Due to the special geographical location and the complex ecosystem types, plateau wetlands play important ecological roles in water supply, greenhouse gas regulation and biodiversity preservation. Napahai plateau wetland is a special wetland type with low latitude and high altitude, and its microbial diversity was rarely studied. The diversity of microbial communities in the Napahai plateau wetland was analyzed using metagenomics method. Among the microbes detected, 184 phyla, 3 262 genera and 24 260 species belong to the bacterial domain, 13 phyla and 32 genera belong to the archaeal domain, and 13 phyla and 47 genera belong to the fungal domain. Significant differences in species diversity between soil and water were observed. Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were dominant phyla in soil, while Proteobacteria and Bacteroides were dominant phyla in water. Since the carbon and nitrogen metabolism genes were abundant, the pathways of carbon fixation and nitrogen metabolism were analyzed. Calvin cycle, reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle and 3-hydroxypropionic acid cycle were the main carbon fixation pathways, while Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Crenarchaeota were the main carbon-fixing bacteria group. As for the nitrogen cycle, nitrogen fixation and dissimilatory nitrate reduction were dominant in water, while nitrification and denitrification were dominant in soil. Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota contributed to the nitrogen cycle. The study on microbial diversity of Napahai plateau wetlands provides new knowledge for the comprehensive management and protection of wetland environment in China.
Carbon ; Ecosystem ; Metagenomics ; Nitrogen ; Soil Microbiology ; Wetlands

OBJECTIVETo determine the present status of plant communities and their possible association with the habitat in Malam Jabba, Swat, Pakistan.

METHODSA study on the phytoecology was conducted in various ecologically important sites of Malam Jabba, Swat, Pakistan from 2002 to 2004. The altitude of these sites ranged from 1 200 m to 3 200 m. Quadrat method was used for evaluation of plants communities and the data on these attributes was converted to relative values. The plant communities were named after 3 leading species with highest importance values. Biological spectrum of the flora based on the life form was prepared by following Raunkiar's life form classes.

RESULTSThe floristic composition and structure of the study area were found to be 200 species belonging to 75 families. Asteraceae, Lamiaceae and Poaceae were important families in the study area. The biological spectrum showed that therophytic and hemicrytophytic life form and micro-nonophyllous leaf sizes were dominant in the area. The air and soil temperatures were decreasing with increasing elevation. Both the air and soil temperatures were relatively higher in south slopes than on the northeast slopes. The vegetation analysis of the area indicated eleven plant communities around the area. The present vegetation is the relics of moist temperate coniferous forest in the area. The communities reflect highly deteriorated conditions. Both the structure and composition of the surrounding vegetation were associated with the types of habitats.

CONCLUSIONSThe conservation of the remaining populations of the reported communities will be best achieved by proper time of sustainable harvesting. It is only possible with the participation of local communities.

OBJECTIVETo study the biomass structure of Epimedium acuminatum Franch in the different ecological environments for the development and protection.

METHODThrough the scientific investigation in four typical habitats, the sampling spots were set up, the functional modules' biomass structure and relationship of E. acuminatum were researched.

RESULTThe average of rhizome, as the largest biomass, and the average total biomass had the same pattern: the open areas of forest edge > shrub lumber > shrub-weed > stream drains. The ratio of the functional modules' biomass had different rates under different habitat conditions. By analyzing and combining investigation, the aerial part of E. acuminatum in the shrub-weed were comparative advantage, and the roots of nutrient accumulation of E. acuminatum in the open areas of forest edge were the highest efficient. Under different ecological condition, the distribution of water metabolism was different strategies.

CONCLUSIONIn the open areas of forest edge, E. acuminatum growing well, followed by shrub-weed. These two habitats are the ideal ecological environments while the rhizome or the whole plant used as medicine, but also the protection of E. acuminatum.

