Latest Publications
Gary Bending publications
Quantifying microplastic dispersion due to density effects
Stride, Ben, Abolfathi, Soroush, Bending, Gary D. and Pearson, Jonathan M
An experimental study was conducted on how polymer density affects the transport and fate of microplastics in aquatic flows. For the first time, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were chemically stained and tested using solute transport techniques and velocities found among rivers in the natural environment (0.016 – 0.361 m/s). Except for PP, in most conditions microplastics exhibited similar transport characteristics to solutes regardless of density and established solute transport models were successfully implemented to predict their transport and fate.. This data is the first to provide microplastic suspension and deposition thresholds based on river velocity and polymer density, making a key contribution to research predicting microplastic fate and organismal exposure.
Journal of Hazardous Materials. January 2024
Distinct biogeographic patterns in Glomeromycotinian and Mucoromycotinian arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi across China: A meta-analysis
Zihao Liu, Jie Fang, Yucheng He, Gary D Bending, Bin Song, Yaping Guo, Xiaojie Wang, Zemin Fang, Jonathan M Adams
Fine root endophytes, recently reclassified as Mucoromycotinian arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (M-AMF), are now recognized as functionally important as Glomeromycotinian AMF (G-AMF). Here, we investigated the biogeographic assemblies and ecological diversity patterns of both G-AMF and M-AMF, using published 18S rDNA amplicon datasets and associated metadata from 575 soil samples in six ecosystems across China. This study provides solid evidence that the two AMF groups have distinct ecological preferences at the continental scale in China, and also highlights the potential impacts of anthropogenic activities on distributions of AMF. These results advance our knowledge of the ecological differences between the two fungal groups in terrestrial ecosystems, suggesting the need for further field-based investigation that may lead to a more sophisticated understanding of ecosystem function and sustainable management.