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Out of 5 million Indian spring water systems, a few were characterised for hydrochemistry and freshwater potential. The present study focuses on analysing the hydrochemistry, discharge, and drinking/irrigation water quality of both cold and thermal spring clusters namely Southern Kerala Springs (SKS) and Dakshina Kannada Springs (DKS) of Southern Western Ghats, India. Currently, eleven springs from SKS and ten from DKS including one thermal spring (TS) with temperature ranges from 34 to 37 °C were considered. The study revealed that cold springs (CS) of SKS are Na-Cl type, while the thermal and cold-water springs in DKS are Na-HCO 3 and mixing water type, respectively. Two distinct mechanisms predominantly define the hydro-chemical composition of the springs—SKS are influenced by precipitation, whereas DKS is likely by chemical weathering processes. While comparing the major ions and saturation indices of thermal springs (TS), it is evident that silicate minerals predominantly affect the chemical composition of water. CaCO 3 − is oversaturated in TS water and tends to precipitate as a scale layer. PCA showed that both geogenic and anthropogenic factors influence water chemistry. WQI categorized the CS in both the clusters are in the “Excellent” rank as compared to TS. Irrigation water quality signifies that the cold springs are only suitable for irrigation. Moreover, it is evident from the discharge that both SKS and DKS were rainfed in nature. Discharge monitoring designated that the CS could augment drinking water supplies in the nearby regions indicating the necessity of conservation and sustainable use considering future freshwater scarcity.

Natural springs have the potential to provide important information on hydrogeochemical processes within aquifers. This study used traditional and classic technical methods and procedures to determine the characteristics and evolution of springs to gain further knowledge on the differences between hot saline springs and cold fresh springs. In a short river segment near Wenquanzhen in the eastern Sichuan Basin, southwest China, several natural springs coexist with total dissolved solids (TDS) ranging from less than 1 to 15 g/L and temperatures from 15 to 40 °C. The springs emanate from the outcropping Lower and Middle Triassic carbonates in the river valley cutting the core of an anticline. The cold springs are of Cl·HCO3-Na·Ca and Cl·SO4-Na types, and the hot saline springs are mainly of Cl-Na type. The chemistry of the springs has undergone some changes with time. The stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes indicate that the spring waters are of a meteoric origin. The salinity of the springs originates from dissolution of minerals, including halite, gypsum, calcite and dolomite. The evolution of the springs involves the following mechanisms: the groundwater receives recharge from infiltration of precipitation, then undergoes deep circulation in the core of the anticline (incongruent dissolution of the salt-bearing strata occurs), and emerges in the river valley in the form of hot springs with high TDS. Groundwater also undergoes shallow circulation in the northern and southern flanks of the anticline and appears in the river valley in the form of cold springs with low TDS.

Hot and cold springs in the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal are investigated as natural pollutants of the lake, which can interfere with its chemistry. The study includes chemical analyses of lake water samples from different depths in the North Baikal basin, as well as waters of hot and cold onshore springs, and Baikal tributaries collected in 2007 through 2013. Thermal waters in the shore of Lake Baikal have much higher SO₄, Cl, F, Na, and SiO₂ concentrations than those in the lake water, as well as ten to hundred times greater enrichments in Li, Rb, Cs, Ga, As and W. Mineral water in cold springs is generally similar to the Baikal water with respect to total dissolved solids (TDS) and major- and trace-element chemistry. However, the Milky cold spring discovered in the lower reaches of the B. Cheremshan River within a few km from the lake stands out in its unusual Ca–Mg–SO₄ composition, low pH (3.57) and high TDS (535 mg/l), and trace-element enrichments in Al, Mn, Ni, Co, Zn, Y, and REE. The concentrations of these elements are still higher, up to one or two orders of magnitude, in suspended solids abundant in the spring water. This water composition is typical rather of mine drainage in sulfide mineralization provinces and prompts the existence of a sulfide orebody in the area. Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, and Cd occur in the dissolved form, and their concentrations in stream water near the B. Cheremshan inlet into Baikal are only slightly lower than immediately downstream of the spring; REE and Y are ten times lower because of precipitation from the river water. However, all metals the spring water leaches from the surrounding rocks eventually end up in Lake Baikal. Although the spring has much greater enrichments relative to the Baikal water in a number of elements, it hardly can cause any significant change to the lake composition. Only local chemical anomalies of Mn, Al, Co, Ni, Zn, Cd, REE and Y can be expected in the bottom sediments where the lake uptakes the B. Cheremshan stream.