The Alataw Pass, near the Ebinur Lake Wetland (northwest of China) and Taldykorgan (east of Kazakhstan), is a natural habitat for wild rodents. To date, little has been done on the surveillance of Bartonella spp. and Wolbachia spp. from fleas in the region. Here we molecularly detected Bartonella spp. and Wolbachia spp. in wild rodent fleas during January and October of 2016 along the Alataw Pass-Kazakhstan border. A total of 1,706 fleas belonging to 10 species were collected from 6 rodent species. Among the 10 flea species, 4 were found to be positive for Wolbachia, and 5 flea species were positive for Bartonella. Molecular analysis indicated that i) B. rochalimae was firstly identified in Xenopsylla gerbilli minax and X. conforms conforms, ii) B. grahamii was firstly identified in X. gerbilli minax, and iii) B. elizabethae was firstly detected in Coptopsylla lamellifer ardua, Paradoxopsyllus repandus, and Nosopsyllus laeviceps laeviceps. Additionally, 3 Wolbachia endosymbionts were firstly found in X. gerbilli minax, X. conforms conforms, P. repandus, and N. laeviceps laeviceps. BLASTn analysis indicated 3 Bartonella species showed genotypic variation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 3 Wolbachia endosymbionts were clustered into the non-Siphonaptera Wolbachia group. These findings extend our knowledge of the geographical distribution and carriers of B. rochalimae, B. grahamii, B. elizabethae, and Wolbachia spp. In the future, there is a need for China-Kazakhstan cooperation to strengthen the surveillance of flea-borne pathogens in wildlife.
Bartonella ; Ecosystem ; Lakes ; Rodentia ; Siphonaptera ; Wetlands ; Wolbachia ; Xenopsylla

OBJECTIVETo study species diversity and the host of Thesium chinense community.

METHODThe investigation on phytocoenology was carried out on the T. chinense community in 7 areas of Anhui Province and Jiangsu Province. The correlation between species diversity of community and T. chinense abundance was analyzed regarding to the abundance of species, the abundant index of species, species diversity index and community even index.

RESULT AND CONCLUSIONThe results showed that T. chinense liked light, warm climate, liked acidic to neuter soil. The majority of T. chinense distributed in the humid wasteland and herbaceous community. There was a positive correlation between the abundance of T. chinense and the unity numbers of community, and a negative correlation between the abundance of T. chinense and the abundance, coverage, diversity index, Pielou even index of community. T. chinense host species was various. This investigation found 28 host species belong to 11 Families, among them 5 Families and 18 species were found for the first time.

A total of 82 genera and 271 species of soil-inhabiting fungi including saprobic, nematode-trapping, and arbuscular mycorrhizal but plant pathogenic fungi published hitherto in South Korea are listed with the information on geographic location, habitat, vegetation when available, and relevant literatures.
Biodiversity ; Checklist* ; Ecosystem ; Fungi* ; Korea* ; Mycorrhizae ; Plants

Aims: This study aims to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on shrimp microbiome in a biodiverse mangrove forest ecosystem, along the Merbok River, Kedah, Malaysia. Methodology and results: To assess the impacts, a microbiome study of wild post larvae shrimps along the river was conducted as a health indicator of the shrimp hosts which in turn would reflect the river conditions. A 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of the wild post larvae shrimp microbiomes sampled across areas of varying human activities was conducted. Samples were obtained from four sites ranging from upstream river habitat to downstream brackish water towards the marine coast. Individuals detected from the sequence were then counted and their relative abundance of bacterial diversity were compared. All abundances are up to 100% and the diversity indices were calculated using proportions of each species. The Operational Taxonomy Unit (OTUs) were obtained by using USEARCH and UPARSE software. Twenty-eight bacterium phyla were detected, dominated by phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes at each site. Eighteen families were dominant at each site with Streptomycetaceae being the major abundant. At the genus level, the most abundant genera were Streptomyces sp., Mesorhizobium sp., Rhizobium sp., Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. Conclusion, significance and impact of study In general, the diversity of opportunistic and coliform bacteria was low. Thus, despite being exposed to various levels of human activities, the Merbok River and its mangrove surroundings still serve as a good spawning and nursery sites of shrimps and presumably other inhabitants.
Biodiversity ; Decapoda ; Wetlands

