Soil fungi associated with plant roots, notably ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi, are central in above- and below-ground interactions in Mediterranean forests. They are a key component in soil nutrient cycling and plant productivity. Yet, major disturbances of Mediterranean forests, particularly in the Southern Mediterranean basin, are observed due to the greater human pressures and climate changes....

1. A plant that causes specific changes to soil biota may either positively or negatively affect the performance of the plant that subsequently grows in that location. These effects, known as plant–soil feedback, can affect plant species diversity at multiple spatial scales. 2. It has been hypothesized that positive plant–soil feedback reduces alpha (local) diversity by allowing dominance by ea...

Dynamic root growth simulation is an important tool when analysing the mechanisms within the rhizosphere. The concentration of nutrients in the soil as well as water content is strongly dependent on the root structure. On the other hand root growth is effected by the nutrient concentration and water supply as well as other soil parameters. As a result realistic root growth models are often coup...

Soil disturbance has been widely recognized as an important factor influencing the structure and dynamics of plant communities. Although soil reworkers were shown to increase habitat complexity and raise the risk of plant invasion, their role in regulating the interactions between native and invasive species remains unclear. We proposed that crab activities, via improving soil nitrogen availabi...

This paper shows that for microbial communities, "fences make good neighbors." Communities of soil microorganisms perform critical functions: controlling climate, enhancing crop production, and remediation of environmental contamination. Microbial communities in the oral cavity and the gut are of high biomedical interest. Understanding and harnessing the function of these communities is difficu...

Soils sustain an immense diversity of microbes, which, to a large extent, remains unexplored. A range of novel methods, most of which are based on rRNA and rDNA analyses, have uncovered part of the soil microbial diversity. The next step in the era of microbial ecology is to extract genomic, evolutionary and functional information from bacterial artificial chromosome libraries of the soil commu...

Green manure could improve soil nutrients and crop production, playing a significant role in sustainable agriculture. However, the impacts of green manure on crop health and the roles soil microbial communities play in the process haven’t been clarified clearly yet. In this study, we investigated soil microbial community composition and structure in four tobacco farmlands, which were treated wi...

In this study, through series of shaking table tests and statistical analysis, the efficiency of Uniform Tuned Liquid Column Damper (UTLCD) in structures resting on loose soils, considering soil-structure interaction was investigated. The soil beneath the structure is loose sandy soil. The Laminar Shear Box (LSB) as a soil container was adopted and the scaled form of the prototype structure nam...

Fixed-bottom foundations of offshore structures, mainly monopiles, are subject to extreme events and other critical cyclic nature loads. Since wind turbine structures slender, the manufacturers turbines give a range frequencies for safe operation during structure’s life cycle. Highly reliable measurements accurate determination shear moduli damping ratios crucial ensure stability these example,...