Grazing is expected to exert a substantial influence on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in grassland ecosystems. However, the precise effects of grazing on the composition of ARGs in grassland soils remain unclear. This is especially the case for grassland soils subject to long-term grazing. Here, we investigated ARGs and bacterial community composition in soils subject to long-term historic grazing (13-39 years) and corresponding ungrazed samples. Using a combination of shotgun metagenomics, amplicon analyses and associated soil physicochemical data, we provide novel insights regarding the structure of ARGs in grassland soils. Interestingly, our analysis revealed that long-term historic grazing had no impacts on the composition of ARGs in grassland soils. An average of 378 ARGs, conferring resistance to 14 major categories of antibiotics (80%), were identified in both grazing and ungrazed sites. Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the most prevalent predicted hosts in these soils and were also shown to harbour genetic capacity for multiple-resistant ARGs. Our results suggested that positive effects of bacterial community composition on ARGs could potentially be controlled by affecting MGEs. Soil properties had direct effects on the composition of ARGs through affecting the frequency of horizontal gene transfer among bacteria. Twelve novel ARGs were found in S. grandis steppe grasslands, indicating that different vegetation types might induce shifts in soil ARGs. Collectively, these findings suggest that soil properties, plants and microorganisms play critical roles in shaping ARG patterns in grasslands. Together, these data establish a solid baseline for understanding environmental antibiotic resistance in grasslands.Temperature is the primary factor controlling plant phenology. As temperature changes with latitude, leaf phenology in spring always shows a significant latitudinal pattern. However, under asymmetric warming at the low and high latitudes, the variability of the spring leaf phenology with latitude is becoming unclear. Based on the 23,094 observations of the leaf unfolding date (LUD) for woody species located in eastern China within latitudes 23-49°N, we analyzed the variability of LUD and its latitudinal sensitivity (Slat, days °N-1, expressed in delayed days per degree in latitude) during 1963-2008. The results showed an earlier LUD at the mid- (-2.2 days decade-1) and high (-2.5 days decade-1) latitude regions, while a stable LUD at the low-latitude regions during 1963-2008. However, the temperature sensitivity of LUD (ST, days °C-1, expressed in advanced days per degree in temperature) remained stable across the latitudes although a slight decreasing trend from 1963 to 2008. As a result, the non-uniform optimal preseason warming with latitude (Tlat, °C °N-1, expressed in the increase of temperature per degree in latitude) decreased Slat from 2.38 (days °N-1) in 1963 to 1.55 (days °N-1) in 2008. Further analyses indicated that the Growing Degree Hours (GDH) played a critical role in these processes, although the Chilling Hours (CH) showed significant variability after 1991. Our results provide evidence that the change in the balance of CH and GDH across latitude induced declining Slat over the last 40 years in eastern China. Furthermore, it may continue under the future climate warming scenarios and ultimately has important consequences on the structure and function of ecosystems.

Lung function is adversely affected by exposure to household air pollution (HAP). Studies investigating the impact of prenatal and postnatal HAP exposure on early childhood lung development are limited, especially from Sub-Saharan Africa.

We used oscillometry to investigate the impact on lung function of prenatal and postnatal HAP exposure of children born to Nigerian women who participated in a randomized controlled cookstove intervention trial.

We performed oscillometric measurements (R airway resistance; X airway reactance; Fres resonant frequency; AX reactance area) in 223 children starting at age of 2years (ethanol stove, n=113; firewood/kerosene, n=110). Personal exposure monitoring assessed mothers’ prenatal exposure to particulate matter less than 2.5μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM

). Postnatal HAP exposure was measured by determining household PM

levels. We employed linear regression analysis to examine the association of prenatal and postnatal HAP exposures with children’s lung function. Modplore the relationship between HAP exposure and lung function in children as young as 2 years. find more The findings provide some evidence that increased postnatal HAP exposure may result in poorer lung function in children, although larger studies are needed to confirm observed results. This study indicates that oscillometry is a low-cost and effective method to determine lung function in early childhood.Hypolimnetic withdrawal (HW) is a lake restoration method that is based on the removal of phosphorus (P) along with near-bottom water. While it has often proven to be effective, the method also sets challenges it is about balancing between effective P removal and maintenance of the thermal stratification of the lake. The success of different HW projects has been reviewed in some studies retrospectively, but scientific literature still lacks studies that use detailed data on the lake biogeochemistry to scale and optimize the method in advance, and to predict the outcomes of the restoration measure. In the current study, we investigated the seasonal biogeochemistry, P stocks and thermal stratification of a eutrophic lake (Lake Kymijärvi/Myllypohja basin, southern Finland) to determine an optimal withdrawal rate, to assess its effects on stratification, and to evaluate the expected success of HW. We found that by adjusting HW with P diffusive fluxes from the sediment (diffusion-adjusted HW), it is possible to remove a notable part of the cycling P without causing major disturbances to the thermal stratification even in a relatively shallow lake. Our results show that HW can have great potential in lake restoration diffusion-adjusted HW in our study lake could increase the annual P output by 35-46%, shifting the P budget of the lake to negative. We thus propose a novel approach to optimize HW on the basis of the diffusive flux of P from the sediment, with the goal of extracting P continuously at an equivalent rate to the diffusive flux. We finally discuss how this can be achieved more effectively with HW based on a closed-circuit system.