Warming increases soil carbon input in a Sibiraea angustata-dominated alpine shrub ecosystem

Plant-derived carbon (C) inputs via foliar litter, root litter and root exudates are key drivers of soil organic C stocks. However, the responses of these three input pathways to climate warming have rarely been studied in alpine shrublands. By employing a 3-year warming experiment (increased by 1.3 °C), we investigated the effects of warming on the relative C contributions from foliar litter, root litter and root exudates from Sibiraea angustata, a dominant shrub species in an alpine shrubland on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The soil organic C inputs from foliar litter, root litter and root exudates were 77.45, 90.58 and 26.94 g C m⁻², respectively. Warming only slightly increased the soil organic C inputs from foliar litter and root litter by 8.04 and 11.13 g C m⁻², but significantly increased the root exudate C input by 15.40 g C m⁻². Warming significantly increased the relative C contributions of root exudates to total C inputs by 4.6% but slightly decreased those of foliar litter and root litter by 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively. Our results highlight that climate warming may stimulate plant-derived C inputs into soils mainly through root exudates rather than litter in alpine shrublands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.     

Temperature influences the interaction of ruminant PrPTSE with soil

Ovine scrapie and cervid chronic wasting disease can be transmitted in the absence of animal-to-animal contact, and environmental reservoirs of infectivity have been implicated in their spread and persistence. Investigating environmental factors that influence the interaction of disease-associated PrP with soils is imperative to understanding what is likely to be the complex role of soil in disease transmission. Here, we describe the effects of soil temperature on the binding/desorption and persistence of both ovine scrapie- and bovine BSE-PrP^TSE. Binding of PrP^TSE to a sandy loam soil at temperatures of 4°C, 8–12°C and 25–30°C demonstrated that an increase in temperature resulted in (1) a decrease in the amount of PrP^TSE recovered after 24 h of interaction with soil, (2) an increase in the amount of N-terminal cleavage of the prion protein over 11 d and (3) a decrease in the persistence of PrP^TSE on soil over an 18 mo period.     

Assessing the Risk of Soil Pollution around an Industrialized Mining Region Using a Geostatistical Approach

Knowledge of mobility of some heavy metals in coal mining areas is fundamental in order to understand their toxicity and geochemical behavior. This paper aims to map pollution and assess the risk to agricultural soils in a wider lignite opencast mining and industrial area. Geochemical data related to environmental studies show that the waste characteristics favor solubilization and mobilization of inorganic contaminants. The geochemical distribution of soil pollution is studied by the application of the Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) procedure, a versatile extension of geostatistics which allows merging spatial and temporal estimations in a single model. Results reveal a correlation range of contaminants concentrations up to 5000 m and indicate a potential forecasting range of up to five years. Inspection of the produced spatiotemporal maps indicates that the whole study area is contaminated by As and various heavy metals, a situation which seems to be more or less stable over time.     

接种丛枝菌根真菌对云南石漠化土壤呼吸的影响

为探明"丛枝菌根（Arbuscular mycorrhiza，AM）真菌-植物-土壤"耦合作用对石漠化土壤呼吸季节动态的影响，采用LI-6400-09土壤呼吸室和便携式光合作用测量系统，对圆柏（Sabina chinensis）接种摩西斗管囊霉（Funneliformis mosseae，FM）、根内根孢囊霉（Rhizophagus intraradices，RI）2种AM菌种处理下土壤呼吸季节动态进行野外连续定位观测，并探究AM真菌接种处理下石漠化土壤呼吸速率与植物生长、土壤理化性质之间的关系。结果表明：（1）相较于对照，接种AM真菌对石漠化生境土壤呼吸季节动态产生了显著影响（P<0.01）。AM真菌处理具有较高的土壤呼吸季节变化幅度，即根内根孢囊霉处理土壤呼吸速率（1.55-9.10 μmol m^-2 s^-1）显著高于摩西斗管囊霉（1.62-8.29 μmol m^-2 s^-1）和对照（1.23-4.46 μmol m^-2 s^-1）；（2） AM真菌接种处理下土壤温湿度变化对土壤呼吸的影响显著大于对照，即土壤温度与水分对土壤呼吸的平均解释量大小顺序为：RI （44.84%；52.35%）>FM （17.18%；41.65%）>CK （2.66%；16.55%）；（3）2种菌种处理下土壤呼吸速率均与土壤有机质、硝态氮、全氮、速效钾、树高、胸径及根系生物量呈显著或极显著正相关（P<0.01或0.05），而与pH呈极显著负相关（P<0.01），但对照处理土壤呼吸速率除与pH呈显著负相关（P<0.05）外，与其它土壤理化指标相关性不显著；（4）土壤温度和水分、硝态氮、铵态氮、有机质、易氧化有机碳、速效钾、全氮及全磷对土壤呼吸变化的贡献最大，而胸径、树高、有效磷、微生物生物量、根系生物量及pH的影响次之。因此，"AM真菌-寄主植物-土壤"相互作用对石漠化生境土壤呼吸季节动态的影响，主要取决于不同AM真菌接种处理对土壤微气候（如含水量）、碳素（有机质、易氧化有机碳）、无机氮库（铵态氮、硝态氮）、根系生物量及磷钾养分可利用性的调控。     

