Vegetation Zonation Predicts Soil Carbon Mineralization and Microbial Communities in Southern New England Salt Marshes

Uncertain future of New England salt marshes

Salt marsh plant communities have long been envisioned as dynamic, resilient systems that quickly recover from human impacts and natural disturbances. But are salt marshes sufficiently resilient to withstand the escalating intensity and scale of human impacts in coastal environments? In this study we examined the independent and interactive effects of emerging threats to New England salt marshe...

Effects of glyphosate on soil microbial communities and its mineralization in a Mississippi soil.

Transgenic glyphosate-resistant (GR) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] has enabled highly effective and economical weed control. The concomitant increased application of glyphosate could lead to shifts in the soil microbial community. The objective of these experiments was to evaluate the effects of glyphosate on soil microbial community structure, function and activity. Field assessments on soi...

Die-Off of Southern U.S. Salt Marshes

Assessing changes in soil microbial communities and carbon mineralization in Bt and non-Bt corn residue-amended soils

The effects of Bt corn (Zea mays L.) residue on soil microbial communities and rates of C mineralization were investigated. The Bt corn residue had a higher lignin content (12%) and lignin/N (9.9) ratio compared with its non-Bt near-isoline (10% lignin; lignin/N = 8.6). We examined the relationships among the Bt/non-Bt residue properties, residue component, soil texture, sampling time, and till...

Effects of recreational use and fragmentation on the understorey vegetation and soil microbial communities of urban forests in southern Finland

The impacts of fragmentation and recreational use on the hemiboreal urban forest understorey vegetation and the microbial community of the humus layer (the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) pattern, microbial biomass and microbial activity, measured as basal respiration) were examined in the greater Helsinki area, southern Finland. Trampling tolerance of 1) herb-rich OMT, 2) mesic MT, and 3) sub-x...