Antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms have been detected in all environments studied so far, wastewater treatment plants, hospitals, agriculture, aquaculture and cemetery soil. However, the latter environment remains poorly explored. In this study, soil samples from the exhumation were collected from the New Cemetery in Chełmża. Samples from 4 research sites and two different depths (1) from the surface (max 10 cm deep) and (2) from under the coffin (1.5-2 m deep) were taken and analyzed for the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs). For this purpose, the number of bacteria colonies resistant to the tested antibiotics: amoxicilline, cefuroxime, doxycycline and oxytetracycline was determined. Colonies grown on a medium with the addition of antibiotic at inhibitory concentration were considered resistant. The soil samples were also examined for the presence of β-lactam (blaSHV, blaOXA, blaCTX-M) and tetracycline (tetA, tetB, tetC, tetD, tetE , tetM) resistance genes. Differences in the number of resistant colonies between samples regarding sampling depth were observed. The highest number of isolates was recorded against cefuroxime and amoxicilline. Moreover, at least one resistance gene was detected in each of the samples and each of the selected genes was detected at least once. The results showed that cemeteries are a source of ARB and ARGs. Due to the possibility of further spread to the environment, i.e. to groundwater and surface waters, they pose a serious threat to human safety. Our results suggest the need for further, more detailed studies to determine the importance of cemeteries in spreading antibiotic resistance.

BACKGROUND The study aimed to develop a new formulation based on active substances of natural origin to protect plant seedlings against fungal pathogens, and to evaluate the effect of this formulation on fungal communities in arable soil. RESULTS Coating seeds of common crop plants with a p‐coumaric acid (p‐CA)‐based preparation resulted in a significant reduction in the growth of most of the tested pathogens. When applied to soil, both the p‐CA‐based formulation and Porter 250 EC had a similar overall effect on soil fungal communities and significantly altered the structure of fungal communities at all of the times examined. Shifts in the fungal community composition concerned less than 2% of the total number of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). The strongest impact of the formulations on soil microbiota was recorded at the fourth week of treatment. Two ASVs assigned to Botrytis and Chromelosporium, known as plant pathogens, and an unidentified ASV from Diversisporales encompassing the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), were significantly depleted in soil samples treated with p‐CA in comparison with Porter 250 EC. CONCLUSION The p‐CA‐based preparation has the potential to be used as an alternative to synthetic fungicides. It shows a similar effect to Porter 250 EC on the organization of soil communities, determining changes in the character of the communities of fungi in general, at any given time. Moreover, p‐CA caused a reduction in ASVs belonging to Botrytis and Chromelosporium (plant pathogens) and ASVs of Diversisporales (containing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) in comparison with the commercial compound that was analyzed. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

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Due to the ongoing climate changes, temperate forests are increasingly exposed to fires. However, until now the functioning of post-fire temperate forest ecosystems with regard to used forest management method has been weakly recognized. Here, we examined three variants of forest restoration after fire (two variants of natural regeneration with no soil preparation—NR, and artificial restoration by planting following soil preparation—AR) regarding their environmental consequences in development of post-fire Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) ecosystem. The study was conducted using a 15-year timespan in a long-term research site located in the Cierpiszewo area (N Poland) being one of the biggest post-fire grounds in European temperate forests in last decades. We focused on soil and microclimatic variables as well as on growth dynamics of post-fire pines generation. We found that the restoration rates of soil organic matter, carbon and most studied nutritional elements stocks were higher in NR plots than in AR. This could be primarily linked to the higher (p < 0.05) density of pines in naturally regenerated plots, and the subsequent faster organic horizon reconstruction after fire. The difference in tree density also involved regular differences in air and soil temperature among plots: consistently higher in AR than in both NR plots. In turn, lower water uptake by trees in AR implied that soil moisture was constantly the highest in this plot. Our study delivers strong arguments to pay more attention to restore post-fire forest areas with the use of natural regeneration with no soil preparation.