Bodenhydrologische Methoden zur Untersuchung ungestörter,skelettreicher Böden

Soil hydrological methods for investigations on undisturbed samples of skeleton-rich soils New methods are proposed, which allow the determination of moisture transmission properties of stony soils. A soil sampling technique is discussed whereby small monoliths are isolated from the surrounding soil and covered with polyester-soaked glassfiber sheets. With use of such irregularly shaped columns the soil moisture characteristic and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity are determined by laboratory procedures. Starting with a saturated column, suction is applied and the resulting outflow is measured. At the same time the suction in the sample is registered and also the hydraulic gradient within the sample is determined. Also discussed is a procedure to install tensiometers in stony soils. The installation provides reliable data and the maintenance is easy. By building in a heating system in the tensiometers, these can be operated all year round.     

Simultane Bestimmung von N-Transformationsraten in Bodensäulen unter Verwendung von 15-N: Stickstoffmodell für eine Terra fusca-Rendzina

Simultaneous determination of nitrogen transformation rates in soil columns using 15-N: N-Model of a Terra fusca-Rendzina soil Rates of ammonification, nitrification, immobilization, and denitrification were determined in undisturbed columns of a Terra fusca Rendzina soil. A steady input of 15-N labelled ammoniumsulfate with the irrigation water created a steady state of the turnover processes in the soil resulting in a constant output of 15-N-nitrate. In this state the rate constants (8°C) were K₁ = 0.64 for the netto-N-nitrification, K₂ = 0.11 for the netto-N-denitrification, and K₃ = 0.25 for the netto-N-immobilization. 64% of the nitrate was leached, 25% immobilized in organic matter, and 11% denitrified. Relating these rate constants to the turnover of the soil nitrogen one can calculate the mean annual rates for the different processes of a forest soil, using the mean annual temperature. For the Göttinger Wald situation (T = 6.9°C) the following rates were calculated; Ammonification = 183 kg N·ha^?1·a^?1, immobilization = 44 kg N·ha^?1·a^?1, netto N-denitrification = 19 kg N·ha^?1·a^?1, and netto-N-mineralization = 120 kg N·ha^?1·a^?1.     

Microbial community structure and activity in agricultural soils under different management

For the development of management strategies in sustainable agriculture it is necessary to describe and predict the role of soil microbes in different management systems. The classical approach uses the microbial biomass as the key parameter for the entire system, but for ecological purposes the variability of biotic parameters in time and space has to be better described. Moreover, the biomass active in the total soil profile or its most active zones should be used as a basis for the assessment of soil activity. The sum of adenylates was found to be more closely related to the microbial biomass than was ATP, which however appeared to be a better indicator for the microbial activity. Fatty acids from phospholipids were highly correlated with the soil microbial biomass. The pattern of fatty acids from soils under different long-term management indicated a high potential to typify the microbial community in soils and special organism populations. To overcome the problem, that only a small portion of the soil inhabiting microbes can be cultivated, first steps to use serological and genetical methods to directly identify or localize specific populations in the rhizosphere are shown.     

Dynamics of maize (Zea mays L.) leaf straw mineralization as affected by the presence of soil and the availability of nitrogen

An incubation experiment was carried out with maize (Zea mays L.) leaf straw to analyze the effects of mixing the residues with soil and N amendment on the decomposition process. In order to distinguish between soil effects and nitrogen effects for both the phyllospheric microorganisms already present on the surface of maize straw and soil microorganisms the N amendment was applied in two different placements: directly to the straw or to the soil. The experiment was performed in dynamic, automated microcosms for 22 days at 15 °C with 7 treatments: (1) untreated soil, (2) non-amended maize leaf straw without soil, (3) N amended maize leaf straw without soil, (4) soil mixed with maize leaf straw, (5) N amended soil, (6) N amended soil mixed with maize leaf straw, and (7) soil mixed with N amended maize leaf straw. ¹⁵NH₄¹⁵NO₃ (5 at%) was added. Gas emissions (CO₂, ¹³CO₂ and N₂O) were continuously recorded throughout the experiment. Microbial biomass C, biomass N, ergosterol, δ¹³C of soil organic C and of microbial biomass C as well as ¹⁵N in soil total N, mineral N and microbial biomass N were determined in soil samples at the end of the incubation. The CO₂ evolution rate showed a lag-phase of two days in the non-amended maize leaf straw treatment without soil, which was completely eliminated when mineral N was added. The addition of N generally increased the CO₂ evolution rate during the initial stages of maize leaf straw decomposition, but not the cumulative CO₂ production. The presence of soil caused roughly a 50% increase in cumulative CO₂ production within 22 days in the maize straw treatments due to a slower decrease of CO₂ evolution after the initial activity peak. Since there are no limitations of water or N, we suggest that soil provides a microbial community ensuring an effective succession of straw decomposing microorganisms. In the treatments where maize and soil was mixed, 75% of microbial biomass C was derived from maize. We concluded that this high contribution of maize using microbiota indicates a strong influence of organisms of phyllospheric origin to the microbial community in the soil after plant residues enter the soil.     

