Effect of Substrate Properties and Phosphorus-supply on the Rare Earth Element Facilitation in Mixed-culture Cropping Systems of Hordeum Vulgare, Lupinus Albus and Lupinus Angustifolius

This study presents how nutrient availability and intercropping may influence the migration of REE when cultivated under P-deficient conditions. In a replacement model, Hordeum vulgare was intercropped with 11% Lupinus albus cv. Feodora and 11% L. angustifolius cv. Sonate. They were cultivated on two substrates, A (pH = 7.8) and B (pH = 6.6). Two nutrient solutions were supplied, with N, K, Mg and high P-supply (P+), the other with N, K, Mg, and one-third of P-supply (P-, applied to L0 and Lan only). Simultaneously, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to quantify carboxylate release. There, one group of L. albus and L. angustifolius was supplied with 200 µM K2HPO4 (P+) together with the other nutrients while a second group received 20 µM P (P-). L. albus released higher carboxylates at low P-supply than L. angustifolius. Higher P-supply did not influence the P concentrations and contents of H. vulgare neither on substrate A nor on substrate B. However, addition of P decreased the concentrations of REEs, especially in plants cultivated on alkaline soil. Nutrient accumulation decreased in H. vulgare in intercropping with L. angustifolius when cultivated on the alkaline substrate A with high P-supply. In the same conditions, the accumulation of REE in H. vulgare significantly increased. Conversely, on the acidic substrate B intercropping with L. albus decreased REE contents and concentrations in H. vulgare. Intercropping with L. angustifolius opens an opportunity for enhanced phytomining and accumulation of REE. Furthermore, intercropping with L. albus on REE polluted soils may be utilized to restrict REE accumulation in crops used for food production.

Textile UWB Antenna with Metamaterial for Healthcare Monitoring

A new metamaterial-based UWB band-notched textile antenna for body area network (BAN) with an operational frequency range of 3 GHz to 11 GHz is created in this paper. The ultra-ide band (UWB) frequency band is covered by the antenna (3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz). The antennas are smaller because of the usage of denim (jeans) material, which has a permittivity of 1.67. To increase the impedance transmission capacity, the ground plane is reduced to a partly rectangular conductive substance. The hexagonal cut on the bottom side is utilised to boost bandwidth by enhancing the electric field dispersion at the edges. The fabrication is built of a 1 mm thick denim (jeans) substrate, and the feed is a traditional microstrip feed. The return loss and gain characteristics of the proposed antenna are investigated. The performance of a specified antenna is investigated step by step with variable feed length, feed breadth, and substrate properties.

Effective Cell Membrane Tension is Independent of Substrate Stiffness

Most animal cells are surrounded by a cell membrane and an underlying actomyosin cortex. Both structures are linked with each other, and they are under tension. Membrane tension and cortical tension both influence many cellular processes, including cell migration, division, and endocytosis. However, while actomyosin tension is regulated by substrate stiffness, how membrane tension responds to mechanical substrate properties is currently poorly understood. Here, we probed the effective membrane tension of neurons and fibroblasts cultured on glass and polyacrylamide substrates of varying stiffness using optical tweezers. In contrast to actomyosin-based traction forces, both peak forces and steady state tether forces of cells cultured on hydrogels were independent of substrate stiffness and did not change after blocking myosin II activity using blebbistatin, indicating that tether and traction forces are not directly linked with each other. Peak forces on hydrogels were about twice as high in fibroblasts if compared to neurons, indicating stronger membrane-cortex adhesion in fibroblasts. Finally, tether forces were generally higher in cells cultured on hydrogels compared to cells cultured on glass, which we attribute to substrate-dependent alterations of the actomyosin cortex and an inverse relationship between tension along stress fibres and cortical tension. Our results provide new insights into the complex regulation of membrane tension, and they pave the way for a deeper understanding of biological processes instructed by it.

