Preference for Artificial Refugia over Natural Refugia in an Endangered Fish

The availability of appropriate refugia may ameliorate some impacts of habitat degradation and can aid in the conservation of target species. In addition to natural refugia, the provision of artificial refugia may be viable, particularly in degraded habitats. We examined the conservation potential of natural and artificial refugia for the endangered Eastern Cape redfin, Pseudobarbus afer. We show that deeper water is preferred so is likely to constitute a natural refuge. However, this preference is overridden by the provision of artificial refugia (a plastic pipe). We highlight that the most important habitat factor in the conservation of P. afer is availability of suitable natural refugia through avoidance of habitat destruction. However, when redfin habitat is already compromised, appropriate artificial refugia may supplement the protection provided by natural refugia and may provide benefits to the whole aquatic community.

Genomic sequencing of the aquatic Fusarium spp. QHM and BWC1 and their potential application in environmental protection

ABSTRACTFusarium species are distributed widely in ecosystems of a wide pH range and play a pivotal role in the aquatic community through the degradation of xenobiotic compounds and secretion of secondary metabolites. The elucidation of their genome would therefore be highly impactful with regard to the control of environmental pollution. Therefore, in this study, two indigenous strains of aquatic Fusarium, QHM and BWC1, were isolated from a coal mine pit and a subterranean river respectively, cultured under acidic conditions, and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of these two isolates was conducted based on the sequences of internal transcript (ITS1 and ITS4) and encoding β-microtubulin (TUB2), translation elongation factors (TEFs) and the second large sub-unit of RNA polymerase (RPB2). Fusarium, QHM could potentially represent a new species within the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex. Fusarium BWC1 were found to form a clade with Fusarium subglutinans NRRL 22016, and predicted to be Fusarium subglutinans. Shot-gun sequencing on the Illumina Hiseq×10 Platform was used to elucidate the draft genomes of the two species. Gene annotation and functional analyses revealed that they had bio-degradation pathways for aromatic compounds; further, their main pathogenic mechanism was found to be the efflux pump. To date, the genomes of only a limited number of acidic species from the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex, especially from the aquatic species, have been sequenced. Therefore, the present findings are novel and have important potential for the future in terms of environmental control.IMPORTANCEFusarium genus has over 300 species and were distributed in a variety of ecosystem. Increasing attention has been drawn to Fusarium due to the importance in aquatic community, pathogenicity and environmental protection. The genomes of the strains in this work isolated in acidic condition, were sequenced. The analysis has indicated that the isolates were able to biodegrade xenobiotics, which makes it potentially function as environmental bio-agent for aromatic pollution control and remediation. Meanwhile, the virulence and pathogenicity were also predicted for reference of infection control. The genome information may lay foundation for the fungal identification, disease prevention resulting from these isolates and other “-omics” research. The isolates were phylogenetically classified into Fusarium fujikuroi species complex by means of concatenated gene analysis, serving as new addition to the big complex.