The behavior of individually kept PIC Camboroughsows was compared when they were housed in three systems: pasture, soil or gestation crates. All sows were fed 2.0 kg of fortified, sorghum-soybean diet each day. Crated sows were divided into two groups: those fed meal and those fed pellets. As is common among sows on pasture and soil, outdoor sows were fed pellets. Eight sows per treatment were ...

The PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique was used to assess the diversity and distribution of Rieske nonheme iron oxygenases of the toluene/biphenyl subfamily in soil DNA and bacterial isolates recovered from sites contaminated with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). The central cores of genes encoding the catalytic alpha subunits were targeted, since th...

Climate change impacts on vegetation are mediated by soil processes that regulate rhizosphere water balance, nutrient dynamics, and ground-level temperatures. For ecosystems characterized by high fine-scale substrate heterogeneity such as grasslands on poorly developed soils, effects of climate change on plant communities may depend on substrate properties that vary at the scale of individuals ...

A range of factors has been identified that affect the temperature sensitivity (Q₁₀ values) of the soil-to-atmosphere CO₂ flux. However, the factors influencing the spatial distribution of Q₁₀ values within warm temperate forests are poorly understood. In this study, we examined the spatial variation of Q₁₀ values and its controlling factors in both a naturally regenerated oak forest (OF) and a...

INTRODUCTION In intensive agriculture areas the use of pesticides can alter soil properties and microbial community structure with the risk of reducing soil quality. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) evolution has been studied in a factorial lab experiment combining five substrates (a soil, two aged composts and their mixtures) treated with a co-applicat...

Climate change might alter annual snowfall patterns and modify the duration and magnitude of snow cover in temperate regions with resultant impacts on soil microclimate and soil CO2 efflux (Fsoil ). We used a 5-year time series of Fsoil measurements from a mid-elevation forest to assess the effects of naturally changing snow cover. Snow cover varied considerably in duration (105-154 days) and d...

Microbial respiration depends on microclimatic variables and carbon (C) substrate availability, all of which are altered when ecosystems experience major disturbance. Widespread tree mortality, currently affecting piñon–juniper ecosystems in southwestern North America, may affect C substrate availability in several ways, for example, via litterfall pulses and loss of root exudation. To determin...

Carbon (C) buried deep in soil (below 1 m) is often hundreds to thousands of years old, though the stability and sensitivity of this deep C to environmental change are not well understood. We examined the C dynamics in three soil horizons and their responses to changes in substrate availability in a coarsetextured sandy spodosol (0.0e0.1, 1.0e1.3, and 2.7e3.0 m deep). Substrate additions were i...

Changes in water and nitrogen (N) availability due to climate change and atmospheric N deposition could have significant effects on soil respiration, a major pathway of carbon (C) loss from terrestrial ecosystems. A manipulative experiment simulating increased precipitation and atmospheric N deposition has been conducted for 9 years (2005-2013) in a semiarid grassland in Mongolian Plateau, Chin...

Contaminant biodegradation in soils is hampered by the heterogeneous distribution of degrading communities colonizing isolated microenvironments as a result of the soil architecture. Over the last years, soil salinization was recognized as an additional problem especially in arid and semiarid ecosystems as it drastically reduces the activity and motility of bacteria. Here, we studied the import...