Antarctic biodiversity predictions through substrate qualities and environmental DNA

Antarctic conservation science is important to enhance Antarctic policy and to understand alterations of terrestrial Antarctic biodiversity. Antarctic conservation will have limited long-term effect in the absence of large-scale biodiversity data, but if such data were available, it is likely to improve environmental protection regimes. To enable Antarctic biodiversity prediction across continental spatial scales through proxy variables, in the absence of baseline surveys, we link Antarctic substrate-derived environmental DNA (eDNA) sequence data from the remote Antarctic Prince Charles Mountains to a selected range of concomitantly collected measurements of substrate properties. We achieve this using a statistical method commonly used in machine learning. We find neutral substrate pH, low conductivity, and some substrate minerals to be important predictors of presence for basidiomycetes, chlorophytes, ciliophorans, nematodes, or tardigrades. Our bootstrapped regression reveals how variations of the identified substrate parameters influence probabilities of detecting eukaryote phyla across vast and remote areas of Antarctica. We believe that our work may improve future taxon distribution modelling and aid targeting logistically challenging biodiversity surveys.

Effect of Humic Acid Addition on Buffering Capacity and Nutrient Storage Capacity of Soilless Substrates

Excessive application of fertilizers has become a major issue in croplands of intensive agricultural systems in China, resulting in severe non-point source pollution; thus, reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers has received significant attention. Improving the nutrient storage capacity of soils or substrates is an effective approach for solving this problem. Humic acids (HA) are excellent soil conditioners. Thus, in the present study, their ability to improve the physico-chemical properties of three substrates with different textures was evaluated. HA treatments included 1% HA root application in three different types of substrates, including pure sand, pure cocopeat, and a mixture of sand:cocopeat (1:1, v/v) and their relative controls. We examined the morphological parameters of cucumber seedlings as well as pH buffering capacity (pHBC), total organic carbon (TOC), organic matter (OM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and nutrient storage capacity of the three substrates. The results show that HA application improved the morphological parameters of cucumber seedlings (plant height, stem diameter, and biomass) in pure cocopeat and cocopeat-sand mixture treatments. On the contrary, HA addition had harmful effects on the cucumber seedlings cultivated in sand due to the low pHBC of sand. The seedlings cultivated in pure cocopeat showed the best morphological parameter performances among the seedlings grown in the three substrates. Furthermore, pHBC, TOC, OM, and CEC were enhanced by HA application. Incorporation of HA improved ammonium (NH4+) and potassium (K+) storage capacity while decreasing phosphorus (P) storage. Pure cocopeat had the highest pHBC, TOC, OM, CEC, and nutrient storage capacity among the three substrates. In conclusion, mixing 1% HA into substrates promoted cucumber growth, improved substrate properties, and enhanced fertilizer use efficiency. Pure cocopeat is a suitable substrate for cucumber cultivation, and mixing cocopeat with sand amends the substrate properties and consequently improves plant growth.

Patterns of Fungal Diversity in Needles, Rootlets and Soil of Endemic Pinus Peuce

Pinus peuce Griseb is five-needle pine native in high-altitude montane habitats of the Balkans. The aim was to assess the diversity and composition of fungal communities associated with the soil, rootlets and living needles of P. peuce at three high-altitude forest sites with different edaphic conditions and stand characteristics in southeastern Montenegro. In total, 90 needle, 90 rootlet and 90 soil samples were sampled. DNA amplification using ITS2 rDNA as a marker and high-throughput sequencing resulted in 17,620 high-quality reads, representing 825 fungal taxa. There were 52.5% Basidiomycota, 43.9% Ascomycota and 3.6% Mucoromycotina. There were 118 unique fungal taxa in the rootlets, 230 in the soil and 113 in the needles, with 8 taxa were shared. The most common fungi in rootlets were Rhizopogon mohelensis (11.0%), Suillus sibiricus (8.4%), R. fallax (6.9%), in the soil – Phlebiopsis gigantea (5.1%), Tylospora asterophora (2.9%), Sollicocossima terricola (2.7%), and in the needles – Dothideomycetes sp. 3360_7 (17.6%), Dothideomycetes sp. 3360_10 (10.7%), Leotiomycetes sp. 3360_16 (6.5%). The results showed that the functional tissues and the rhizosphere soil of P. peuce were inhabited by a high diversity of fungi, which were largely specific to each particular substrate, while. the site conditions had only limited effect on associated fungal communities. Associated fungal communities were largely determined by the host tree species, substrate properties and functional capabilities of associated fungi.