The application of pesticides is unavoidable in conventional agricultural practice. To develop effective biofertilizers, bacterial strains with both pesticide tolerance and plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits were isolated for further testing. Seedlings of rice (Oryza sativa) were planted in soil with 1, 5, or 10 times the recommended rates of the fungicides etridiazole, metalaxyl, and tricyclazole. Endophytic bacteria were isolated from roots of rice seedlings. The bacterial 16S rDNA sequences and related PGP characteristics including potential nitrogen fixation, phosphorus-solubilizing and indole acetic acid (IAA) production ability were further examined. In all, 17 different strains were obtained from rice seedling roots; five strains with both nitrogen fixation potential and IAA production ability included Rhizobium larrymoorei E2, Bacillus aryabhattai E7, Bacillus aryabhattai MN1, Pseudomonas granadensis T6, and Bacillus fortis T9. Except for T9, all strains could tolerate two or more fungicides. We inoculated rice roots with the endophytic bacteria and all conferred rice growth-promoting ability. Bacillus aryabhattai MN1 was further tested and showed high tryptophan dose-dependent IAA production ability, tolerance towards etridiazole and metalaxyl application and should be considered a potential bacterial biofertilizer.

Transport of riverine dissolved carbon (including DOC and DIC) is a crucial process linking terrestrial and aquatic C reservoirs, but has rarely been examined in subtropical small mountainous rivers (SMRs). This study monitored DOC and DIC concentrations on a biweekly basis during non-event flow periods and at 3 h intervals during two typhoon events in three SMRs in southwestern Taiwan between January 2014 and August 2016. Two models, HBV (the Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning model) and a three-endmember mixing model, were applied to determine the quantities of DOC and DIC transport from different flow paths. The results show that the annual DOC and DIC fluxes were 2.7–4.8 and 48.4–54.3 t C km⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively, which were approx. 2 and 20 times higher than the global mean of 1.4 and 2.6 t C km⁻² yr⁻¹, respectively. The DIC ∕ DOC ratio was 14.08, which is much higher than the mean of large rivers worldwide (1.86), and indicates the high rates of chemical weathering in this region. The two typhoons contributed 12 %–14 % of the annual streamflow in only 3 days (about 1.0 % of the annual time), whereas 15.0 %–23.5 % and 9.2 %–12.6 % of the annual DOC and DIC flux, respectively, suggested that typhoons play a more important role in DOC transport than DIC transport. The endmember mixing model suggested that DOC and DIC export was mainly from surface runoff and deep groundwater, respectively. The unique patterns seen in Taiwan SMRs characterized by high dissolved carbon flux, high DIC ∕ DOC ratio, and large transport by intense storms should be taken into consideration when estimating global carbon budgets.

This study investigated the aerobic degradation ofbisphenol-A (BPA) and the derivatives bisphenol-B (BPB), bisphenol-F (BPF), tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA), and tetrachlorobisphenol-A (TCBPA) in river sediment. The degradation rates of BPA and BPF were enhanced by adding brij 30, brij 35, rhamnolipid, surfactin, or crude enzyme; a higher degradation rate was observed with crude enzyme than with the other additives. The degradation rates of BPA and its derivatives (BPAs) in the sediment were BPF > BPA > BPB > TCBPA > TBBPA. Different BPAs affected the changes in the microbial community in the sediment. Sediment fractions with larger particle sizes demonstrated higher degradation rates. Different sediment particle sizes affected the changes in the microbial communities. Pseudomonas sp. may be the dominant bacteria in the process of degradation of BPAs in river sediment.