BACKGROUND Trace metal analyses in hair are used in archeological, forensic and toxicological investigations as proxies for metabolic processes. We show metallophilic bacteria mediating the deposition of gold (Au), used as tracer for microbial activity in hair post mortem after burial, affecting results of such analyses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Human hair was incubated for up to six mo...

The demography of the bud bank and its sprouting capacity are important for understanding the population dynamics of clonal plants and their potential responses to disturbances. To this end, we investigated the size and composition of the bud bank of Miscanthus sacchariflorus (Maxim.) Hack. immediately after flooding (November), in winter (January), in spring (March), and before flooding (May) ...

Very little is known about the microbiology of graves. We have taken the opportunity to investigate this subject by taking advantage of the unusual opportunity afforded by the experimental burial of pigs in a forensic experiment. Selected microbial characteristics of soils from the 0–15 and 15–30 cm depths of the graves of three pigs and of control soils have been determined 430 days after buri...

to evaluate the effect of soil solarization on common lambsquarters control (chenopodium album l.), an experiment was conducted at the research farm of college of agriculture, university of birjand.the factorial experiment was performed as a randomized complete block design with three factors including the number of clear plastic layers (uncovered as the control, 1-layer and 2 –layer plastic sh...

Northern forests are important ecosystems for carbon (C) cycling and lakes within them process and bury large amounts of organic-C. Current burial estimates are poorly constrained and may discount other shifts in organic-C burial driven by global change. Here we analyse a suite of northern lakes to determine trends in organic-C burial throughout the Anthropocene. We found burial rates increased...

Lumbriculus variegatus was used as a bioassay organism to examine the impact of the sediment-associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) fluoranthene on behavior, reproduction, and toxicokinetics. The number of worms increased between the beginning and end of the experiment at 59 microg x g(-1) fluoranthene, but at the next higher treatment (108 microg x g(-1)) the number of worms found wa...

As part of a field experiment designed to contribute to the Navy’s effort to improve its capability to model and predict depth of burial of anti-sip mines in mud seafloors, the trajectory, velocity and orientation of a 1,100-kg cylinder were observed during 21 free-fall trials in a field setting. Extreme values and distribution of linear and angular velocity components as well as orientation th...

This article reports experiments that explore the critical factors for gene flow in oilseed rape (Brassica napus) via the soil seedbank under Chinese farming systems. Research was carried out on 16 farmer s fields to estimate harvest seed losses after different planting methods and harvest timings, during the four components of the harvest operations. An additional field experiment was set up t...

For thirty years, from the early 1840s, Charles Darwin documented the disappearance of flints in the grounds of Down House in Kent, at a location originally known as the “Stony Field”. This site (Great Pucklands Meadow – GPM) was visited in 2007 and an experiment set up in this ungrazed grassland. Locally-sourced flints (either large – 12 cm, or small – 5 cm dia.) were deposited at two densitie...

since the ancient times, burial practices have displayed certain characteristics among different iranian ethnic groups and regions were influenced by the local religious orientations, traditions and environments, and are regarded as part of the spiritual culture of any given population. indeed, religious beliefs play the main role in this diversity. because of the empire’s long endurance and va...