Recovery of Petroleum Brine-Contaminated Soil by sp. in a Tropical Marshland.

Almost all research on natural attenuation and phytoremediation of sites contaminated with briny produced water has been conducted in temperate climates, however, there is a dearth of information on the use of tropical species for this purpose. It is within this context, that we investigated a spontaneously growing hypersaline spikerush from a contaminated site in southeast Mexico, to determine its soil salinity limits, the relationship between soil organic matter and salinity, and for preliminary documentation of floristic succession with sp. for phytoremediation o f brine s pills.

Convergent Community Assembly among Globally Separated Acidic Cave Biofilms.

Acidophilic bacteria and archaea inhabit extreme geochemical "islands" that can tell us when and how geographic barriers affect the biogeography of microorganisms. Here, we describe microbial communities from extremely acidic (pH 0 to 1) biofilms, known as snottites, from hydrogen sulfide-rich caves. Given the extreme acidity and subsurface location of these biofilms, and in light of earlier work showing strong geographic patterns among snottite populations, we investigated their structure and diversity in order to understand how geography might impact community assembly.

Microbial growth in biobeds for treatment of residual pesticide in banana plantations.

Background: High doses of ethylenebisdithiocarbamate (EBDC) are used in banana production, and unused pesticide mixture (solution) is often disposed of improperly. This can result in soil and water contamination and present an undue risk to rural communities and the environment. An alternative to reduce the environmental impacts caused by pesticide residues is the biobeds treatment.

Soil contact bioassay for rapid determination of acute toxicity with .

A rapid bioassay is presented for determining acute toxicity directly in soil. Modifying the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) protocol 207, it uses a thin layer of moistened soil laid directly in the bottom of the bioassay jar into which the earthworms are placed and incubated. Examples are presented in comparisons between the soil contact bioassay vs.

Metagenomics of Bacterial Diversity in Villa Luz Caves with Sulfur Water Springs.

New biotechnology applications require in-depth preliminary studies of biodiversity. The methods of massive sequencing using metagenomics and bioinformatics tools offer us sufficient and reliable knowledge to understand environmental diversity, to know new microorganisms, and to take advantage of their functional genes. Villa Luz caves, in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco, are fed by at least 26 groundwater inlets, containing 300-500 mg L-1 H2S and <0.