The behaviour of Nitrogen fertilizers in neutral and acid loess soils I. Transport and transformations of nitrogen

A study to investigate the transport and the transformation of two N¹⁵-tagged N-fertilizers (Ca(NO₃₎₂ and (NH₄₎₂SO₄) was carried out in the laboratory at 4° and 23°C. Undisturbed soil columns from the upper 30 cm of neutral agricultural and acid forest loess soils were used. An unsaturated steady state water flow in the columns was established and maintained by a darcian flow of 5mm of water/day. The effluent collected from each column after two days, was analysed for NO₃- and NH₄+. The data collected were used to obtain the Breakthrough Curves (BTCs). The BTCs after NO_3- fertilizers from agricultural soil approached the ideal symmetrical curves from non-reacting solutes. While those from acid forest soil were somewhat flat and ended with pronounced tails. -Transformation of the applied NH_4- fertilizer to NO_3-N was much higher in agricultural soil than in acid forest soil. Even at lower temperature, nitrification in agricultural soil was active though at a reduced rate while in forest soil, nitrification rate was extremely low and appeared to be independent of temperature.     

Ertragsleistung, Standorteignung und Qualitatseigenschaften von Sareptasenf (Brassica juncea L. Czern.)

Yield and Qualitative Characteristics of Indian Mustard ( Brassica juncea L. Czern.)
Indian mustard is required as raw material for the production of mustard. In field trials, farm trials and processing tests during several years evidence could be furnished, that the cultivation of the up to now foreign crop is possible on suitable sites in central Germany. On loess soils (soil value number more than 50) in regions with milder climatic conditions the grain yields attained in using of intensive specific cultivation methods on an average of about 30 dt/hectare. The results of the field trials confirmed by average yields of 14 16 dt/hectare in agricultural practice. The best farms attained grain yields up to 25 dt/hectare. With regard to raw material with a content of allyl mustard oil of more than 1.00 % also the demands of the food processing industry could be fulfilled by all lots produced on farms (the attained content of allyl mustard oil amounted to 1.00 1.40 %).
Climatic factors but also the observance of correct cultivation methods influence first of all the processing quality.     

The history of South American tropical precipitation for the past 25,000 years

Long sediment cores recovered from the deep portions of Lake Titicaca are used to reconstruct the precipitation history of tropical South America for the past 25,000 years. Lake Titicaca was a deep, fresh, and continuously overflowing lake during the last glacial stage, from before 25,000 to 15,000 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.), signifying that during the last glacial maximum (LGM), the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru and much of the Amazon basin were wetter than today. The LGM in this part of the Andes is dated at 21,000 cal yr B.P., approximately coincident with the global LGM. Maximum aridity and lowest lake level occurred in the early and middle Holocene (8000 to 5500 cal yr B.P.) during a time of low summer insolation. Today, rising levels of Lake Titicaca and wet conditions in Amazonia are correlated with anomalously cold sea-surface temperatures in the northern equatorial Atlantic. Likewise, during the deglacial and Holocene periods, there were several millennial-scale wet phases on the Altiplano and in Amazonia that coincided with anomalously cold periods in the equatorial and high-latitude North Atlantic, such as the Younger Dryas.     

Succession of arbuscular mycorrhizal communities in the foreland of the retreating Morteratsch glacier in the Central Alps

The development of communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was investigated in the subalpine foreland of the glacier Morteratsch located at approx. 1900–2100 m a.s.l. near Pontresina (Engiadin’ Ota, Switzerland). In particular, we asked if the succession of AMF communities follows or precedes the primary plant succession, and we checked the mycorrhizal status of the pioneer plant Epilobium fleischeri. Soil samples were taken at pioneer and dense grassland sites established during the last hundred years representing different periods of glacier retreat: 1875–1900, 1940–1950, 1970–1980 and 1990–2000. Extraradical hyphal length densities and AMF spore populations were analyzed in soil samples. Spore formation and mycorrhizal root colonization were monitored in trap cultures grown on Trifolium pratense, Lolium perenne, Plantago lanceolata and Hieracium pilosella or on E. fleischeri over 14 months. We found that E. fleischeri is strongly arbuscular mycorrhizal, but plants in closest distance to the glacier (glacier retreat in the last 4–6 years before sampling) were non-mycorrhizal. Spore densities and root colonization in trap cultures were generally low in samples from glacier stage 1990–2000. Highest spore density and colonization were found for the sites ice-free since 1970–1980, whilst highest AMF species richness and hyphal length densities were found at the sites ice-free since 1875–1900. Our findings show an establishment of a few AMF pioneer species (e.g. Diversispora versiformis and Acaulospora punctata) within 5–10 years and species rich AMF communities at sites ice-free for 100 years (28 species). Their succession generally follows the succession of the plant communities. We conclude that AMF pioneer species might be mainly distributed by wind transport while other AMF fungi (e.g. Glomus rubiforme and Glomus aureum) rather need a below-ground hyphal network to invade new areas.     

X-ray Pulsar in the Crab Nebula

X-ray pulsations have been observed in the Crab Nebula at a frequency closely matching the radio and optical pulsations. About 5 percent of the total x-ray power of the nebula appears in the pulsed component. The x-ray pulsations have the form of a main pulse and an interpulse separated by about 12 milliseconds.