EFFECT OF LIVING ROOTS OF DIFFERENT PLANT SPECIES ON THE AGGREGATE STABILITY OF TWO ARABLE SOILS

The influence of root growth and activities on soil aggregate stability was investigated using five crop species and two soils. Single plants were grown in pots for 6 weeks or less to minimise any possibility of changes in aggregate stability caused by decomposition of dead roots. Planted soils were compared with fallow controls. Aggregate stability was estimated by a turbidimetric technique (used for fresh and air-dried samples) and by wet sieving (used for air-dried samples only). Root growth of perennial ryegrass and of lucerne for 42 days was generally associated with increases in aggregate stability whether the soil was tested in a fresh or an air-dried condition. These beneficial effects were associated with periodate-sensitive (probably polysaccharide) materials produced in the rhizosphere. Growth of maize, tomato and wheat roots for 25 days decreased the stability of fresh soil aggregates, although the effects of tomato and of wheat were not consistent. However, the deleterious effects of these three species on aggregate stability were not apparent after air-drying. The restabilization of maize soils (relative to fallow controls) on air-drying appeared to be caused by increased stabilization by periodate-sensitive materials. The results suggest that the growth and activities of living roots may be a major factor controlling the overall direction and magnitude of changes in aggregate stability under arable or ley crops.     

Suppression of decomposition of 14C-labelled plant roots in the presence of living roots of maize and perennial ryegrass

The rates of decomposition of barley roots labelled with ¹⁴C were investigated in soil planted with maize or perennial ryegrass and in fallow controls. Evolution of ¹⁴CO₂ was significantly less from the planted soils than from fallow controls. Roots of maize and ryegrass appeared to compete substantially with soil microbes for ¹⁴C-labelled materials. Simple competitive effects were, however, insufficient to explain all of the observed effects of root growth on soil organic matter decomposition. There was no indication that the detrimental effects of maize roots on aggregate stability could be associated with increased degradation of native soil organic materials; the broader significance of the results is also discussed.     

The wetting and drying of a grazed and ungrazed clay soil

A 4 year field experiment clearly demonstrates the role played by desiccation cracks in the redistribution of rainfall during the autumn re-wetting of a Windsor Series clay soil. Where topsoil structure is damaged by the trampling of grazing animals, cracks are well developed and a portion of rain water is diverted down them, by-passing the topsoil. Redistribution takes place from two centres, the bottom of the cracks and the surface. But where structure is unaffected by trampling, the soil accommodates seasonal shrinkage without cracking and redistribution is by diffusion from the surface only. Summer evaporation is shown to be linearly related to Penman's potential evapotranspiration over a wide range of soil moisture deficits, and simple constants are provided to correct E_T to obtain E_A. The M.A.F.F. method of estimating evapotranspiration is shown to be too conservative and fails to identify the October maximum soil moisture deficit common in this soil.     

Combining spawn egg counts,individual photo-ID and genetic fingerprinting to estimate the population size and sex ratio of an endangered amphibian

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, 41% of the world's amphibian species are threatened with extinction, making them more threatened than any other vertebrate group nowadays. Given the global amphibian crisis, comprehensive understanding of demographics and population trends of declining and threatened species is essential for effective management and conservation strategies. Counting egg spawns is widely used to assess population abundance in pond breeding anurans. However, it is unknown how such counts translate into robust population size estimations. We monitored the breeding activity of the Natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita), combining egg string counts and individual photo-identification with Capture-Mark-Recapture population size and operational sex ratio estimation. Male Natterjack toads were identified by the pattern of natural markings with repeated ID of the same individual confirmed for 10% of the samples using genetic fingerprinting. We identified 647 unique individuals within a closed study population at Caherdaniel, Co Kerry. Population estimates derived from egg string counts estimated a breeding population of 368 females (95% CI 353–384) and Capture-Mark-Recapture estimated a breeding population of 1698 males (95% CI 1000–2397). The female:male sex ratio was conservatively estimated at 1:5 (95% CI 1:3–1:6) where 62% ± 6% of females were assumed to spawn. These substantially departed from any priori assumption of 1:1 which could have underestimated the breeding population by up to 72%. Where amphibian absolute population size estimation is necessary, methods should include empirical survey data on operational sex ratios and not rely on assumptions or those derived from the literature which may be highly population and/or context-dependent.     

Aggregation of humic substances in aqueous media as determined by light-scattering methods

Samples of peat humic acid (PHA) and surface water humic (WBHA) and fulvic acids (WBFA) extracted from Whitray Beck in North Yorkshire, UK and previously studied by analytical (UV scanning) ultracentrifugation at low concentrations (10–20 mg dm^?3) (Reid et al., 1990) have been investigated by dynamic and static light-scattering methods at concentrations up to approximately 1700 mg dm^?3. Dynamic light-scattering gave very low diffusion coefficients for the humic acids (PHA and WBHA) suggesting the presence of aggregates. Static light-scattering from the fulvic acid (WBFA) showed that the second virial coefficients of this material in various media were negative, which is characteristic of reversible aggregation. The aggregates, which consisted of approximately 20 smaller molecules, could not be dissociated completely by the detergents sodium n-dodecylsulphate or Triton X-100, although limited dissociation by the latter may occur. Sedimentation velocity measurements in the same concentration range as the light scattering gave sedimentation coefficients which increased with concentration also consistent with reversible aggregation. The studies illustrate the problems inherent in the characterization of humic substances from natural sources and demonstrate that, at least for lower molecular weight fulvic acids, static light-scattering from solutions of relatively high concentration in combination with sedimentation equilibrium measurements at low concentrations distinguishes a system having a broad molecular weight distribution from one in which aggregation occurs.     

Spatial Response of Mammals to Late Quaternary Environmental Fluctuations

Analyses of fossil mammal faunas from 2945 localities in the United States demonstrate that the geographic ranges of individual species shifted at different times, in different directions, and at different rates in response to late Quaternary environmental fluctuations. The geographic pattern of faunal provinces was similar for the late Pleistocene and late Holocene, but differing environmental gradients resulted in dissimilar species composition for these biogeographic regions. Modern community patterns emerged only in the last few thousand years, and many late Pleistocene communities do not have modern analogs. Faunal heterogeneity was greater in the late Pleistocene.     

Late Pleistocene Desiccation of Lake Victoria and Rapid Evolution of Cichlid Fishes

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and harbors more than 300 endemic species of haplochromine cichlid fish. Seismic reflection profiles and piston cores show that the lake not only was at a low stand but dried up completely during the Late Pleistocene, before 12,400 carbon-14 years before the present. These results imply that the rate of speciation of cichlid fish in this tropical lake has been extremely rapid.