Retention of nitrogen in small streams artificially polluted with nitrate

A simple method was developed to test hypotheses on nitrogen retention in first-order streams in an agricultural region near Oslo, SE Norway. A gravity-operated system added a nitrate solution to the streams continuously at a constant rate. Water samples were collected at fixed intervals downstream to follow the rate of decline in streamwater nitrate. Repeated sampling allowed calculation of regression lines from experiments with different levels of additions of nitrate.The experiments showed that removal of nitrate generally increased with higher initial nitrate concentration, regardless of temperature (range 8–16 °C). Higher nitrate removal rates were found in a stream polluted by easily degradable organic matter than in a similar stream fed by groundwater.Experiments conducted in indoor channels lined with a layer of stream sediment gave reproducible, exponential rates of nitrate decrease in the recirculated water.The results are discussed in the framework of first-order streams as protective ecotones between agricultural areas and higher-order parts of the watersheds.     

Microbial nitrogen and phosphorus co-limitation across permafrost region

The status of plant and microbial nutrient limitation have profound impacts on ecosystem carbon cycle in permafrost areas, which store large amounts of carbon and experience pronounced climatic warming. Despite the long-term standing paradigm assumes that cold ecosystems primarily have nitrogen deficiency, large-scale empirical tests of microbial nutrient limitation are lacking. Here we assessed the potential microbial nutrient limitation across the Tibetan alpine permafrost region, using the combination of enzymatic and elemental stoichiometry, genes abundance and fertilization method. In contrast with the traditional view, the four independent approaches congruently detected widespread microbial nitrogen and phosphorus co-limitation in both the surface soil and deep permafrost deposits, with stronger limitation in the topsoil. Further analysis revealed that soil resources stoichiometry and microbial community composition were the two best predictors of the magnitude of microbial nutrient limitation. High ratio of available soil carbon to nutrient and low fungal/bacterial ratio corresponded to strong microbial nutrient limitation. These findings suggest that warming-induced enhancement in soil nutrient availability could stimulate microbial activity, and probably amplify soil carbon losses from permafrost areas.     

Accelerated organic matter decomposition in thermokarst lakes upon carbon and phosphorus inputs

Mineralization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in thermokarst lakes plays a non-negligible role in the permafrost carbon (C) cycle, but remains poorly understood due to its complex interactions with external C and nutrient inputs (i.e., aquatic priming and nutrient effects). Based on large-scale lake sampling and laboratory incubations, in combination with ¹³C-stable-isotope labeling, optical spectroscopy, and high-throughput sequencing, we examined large-scale patterns and dominant drivers of priming and nutrient effects of DOM biodegradation across 30 thermokarst lakes along a 1100-km transect on the Tibetan Plateau. We observed that labile C and phosphorus (P) rather than nitrogen (N) inputs stimulated DOM biodegradation, with the priming and P effects being 172% and 451% over unamended control, respectively. We also detected significant interactive effects of labile C and nutrient supply on DOM biodegradation, with the combined labile C and nutrient additions inducing stronger microbial mineralization than C or nutrient treatment alone, illustrating that microbial activity in alpine thermokarst lakes is co-limited by both C and nutrients. We further found that the aquatic priming was mainly driven by DOM quality, with the priming intensity increasing with DOM recalcitrance, reflecting the limitation of external C as energy sources for microbial activity. Greater priming intensity was also associated with higher community-level ribosomal RNA gene operon (rrn) copy number and bacterial diversity as well as increased background soluble reactive P concentration. In contrast, the P effect decreased with DOM recalcitrance as well as with background soluble reactive P and ammonium concentrations, revealing the declining importance of P availability in mediating DOM biodegradation with enhanced C limitation but reduced nutrient limitation. Overall, the stimulation of external C and P inputs on DOM biodegradation in thermokarst lakes would amplify C-climate feedback in this alpine permafrost region.     

The significance of partial migration for food web and ecosystem dynamics

Migration is ubiquitous and can strongly shape food webs and ecosystems. Less familiar, however, is that the majority of life cycle, seasonal and diel migrations in nature are partial migrations: only a fraction of the population migrates while the other individuals remain in their resident ecosystem. Here, we demonstrate different impacts of partial migration rendering it fundamental to our understanding of the significance of migration for food web and ecosystem dynamics. First, partial migration affects the spatiotemporal distribution of individuals and the food web and ecosystem-level processes they drive differently than expected under full migration. Second, whether an individual migrates or not is regularly correlated with morphological, physiological, and/or behavioural traits that shape its food-web and ecosystem-level impacts. Third, food web and ecosystem dynamics can drive the fraction of the population migrating, enabling the potential for feedbacks between the causes and consequences of migration within and across ecosystems. These impacts, individually and in combination, can yield unintuitive effects of migration and drive the dynamics, diversity and functions of ecosystems. By presenting the first full integration of partial migration and trophic (meta-)community and (meta-)ecosystem ecology, we provide a roadmap for studying how migration affects and is affected by ecosystem dynamics in a changing world.     

