in a prospective, population-based cohort study of 212 consecutive newborn infants. We used next-generation sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Results: The newborns who later developed infantile colic (n = 19) had a lower relative abundance of the genus Lactobacillus and the phylum Firmicutes in the first stool than those who remained healthy (n = 139). By using all microbiome data, random forest algorithm classified newborn with subsequent colic and those who remained healthy with area under the curve of 0.66 (SD 0.03) as compared to that of shuffled samples (P value <0.001). Conclusions: In this prospective, population-based study, the microbiome of the first-pass meconium was associated with subsequent infantile colic. Our results suggest that the pathogenesis of infantile colic is closely related to the intestinal microbiome at birth

Microbiome of the first stool and overweight at age 3 years:a prospective cohort study

Abstract Background: Several reports have revealed that the first‐pass meconium hosts a diverse microbiome, but its clinical significance is not known. Objective: We designed a prospective population‐based cohort study to evaluate whether the meconium microbiome predicts subsequent growth in children. Methods: The study comprised 212 consecutive newborns with a meconium sample and a follow‐up sample at 1 year of age. Trained nurses measured the children for weight and length using standardized techniques. We used next‐generation sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene and machine‐learning approach for the analysis. Results: The children with overweight at 3 years of age differed in their meconium microbiome from those with normal weight, having a higher proportion of Bacteroidetes phylum (29% vs 15%, P = .013). Using the machine‐learning approach, the gut microbiome at birth predicted subsequent overweight with area under the curve 0.70 (SD 0.04). A lower proportion of Staphylococcus at birth was associated with greater length/height at 1 year (ß = −.68, P = .029) and 2 years of age (β = −.74, P = .030). Conclusions: The microbiome of the first‐pass meconium predicted subsequent overweight at the age of 3 years. The association between the gut microbiome and overweight appears to start already during pregnancy and at birth

Impact of intrapartum and postnatal antibiotics on the gut microbiome and emergence of antimicrobial resistance in infants

Abstract Altogether, 20–30% of women receive intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) to prevent sepsis in infants and 2–5% of newborn infants receive antibiotics due to suspected sepsis. Caesarean section has a long-term impact on the intestinal microbiome but the effects of perinatal antibiotics on gut microbiome in vaginally delivered infants are not well known. We compared the impact of IAP, postnatal antibiotics, or their combination on the gut microbiome and emergence of antimicrobial resistance in a controlled study of 149 newborn infants recruited within 24 hours after birth. We collected 659 fecal samples, including 426 daily samples from infants before discharge from the hospital and 111 follow-up samples at six months. Penicillin was mostly used for IAP and the combination of penicillin and aminoglycoside for postnatal treatment. Postnatal antibiotic groups received Lactobacillus reuteri probiotic. Newborn gut colonization differed in both IAP and postnatal antibiotics groups as compared to that in control group. The effect size of IAP was comparable to that caused by postnatal antibiotics. The observed differences were still present at six months and not prevented by lactobacilli consumption. Given the present clinical results, the impact of perinatal antibiotics on the subsequent health of newborn infants should be further evaluated

Different endophyte communities colonize buds of sprouts compared with mature trees of mountain birch recovered from moth herbivory

Abstract Plant meristems were previously thought to be sterile. Today, meristem-associated shoot endophytes are mainly reported as contaminants from plant tissue cultures, the number of observed species being very low. However, the few strains characterized have the capacity for infecting host cells and affecting plant growth and development. Here we studied the communities of endophytic bacteria in the buds of mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii (N. I. Orlova) Hämet-Ahti) exposed to winter moth (Operophtera brumata L.) herbivory, to identify differences between sprouts and branches of mature birch trees. Mountain birch of the high subarctic is cyclically exposed to winter moth and produces sprouts to generate new trees as a survival mechanism. The majority (54%) of operational taxonomic units belonged to Xanthomonadaceae and Pseudomonales of Proteobacteria. Most of the observed species were classified as Xanthomonas (28%). Sprout buds had the highest diversity, containing approximately three times more species, and significantly more (43%) Pseudomonas species than the mature trees (14%). Our results demonstrate that endophytic communities of buds are richer than previously thought. We suggest that the meristem-associated endophytes should be studied further for a possible role in sprouting and aiding regeneration of trees