Ecosystem fertility and fallow function in the humid and subhumid tropics

The regeneration of natural vegetation (fallowing) is a traditional practice for restoring fertility of agricultural land in many parts in the tropics. As a result of increasing human population and insufficient fertilizer inputs, the ecosystem fertility functions of traditional fallows must now be improved upon via the use of managed fallows. Interactions between vegetation and soil determine nutrient losses and gains in crop—fallow systems and are influenced by fallow species, patterns and rates of biomass allocation, and crop and fallow management. Nutrient losses occur through offtake in crop harvests during the cropping phase and through leaching, runoff, and erosion in the cropping phase and the initial stage of fallows $#x2014; when nutrient availability exceeds nutrient demand by vegetation. Gains in nutrient stocks in later stages of fallow are generally more rapid on soils with high than low base status due to greater quantities of weatherable minerals and lack of constraints to N₂ fixation, deep rooting, and retrieval of subsoil nutrients by fallow vegetation. On low base status soils (exchangeable Ca < 1 cmol_c kg^–1), N₂ fixation and atmospheric inputs are likely to be the main sources of nutrient additions. On high base status soils limited by N, gains in N stocks by inputs from N₂ fixation and retrieval of subsoil nitrate can occur relatively rapidly; hence short-term fallows can often improve crop performance. Large losses of Ca associated with soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization and soil acidification during cropping and fallow establishment, combined with chemical barriers to root penetration, suggest that long-duration fallows (> 5 yr) are needed for recovery of cation stocks and crop performance on low base status soils. On both soils, however, residual benefits of fallows on crop yields usually last less than three crops.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Living in a Dusty World: Airborne Dust as a Key Factor for Alpine Lakes

For a long time studies on precipitation and lake-water chemistry have focussed on the deposition of strong acids. Dust in snow and rain was analyzed much less intensively, but recent findings suggest that it may be the missing link which explains why many low-alkalinity lakes in the Alps and the Pyrenees did not become acidic and nutrient levels are seasonally high, whereas lakes in areas which are rarely influenced by dust depositions, for instance in Scandinavia, have acidified. Beside being a dominant factor for nutrient inputs to oceans, rain forests and remote lakes, dust can also play a major role in global warming and cooling, and it may significantly contribute to soil formation at mountain sites in the Mediterranean. I suggest that future changes in dust deposition and warming will be key factors for the development of alpine lakes.     

Short Communication — Kurzmitteilung Siliziumcarbid — eine Alternative zur Aluminiumoxid‐Saugkerze?

Siliciumcarbide — is it an alternative to suction cups made of aluminumoxide? Siliziumcarbide (SiC) is a novel non‐oxide ceramic material. We tested differently preconditioned SiC and aluminum‐oxide ceramics (P80) with respect to their influence on the solution passing through. For this we used a cation standard, an anion standard and a soil solution. Both ceramics released considerable amounts of Na and Al. However, in most cases SiC showed better results for anions and dissolved organic carbon. Therefore it may be a promising task to improve the properties of SiC by minimizing sinter additives and optimized conditioning procedures, and develop improved suction cups.     

Differing trophic niches of three French stygobionts and their implications for conservation of endemic stygofauna

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Effects of Land‐Related Policies on Land Development during a Real Estate Boom and a Recession

Our research evaluates and compares the effects of three land‐related policies on land development in a sprawling metropolitan area during a real estate boom and a recession. Our findings suggest that during a real estate boom 1) the urban growth boundary (UGB) serves its purpose of attracting urban development inside the given boundary during a boom while its effectiveness diminishes with increased development pressure from lower‐valued land outside of the UGB during a recession period, 2) the agricultural zone works well for restraining new development during a boom period while agriculture zoned parcels are more likely developed during a recession period, and 3) an increase in the land‐value tax bill increases the incentive for development during a recession period while higher tax bills do not affect development during a boom period. In anticipation of a re‐emergence of urban sprawl with the recovery of the real estate market, our findings imply that land planners and others concerned with sprawling development should pay more attention to development in sprawl‐prone areas during recession periods.     

Camera steered mechanical weed control in sugar beet,maize and soybean

In sugar beet, maize and soybean, weeds are usually controlled by herbicides uniformly applied across the whole field. Due to restrictions in herbicide use and negative side effects, mechanical weeding plays a major role in integrated weed management (IWM). In 2015 and 2016, eight field experiments were conducted to test the efficacy of an OEM Claas 3-D stereo camera^® in combination with an Einböck Row-Guard^® hoe for controlling weeds. Ducks-foot blades in the inter-row were combined with four different mechanical intra-row weeding elements in sugar beet, maize and soybean and a band sprayer in sugar beet. Average weed densities in the untreated control plots were from 12 to 153 plants m^?2 with Chenopodium album, Polygonum convolvulus, Thlapsi arvense being the most abundant weed species. Camera steered hoeing resulted in 78% weed control efficacy compared to 65% using machine hoeing with manual guidance. Mechanical intra-row elements controlled up to 79% of the weeds in the crop rows. Those elements did not cause significant crop damage except for the treatment with a rotary harrow in maize in 2016. Weed control efficacy was highest in the herbicide treatments with almost 100% followed by herbicide band-applications combined with inter-row hoeing. Mechanical weed control treatments increased white sugar yield by 39%, maize biomass yield by 43% and soybean grain yield by 58% compared to the untreated control in both years. However, yield increase was again higher with chemical weed control. In conclusion, camera guided weed hoeing has improved efficacy and selectivity of mechanical weed control in sugar beet, maize and soybean.     