撕裂蜡孔菌HG2011对光叶紫花苕结瘤固氮的影响及其潜在机制

【目的】 在我国南方尤其是西南地区,光叶紫花苕(Vicia villosa Roth.)作为重要的青饲和绿肥两用豆科作物被广泛种植,有助于提高土壤氮素和后茬作物的产量品质。接种有益微生物是促进豆科作物生物固氮和生长的重要措施之一。为此,本文研究了一株自主分离获得的白腐真菌¾¾撕裂蜡孔菌(Careporia lacerata HG2011)对光叶紫花苕结瘤固氮和生长的影响,并揭示其潜在机制。【方法】 采用微生物培养、植物培养和田间试验,研究C. lacerata磷铁活化能力、代谢产物构成、与根瘤菌Rhizobium sophorae S3的相互作用,及其对光叶紫花苕结瘤、生长、产量、品质和土壤有效磷铁的影响。【结果】 C. lacerata和根瘤菌之间无拮抗作用。液相色谱-质谱(liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, LC-MS)分析发现,C. lacerata发酵液含有氨基酸、有机酸和类黄酮等化感物质,能增强根瘤菌的趋化性并促进生物膜形成。此外,C. lacerata还能释放生长素、赤霉素、水杨酸和铁载体,活化难溶性有机和无机磷。在植物培养试验中,单独接种C. lacerata或根瘤菌均能促进光叶紫花苕生长,但以共接种处理效果最佳。C. lacerata定殖于光叶紫花苕根际,导致根长、根系表面积和结瘤数显著增加。田间试验发现,接种C. lacerata显著提高了光叶紫花苕单株根瘤数、根瘤质量和固氮酶活性,以及土壤有效磷铁含量和磷酸酶活性,产量比常规施肥处理增加12.15%且品质无显著变化。【结论】 C. lacerata能够在光叶紫花苕根际定殖,通过分泌化感物质、生长素和活化土壤磷铁等机制促进结瘤固氮和生长发育。C. lacerata易于培养,菌剂制备成本低廉,施用简便,对提高豆科作物产量品质具有一定应用价值。     

Leaf nutrients in relation to stature and life form in tropical rain forest

Abstract. To document the relationship between a plant's position in the canopy and its leaf nutrient content, leaf nitrogen and phosphorus were determined for 30 species growing in mature evergreen lowland rain forest at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Species that grow either in the understory, midstory, or the canopy were selected. Species were further separated into three life forms: self-supporting monocots, self-supporting dicots, and climbers. Mass-based nutrient concentrations were expected to decrease with stature, as has been reported in studies of other forests. In fact, mass-based nitrogen and phosphorus did not vary significantly among the three adult-stature classes, although area-based values differed greatly: canopy plants averaged 60 % more nitrogen and 90 % more phosphorus per unit leaf area than understory plants. Differences in leaf characteristics were evident among the three life forms. Most notably, area-based phosphorus and leaf specific mass were lowest in climbers, intermediate in self-supporting dicots, and highest in self-supporting monocots. These results support the characterization of climbers as investing in inexpensive structures, perhaps in order to gain competitive advantage in light capture by allocating resources to maximize elongation rates.     

Horizontal and vertical gradients in sediment nutrients on mudflats in the Shannon estuary,Ireland

Spatial variability in nutrient concentrations in the intertidal sediments and pore waters has been studied along downshore transects and in core profiles at three locations in the Shannon estuary on the west coast of Ireland. The parameters measured were N, as Kjeldahl N, NO₃, NO₂, and NH₃, and P as total P and PO₄ along with a range of other environmental variables such as salinity and sediment organic content. The concentrations of all nutrients varied with season, but winter values were generally low in comparison with polluted mainland european estuaries. There was a great deal of variation in nutrient concentrations along the transects, and coefficients of variability of up to 153% (NH₃), 173% (NO₃), 129% (NO₂) and 117% (PO₄) were found. Overall, there was little evidence of any trends in concentration in any of the nutrients from the top to the bottom of the transects, although it was occasionally possible to link particular instances to local conditions such as the presence of the channel or a stream. Sediment core profiles showed typical patterns, with NO₃ concentrations for example being highest in surface sediments, while NH₃ and PO₄ concentrations increased with depth. Rather surprisingly perhaps, NO₃ could still be detected on occasion at depths of up to 20 cm, well below the Redox Potential Discontinuity (RPD) and the limit of oxygen penetration which oxygen microelectrodes had measured as being within a few mm of the surface. This was ascribed to the activities of the macrofauna, in that the oxidised sediment which lined the burrows could clearly be seen in some cores. This study not only shows that nutrient distributions along estuarine gradients are linked to physicochemical factors such as oxygenation and freshwater/marine influence, but also that sediment instability, through random physical events such as storms, and macrofaunal activity play an important role and that these latter factors deserve closer attention.     

