A Near Standard Soil Samples Spectra Enhanced Modeling Strategy for Cd Concentration Prediction

Visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectroscopy technology for soil heavy metal (HM) concentration prediction has been widely studied. However, its spectral response characteristics are still uncertain. In this study, a near standard soil Cd samples (NSSCd) spectra enhanced modeling strategy was developed in order to to reveal the soil cadmium (Cd) spectral response characteristics and predict its concentration. NSSCd were produced by adding the quantitative Cd solution into background soil. Then, prior spectral bands (i.e., the bands with higher variable importance in projection (VIP) score in NSSCd spectra) were used for predicting Cd concentration in soil samples collected from the Hengyang mining area and Baoding agriculture area. The partial least squares (PLS) and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling-partial least squares (CARS-PLS) were used for validation. Compared to using entire VNIR spectral ranges, the new modeling strategy performed very well, with the coefficient of determination (R2) and the ratio of prediction to deviation (RPD) showing an improvement from 0.63 and 1.72 to 0.71 and 1.95 in Hengyang and from 0.54 and 1.57 to 0.76 and 2.19 in Baoding. These results suggest that NSS prior spectral bands are critical for soil HM prediction. Our results represent an exciting finding for the future design of remote sensing sensors for soil HM detection.

Sources of lanthanides in soils and estimation of their hazards

In recent years, an increase in the input of lanthanides (Ln), an important group of heavy metals (HMs), has been observed in the environment throughout the world (in particular soil). Anthropogenic Ln sources are mainly connected to phosphogypsum, Ln-bearing microfertilizer and micronutrients, and mine waste. Therefore, assessment of hazards associated with the presence of Ln in the soil is an urgent issue. Hazardousness, depending strongly upon the buffer capacity of a specified soil, is determined by the organic matter content, the pH value and other soil properties. For a standard soil (containing 10% organic matter and 25% clay), the discrepancy of the hazardousness of HMs can be estimated based on the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) values proposed by ecologists in the Netherlands. Low levels of Ln contamination in the soil are found, making it possible to classify them in the group of moderately and weakly acting pollutants. The MPC value proposed for cerium (Ce) in the standard soil is 44 mg/kg. Approximate MPC values for several other lanthanides (Ln, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd and Dy) in soils were proposed based on MPC values for freshwater sediments in the Netherlands. According to the MPC value, Ln falls into the group of moderate- and low-hazardous heavy metals.

Software for Matching Standard Activity Enzyme Biosensors for Soil Pollution Analysis

This work is dedicated to developing enzyme biosensor software to solve problems regarding soil pollution analysis. An algorithm and specialised software have been developed which stores, analyses and visualises data using JavaScript programming language. The developed software is based on matching data of 51 non-commercial standard soil samples and their inhibitory effects on three enzyme systems of varying complexity. This approach is able to identify the influence of chemical properties soil samples, without toxic agents, on enzyme biosensors. Such software may find wide use in environmental monitoring.

Influence of Bleach Activators in Removing Different Soils from Cotton Fabric

The influence of adding Sodium Perborate Tetrahydrate (NaPB) and tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) on the efficiency of removing soils from cotton fabric was evaluated in the study. NaPB as inorganic peroxide and TAED as a bleach activator were added to a commercial washing powder agent. Four standard soils applied on cotton fabric (EMPA standard soiled fabrics) were used in the study, i.e. 101 – carbon black/olive oil, 114 – red wine, 116 – blood/ milk/ink and 160 – chocolate. The washing of fabrics was conducted in accordance with the SIST EN ISO 105-C06 standard at 40, 60 and 90 °C in Launder-Ometer apparatus. The washing efficiency was evaluated by determining the CIE L* colour coordinates of the unwashed and washed fabric samples, and the difference in ΔL* colour coordinates among them. The results showed that NaPB and TAED improve the efficiency of washing for two standard soils, have no effect on one, and deteriorate the washing results of one standard soil.

Migration of cyantraniliprole in fractured soils: calibration of pesticide leaching model by using experimental data

The phenomenon of preferential migration of substances can increase the risk of pesticides. In the first year of the experiment, in 7 days after application cyantraniliprole penetrated to a depth of 25 cm in agrosoddy-podzolic soil. In the next year on the 7th day after application the pesticide was detected at a depth of 15 cm. The pesticide migrated deeper than the unconfigured PERL model took into account. The calibration of the PERL model by using experimental data (soil experimental support) allowed to reduce the error of prediction. The obtained data can be used to create new standard soil and climate scenarios for pesticide leaching models.

