Results of a biodiversity study of Antarctic microfungi from ornithogenic soils are presented in this paper. A wide range of soil habitats within and adjacent to active and abandoned penguin rookeries were sampled in order to examine relationships between environmental factors and the biodiversity of soil microfungi. Soil samples were collected from two contrasting Antarctic locations: (1) Beaufort Island (Ross Sea, Continental Antarctica), which is largely ice- and snow-covered, isolated, difficult to access and infrequently visited, and (2) Barrientos Island (maritime Antarctica) which is mostly ice-free during summer and is often visited by scientists and tourists. Soil sampling at Beaufort and Barrientos Islands was completed during the austral summer seasons of 2004/05 and 2006/07, respectively. Warcup’s soil method was used for fungi cultivation. A total of 27 fungal taxa were isolated from the two study sites, consisting of 11 ascomycetes, 13 hyphomycetes
and three yeasts. Only three taxa — Geomyces sp., a pink and a white yeast — occurred on both sites. The isolated fungi were classified according to their thermal characteristics in culture, with seven psychrophilic, 10 psychrotrophic and 10 mesophilic fungi being isolated. Thelebolus microspores, Thelebolus sp., Geomyces sp. and Antarctomyces sp., were the most frequently isolated fungi. A total of 10 taxa were isolated from the 20 soil samples from Beaufort Island, consisting of five psychrophilic, four psychrotrophic and one mesophilic fungi. Thelebolus microsporus, Thelebolus sp., Asco BI8 and Phoma sp. were the most frequently obtained fungi
(20%–27% of isolates). A total of 22 fungal taxa were isolated from 23 soil samples from Barrientos Island, consisting of four psychrophilic, six psychrotrophic and 12 mesophilic fungi. Geomyces sp. and Antarctomyces sp. were the most frequently isolated taxa. Thus, the fungal diversity of Beaufort Island was dominated by Ascomycetes while that of Barrientos Island was dominated by hyphomycetes.
In the cold winter month of January 2012, two post graduate students from the Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), went on a two weeks field attachment with the Division of International Health (Public Health), Niigata University Graduate School of Medical & Dental Sciences (NU). This report is an account of our first hand learning experience about the public health system and culture in Niigata, Japan. Famously known as the 'Snow Country', Niigata prefecture is approximately 350 kilometers north of Tokyo, in the middle of the west coast of Honshu island, facing the Sea of Japan. It borders on the east with Fukushima prefecture, which was badly affected by the great tsunami disaster in March 2011. Niigata has a population of two and a half million, of which 21.3% is above the age of 65. Niigata University is located in Niigata City, the capital of Niigata prefecture. This attachment was under the UKM-Global Student Mobility Programme (Outbound) and it was taken as an opportunity to improve the memorandum of understanding between UKM and NU. The objectives were to gain knowledge and experience in various public health issues in a developed nation like Japan. Specifically, we were interested to learn about the local public health programmes, the influenza surveillance system, public health programmes for the elderly population, the Geographical Information System (GIS) and the Japanese culture in general. (Copied from article).
Chlorella is one of the common microalgae found in a wide range of habitats, including Antarctica. Chlorella UMACC 234 is an interesting isolate in the collection of Antarctic microalgae in the University of Malaya algae culture collection (UMACC) as it grows well at temperatures much higher than the ambience. The alga was isolated from snow samples collected from Casey, Antarctica. This study investigates the influence of nitrogen source on the growth, biochemical composition and fatty acid profile of Chlorella UMACC 234. The cultures were grown in Bold’s Basal Medium with 3.0 mM NaNO3, NH4Cl or urea. The cultures grown on NaNO3 attained the highest specific growth rate (μ = 0.43 day–1) while the specific growth rates of those grown on NH4Cl and urea were not significantly different (p > 0.05). The urea-grown cells produced the highest amounts of lipids (25.7% dry weight) and proteins (52.5% dry weight) compared to those grown on other nitrogen sources. The cell numbers attained by the cultures grown at NaNO3 levels between 0.3 and 3.0 mM were similar but decreased markedly at 9.0 mM NaNO3. The fatty acids of Chlorella UMACC 234 were dominated by saturated fatty acids, especially 16:0 and 18:0. The percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids was very low, especially in cells grown on urea (0.9% total fatty acids). Characterisation of the growth and biochemical composition of this Antarctic Chlorella is important to our studies on the relationship of Chorella isolates from tropical, temperate and polar regions, especially in terms of phylogeny and stress adaptation.