conclusions this study showed that the collected soil from studied areas was rich of keratinophilic fungi and actinomycetes, therefore hygiene protocol should be taken to prevent the spread of pathogenic and saprophytes fungi in the environment of susceptible person. background keratinophilic fungi are a group of fungi that colonize in various keratinous substrates and degrade them to the compo...

In urban environments, green roofs provide a number of benefits, including decreased urban heat island effects and reduced energy costs for buildings. However, little research has been done on the non-plant biota associated with green roofs, which likely affect their functionality. For the current study, we evaluated whether or not green roofs planted with two native plant communities in New Yo...

Soil biota play key roles in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, however, compared to our knowledge of above-ground plant and animal diversity, the biodiversity found in soils remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we present an assessment of soil biodiversity and biogeographic patterns across Central Park in New York City that spanned all three domains of life, demonstrating that even a...

Numerous therapeutically relevant small molecules have been identified from the screening of natural products (NPs) produced by environmental bacteria. These discovery efforts have principally focused on culturing bacteria from natural environments rich in biodiversity. We sought to assess the biosynthetic capacity of urban soil environments using a phylogenetic analysis of conserved NP biosynt...

In order to evaluate the current state of the environmental quality of soils in Beijing, we investigated contents of 14 metals in Beijing urban soils inside the 5th ring road by even grids sampling. Statistic analyses were conducted to identify possible heavy metal pollutants, as well as the effects of land uses on their accumulation. Our results revealed that the urban soils in Beijing were co...

Use of a harmonised sampling regime has allowed comparison of concentrations of copper, chromium, nickel, lead and zinc in six urban parks located in different European cities differing markedly in their climate and industrial history. Wide concentrations ranges were found for copper, lead and zinc at most sites, but for chromium and nickel a wide range was only seen in the Italian park, where ...

In the present study, nine species of Aspergillus, viz., A. alliaceus, A. ochraceus, A. persii, A. leproris, A. parasiticus, A. fumigatiaffinis, A. sydowii, A. niger, A. tubingensis and Eurotium amstelodami were obtained and identified from soils of the National Park of Urmia Lake, based on cultural and morphological characteristics. All of the species are newly recorded from hypersaline soils ...

This paper was written by Edward Thompson, Jr., Senior Vice President, American Farmland Trust* in collaboration with the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. It is the fifth in a series of translation papers sponsored by the Funders’ Network to translate the impact of sprawl upon issues of importance to America’s communities and to suggest opportunities for progress that ...

Recent urban landscape vegetation surveys conducted in many cities in China identified numerous plant nutrient deficiencies, especially in newly developed cities. Soil nutrients and soil nutrient management in the cities of Hubei province have not received adequate attention to date. The aims of this study were to characterize the available nutrients of urban soils from nine cities in Hubei pro...