Suggestions that novel, non-food, dedicated biomass crops used to produce bioenergy may provide opportunities to diversify and reinstate biodiversity in intensively managed farmland have not yet been fully tested at the landscape scale. Using two of the largest, currently available landscape-scale biodiversity data sets from arable and biomass bioenergy crops, we take a taxonomic and functional...

In this paper, an improved artificial bee colony (I-ABC) algorithm for the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of a photovoltaic module array (PVMA) is presented. Even though P-V output characteristic curve with multi-peak was generated due to any damages or shading discovered on PVMA, I-ABC could get rid stuck local (LMPP), but quickly and stably track global (GMPP), thereby improving generati...

BACKGROUND The Oasys programme plots serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements and produces scores of the likelihood that the recordings demonstrate occupational asthma. We have previously shown that the area between the mean workday and rest day PEF curves [the area between the curves (ABC) score] has a sensitivity of 69% and specificity of 100% when plotted from waking time using a cut-o...

Members of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of transporters have been implicated as major players in drug response. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ABC transporter genes may account for variation in drug response between individuals. Given the abundance of SNPs within the human genome, identification of functionally important SNPs is difficult. Here, we utilized signatur...

Spatial turnover of biological communities is determined by both dispersal and environmental constraints. However, we lack quantitative predictions about how these factors interact influence across genealogical scales. In this study, have implemented a predictive framework based on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to quantify the signature constraints in community turnover. First, simulat...

The percentage compositions of soil herbivorous, bacterivorous and fungivorous nematodes in forests, grasslands and scrubs in Romania was analysed. Percentages of nematode abundance, biomass and metabolic footprint methods were used to evaluate the patterns and relative size of herbivory, bacterial- and fungal-mediated channels in organic and mineral soil horizons. Patterns and magnitudes of he...

Species abundance distributions (SADs) are widely used as a tool for summarizing ecological communities but may have different shapes, depending on the currency used to measure species importance. We develop a simple plotting method that links SADs in the alternative currencies of numerical abundance and biomass and is underpinned by testable predictions about how organisms occupy physical spac...

Stem injection techniques can be used to introduce (15)N into trees to overcome a low variation in natural abundance and label biomass with a distinct (15)N signature, but have tended to target small and young trees, of a variety of species, with little replication. We injected 98 atom% (15)N ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) solution into 13 mature, 9- to 13-m tall edge-profile Sitka spruce trees in o...

1. The objective of this study is to test whether plant traits that are predicted by resourcecompetition theory to lead to competitive dominance are correlated with competitive response and abundance in a nitrogen-limited grassland. We collected species trait and soil nutrient data on non-leguminous perennial prairie plant species in replicated monoculture plots established for this purpose. 2....