Tropical montane forests (TMF) are associated with a widely observed suite of characteristics encompassing forest structure, plant traits and biogeochemistry. With respect to nutrient relations, montane forests are characterized by slow decomposition of organic matter, high investment in below-ground biomass and poor litter quality, relative to tropical lowland forests. However, within TMF ther...

In long term studies the following climatological characteristics were measured or calculated: air and soil temperature, sunshine, wind speed, vapor pressure, saturation deficit, precipitation, humidity, incoming and reflected solar energy, energy emitted by active surfaces and primary production. Taking into account the relationships between climatological characteristics, the growth stages of...

Plant species affect soil bacterial diversity and compositions. However, little is known about the role of dominant plant species in shaping the soil bacterial community during the restoration of sandy grasslands in Horqin Sandy Land, northern China. We established a mesocosm pots experiment to investigate short-term responses of soil bacterial diversity and composition, and the related soil pr...

The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana infects a wide range of insects and survives as a soil saprophyte and a plant endophyte. The objective of our study was to determine the role of rainfall in dispersing B. bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin to the surface of corn (Zea mays) from soil with different levels of crop residue. Laboratory studies which simulated field tillage systems, had level...

Roots may respond to restrictive soil physical conditions and send signals to shoots to control plant growth. Soil mechanical resistance and aeration can be managed to improve the soil physical conditions for plant growth by using different tillage systems. The objective of this study was to quantify the influence of no-tillage and conventional-tillage systems on plant response to soil mechanic...

The complexities of the relationships between plant and soil microbial communities remain unresolved. We determined the associations between plant aboveground and belowground (root) distributions and the communities of soil fungi and bacteria found across a diverse tropical forest plot. Soil microbial community composition was correlated with the taxonomic and phylogenetic structure of the abov...

Deca-bromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) is the major component of the commercial deca-BDE flame retardant. There is increasing concern over BDE-209 due to its increasing occurrence in the environment and in humans. In this study the behavior of BDE-209 in the soil-plant system was investigated. Accumulation of BDE-209 was observed in the roots and shoots of all the six plant species examined, namely...

Ecosystems containing multiple nonnative plant species are common, but mechanisms promoting their co-occurrence are understudied. Plant-soil interactions contribute to the dominance of singleton species in nonnative ranges because many nonnatives experience stronger positive feedbacks relative to co-occurring natives. Plant-soil interactions could impede other nonnatives if an individual nonnat...

BACKGROUND Global climatic change is generally expected to stimulate net primary production, and consequently increase soil carbon (C) input. The enhanced C input together with potentially increased precipitation may affect soil microbial processes and plant growth. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To examine the effects of C and water additions on soil microbial properties and plant growth, we...

Abiotic soil properties, plant community composition, and herbivory all have been reported as important factors influencing the composition of soil communities. However, most studies thus far have considered these factors in isolation, whereas they strongly interact in the field. Here, we study how grazing by vertebrate herbivores influences the soil nematode community composition of a floodpla...