The effects of soluble-Al on root growth and radicle elongation

Summary In order to determine the effects of concentration on plant growth, aluminium (Al) was extracted (10^–3 M CaCl₂) from 4 acid brown hill soils which had been treated with superphosphate at rates equivalent to 0 to 300 kg P ha^–1. The soils ranged in pH (CaCl₂) from 3.5 to 4.9, and Al concentration from 0 to 0.6 mM. The effects of Al on ryegrass growth in the 4 soils in a glasshouse was compared with its effect on radicle elongation of seeds germinated in contact with CaCl₂ extracts from the same soils.Ryegrass root growth in the glasshouse, and radicle elongation in the bioassay test were both unaffected by Al concentrations below 0.1 mM. Root growth was substantially reduced when Al concentration exceeded 0.1 mM and above 0.2 mM growth was almost completely inhibited. Radicle elongation rate was also reduced when the concentration of Al was greater than 0.2 mM agreeing well with the observation from the pot experiment.It is concluded that because of its speed and convenience the bioassay method offers a useful method of establishing critical levels of Al for crop plants.     

Antennal sensilla and their nerve innervation in first‐instar nymphs of Porphyrophora sophorae Arch. (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Margarodidae)

ABSTRACT Porphyrophora (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Margarodidae) is a genus of soil‐inhabiting scale insects. The antennal sensilla and their innervation in the first‐instar nymphs of Porphyrophora sophorae were studied using light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy to understand the function of these sensilla and determine the sensillar innervation feature on these small antennae. The results show that the six‐segmented antennae of these nymphs have 20–23 sensilla which can be morphologically classified into seven types, for example, one Böhm's bristle (Bb), one campaniform sensillum (Ca), one Johnston's organ (Jo), 13–16 aporous sensilla trichodea (St), two coeloconic sensilla (Co), one straight multiporous peg (Mp1), and one curvy multiporous peg (Mp2). According to their function, these sensilla can be categorized into three categories: mechanoreceptors, that is, Bb, Ca, Jo, and St; thermo/hygroreceptors, that is, Co only; and chemoreceptors, that is, Mp1 and Mp2. The dendrites that innervate the Mp1, Mp2, and Co sensilla combine to form a large nerve tract (NT1) in the antennal lumen. Because NT1 extends through and out of the antenna, the somata of these neurons are present in the lymph cavity of the insect's head. The dendrites that innervate the mechanoreceptors form another nerve tract (NT2). The somata of these neurons are located inside the scape and pedicel. J. Morphol. 277:1631–1647, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Optimization of Influencing Parameters on Phenanthrene Removal Efficiency in Soil Washing Process by Using Response Surface Methodology

Response surface methodology (RSM) under Box–Behnken design (BBD) was applied to evaluate the effect of the influencing parameters including surfactant concentration, liquid/soil ratio, Humic Acid concentration, and washing time on phenanthrene removal efficiency in soil washing process by using the nonionic surfactant Tween 80 and find an optimal operational conditions to achieve the highest removal efficiency. A polynomial quadratic model was used to correlate phenanthrene removal efficiency and four independent variables (R² = 0.9719). Based on the obtained results the most influential parameter on phenanthrene removal efficiency was surfactant concentration with an impact value of 69.519%. Liquid/soil ratio was also another factor that significantly influenced on removal efficiency with an impact value of 25.014%. The interaction between surfactant concentration and liquid/soil ratio was also shown to have a positive significant effect on removal efficiency (p_value = 0.0027). However, the other independent variables Humic Acid concentration and time were not significant in the ranges selected in this study. Based on the optimization results maximum removal efficiency of 70.692 ± 3.647% was achieved under the conditions of surfactant concentration 5000 mg L^?1, liquid/soil ratio 30 v/w, HA concentration 9.88 mg L^?1, and washing time 2 h, which was in good agreement with predicted value (66.643%).     

Shifting abundances of communities associated with nitrogen cycling in soils promoted by sugarcane harvest systems

Sugarcane cultivation supports Brazil as one of the largest world sugar and ethanol producer. In order to understand the impact of changing sugarcane harvest from manual to mechanized harvest, we studied the effect of machinery traffic on soil and consequently soil compaction upon soil microbial communities involved in nitrogen cycling. The impact of sugarcane harvest was dependent on soil depth and texture. At deeper soil layers, mechanized harvesting increases the abundance of nitrogen fixers and denitrifying communities (specifically nosZ clade I and II) while manual harvesting increases the abundance of ammonia oxidizers (specifically AOA) and increases denitrifying communities (nosZ clade I and II) on top and at intermediate depth. The effect of change on the harvest system is more evident on sandy soil than on clay soil, where soil indicators of compaction (bulk density and penetration resistance) were negatively correlated with soil microorganisms associated with the nitrogen cycle. Our results point to connections between soil compaction and N transformations in sugarcane fields, besides naming biological variables to be used as proxies for alterations in soil structure.