Dendrobium huoshanense is a precious medicinal plant belonging to Dendrobium of Orchidaceae. It is a special medicinal material and extremely scarce in Huoshan county, Anhui province. At present, D. huoshanense has been greatly protected, which also makes it possible to industrialize relying on tissue culture and artificial cultivation technology. Three main planting methods were utilized for cultivating D. huoshanense including facility cultivation, under forest cultivation and simulative habitat cultivation. Firstly, the three cultivation modes and technical characteristics of D. huoshanense were compared and analyzed, and it was found that the ecological environment of D. huoshanense cultivated in the simulated environment was closer to that of wild D. huoshanense. Secondly, based on comparing the characters and quality of three cultivation modes, the results showed that the shape of D. huoshanense cultivated in simulated environment was more similar to that of "grasshopper thigh" recorded in Bencao Jing Jizhu, and its quality was better than that of facilities and under forest cultivation. The comprehensive benefit comparison of three modes showed that the simulated cultivation had high income, the lowest input-output ratio and significant economic benefit. The quality of cultivated D. huoshanense was further evaluated from four aspects of "excellent environment" "excellent shape" "high quality" "excellent effect", which summarized the comprehensive advantages of simulative habitat cultivation of D. huoshanense as follows: the original habitat and site environment of simulated wild D. huoshanense, the closer shape to the wild, the more content of main medicinal components, and higher economic benefit and better efficacy. The quality of D. huoshanense was improved by the use of simulative habitat cultivation, which has practical significance to guide its large-scale cultivation.
Dendrobium ; Ecosystem ; Forests ; Plants, Medicinal

Traditional Chinese medicinal resource survey method is time-consuming, strenuous, and having great human influence, the precision is not high enough. This paper, by using spatial information technology, carries on spatial sampling survey for wild medicinal plants resource for generous species to arrange the quadrat scientifically and estimate the suitable area, reserve precisely of medicinal plants. It not only improves the survey precision, but reduces the workload of field survey and provides scientific basis for survey method of pilot work on the fourth national traditional Chinese medicinal resource census.
Biodiversity ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; Ecosystem ; Humans ; Plants, Medicinal ; Spatial Analysis

Gut microbiota constitute a complicated but manifold ecosystem, in which specific symbiotic relationships are formed among various bacteria. To maintain a steady state, the gastrointestinal tract and the liver form a close anatomical and functional two-way, interconnected network through the portal circulation. "Gut-liver axis" plays a key role in the pathogenesis of liver diseases. Accumulating evidence indicates that gut microbiota can influence the liver pathophysiology directly or indirectly via a variety of signal pathways. In a pathological state where an ecological imbalance occurs at the compositional and functional levels, gut microbes would interact with the host immune system and other type of cells to cause liver steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis, which in turn give rise to the development of such liver diseases as alcoholic liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and acute liver failure, to name a few. Studies have shown that microorganisms, such as prebiotics and probiotics, can improve the prognosis of certain diseases, which open a new era of treating liver diseases with bacteria. There are many unknowns and hidden values in the gut microbiome. To explore the pathophysiological mechanism of various complex diseases and develop scientific and effective clinical treatment strategies, efforts should be made to obtain insights into how certain intestinal microbiota participates in the occurrence and progression of liver diseases. As the connection between gut microbiota and liver diseases at both the acute and chronic phases was not elaborated in previously published review articles, herein we discuss the association between gut microbiota and both acute and chronic liver injury. The anatomical structure of the liver enables it to form a close network with the gut microbiota, which is an important mediator in the regulation of the hepatic physiological and pathological functions.
Ecosystem ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Humans ; Intestines ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Probiotics