Olumirin, Arinta and Ikogosi warm/cold springs are three magnificent geosites located within the Effon Psamite formation in the Ilesha schist belt of the southwestern basement complex of Nigeria. The proposed geoheritage area is blessed with two massive cascading waterfalls (Olumirin in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State and Arinta in Ipole Iloro, Ekiti State) that exists at various levels which has been described as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World” and a warm and cold springs (Ikogosi, Ekiti State) flowing side by side with a meeting point within a close proximity. The aesthetic, geological and ecological features present within the study area have made it imperative to showcase these unique natural environments to the world and to propose a possible upgrade to an international geoheritage site in order to maximise the tourism and economic potentials of the area. This paper deals with the unique geology, tourism/economic potentials and water resources of the study area. The geology of the study area reflected a highly fractured and faulted quartzite within the Effon Ridge system which serves as sources of numerous springs and waterfalls within the area. Geospatial analysis showed a very close proximity between the two waterfalls located in different states as belonging to different flanks of a ridge. Ikogosi warm and cold spring is a warm spring flowing in a valley rising from the surrounding Effon and Ikogosi a ridges with unique ambient and natural environment. Apart from the tourism potentials of these geosites, the sites offer potable water for various domestic and economic usage; physico-chemical parameters, cations and anions are all within the recommended limits of WHO and NIS except for Cr 6+ found in very few of the water sampled. Other potentials of the study area include as follows: health and energy potentials. The study area in every standard meets the requirements of being a geoheritage site of high conservative significance judging from its numerous geological, aesthetic, ecological and unique environmental features.

The acoustic and physical properties of two valuable marine cold spring carbonate rock samples gathered from the Chaoshan Depression in the South China Sea were measured. The Wyllie time-average equation was applied to analyze the measured sound speeds and their trend under different porosities, and the sound speeds of marine cold spring carbonate rocks were found to be consistent with those of terrestrial carbonate rocks. The Voigt model, Reuss model, and Voigt-Reuss-Hill model were used to predict the characteristics of the sound speed for four states of seafloor sediments containing cold spring carbonate mineral particles or rocks. For these four states of marine cold spring carbonate mineral particles existing on or in seafloor sediments, the sound speed and reflection coefficient of a mixture of seafloor surface sediments containing cold spring carbonate mineral particles or rocks decrease with an increase in the volume ratio of the seafloor sediment. This method for predicting the reflection coefficient provides evidence to explain the high and low reflection coefficients observed in Chirp sub-bottom profiles of cold spring seepage areas.

Two Gram-staining-positive, aerobic, motile, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria, designated strains Y24ᵀand H9ᵀwere isolated from cold spring and carrot (Daucus L.) samples, respectively, in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, north-western China. The taxonomic positions of the two new isolates were determined by using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and DNA–DNA hybridizations showed that strains Y24ᵀand H9ᵀwere two different novel species belonging to the genus Paenibacillus, with Paenibacillus hunanensis FeL05ᵀas their closest relative. The genomic DNA G + C contents of the two isolates Y24ᵀand H9ᵀwere 48.1 and 46.6 mol %, respectively. The cell wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinone was both as MK-7. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C₁₅:₀, C₁₆:₀, iso-C₁₆:₀, anteiso-C₁₇:₀and iso-C₁₅:₀. The polar lipid profiles consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and two glycolipids as the major components. On the basis of their phenotypic characteristics, the two isolates represent two different novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the names Paenibacillus wulumuqiensis sp. nov. (type strain Y24ᵀ = CPCC 100602ᵀ = JCM 30284ᵀ) and Paenibacillus dauci sp. nov. (type strain H9ᵀ = CPCC 100608ᵀ = JCM 30283ᵀ) are proposed.

The increasing levels of antibiotic resistance observed in clinical isolates, coupled with a lack of new drugs coming through the development pipeline, make the problem of antibiotic resistance a global crisis. In this Essay, Davies and colleagues draw up a priority list of urgent steps and future research directions that are needed to tackle this growing problem. The development and spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a universal threat to both humans and animals that is generally not preventable but can nevertheless be controlled, and it must be tackled in the most effective ways possible. To explore how the problem of antibiotic resistance might best be addressed, a group of 30 scientists from academia and industry gathered at the Banbury Conference Centre in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA, from 16 to 18 May 2011. From these discussions there emerged a priority list of steps that need to be taken to resolve this global crisis.