Physicochemical and Biological Characterization of Fucoidan from Fucus vesiculosus Purified by Dye Affinity Chromatography

A comparative study concerning the physicochemical, monomeric composition and biological characters among different fucoidan fractions is presented. Common purification techniques for fucoidan usually involve many steps. During these steps, the important structural features might be affected and consequently alter its biological activities. Three purified fractions were derived from Fucus vesiculosus water extract which, afterwards, were purified by a recently-developed dye affinity chromatography protocol. This protocol is based on dye-sulfated polysaccharide interactions. The first two fractions were obtained from crude precipitated fucoidan at different pH values of the adsorption phase: pH 1 and 6. This procedure resulted in fucoidan_1 and 6 fractions. The other, third, fraction: fucoidan_M, however, was obtained from a buffered crude extract at pH 1, eliminating the ethanol precipitation step. All of the three fractions were then further evaluated. Results revealed that fucoidan_M showed the highest sulfur content (S%), 12.11%, with the lowest average molecular weight, 48 kDa. Fucose, galactose, and uronic acid/glucose dimers were detected in all fractions, although, xylose was only detected in fucoidan_1 and 6. In a concentration of 10 µg·mL⁻¹, Fucoidan_6 showed the highest heparin-like anticoagulant activity and could prolong the APTT and TT significantly to 66.03 ± 2.93 and 75.36 ± 1.37 s, respectively. In addition, fucoidan_M demonstrated the highest potency against HSV-1 with an IC₅₀ of 2.41 µg·mL⁻¹. The technique proved to be a candidate for fucoidan purifaction from its crude extract removing the precipitation step from common purification protocols and produced different fucoidan qualities resulted from the different incubation conditions with the immobilized thiazine toluidine blue O dye.     

Pesticide exposure assessment for surface waters in the EU. Part 1: Some comments on the current procedure

In 2001, the European Commission introduced a risk assessment project known as FOCUS (FOrum for the Coordination of pesticide fate models and their USe) for the surface water risk assessment of active substances in the European Union. Even for the national authorisation of plant protection products (PPPs), the vast majority of EU member states still refer to the four runoff and six drainage scenarios selected by the FOCUS Surface Water Workgroup. However, our study, as well as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), has stated the need for various improvements. Current developments in pesticide exposure assessment mainly relate to two processes. Firstly, predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) of pesticides are calculated by introducing model input variables such as weather conditions, soil properties and substance fate parameters that have a probabilistic nature. Secondly, spatially distributed PECs for soil–climate scenarios are derived on the basis of an analysis of geodata. Such approaches facilitate the calculation of a spatiotemporal cumulative distribution function (CDF) of PECs for a given area of interest and are subsequently used to determine an exposure concentration endpoint as a given percentile of the CDF. For national PPP authorisation, we propose that, in the future, exposure endpoints should be determined from the overall known statistical PEC population for an area of interest, and derived for soil and climate conditions specific to the particular member state. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dissolved and colloidal phosphorus fluxes in forest ecosystems—an almost blind spot in ecosystem research

Understanding and quantification of phosphorus (P) fluxes are key requirements for predictions of future forest ecosystems changes as well as for transferring lessons learned from natural ecosystems to croplands and plantations. This review summarizes and evaluates the recent knowledge on mechanisms, magnitude, and relevance by which dissolved and colloidal inorganic and organic P forms can be translocated within or exported from forest ecosystems. Attention is paid to hydrological pathways of P losses at the soil profile and landscape scales, and the subsequent influence of P on aquatic ecosystems. New (unpublished) data from the German Priority Program 1685 “Ecosystem Nutrition: Forest Strategies for limited Phosphorus Resources” were added to provide up‐to‐date flux‐based information. Nitrogen (N) additions increase the release of water‐transportable P forms. Most P found in percolates and pore waters belongs to the so‐called dissolved organic P (DOP) fractions, rich in orthophosphate‐monoesters and also containing some orthophosphate‐diesters. Total solution P concentrations range from ca. 1 to 400 µg P L^?1, with large variations among forest stands. Recent sophisticated analyses revealed that large portions of the DOP in forest stream water can comprise natural nanoparticles and fine colloids which under extreme conditions may account for 40–100% of the P losses. Their translocation within preferential flow passes may be rapid, mediated by storm events. The potential total P loss through leaching into subsoils and with streams was found to be less than 50 mg P m^?2 a^?1, suggesting effects on ecosystems at centennial to millennium scale. All current data are based on selected snapshots only. Quantitative measurements of P fluxes in temperate forest systems are nearly absent in the literature, probably due to main research focus on the C and N cycles. Therefore, we lack complete ecosystem‐based assessments of dissolved and colloidal P fluxes within and from temperate forest systems.