A parameter identifiability and estimation study in Yesilirmak River.

Water quality models have relatively large number of parameters, which need to be estimated against observed data through a non-trivial task that is associated with substantial difficulties. This work involves a systematic model calibration and validation study for river water quality. The model considered was composed of dynamic mass balances for eleven pollution constituents, stemming from QUAL2E water quality model by considering a river segment as a series of continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs). Parameter identifiability was analyzed from the perspective of sensitivity measure and collinearity index, which indicated that 8 parameters would fall within the identifiability range. The model parameters were then estimated by an integration based optimization algorithm coupled with sequential quadratic programming. Dynamic field data consisting of major pollutant concentrations were collected from sampling stations along Yesilirmak River around the city of Amasya in Turkey, and compared with model predictions. The calibrated model responses were in good agreement with the observed river water quality data, and this indicated that the suggested procedure provided an effective means for reliable estimation of model parameters and dynamic simulation for river streams.

Bacterial protection of beetle-fungus mutualism.

Host-microbe symbioses play a critical role in the evolution of biological diversity and complexity. In a notably intricate system, southern pine beetles use symbiotic fungi to help overcome host-tree defenses and to provide nutrition for their larvae. We show that this beetle-fungal mutualism is chemically mediated by a bacterially produced polyunsaturated peroxide. The molecule's selective toxicity toward the beetle's fungal antagonist, combined with the prevalence and localization of its bacterial source, indicates an insect-microbe association that is both mutualistic and coevolved. This unexpected finding in a well-studied system indicates that mutualistic associations between insects and antibiotic-producing bacteria are more common than currently recognized and that identifying their small-molecule mediators can provide a powerful search strategy for therapeutically useful antimicrobial compounds.