If arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) promote phosphorus partitioning of plant hosts, they could provide one mechanism for the maintenance of plant community diversity. We investigated whether AMF improved the ability of old field perennials to grow on a range of phosphorus sources and whether AMF facilitated differential performance of plant species on different phosphorus sources (phosphorus ...

Organic farming is increasingly recognized as a prototype for sustainable agriculture. Its guidelines ban the use of artificial fertilizers. However, organic farms may import nutrients from conventional farming through material exchanges. In this study, we aimed at estimating the magnitude of these flows through the quantification of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium inflows from conventional ...

To compare the functional gene structure and diversity of microbial communities in saline-alkali and slightly acidic oil-contaminated sites, 40 soil samples were collected from two typical oil exploration sites in North and South China and analyzed with a comprehensive functional gene array (GeoChip 3.0). The overall microbial pattern was significantly different between the two sites, and a mor...

Organic decomposition is a complex interaction between chemical, physical and biological processes, where the variety of aquatic vascular plants is essential for the trophic dynamics of freshwater ecosystems. The goal of this study was to determine the aquatic macrophyte Eichhornia azurea (Sw.) Kunth decomposition rate, the time relation with the limnological parameters, and whether this relati...

The versatile nucleophilic organic catalysts N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been shown to effectively mediate the transesterification of phosphorus esters under mild conditions; user-friendly imidazolium salts can also be employed as pre-catalysts.

Full DFT based quantum mechanical studies reveal that zero dimensional porous structures, especially the newly proposed phosphorus incorporated organic cages, can be excellent catalysts for the dehydrogenation of ammonia borane.

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) is an efficient method to obtain information about the spin densities in organic radicals containing a heteroatom and, when used in conjonction with ab initio calculations, this spectroscopy can yield a precise description of the structure of these species. In the present study, our purpose is to compare the spin delocalization on the following three parama...

A multi-pumping flow system (MPFS) for the spectrophotometric determination of dissolved orthophosphate and dissolved organic phosphorus in wastewater samples is proposed. The determination of orthophosphate is based on the vanadomolybdate method. In-line ultraviolet photo-oxidation is employed to mineralise organic phosphorus to orthophosphate prior to detection. A solenoid valve allows the de...

A prerequisite to use organic fertilizers in a sustainable way is to quantify the amount of phosphorus and potassium available for plants that could be taken up by a crop. The objective of this study was to evaluate direct and subsequent influence of organic fertilizers addition (poultry manure and two types of composts) on the changes of bioavailability of phosphorus and potassium in soil and ...