I . Summary ................................................. 93 II . Introduction ............................................... 94 III . The role of invertebrates in the soil system ....................... 96 N . Adaptive strategies of soil organisms: the sleeping beauty and the ecosystem engineers ........................................ 97 V . Microfauna: microbial regulation in micro-food...

The Flora of Iran is very rich due to the diverse climatic and soil conditions in mdifferent ecological regions. Iran has around 10000 species of wild plant of which about 850 are considered being medicinally important. In the present work the phytochemistry of several Iranian medicinal plants and their possible usage will be discussed.

Jordan University of Science and Technology (Irbid, Jordan), Research Triangle Institute (North Carolina, USA) and Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virgina, USA) were granted an R21 planning grant funded by FDA, USA through an International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program to study the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s flora and soil microorganism as a source of new ...

In the present study, the cyanobacterial flora of Urmia Lake (NW Iran), one of the largest salt lakes in the world and adjacent rivers is investigated. Urmia Lake comprises different micro-organisms including cyanobacteria which have a major role in aquatic ecosystems. Cyanobacterial samples were collected in 2008–09 from Urmia Lake and its surrounding ecosystems. All samples were cultivated, i...

Plant chemical composition and the soil community are known to influence litter and soil organic matter decomposition. Although these two factors are likely to interact, their mechanisms and outcomes of interaction are not well understood. Studies of their interactive effects are rare and usually focus on carbon dynamics of litter, while nutrient dynamics in the underlying soil have been ignore...

Jordan University of Science and Technology (Irbid, Jordan), Research Triangle Institute (North Carolina, USA) and Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virgina, USA) were granted an R21 planning grant funded by FDA, USA through an International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program to study the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s flora and soil microorganism as a source of new ...

Every organism on earth relies on associations with its neighbors to sustain life. For example, plants form associations with neighboring plants, microflora, and microfauna, while humans maintain symbiotic associations with intestinal microbial flora, which is indispensable for nutrient assimilation and development of the innate immune system. Most of these associations are facilitated by chemi...

Present study assessed the effect of heavy metals on soil enzyme activities like amylase, invertase, dehydrogenase and urease of open shrub lands present at 1 km, 1.5 km, 2 km and 2.5 km distance away from Bhushan sponge iron industry, in Rengali block of Sambalpur district, Odisha. The heavy metals studied were Cd, Ni, and Cr, whose concentrations in the above sites were much more than the saf...

Aminocyclopyrachlor is a pyrimidine carboxylic acid herbicide used to control broadleaf weeds and brush. Amending soil with activated charcoal is recommended to prevent off-site transport of aminocyclopyrachlor and non-target plant damage. We used the batch-equilibrium method to determine the concentration of aminocyclopyrachlor in a pseudo-steady state with biochar, soil, and biochar-soil syst...

Peanut is an important oil crop worldwide and shows considerable adaptability but growth and yield are negatively affected by continuous cropping. Soil micro-organisms are efficient bio-indicators of soil quality and plant health and are critical to the sustainability of soil-based ecosystem function and to successful plant growth. In this study, 18S rRNA gene clone library analyses were employ...