The role of non-natural foods in the nutritional strategies of monkeys in a human-modified mosaic landscape

Many tropical animals inhabit mosaic landscapes including human-modified habitat. In such landscapes, animals commonly adjust feeding behavior, and may incorporate non-natural foods. These behavioral shifts can influence consumers' nutritional states, with implications for population persistence. However, few studies have addressed the nutritional role of non-natural food. We examined nutritional ecology of wild blue monkeys to understand how dietary habits related to non-natural foods might support population persistence in a mosaic landscape. We documented prevalence and nutritional composition of non-natural foods in monkey diets to assess how habitat use influenced their consumption, and their contribution to nutritional strategies. While most energy and macronutrients came from natural foods, subjects focused non-natural feeding activity on five exotic plants, and averaged about a third of daily calories from non-natural foods. Most non-natural food calories came from non-structural carbohydrates and least from protein. Consumption of non-natural foods related to time in human-modified habitats, which two groups used non-randomly. Non-natural and natural foods were similar in nutrients, and the amount of non-natural food consumed drove variation in nutritional strategy. When more daily calories came from non-natural foods, females consumed a higher ratio of non-protein energy to protein (NPE:P). Females also prioritized protein while allowing NPE:P to vary, increasing NPE while capitalizing on non-natural foods. Overall, these tropical mammals achieved a similar nutrient balance regardless of their intake of non-natural foods. Forest and forest-adjacent areas with non-natural vegetation may provide adequate nutrient access for consumers, and thus contribute to wildlife conservation in mosaic tropical landscapes.     

温度条件对麦田土壤溶液养分浓度的影响

本文用实测资料分析了温度对麦田土壤溶液养分浓度的影响。研究表明,在农田土壤水分不亏缺的条件下,温度与麦田土壤溶液浓度呈正相关关系。随着太阳辐射增强,温度升高,土壤溶液中NO_3-N浓度增大,到14:00—15:00时,出现极大值。土壤溶液中钾浓度的高峰期基本是在中午温度高的时刻,低峰期在夜晚和午前10:00—11:00左右。10:00—11:00时的低值,可能与根系的同化吸收有关。土壤溶液养分浓度日较差大,光合面积增长快,营养生长旺盛。     

Light, temperature and nutrients as factors in photosynthetic adjustment to an elevated concentration of carbon dioxide

The short-term stimulation of the net rate of carbon dioxide exchange of leaves by elevated concentrations of CO₂ usually observed in C₃ plants sometimes does not persist. Experiments were conducted to test whether the patterns of response to the environment during growth were consistent with the hypotheses that photosynthetic adjustment to elevated CO₂ concentration is due to (1) feedback inhibition or (2) nutrient stress. Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Williams] and sugar beet (Best vulgaris L. cv. Mono Hye-4) were grown from seed at 350 and 700 μl^? CO₂, at 20 and 25°C, at a photon flux density of 0.5 and 1.0 mmol m^?2 S^?1 and with three nutrient regimes until the third trifoliolate leaf of soybean or the sixth leaf of sugar beet had finished expanding. Net rates of CO₂ exchange of the most recently expanded leaves were then measured at both 350 and 700 μl 1^?1 CO₂. Plants grown at the elevated CO₂ concentration had net rates of leaf CO₂ exchange which were reduced by 33% in sugar beet and 23% in soybean when measured at 350 μl 1^?1 CO₂ and when averaged over all treatments. Negative photosynthetic adjustment to elevated CO₂ concentration was not greater at 20 than at 25°C, was not greater at a photon flux density of 1.0 than at 0.5 mmol m^?2 S^?1 and was not greater with limiting nutrients. Furthermore, in soybean, negative photosynthetic adjustment could be induced by a single night at elevated CO₂ concentration, with net rates of CO₂ exchange the next day equal to those of leaves of plants grown from seed at the elevated concentration of CO₂. These patterns do not support either the feedback-inhibition or the nutrient-stress hypothesis of photosynthetic adjustment to elevated concentrations of CO₂.