For pile foundations subjected to lateral loads, an analysis method should account for the response of the combined soil-pile system. Current practice for pile-soil interaction analysis usually employs a series of springs to model the lateral behavior of soil-pile interaction. In this method, the force (p) – deformation (y) function, widely known as p-y curve, of the spring characterizes the pi...

There has been little study of whether different variants of tropical rainforest have distinct soil microbial communities and levels of diversity. We compared bacterial and fungal community composition and diversity between primary mixed dipterocarp, secondary mixed dipterocarp, white sand heath, inland heath, and peat swamp forests in Brunei Darussalam, Northwest Borneo by analyzing Illumina M...

Running performance depends on a mechanical interaction between the feet of an animal and the substrate. This interaction may differ between two species of sand lizard from the Mojave Desert that have different locomotor morphologies and habitat distributions. Uma scorparia possesses toe fringes and inhabits dunes, whereas the closely related Callisaurus draconoides lacks fringes and is found o...

A laboratory-based methodology to launch cylindrical sand slugs at high velocities is developed. The methodology generates well-characterised soil ejecta without the need for detonation of an explosive; this laboratory-based tool thereby allows for the experimental investigation of the soil-structure events. The experimental set-up comprises a launcher with a cylindrical cavity and a piston to ...

Humic substances (HS) reportedly enhance moisture retention of soil. However, no information is available as to the effects of HS on sand-based golf course putting greens. HS have acidic functional groups (COOH) that are reaction sites on the molecule. An greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect that the acidic functional groups in humic acid, tannic acid and citric acid have ...

This work reports on the use of cultural practices that influence grasshoppers’ nymphal emergence. Grasshopper eggs were buried at depths of 2, 14, 18, 22, and 26 cm in laboratory arenas. Nymph eclosion ranged from 77.5 to 87.8%. However, nymph emergence, measured as the number of nymphs that reached the soil surface, was estimated at 70.9% when eggs were buried at 2cm, but was reduced to 2.5 %...

The mobility of clomazone [2-(2-chlorobenzylo)-4,4-dimetylo-1,2-oxazolidin-3-one] in a loamy sand soil and a sand soil was studied in a soil column under laboratory conditions. Commercial clomazone formulation (Command 480 EC) and clomazone immobilized in an alginate matrix were used for a leaching experiment. For both formulations, the same dose of 2.0 mg of the active substance was applied. A...

the effect of soil and phanerogam characteristics on bryophytes composition, richness, abundance and functional groups were investigated in order to understand the factors responsible for bryophytes distribution patterns. three different sand dunes were selected: untouched, artificial sod-covered and planted by ammophila. along 10 transects perpendicular to the shore, a total of 142 permanent r...

Allelopathy has been hypothesized to play a role in exotic plant invasions, and study of this process can improve our understanding of how direct and indirect plant interactions influence plant community organization and ecosystem functioning. However, allelopathic effects can be highly conditional. For example allelopathic effects demonstrated in vivo can be difficult to demonstrate in field s...