The production and application of compost potentially contaminate the environment with heavy metals. The heavy metal contents of composts must be exactly determined. Therefore, this study aims to understand the heavy metal contents in composts, using different digestion methods and to recommend the most appropriate digestion method making this measurement. Nine composts from different sources, ...

Future anthropogenic-induced changes to the earth’s climate will likely include increases in temperature and changes in precipitation that will increase the frequency and severity of droughts. Insects and fungal diseases are important disturbances in forests, yet understanding of the role of drought in outbreaks of these agents is limited. Current knowledge concerning the effects of drought on ...

We examined effects of prescribed fire on 3 wintering, bark-foraging birds, hairy woodpeckers (Picoides villosus), pygmy nuthatches (Sitta pygmaea), and white-breasted nuthatches (S. carolinensis), in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests of northern Arizona, USA. During winters of 2004–2006, we compared bird density, foraging behavior, and bark beetle activity among burned treatment and unb...

Compost-based media were examined for effects on plant growth of leafy lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in pot culture. Four types locally sourced composts created using different proportions wood chips from untreated pallets and mixed tropical tree debris, food waste restaurants, chicken manure. prepared by mixing each compost with a commercial peatmoss to create 25, 50, 100% compost-peatmoss mixtu...

Red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) forage on the boles of living pine trees for a variety of arthropods. To assess the availability of prey under differing stand conditions, we sampled arthropods that crawled up the boles of 300 living longleaf pine trees (Pinus palustrtis) ranging in age from 20-100 years with passive traps over a l-year period. We identified, counted, ovendried, and...

Aiming to evaluate a possible loss of soil habitat function after amendment with organic wastes, a digested sewage sludge and derived composts produced with green residues, where biologically tested in the laboratory using soil animals (Eisenia andrei and Folsomia candida) and plants (Brassica rapa and Avena sativa). Each waste was tested mimicking a field application of 6ton/ha or 12ton/ha. Av...

Extensive tree mortality from insect epidemics has raised concern over possible effects on soil biogeochemical processes. Yet despite the importance of microbes in nutrient cycling, how soil bacterial communities respond to insect-induced tree mortality is largely unknown. We examined soil bacterial community structure (via 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing) and community assembly processes (via nul...

1 J. Entomol. Sci. 40(1): 80-87 (January 2005) Abstract As a group, arthropod natural enemies have been shown to substantially reduce within-tree pine bark beetle populations. However, little is known about the impacts of individual species on bark beetle mortality. In a controlled laboratory study, we measured the effects of two predaceous histerid species, Platysoma parallelum (Say) and Plega...