Masting, the synchronized production of variable seed crops, is widespread among woody plants, but there is no consensus about the underlying proximate mechanisms. To understand this population‐level behaviour, it is necessary to dissect the behaviour of individual trees as well as the interactions that synchronize them. Here, we test a model of masting in which variability in seed set is driven by resource limitation within trees and synchrony is driven by pollen limitation due to phenological asynchrony in some years. We used a 35‐year seed set data set and a 12‐year phenological data set to analyse seed production of 84 valley oaks (Quercus lobata) in central coastal California. Individual trees varied tremendously in their seed production patterns; trees with high levels of seed production were less variable over time, but showed stronger negative autocorrelation between years, suggesting that they are more resource‐limited than unproductive trees. In years of more asynchronous flowering, Q. lobata produced fewer seeds, consistent with the importance of phenological synchrony. We parametrized a model with these results to investigate how individual resource limitation and population‐wide pollen limitation – a consequence of asynchronous flowering during cold spring temperatures – interact to shape annual variation in seed production. The model illustrates that this proximate abiotic driver can synchronize the behaviour of individuals, resulting in population‐wide seed production patterns that closely resemble the field data. Synthesis. Our findings support the hypothesis that an interaction between two proximate mechanisms, individual resource limitation and environmental variation affecting population‐wide pollen availability, drives masting in this population of Quercus lobata. This combination of internal and external proximate drivers may underlie masting behaviour in many wind‐pollinated plants.

Background Maize cultivation has considerably expanded beyond its place of origin in Central America. The successful adaptation of maize to temperate climates can be achieved by selecting genotypes that demonstrate tolerance to low temperatures, especially in cold springs. In maize, cold tolerance at the early growth stages enables early sowing, a long growing season, and eventually high yields, even in temperate climates. Maize adaptation during early growth has not been thoroughly investigated; therefore, we tested the working hypothesis that several distinct and independent adaptation strategies may be involved in maize habituation to cool temperate climates during seedling establishment. Results We studied the effect of mild cold stress (day/night 16/12 °C) on early growth stage followed by regrowth at optimal daily temperatures (24/21 °C). Automated plant phenotyping was performed on 30 inbred lines selected from a diverse genetic pool during preliminary studies. As a result, we generated time series based on selected morphological parameters, spectral parameters, and spectral vegetation indices. These curves were clustered and four classes of maize with clearly contrasting growth modes and changes in their physiological status were distinguished at low temperatures and during regrowth. Two classes comprised either cold-sensitive (slow growth and poor physiological status in cold) or cold-tolerant (moderately fast growth and good physiological status in cold) lines. However, two other classes showed that growth rate and physiological status at low temperature is not necessarily related, for instance one class included lines with small seedlings but good physiological status and the other grouped seedlings with rapid growth despite poor physiological status. These classes clearly exhibited different modes of cold adaptation. Moreover, a class containing cold-sensitive inbred lines may represent a distinct and novel type of cold-adaptation strategy related to the arrest of coleoptile emerge related with ability to recover rapidly under favourable conditions. Conclusions Our results support the hypothesis that maize may have several adaptation strategies to cold environments at early growth stages based on independent mechanisms. These findings suggest that maize adaptability to adverse environments is likely more complex than previously understood.

In many respects, freshwater springs can be considered as unique ecosystems on the fringe of aquatic habitats. This integrates their uniqueness in terms of stability of environmental metrics. The main objective of our study was to evaluate how environmental variables may shape invertebrate diversity and community composition in different freshwater spring types and habitats within. In order to do so, we sampled invertebrates from 49 springs in Iceland, where we included both limnocrene and rheocrene springs. At each site, samples were taken from the benthic substrate of the spring (“surface”) and the upwelling groundwater at the spring source (“source”). To collect invertebrates from the spring sources we used a modified method of “electrobugging” and Surber sampler for collecting invertebrates from the surface. In total, 54 invertebrate taxa were identified, mostly Chironomidae (Diptera). Chironomid larvae also dominated in terms of abundance (67%), followed by Ostracoda (12%) and Copepoda (9%). The species composition in the surface samples differed considerably between rheocrene and limnocrene springs and was characterised by several indicator species. Alpha diversity was greater at the surface of springs than at the source, but the beta diversity was higher at the source. Diversity, as summarized by taxa richness and Shannon diversity, was negatively correlated with temperature at the surface. At the source, on the other hand, Shannon diversity increased with temperature. The community assembly in springs appears to be greatly affected by water temperature, with the source community of hot springs being more niche-assembled (i.e., affected by mechanisms of tolerance and adaptation) than the source community of cold springs, which is more dispersal-assembled (i.e., by mechanisms of drift and colonization).