Root exudation contributes to soil carbon allocation and also to microbial C and energy supply, which subsequently impacts soil aggregation around roots. Biologically-driven soil structural formation is an important driver of soil fertility. Plant genetic determinants of exudation and more generally of factors promoting rhizosphere soil aggregation are largely unknown. Here, we characterized rh...

This research intended to investigate if the presence of pesticides in the soil could affect the pathogenicity of Metarhizium anisopliae Metsch. (Sorokin) for Ceratitis capitata (Wied.) and assess the effect of conidia application as suspension or dry conidia. The fungicides chlorothalonyl and tebuconazol, the acaricide abamectin, the insecticide trichlorfon, and the herbicide ametrin were appl...

Soil is a complex biological system that plays a key role for plants and animals, especially in dry forests such as the Caatinga. Fungi from soils, such as Aspergillus and Penicillium, can be used as bioindica- tors for biodiversity conservation. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify species of Aspergillus and Penicillium in soil, from the municipalities of Tupanatinga and Ibimiri...

introduction: among soil species earthworms are ubiquitous, abundant and important for soil processes, constituting the largest terrestrial faunal biomass and are also impacted by soil pollutants. the primary purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in earthworm biomass and behavior could serve as a good indicator for copper toxicity in soil systems. another aim of the study was t...

To investigate the mechanism of available energy partitioning to sensible and latent heat fluxes over semi-arid regions, data from the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) were analyzed to assess the effects of soil moisture, net radiation, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) on available energy partitioning, as quantified by Bowen ratio. It was found that th...

Biologists have long been puzzled by the striking morphological and anatomical characteristics of Neotropical savanna trees which have large scleromorphic leaves, allocate more than half of their total biomass to belowground structures and produce new leaves during the peak of the dry season. Based on results of ongoing interdisciplinary projects in the savannas of central Brazil (cerrado), we ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Cereals have two root systems. The primary system originates from the embryo when the seed germinates and can support the plant until it produces grain. The nodal system can emerge from stem nodes throughout the plant's life; its value for yield is unclear and depends on the environment. The aim of this study was to test the role of nodal roots of sorghum and millet in plant...

The soil is characterized by its physical constituents like sand, silt and clay. The electrical parameters that are important for soil are its dielectric constant, emissivity and scattering coefficient. The dielectric constant of wet soil depends on amount of water present in the soil. In this study the dielectric constant of dry soil and wet soil with different moisture content is measured usi...

We examined soil water use patterns of four model plant associations established in the North Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica by comparing the stable hydrogen isotope composition, deltaD, in xylem sap and in soil water at different depths, under rainy and dry conditions. Four 5-year-old model plant associations composed of 2 tree species (Hyeronima alchorneoides and Cedrela odorata) having dif...

A previously developed reflectance-based crop coeJficient (Kcr) for corn, estimated from the normalized difference vegetation index (ND VI), has been shown to overestimate the basal crop coe~cient (KeQ for corn by 24% or more when used with a dark-colored soil. This overestimation occurs because the NDVI produces larger index values for the same vegetation amount over dark backgrounds. Thus, th...