We evaluate the use of signature fatty acids and direct hyphal counts as tools to detect and quantify arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and saprotrophic fungal (SF) biomass in three Hawaiian soils along a natural soil fertility gradient. Phospholipids16:1u5c and 18:2u6,9c were used as an index of AM and saprotrophic fungal biomass, respectively. Both phospholipid analysis and hyphal length indicated ...

Distillery sludge application in degraded soils is amongst the most important economical resources for the soil fertility amelioration through improvement in soil water-holding capacity, texture, structure, nutrients retention, roots penetration, and reduction in soil acidity [1-3]. Presently due to the ever increasing number of sugar mills and distillery units in the country, it is now become ...

This paper presents annual indices of labour input adjusted for the age, education and gender distributions of the Irish workforce for the period 1999-2008. Growth in labour services is divided between the increase in hours and improvement in the productive quality of these hours. Improvement in labour quality, as proxied by education, age and gender, has added on average 0.7 percentage points ...

This paper sets out a formal framework for the biological-evolutionary study of human economic behaviour. Femina economica is a hypothetical parthenogenetic species with a simple economy. Individuals make decisions about labour supply and fertility subject to time and resource constraints. Labour is of differing types and a parent determines the type of her offspring's labour. Wages are determi...

Restoration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon- (PAH-) polluted sites is presently a major challenge in agroforestry. Consequently, microorganisms with PAH-degradation ability and soil fertility improvement attributes are sought after in order to achieve sustainable remediation of polluted sites. This study isolated PAH-degrading bacteria from enriched cultures of spent automobile engine-oil po...

This paper employs one-dimensional numerical ground response analysis models to investigate seismic response of shallow cohesive and non-cohesive soil deposits on vertical propagation of horizontal shear waves. Soil response is modelled by traditional equivalent-linear (EL) frequency-domain analysis using DEEPSOIL software and nonlinear (NL) time-domain analysis using OPENSEES software. The ana...

Recent studies have provided evidence that trade-offs in biomass allocation, resource-use efficiency, and anti-herbivore defense influence seedling performance and distribution across soil types. Our previous research suggested that soil nutrient availability acted as a filter for understory palm community assembly and species coexistence in a lower montane forest in western Panama. Here, we ex...

Long-term use of fallow in dryland wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) systems can increase erosion and decrease soil fertility. One possible solution is to grow a green manure crop during the fallow period. To evaluate the short-term effects of substituting a winter legume green manure for fallow in a 2-vr wheat rotation, a series of experiments were conducted in the Sacramento Valley of California f...