Changes in soil nutrient availability during long-term ecosystem development influence the relative abundances of plant species with different nutrient-acquisition strategies. These changes in strategies are observed at the community level, but whether they also occur within individual species remains unknown. Plant species forming multiple root symbioses with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi,...

Concerns for the mounting supply of municipal solid waste being generated combined with decreasing landfill space have compelled military installations to evaluate alternative methods for disposal. One approach to reduce landfilling is the use of a new garbage-processing technology that sterilizes and separates the waste into inorganic and organic components. Thus, a study was initiated to eval...

To understand the importance of plants in structuring the vertical distributions of soil nutrients, we explored nutrient distributions in the top meter of soil for more than 10,000 profiles across a range of ecological conditions. Hypothesizing that vertical nutrient distributions are dominated by plant cycling relative to leaching, weathering dissolution, and atmospheric deposition, we examine...

Biochar application to soils has been investigated as a means of improving soil fertility and mitigating climate change through soil carbon sequestration. In the present work, the invasive shrub "Eupatorium adenophorum" was utilized as a sustainable feedstock for making biochar under different pyrolysis conditions in Nepal. Biochar was produced using several different types of kilns; four sub t...

BACKGROUND Global climatic change is generally expected to stimulate net primary production, and consequently increase soil carbon (C) input. The enhanced C input together with potentially increased precipitation may affect soil microbial processes and plant growth. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To examine the effects of C and water additions on soil microbial properties and plant growth, we...

Since the early 1900s, the Everglades have been influenced by anthropogenic actions including altered hydrology and increased nutrient loading. In the northern Everglades an apparent effect of Ž . these disturbances has been the development and proliferation of dense cattail Typha spp. stands Ž . in areas previously dominated by sawgrass Cladium jamaicense Crantz and sloughs. Cattail cover, soi...

We measured nutrient use efficiency (NPP/nutrient uptake) in three species of tropical trees, Hyeronima alchorneoides, Cedrela odorata, and Cordia alliodora. We tested the prediction that on fertile soils species with very different biomass and nutrient allocation and turnover would converge on a common value of nutrient use efficiency. Due to high soil fertility, nutrient use efficiencies of t...

Beyond grazing, managed grasslands provide ecological services that may offer economic incentives for multifunctional use. Increasing biodiversity of plant communities may maximize net primary production by optimizing utilization of available light, water, and nutrient resources; enhance production stability in response to climatic stress; reduce invasion of exotic species; increase soil OM; re...

The impact of pre-Columbian subsistence agriculture on soil nutrient cycling in the American tropics is poorly quantified. Paleolimnological research can address this deficit by documenting the temporal evolution of nutrient cycling in lake watersheds over different time scales. Here we describe our use of a chemical sequential extraction technique adapted from soil fertility research to discer...