Scientific evaluation of deterioration of historic huts of Ross Island, Antarctica

There are many challenges facing conservation of the historic huts in Antarctica including non-biological, biological and environmental impacts explains Professor Roberta L. Farrell, Department of Biological Sciences, the University of Waikato. The article presents a discussion of historical huts of Ross Island, Antarctica

Phylogeny and taxonomy of the Ophiostoma piceae complex and the Dutch elm disease fungi

The Ophiostoma piceae complex forms a monophyletic group of insect-dispersed pyrenomycetes with synnemata (Pesotum) and micronematous (Sporothrix) synanamorphs. Other species of Ophios-toma outside of the O. piceae complex that form syn-nemata lack the Sporothrix state. The nine recognized species within the 0. piceae complex are delimited by synnema morphology, growth rate at 32 C, mating reactions and sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA operon. Phyloge-netic analysis of the ITS region suggests two major clades in the complex, one that causes bluestain in primarily coniferous hosts and the other on primarily hardwood hosts. In the coniferous group are O. pi-ceae, O. canum, O. floccosum and the recently de-scribed O. setosum (anamorph Pesotum cupulatum sp. nov.). In the hardwood group are O. querci, O. caton-ianum, and the Dutch elm disease fungi: O. ulmi, O. novo-ulmi and O. himal-ulmi. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the ITS region are shown to be a convenient diagnostic tool for delimiting these species

Advances in Understanding The Ability of Sapstaining Fungi To Produce Cell Wall-Degrading Enzymes

The ability of selected sapstaining fungi to produce the enzymes cellulase, xylanase, mannanase, pectinase, and amylase was investigated in vitro. While all test fungi secreted low amounts of xylanase (up to 1.64 μmoles/min/ml) and pectinase (up to 0.11 μmoles/min/ml) into the growth medium, extracellular cellulase was not detected. Furthermore, mannanase was produced only by Ophiostoma piceae (Münch) Syd. & P. Syd. (0.29 μmoles/min/ml). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mannanase activity for any Ophiostoma sp. Amylase activity was higher than xylanase, mannanase, and pectinase activities for all test fungi. This confirms that sapstaining fungi preferentially metabolize readily accessible, nonstructural wood components, such as starch. Possible roles of the enzymes detected are discussed

Environmental pollutants from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions during the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration

Early explorers to Antarctica built wooden huts and brought huge quantities of supplies and equipment to support their geographical and scientific studies for several years. When the expeditions ended and relief ships arrived, a rapid exodus frequently allowed only essential items to be taken north. The huts and thousands of items were left behind. Fuel depots with unused containers of petroleum products, asbestos materials, and diverse chemicals were also left at the huts. This investigation found high concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in soils under and around the historic fuel depots, including anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, chrysene, fluorene, and pyrene, as well as benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, and fluoranthene, which are recognized carcinogens. Asbestos materials within the huts have been identified and extensive amounts of fragmented asbestos were found littering the ground around the Cape Evans hut. These materials are continually abraded and fragmented as tourists walk over them and the coarse scoria breaks and grinds down the materials. A chemical spill, within the Cape Evans hut, apparently from caustic substances from one of the scientific experiments, has caused an unusual deterioration and defibration on affected woods. Although these areas are important historic sites protected by international treaties, the hazardous waste materials left by the early explorers should be removed and remedial action taken to restore the site to as pristine a condition as possible. Recommendations are discussed for international efforts to study and clean up these areas, where the earliest environmental pollution in Antarctica was produced

Screening fungi isolated from historic Discovery Hut on Ross Island, Antarctica for cellulose degradation

To survive in Antarctica, early explorers of Antarctica's Heroic Age erected wooden buildings and brought in large quantities of supplies. The introduction of wood and other organic materials may have provided new nutrient sources for fungi that were indigenous to Antarctica or were brought in with the materials. From 30 samples taken from Discovery Hut, 156 filamentous fungi were isolated on selective media. Of these, 108 were screened for hydrolytic activity on carboxymethyl cellulose, of which 29 demonstrated activities. Endo-1, 4-β-glucanase activity was confirmed in the extracellular supernatant from seven isolates when grown at 4°C, and also when they were grown at 15°C. Cladosporium oxysporum and Geomyces sp. were shown to grow on a variety of synthetic cellulose substrates and to use cellulose as a nutrient source at temperate and cold temperatures. The research findings from the present study demonstrate that Antarctic filamentous fungi isolated from a variety of substrates (wood, straw, and food stuffs) are capable of cellulose degradation and can grow well at low temperatures

Athletes’ Relationships with Training Scale (ART)

The Athletes’ Relationships with Training Scale (ART)* is a self-report measure of unhealthy training behaviors and beliefs in athletes. The ART was designed for use by clinicians and athletic trainers to help identify athletes who are engaging in unhealthy training practices which could be associated with an eating disorder. The ART may also be helpful for tracking clinical outcomes in athletes with eating disorders who are receiving treatment. This record contains the 15-item ART as well as scoring instructions and guidelines for interpreting total scores

Search for New Physics in the Multijet and Missing Transverse Momentum Final State in Proton-Proton Collisions at √s=7 TeV

A search for physics beyond the standard model is performed in events with at least three jets and large missing transverse momentum produced in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. No significant excess of events above the expected backgrounds is observed in 4.98 inverse femtobarns of data collected with the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The results are presented in the context of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model and more generically for simplified models. For the simplified models of gluino-gluino and squark-squark production, gluino masses below 1.0 TeV and squark masses below 0.76 TeV are excluded in case the lightest supersymmetric particle mass is below 200 GeV. These results significantly extend previous searches

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good