This study was conducted to improve the ability of indigenous New Zealand white-rot fungi to remove pentachlorophenol (PCP) from contaminated field soil. The effects of different bioaugmentation conditions on PCP removal and extracellular enzyme expression were measured in the laboratory. The conditions were fungal growth substrate and co-substrate composition, culture age, and Tween 80 additio...

background: in this study, the inhibition rate of different oil concentrations containing pcbs (1242 and 1254 pcb arochlors) on the anaerobic biomass was investigated by specific methanogenic activity using the vials with volume of 120 ml. methods: original samples were divided into two groups: with soil containing pcbs and without pcbs and the control samples in both cases were just contained ...

Root system architecture (RSA) impacts plant fitness and crop yield by facilitating efficient nutrient and water uptake from the soil. A better understanding of the effects of soil on RSA could improve crop productivity by matching roots to their soil environment. We used x-ray computed tomography to perform a detailed three-dimensional quantification of changes in rice (Oryza sativa) RSA in re...

Root system architecture (RSA) impacts plant fitness and crop yield by facilitating efficient nutrient and water uptake from the soil. A better understanding of the effects of soil on RSA could improve crop productivity by matching roots to their soil environment. We used x-ray computed tomography to perform a detailed three-dimensional quantification of changes in rice (Oryza sativa) RSA in re...

Colonization of the spermosphere and rhizosphere by plant-beneficial bacteria is limited by competition with indigenous soil microbes for resources such as reduced carbon compounds. A study of the soil microbial community around germinating seeds was undertaken as a necessary first step in understanding the competition between the introduced plant-beneficial bacteria and the indigenous microbia...

Soil heterogeneity influences microbial access to substrates and creates habitats varying in substrate concentrations, thus leading local variations carbon (C) dynamics. Based on theoretical considerations, we expected that higher would decrease activity. To test this hypothesis, modified spatial using 3D-printed cylinders with four compartments (either preventing or allowing diffusion between ...

Detection and quantification of genomic DNA from two ecologically different fungi, the plant pathogen Fusarium solani f. sp. phaseoli and the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices, was achieved from soil substrate. Specific primers targeting a 362-bp fragment from the SSU rRNA gene region of G. intraradices and a 562-bp fragment from the F. solani f. sp. phaseoli translation elongat...

Survivorship of larvae of the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), was measured after they were raised on one of six diets. The effects of container shape (wide and shallow vs. narrow and deep), soil depth (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 cm), and temperature (28°, 32°, or 35° C) on pupation success was measured. Diet influenced larval survivorship, but did not hav...

Respiration, which is the second most important carbon flux in ecosystems following gross primary productivity, is typically represented in biogeochemical models by simple temperature dependence equations. These equations were established in the 19th century and have been modified very little since then. Recent applications of these equations to data on soil respiration have produced highly var...

Respiration, which is the second most important carbon flux in ecosystems following gross primary productivity, is typically represented in biogeochemical models by simple temperature dependence equations. These equations were established in the 19th century and have been modified very little since then. Recent applications of these equations to data on soil respiration have produced highly var...