There is great potential to remediate heavy metal contaminated environments through bioaugmentation with filamentous fungi. However, these fungi have been poorly investigated in most developing countries, such as Zambia. Therefore, the present study aimed at isolating indigenous filamentous fungi from heavy metal contaminated soil and to explore their potential for use in bioaugmentation. The conventional streak plate method was used to isolate fungi from heavy metal-contaminated soil. Filamentous fungal isolates were identified using morphological and molecular techniques. The radial growth diameter technique was used to evaluate heavy metal tolerance of the fungi. The most abundant and highly tolerant fungi, identified as Aspergillus transmontanensis, Cladosporium cladosporioides, and Geotrichum candidum species, were used to bioremediate heavy metal contaminated soil samples with uncontaminated soil sample being employed as a control. A maximum tolerance index (TI) between 0.7 and 11.0 was observed for A. transmontanensis, and G. candidum while C. cladosporioides displayed the TI between 0.2 and 1.2 in the presence of 1,000 ppm of Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, and Zn. The interspecific interaction was analyzed to determine the compatibility among isolates. Our results showed mutual intermingling between the three evaluated fungal species, which confirms their common influence in biomineralization of heavy metals in contaminated soils. Maximum bio-removal capacities after 90 days were 72% for Cu, 99.8% for Co, 60.6% for Fe, 82.2% for Mn, and 100% for both Pb and Zn. This study has demonstrated the potential of highly resistant autochthonous fungal isolates to remediate the heavy metal contamination problem.
In recent years, Zambia has seen an increase in the incidences of conflicts involving stray wild animals with humans. Notable among these animals include the African elephants, buffalo and lion. Consequently, this triggers a response from law enforcement units of both government and the department of national parks to control the animals. Regrettably, most of their responses have involved the shooting down of these animals, rather than taking advantage of conservation and veterinary tools to relocate the animals back into protected areas, and this raises concerns about the welfare of these animals. Therefore, this chapter will bring to light some of the locally available tools that could be used to control stray wildlife in order to contribute towards both conservation and reducing human-wildlife conflicts in Zambia.
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