In order to estimate the microbial biomass content and to quantify the amount of available plant nutrients derived from microbial biornass in Bangladesh soils, biomass-C, -N, and available-N eoptents using samples from 8 soils were measured by applying the chloroform fumigation and drying-rewetting methods, respectively. 1)

The importance of soil organic carbon (SOC) under forests in the global carbon cycle depends on the stability of the soil carbon and its availability to soil microbial biomass. We investigated the effects of successive rotations of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) plantations on the stability of SOC and its availability to microbes by adopting the two-step hydrolysis with H2SO...

Heavy metal pollution in the aquatic system has become a serious threat today. The chemical processes that exist are not economical for treating a large volume of water bodies of dilute metal concentration. In this endeavour, microbial biomass has emerged as an option for developing economic and ecofriendly wastewater treatment processes. Nonliving and dead microbial biomass may passively seque...

Rapid deforestation in Sumatra, Indonesia is presently occurring due to the expansion of palm oil and rubber production, fueled by an increasing global demand. Our study aimed to assess changes in soil-N cycling rates with conversion of forest to oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations. In Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, we selected two soil landscapes - loa...

We present models of dormancy in a planktonic culture and in biofilm, and examine the relative advantage of short dormancy versus long dormancy times in each case. Simulations and analyses indicate that in planktonic batch cultures and in chemostats, live biomass is maximized by the fastest possible exit from dormancy. The lower limit of time to reawakening is thus perhaps governed by physiolog...

Cadmium (Cd) is ubiquitous in the human environment and has toxic effect on soil microbial biomass or its activity, including microbial biomass carbon (C(mic)), dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and basal respiration (BR), etc., C(mic), DHA, BR were used as bioindicators of the toxic effect of Cd in soil. This study was conducted to determine the effects of Cd on soil microbial biomass and its activ...

Mulching is widely used to increase crop yield in semiarid regions in northwestern China, but little is known about the effect of different mulching systems on the microbial properties of the soil, which play an important role in agroecosystemic functioning and nutrient cycling. Based on a 4-year spring maize (Zea mays L.) field experiment at Changwu Agricultural and Ecological Experimental Sta...

How soil microbes assimilate carbon-C, nitrogen-N, phosphorus-P, and sulfur-S is fundamental for understanding nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. We compiled a global database of C, N, P, and S concentrations in soils and microbes and developed relationships between them by using a power function model. The C:N:P:S was estimated to be 287:17:1:0.8 for soils, and 42:6:1:0.4 for microbes...

Published information is contradictory about the inhibitory or stimulatory effect of living roots on soil organic matter d~m~sition. In this study, i4C-labelled rye straw was exposed in fertilii or unfertilized soil with or without plants (winter rye, Se&e cereuIe) for 49 days under semi-controlled conditions. Our objective was to study the effect of roots on soil organic matter mineralization ...

Using ®eld mesocosms maintained for 6 months in an acid spruce forest, we investigated the in ̄uence of microarthropods on biomass, structure and function of the soil microbial community. In the litter layer (L/F layer), the re-immigration of mesofauna into mesocosms did not signi®cantly a€ect substrate-induced respiration (SIR), biomass C, biomass N, biomass P, Nmineralisation or enzymes involv...