Downed woody debris carbon emissions in a European temperate virgin forest as driven by species, decay classes, diameter and microclimate.

Downed woody debris (DWD) plays an important role as regulator of nutrient and carbon (C) cycling in forests, accounting for up to the 20 % of the total C stocks in primary forests. DWD persistence is highly influenced by microbial decomposition, which is determined by various environmental factors, including fluctuations in temperature and moisture, as well as in intrinsic DWD properties determined by species, diameter, or decay classes (DCs). The relative importance of these different drivers, as well as their interactions, remains largely unknown. Moreover, the importance of DWD for C cycling in virgin forests remains poorly understood, due to their scarcity and poor accessibility. To address this research gap, we conducted a study on DWD respiration (RDWD), in a temperate virgin forest dominated by European beech and silver fir. Our investigation analysed the correlation between RDWD of these two dominant tree species and the seasonal changes in climate (temperature and moisture), considering other intrinsic DWD traits such as DCs (1, 2 and 4) and diameters (1, 10 and 25 cm). As anticipated, RDWD (normalized per gram of dry DWD) increased with air temperature. Surprisingly, DWD diameter also had a strong positive correlation with RDWD. Nonetheless, the sensitivity to both variables and other intrinsic traits (DC and density) was greatly modulated by the species. On the contrary, water content, which exhibited a considerable spatial variation, had an overall negative effect on RDWD. Virgin forests are generally seen as ineffective C sinks due to their lack of net productivity and high respiration and nutrient turnover. However, the rates of RDWD in this virgin forest were significantly lower than those previously estimated for managed forests. This suggests that DWD in virgin forests may be buffering forest CO2 emissions to the atmosphere more than previously thought.

Influence of hybrid inorganic/organic mesoporous and nanostructured materials on the cephalosporins' efficacy on different bacterial strains.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different hybrid inorganic-organic micro- and nanomaterials (Fe(3)O(4)/PEG(600), Fe(3)O(4)/C(12), ZSM-5) on the antibacterial activity of different cephalosporins against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. The synergic effect of the studied materials was demonstrated by the increase in the growth inhibition zones diameter. All tested hybrid micro- and nanomaterials increased the activity of cefotaxime against Staphylococcus aureus. ZSM-5 increased the activity of cefotaxime and ceftriaxone and Fe(3)O(4)/C(12) that of ceftriaxone against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and S. aureus. The anti-Pseudomonas, anti-Klebsiella pneumoniae and anti-Bacillus subtilis activity of cefoperazone was increased by Fe(3)O(4)/C(12) nanoparticles, while the ZSM-5 improved its anti-Escherichia coli, K. pneumoniae, S. aureus and B. subtilis activity, whereas Fe(3)O(4)/PEG(600) against K. pneumoniae. The anti-K. pneumoniae activity of cefepime was increased by all tested nanoparticles, whereas its anti-B. subtilis and anti-E. coli activity was improved by Fe(3)O(4)/C(12) and Fe(3)O(4)/PEG(600) nanoparticles. In conclusion, both magnetic Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles, charged outside as extra-shell with the antibiotic as well as ZSM-5 microparticles carrying the antibiotic inside the pores, significantly and specifically improved cephalosporin efficacy. A probable explanation for the increase in the antibiotic efficiency is the better penetration through the cellular wall of the antibiotic charged nanoparticles.