The potential excessive nutrient and/or microbial loading from mismanaged land application of organic fertilizers is forcing changes in animal waste management. Currently, it is not clear to what extent different rates of poultry litter impact soil microbial communities, which control nutrient availability, organic matter quality and quantity, and soil degradation potential. From 2002 to 2004, ...

Our ability to estimate the changes in carbon (C) pools and fluxes due to forest conversion is hampered by a lack of comparative studies. We measured aboveand belowground C pools and soil respiration flux at four forested and four pasture sites in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Aboveand belowground C pools were significantly larger (P < 0.01, t-test) at forested sites relative to pasture s...

The on-going destruction of old-growth forests puts tropical forest species under great pressure because of the resulting loss of habitat. An important biotic component of these forests are vascular epiphytes, which structurally depend on trees. In human-modified landscapes potential hosts may still be present, e.g. in the form of isolated remnant trees, small groups of planted trees, in patche...

As Neotropical forests are increasingly converted to agriculture (especially pastures), little is known about the impacts on microbial biodiversity. To assess such impacts, I compared spore abundance and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soils from lowland evergreen forests and pastures in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Species composition, dominance-diversity curves, and Simpson’s ...

This paper discusses the medicinal herb industry in relation to conservation of medicinal plants, including an overview of sustainable wildcrafting and sustainable forest agriculture. Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) and Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) are given as examples of wild herbs of economic importance which may be readily cultivated. Includes guidelines and techniques for forest fa...

introduction: p in soils exists in many complex chemical forms, which differ markedly in their behavior, mobility and resistance to bioavailability in the soils. the total p content of a soil provides little information regarding the behavior of p in the environment. the various forms of p present to a large degree, determine the fate and transport of p in soils. fractionation schemes using dif...