Uncertainty analysis of ecosystem services and implications for environmental management - An experiment in the Heihe River Basin, China.

Integrating the economic values of ecosystem services provided by different land uses into decision analysis is critical to achieving effective environmental management in endorheic basins. However, policymaking often ignores the uncertainty related to the variability of parameters in ecosystem service values. To this end, we identified sensitive parameters in the ecosystem service values under four land uses using the global sensitivity analysis method and quantified the potential monetary outcomes based on the Monte Carlo method. The results indicated that only a few sensitive parameters, such as water yield (Qi) and treatment costs per unit of nitrogen (Cost_N), were the primary sources of uncertainty. Therefore, we suggest that improving the precision of sensitive parameters is essential for reducing uncertainty in the total ecosystem service value. Additionally, the overall monetary outcomes for cropland exhibited negative values and had higher risk and lower benefits than those for forest from the standpoint of ecosystem services. In addition, the nonmarketed service of landscape aesthetic made the monetary outcomes of water bodies higher than those of cropland, yet the value of landscape aesthetic was highly uncertain. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve total monetary outcomes by decreasing the negative values in food provisioning of cropland and the uncertainty in landscape aesthetic for water bodies. The sensitivity analysis and uncertainty analysis provide important guidelines for quantifying and reducing the related uncertainty and provide policy information for environmental management based on a comprehensive consideration of the potential ecosystem service values for various land uses.

Molecular detection and genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in free-ranging pigs in Northeastern China.

Pig is the well-known intermediate host of T. gondii, a ubiquitous and obligate intracellular zoonotic pathogen. However, information about prevalence and genotypes of T. gondii infection in free-ranging pigs is scarce. Therefore a total of 186 hilar lymph nodes specimens were collected from free-ranging pigs from rural regions from Jilin (n = 119) and Liaoning (n = 67) provinces, northeastern China, and were investigated from T. gondii infection by semi-nested PCR of the B1 gene. Positive testing samples were genotyped by using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction-fragment length polymorphism technology (PCR-RFLP) applied to 11 loci. The overall prevalence of T. gondii in investigated free-ranging pigs was 18.3% (34/186), with 16.4% (11/67) in Liaoning Province and 19.3% (23/119) in Jilin Province. Moreover, two genotypes, namely ToxoDB #9 and ToxoDB #10, were detected in investigated pigs. The present study showed a high T. gondii prevalence in free-ranging compared to farmed pigs as reported in previous studies by others, raising a major public health concern. It is essential to establish efficient strategies to prevent and control T. gondii infection in free-ranging pigs, other animals and humans in investigated regions.

Epidemiological Investigation and Genotype of Chlamydia Exposure in Pigeons in Three Provinces in Northern China.

Chlamydia is considered as one of the most widely prevalent zoonotic pathogens. It can spread from infected birds to human beings through direct or indirect contact with fecal shedding of Chlamydia. However, data concerning prevalence and genotypes of Chlamydia in pigeons are limited. In the present study, a total of 963 serum samples was collected from Jilin Province, Liaoning Province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) in China between August 2015 and December 2016 and the seroprevalence for Chlamydia was analyzed by indirect hemagglutination assay test. The seroprevalence of Chlamydia was 20.4% (215/963) in total, at the cutoff 1:16, with the titers of 1:16 in 109, 1:64 in 49, 1:256 in 38, and 1:1024 in 18. Samples from all six administrative cities were detected Chlamydia-seropositive, ranging from 19.0% to 25.0%. Adult pigeons (23.5%) have a significant higher seroprevalence than juveniles (15.2%). Four PCR-positive samples represented Chlamydia psittaci genotype B. This is the first report of Chlamydia infection in pigeons in Liaoning Province and IMAR. The occurrence of C. psittaci genotype B in the droppings of pigeons suggests potential environmental contamination with C. psittaci and may raise a public health concern.

Antifouling potentials of eight deep-sea-derived fungi from the South China Sea.

Marine-derived microbial secondary metabolites are promising potential sources of nontoxic antifouling agents. The search for environmentally friendly and low-toxic antifouling components guided us to investigate the antifouling potentials of eight novel fungal isolates from deep-sea sediments of the South China Sea. Sixteen crude ethyl acetate extracts of the eight fungal isolates showed distinct antibacterial activity against three marine bacteria (Loktanella hongkongensis UST950701-009, Micrococcus luteus UST950701-006 and Pseudoalteromonas piscida UST010620-005), or significant antilarval activity against larval settlement of bryozoan Bugula neritina. Furthermore, the extract of Aspergillus westerdijkiae DFFSCS013 displayed strong antifouling activity in a field trial lasting 4 months. By further bioassay-guided isolation, five antifouling alkaloids including brevianamide F, circumdatin F and L, notoamide C, and 5-chlorosclerotiamide were isolated from the extract of A. westerdijkiae DFFSCS013. This is the first report about the antifouling potentials of metabolites of the deep-sea-derived fungi from the South China Sea, and the first stage towards the development of non- or low-toxic antifouling agents from deep-sea-derived fungi.