Various alternatives for the design of clonal field trials in forestry were studied using simulated data to identify “optimal” or “near-optimal” scenarios for the estimation of genetic parameters. The simulated field site consisted of a rectangular grid on which 256 clones with 8 ramets each were installed. Estimates of genetic parameters were compared for (1) single-tree and four-tree row plot...

Recent studies have linked demographic changes and epidemiological patterns in bacterial populations using coalescent-based approaches. We identified 26 studies using skyline plots and found that 21 inferred overall population expansion. This surprising result led us to analyze the impact of natural selection, recombination (gene conversion), and sampling biases on demographic inference using s...

Historically, manure has been recognized as an excellent soil amendment that can improve soil quality and provide nutrients for crop production. In areas of high animal density, however, the potential for water pollution resulting from improper storage or disposal of manure may be significant. The objective of this study was to determine the P balance of cultivated soils under barley (Hordeum v...

Infrequent, high-impact events such as wildfires, droughts, biological shifts, floods, and mechanical disturbances can greatly change land surfaces, including vegetative cover and soil characteristics, which in turn can trigger high rates of hydrologic erosion and associated transport of sediments and sediment-sorbed contaminants. Where persistent soil contamination exists, infrequent mobilizat...

Wheat is an important food security crop in central Asia but frequently suffers severe damage and yield losses from insect pests, pathogens, and weeds. With funding from the United States Agency for International Development, a team of scientists from three U.S. land-grant universities in collaboration with the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas and local institutions i...

Abstract This paper presents new techniques for seamlessly transitioning between parallel coordinate plots, star and scatter plots. The plot serves as a mediator visualization plots since it uses lines to represent data items coordinates do can arrange axes orthogonally used design of the transitions also motivated variant plot, polycurve that curved instead straight ones has advantages both in...