Emergence of garden spurge (Euphorbia hirta) and large crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) in response to different physical properties and depths of common mulch materials

Greenhouse and outdoor container experiments were conducted to determine garden spurge and large crabgrass emergence when seeds were placed either on top of or below three different mulch materials [pine bark (PB), hardwood (HW), or pine straw (PS)] applied at five depths (0, 1.3, 2.5, 5.1, and 10.2 cm). To elucidate mulch characteristics that contributed to weed control, photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) was recorded underneath each mulch layer, moisture retention was monitored for 24 h following irrigation, and particle size was determined using standard soil sieves. HW reduced PAR (97%) more than did PB (90%) or PS (92%) at 1.3 cm, but few or no differences were noted between mulches at greater mulch depths. HW also contained the highest percentage of small particles and consequently retained more water (29%), than PB (14%) or PS (22%) 24 h following a simulated irrigation event. Emergence of large crabgrass and garden spurge was consistently greater when seeds were placed on top of the mulch, compared to seeds placed below. Emergence of both species also tended to respond to increasing depth in a quadratic manner, indicating that once a critical level of mulch was applied (2.5 to 5 cm), further reductions in weed emergence would not be observed, at least over the short term (12 wk). PB and PS tended to provide a greater reduction in emergence of both species compared to HW. This research also indicates that larger particle materials such as PB or PS would be advantageous because of their ability to suppress weed emergence regardless of seed position.

Ecobiomics: Environmental metagenomic biomonitoring

Land use disturbances are having enormous adverse impacts on the biodiversity and integrity of natural and managed ecosystems around the world. Adverse impacts on biodiversity are compromising ecosystem services and processes, reducing ecosystem resilience, and leading to unpredictable ecosystem responses to environmental change. The Metagenomics-Based Ecosystem Biomonitoring Project (EcoBiomics) focuses on the urgent need to better understand the extent and significance of ongoing changes to biodiversity in the soil and aquatic ecosystems that sustain essential ecosystem services upon which Canadians and the Canadian economy depend. This project uniquely recognizes that a breadth of scientific expertise from within the Canadian government is required to undertake this research, which is spread across relevant departments and agencies with Biodiversity portfolios. It involves over 50 participants (researchers, technicians, bioinformaticians, software developers, managers and students, etc.) contributing to many smaller projects in several locations across Canada organized by themes. The objectives of this project include: Develop standard soil and water methods and a federal Bioinformatics Platform to harmonize analyses of metabarcoding, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics data across federal departments/agencies; Establish genomic observatories and comprehensive biodiversity baselines for assessing future changes to water and soil biodiversity at long-term environmental monitoring sites in Canada; Develop new knowledge to improve water quality and soil health by comprehensively characterizing aquatic microbiomes, soil microbiomes, and invertebrate zoobiomes, and testing hypotheses to enhance environmental assessment, monitoring, and remediation activities. Develop standard soil and water methods and a federal Bioinformatics Platform to harmonize analyses of metabarcoding, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics data across federal departments/agencies; Establish genomic observatories and comprehensive biodiversity baselines for assessing future changes to water and soil biodiversity at long-term environmental monitoring sites in Canada; Develop new knowledge to improve water quality and soil health by comprehensively characterizing aquatic microbiomes, soil microbiomes, and invertebrate zoobiomes, and testing hypotheses to enhance environmental assessment, monitoring, and remediation activities. Our poster will focus primarily on the challenges associated with the first objective. Genomic technologies are revolutionizing biodiversity assessment in soil and aquatic ecosystems, and they now offer the only practical way to comprehensively characterize this enormous biodiversity. These technologies and associated tools allow us to obtain comprehensive baseline biodiversity data that are essential to support evidence-based decision-making. However, a strong focus of this project is to enable environmental assessment, monitoring, and remediation activities by a multitude of potential end users and thus standardized protocols and processes must be determined and shared. For the data generated, several procedures were defined. A minimum metadata profile related to the sampling event is required for all projects, which follows existing standards including the DarwinCore (https://dwc.tdwg.org). Sample preparation was also standardized based primarily on protocols developed in earlier projects that were validated for use in Ecobiomics, for example the Earth Microbiome Project (http://www.earthmicrobiome.org). The procedures for DNA extraction through sequencing largely followed the Minimum Information about “X” Sequence (MIxS) standard (gensc.org/mixs). This data is all input into an in-house custom-built software package, Sequence Database (SeqDB) used by all participants across the entire project, which is made available centrally via a federal high-performance computing centre. SeqDB not only stores the metadata and data generated but also maintains provenance based on defined workflows for metabarcoding, shotgun metagenomics, and other “omics” pipelines. It also supports project management through various metrics and visualizations. We will document some of the challenges to standardizing data and workflows in large multi-domain and multi-department project like Ecobiomics and the need for further standard development to truly support data sharing and integration across a highly diverse ecosystem of genomic observatories globally.