Search results for "Biomass"

Phenotypic traits and establishment speed of 44 turf bermudagrass accessions

2014

Breeding of turf bermudagrass (Cynodon (L.) Rich.) has made available a broad range of turf varieties with unique morphological and growth traits. Rapid establishment is necessary in order to provide the performance of a mature turf cover in the shortest time possible. The aims of the research were: (1) to determine variation of growth, morphological and biomass traits in bermudagrass accessions belonging to different phenotypic groups during establishment and (2) to relate such variations to establishment speed in order to assess whether contrasting phenotypic traits could induce different establishment patterns in bermudagrass or if a general establishment predictor can be identified for …

Top consumer abundance influences lake methane efflux

2015

Lakes are important habitats for biogeochemical cycling of carbon. The organization and structure of aquatic communities influences the biogeochemical interactions between lakes and the atmosphere. Understanding how trophic structure regulates ecosystem functions and influences greenhouse gas efflux from lakes is critical to understanding global carbon cycling and climate change. With a whole-lake experiment in which a previously fishless lake was divided into two treatment basins where fish abundance was manipulated, we show how a trophic cascade from fish to microbes affects methane efflux to the atmosphere. Here, fish exert high grazing pressure and remove nearly all zooplankton. This re…

Diversity of rhizobia nodulating wild shrubs of Sicily and some neighbouring islands

2008

Abstract Legume shrubs have great potential for rehabilitation of semi-arid degraded soils in Mediterranean ecosystems as they establish mutualistic symbiosis with Nfxing rhizobia. Eighty-eight symbiotic rhizobia were isolated from seven wild legume shrubs native of Sicily (Southern Italy) and grouped in operational taxonomic units (OTU) by analysis of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) polymorphism. Partial sequencing of 16S rRNA gene of representative isolates of each OTU revealed that most Genisteae symbionts are related to Bradyrhizobium canariense, B. japonicum and B. elkanii. Teline monspessulana was the only Genistea nodulated by Mesorhizobium strains, and Anagyris foeti…

Microbial diversity in a thermophilic aerobic biofilm process: analysis by length heterogeneity PCR (LH-PCR).

2003

A two-stage pilot-scale thermophilic aerobic suspended carrier biofilm process (SCBP) was set up for the on-site treatment of pulp and paper mill whitewater lining. The microbial diversity in this process was analyzed by length heterogeneity analysis of PCR-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA. The primer pair selected for PCR amplification was first evaluated by a computational analysis of fragment lengths in ten main phylogenetical eubacterial groups. The fragment contained the first third of the 16S rRNA gene, which was shown to vary naturally between 465 and 563 bp in length. The length heterogeneity analysis of polymerase chain reaction (LH-PCR) profile of the biomass attached to carrier elemen…

Cumulative Effects of Short-Term Polymetal Contamination on Soil Bacterial Community Structure

2006

ABSTRACT In this study we evaluated the short-term effects of copper, cadmium, and mercury, added singly or in combination at different doses, on soil bacterial community structure using the bacterial automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (B-ARISA) fingerprinting technique. Principal-component analysis of B-ARISA profiles allowed us to deduce the following order of impact: (Cu + Cd + Hg) >> Hg ≥ Cd > Cu. These results demonstrated that there was a cumulative effect of metal toxicity. Furthermore, the trend of modifications was consistent with the “hump-backed” relationships between biological diversity and disturbance described by Giller et al. (K. E. Giller, E. Witler, an…

Integrating Decomposers, Methane-Cycling Microbes and Ecosystem Carbon Fluxes Along a Peatland Successional Gradient in a Land Uplift Region

2021

AbstractPeatlands are carbon dioxide (CO2) sinks that, in parallel, release methane (CH4). The peatland carbon (C) balance depends on the interplay of decomposer and CH4-cycling microbes, vegetation, and environmental conditions. These interactions are susceptible to the changes that occur along a successional gradient from vascular plant-dominated systems to Sphagnum moss-dominated systems. Changes similar to this succession are predicted to occur from climate change. Here, we investigated how microbial and plant communities are interlinked with each other and with ecosystem C cycling along a successional gradient on a boreal land uplift coast. The gradient ranged from shoreline to meadows…

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties

2021

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties. Datasets were required, at a minimum, to include abundance or biomass of earthworms at a site. Where possible, site-level species lists were included, as well as the abundance and biomass of individual species and ec…

Conversion of carbohydrates into 5-HMF in Deep Eutectic Solvents under mild reaction conditions

Soil microbial biomass carbon and fatty acid composition of earthworm Lumbricus rubellus after exposure to engineered nanoparticles

2014

none 6 no First Online: 14 October 2014 The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) on soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and on earthworm Lumbricus rubellus. An artificial soil was incubated for 4 weeks with earthworms fed with vegetable residues contaminated by NPs, consisting of Ag, Co, Ni and TiO2. After the treatments, soils were analysed for MBC and total and water soluble metal-NPs, whereas earthworms were purged for 28 days and then analysed for fatty acids (FAs) and total metal-NPs. Longitudinal sections of earthworms were investigated by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS),…

Short-term effects of wood ants (Formica aquilonia Yarr.) on soil animal community structure

1999

Abstract Wood ants are known to affect the structure of invertebrate communities in tree canopies but it is not clear whether wood ants can affect the structure of soil animal communities. To isolate the direct effects of wood ants on soil fauna, I manipulated wood ant density in a 6-week mesocosm experiment by placing mesocosms (O 14 cm, height 13.5 cm) permeable to ants either on or outside the ant trails. The mesocosms contained litter, humus, and a diverse soil fauna typical of coniferous forest. I controlled earthworm species composition and biomasses by inoculating 470 mg fresh mass of epigeic lumbricid Dendrobaena octaedra (Sav.) or Dendrodrilus rubidus (Sav.) to the mesocosms. A 15-…