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DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Re-annotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi.Database URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA177353

The objective reality of uneven water resource distribution and imbalanced water demand of the human society makes it inevitable to transfer water. It has been an age-old method to adopt the inter-basin water transfers (IBTs) for alleviating and even resolving the urgent demand of the waterdeficient areas. A number of countries have made attempts and have achieved enormous benefits. However, IBTs inevitably involve the redistribution of water resources in relevant basins and may cause changes of the ecological environment in different basins. Such changes are two-sided, namely, the positive impacts, including adding new basins for waterdeficient areas, facilitating water cycle, improving meteorological conditions in the recipient basins, mitigating ecological water shortage, repairing the damaged ecological system, and preserving the endangered wild fauna and flora, as well as the negative impacts, including salinization and aridification of the donor basins, damage to the ecological environment of the donor basins and the both sides of the conveying channel system, increase of water consumption in the recipient basins, and spread of diseases, etc. Because IBTs have enormous ecological risk, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze the inter-basin water balance relationship, coordinate the possible conflicts and environmental quality problems between regions, and strengthen the argumentation of the ecological risk of water transfer and eco-compensation measures. In addition, there are some effective alternative measures for IBTs, such as attaching importance to water cycle, improving water use efficiency, developing sea water desalination, and rainwater harvesting technology, etc.

The total concentrations and chemical forms of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the surface sediments of the Laizhou Bay and the surrounding marine area of the Zhangzi Island (hereafter referred to as Zhangzi Island for short) were obtained and multiple indices and guidelines were applied to assess their contamination and ecological risks. The sedimentary conditions were fine in both of the two studied areas according to the marine sediment quality of China. Whereas the probable effects level guideline suggested that Ni might cause adverse biological effects to occur frequently in some sites. All indices used suggested that Cd posed the highest environmental risk in both the Laizhou Bay and the Zhangzi Island, though Cd may unlikely be harmful to human and ecological health due to the very low total concentrations. The enrichment factor (EF) showed that a substantial portion of Cr was delivered from anthropogenic sources, whereas the risk assessment code (RAC) indicated that most Cr was in an inactive state that it may not have any adverse effect either. Moreover, the results of EF and geoaccumulation index were consistent with the trend of the total metal concentrations except for Cd, while the results of RAC and potential ecological risk factor did not follow the same trend of their corresponding total metal concentrations. We also evaluated the effects of using different indices to assess the environmental impact of these heavy metals.

a b s t r a c tSurface sediments were collected from the coastal waters of southwestern Laizhou Bay and the rivers it connects with during summer and autumn 2012. The acid-volatile sulfide (AVS) and simultaneously extracted metals (SEM) were measured to assess the sediment quality. The results showed that not all sediments with [SEM]-[AVS] > 0 were capable of causing toxicity because the organic carbon is also an important metal-binding phase in sediments. Suppose the sediments had not been disturbed and the criteria of US Environmental Protection Agency had been followed, heavy metals in this area had no adverse biological effects in both seasons except for few riverine samples. The major ingredient of SEM was Zn, whereas the contribution of Cd -the most toxic metal studied -to SEM was <1%. The distributions of AVS and SEM in riverine sediments were more easily affected by anthropogenic activity compared with those in marine sediments.

a b s t r a c tPhosphorus (P) in surface sediments of the Laizhou Bay (LB) and the coastal waters around the Zhangzi Island (ZI) was analyzed. Six forms of P were separated -exchangeable or loosely sorbed P (Ads-P), aluminum-bound P (Al-P), iron-bound P (Fe-P), authigenic apatite plus CaCO 3 -bound P plus biogenic apatite (Ca-P), detrital apatite plus other inorganic P (De-P) and organic P (OP). The average contents of P in the LB were in the order: De-P > OP > Ca-P > Fe-P > Ads-P > Al-P; in the ZI, the corresponding order was De-P > OP > Fe-P > Ca-P > Ads-P > Al-P. Due to the high nutrient loadings from the surrounding rivers, TP contents in sediments of the LB were higher than in those of the ZI. The potential bio-available P (Ads-P and OP) accounted for 14.7% and 24.2% of TP in sediments of the LB and the ZI, respectively.Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.As an important biogenic element in the ocean, phosphorus (P) directly affects the primary productivity of the ocean and has a significant impact on the marine carbon cycle (Lui and Chen, 2011;Yu et al., 2012); P is also directly related to the global climate and environmental changes (Krom et al., 2004). Hecky and Kilham (1988) pointed out that P might be the element which controlled the global marine biological productivity during a long geologic time scale (>1000 years). As an important reservoir of P in marine environment, sediment not only has a buffering effect on the P content in the overlying water, but also is an important source of P in seawater (Giblin et al., 1997;Zabel et al., 1998). Fisher et al. (1982) reported that sediments provided 28-35% of P needed in the primary productivity of coastal marine ecosystems.Both organic and inorganic forms of P are present in marine sediments. Inorganic forms of P may be adsorbed onto the surfaces of minerals, or be bound to aluminum, iron, or calcium (Föllmi, 1996;Benitez-Nelson, 2000;Łukawska-Matuszewska and Bolałek, 2008;Song, 2010). The binding forms of P in sediments have major influences on transportation, degradation, and the ultimate fate of P in marine ecosystems. Only certain forms of P can be transformed into bio-available ones after being affected by physical, chemical and biological factors, including desorption, dissolution and reduction processes (Song, 2010). After that, the bio-available forms of P are released into the overlying water. These certain forms of P become important factors affecting the trophic status of water or causing eutrophication (Eijsink et al., 2000). Therefore, research on the geochemical forms of P in sediments may help researchers understand the dynamic cycle of P in seawater and sediments, such as migration and transformation between sediments and the overlying water, and subsequent diagenesis and other geochemical processes (Zabel et al., 1998;Eijsink et al., 2000).The Laizhou Bay and the surrounding marine area of the Zhangzi Island (hereafter referred to as the Zhangzi Island for short) are important mariculture zones in China, and they are located in the B...

a b s t r a c tZaozhuang Segment of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is an important water conveyance line on the eastern route of the South-North Water Transfer Project in China and its water environment condition can exert a significant influence on diversion water quality safety. This paper analyzed contents of five heavy metals such as Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn as well as their chemical forms in surface sediments in this region. Methods including Threshold Effects Level-Probable Effects Level (TEL-PEL), Risk Assessment Code (RAC)and Acid Volatile Sulfide-Simultaneously Extracted Metals (AVS-SEM) were also employed to evaluate the quality of sedimentary environment in this region. With the aim to assess the eco-environmental risk revealing the information of the concentration, the chemical fractionation, the toxicity of heavy metals, a new assessment index known as Multivariable Evaluation Index (MEI) was introduced into this paper. Results indicated that contents of such five heavy metals in surface sediments were generally low. Overall, ecological risk was in the medium-low grade in addition to several locations where the level of risk was high. However, certain differences still existed among various assessment results. Comparing with other single evaluation methods, MEI may be able to reflect contamination status and ecological risks of heavy metals in sediments of a specific region more comprehensively. MEI also seemed able to overcome the limitations of other prevalent aggregated indexes to assess potential sediment pollution risk in aquatic systems.

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