Tropical crops of great economic importance such as banana are known to benefit from mycorrhizal association. Development and survival of introduced mycorrhizal propagules depend not only on the crops but mainly on the edaphic conditions and soil types where the symbiosis is established. Seven soils from banana fields of Martinique were sampled and tested to determine their receptiveness to myc...

1 Laboratory of Hydrogeoscience and Biological Engineering, L.G. Rich Environmental Laboratory, Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University, Anderson, SC, United States, 2 State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 3 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Gyeongsang National ...

Nacrtak Forest biomass from timber harvesting residues is often used during mechanized forest opera­ tions to improve trafficability of strip roads (machine operating trails). In particular, during cut-to-length operations brush mats from harvesting residues are created on operating trails to reduce rutting. However, forest biomass is becoming increasingly important as a source of renewable ene...

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signals in plant tissues integrate plant-environment interactions over long periods. In this study, we hypothesized that humid alpine life conditions are narrowing the scope for significant deviations from common carbon, water and nitrogen relations as captured by stable isotope signals. We explored the variation in δ(13)C and δ(15)N in 32 plant species from t...

A mixed bacterial culture consisted of Staphylococcus sp., Bacillus circulans-I and -II has been enriched from contaminated soil collected from the vicinity of an endosulfan processing industry. The degradation of endosulfan by mixed bacterial culture was studied in aerobic and facultative anaerobic conditions via batch experiments with an initial endosulfan concentration of 50mg/L. After 3 wee...

To study the effect of plant species on the abundance and diversity of bacterial antagonists, the abundance, the phenotypic diversity, and the genotypic diversity of rhizobacteria isolated from potato, oilseed rape, and strawberry and from bulk soil which showed antagonistic activity towards the soilborne pathogen Verticillium dahliae Kleb. were analyzed. Rhizosphere and soil samples were taken...

Eukaryotic unicellular organisms are an important part of the soil microbial community, but they are often neglected in soil functional microbial diversity analysis, principally due to the absence of specific investigation methods in the special soil environment. In this study we used a method based on high-density centrifugation to specifically isolate intact algal and yeast cells, with the ai...

Soil treatment of wastewater has the potential to achieve high purification efficiency, yet the understanding and predictability of purification with respect to removal of viruses and other pathogens is limited. Research has been completed to quantify the removal of virus and bacteria through the use of microbial surrogates and conservative tracers during controlled experiments with three-dimen...

Soil depth is an important input parameter in hydrological and ecological modeling. Presently, the soil depth data available in national soil databases (STATSGO, SSURGO) is provided as averages within generalized map units. Spatial uncertainty within these units limits their applicability for spatially distributed modeling. This work reports a statistical model for prediction of soil depth in a...

Soil erosion poses economic and environmental concerns in many tropical uplands. Agroforestry has been proposed as a sustainable land use that can mitigate soil erosion and promote the economic welfare of small farmers. To evaluate such claims, we must (a) develop a composite measure of effectiveness, such as a soil conservation index, and (b) define it in terms understood by the farmers who ul...