Effect of reforestation on nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics in the catchment ecosystems of subtropical China: the example of the Hanjiang River basin.

Background: To enable effective management and decision making for the sustainable use of water resources, we successfully integrated factors such as dams, land use and soil properties as well as management factors in the Hanjiang River basin, a subtropical catchment of China, into the SWAT model to simulate water cycles as well as the distribution, movement, and transformations of nutrients.

Results: The accuracy of the model was validated by monitoring data over the Hanjiang River. The validated model was then used to evaluate the effects of the Reforestation of Cultivated Land (RFCL) initiative.

Quantification of microcystis in a eutrophic lake by simple DNA extraction and SYBR green real-time PCR.

A simple extraction method and real-time PCR with SYBR-Green I were combined to monitor Microcystis 16S rRNA gene (16S rDNA) concentrations over a wide range. A Fast DNA SPIN Kit (MP Biomedicals) was used to extract rDNA quantitatively. Real-time PCR amplified Microcystis rDNA for quantification with the forward primer Micro229f, which was newly designed by us and was highly specific for Microcystis, and the reverse universal primer 342r.

Abundance and population structure of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria that inhabit canal sediments receiving effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants.

A polyphasic, culture-independent study was conducted to investigate the abundance and population structure of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in canal sediments receiving wastewater discharge. The abundance of AOB ranged from 0.2 to 1.

Characterization and quantification of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in eutrophic coastal marine sediments using polyphasic molecular approaches and immunofluorescence staining.

Tokyo Bay, a eutrophic bay in Japan, receives nutrients from wastewater plants and other urban diffuse sources via river input. A transect was conducted along a line from the Arakawa River into Tokyo Bay to investigate the ecological relationship between the river outflow and the distribution, abundance and population structure of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Five surficial marine sediments were collected and analysed with polyphasic approaches.

Natural water-purification system observed in a shallow coastal lagoon: Matsukawa-ura, Japan.

Field surveys and in situ experiments were conducted in the shallow Matsukawa-ura in summer to evaluate the biological efficiencies of shallow-water areas for preserving coastal ecosystems. In Matsukawa-ura (5.8 km(2)), the suspension-feeding bivalves Ruditapes philippinarum and Crassostrea gigas were the dominant animals--their total biomasses (wet weight) were estimated to be 3.

Crude oil bioremediation field experiment in the Sea of Japan.

Experimental bioremediation of crude oil was conducted for approximately 3 months in the intertidal zone of the Sea of Japan, Hyogo Prefecture. Artificial mixtures of weathered Arabian light crude oil and sand taken from the experimental site were wrapped in polyester net envelopes. The envelopes were placed in drum-shaped acrylic vessels with perforated sides to facilitate seawater exchange.