Carbohydrate and amino acid composition of dissolved organic matter leached from soil

Low molecular weight organic substances (LMWOS) in soil and soil solution include mainly amino acids, carboxylic acids, and carbohydrates. Due to their high bioavailability they play a crucial role in the cycles of C and nutrients in soils. The variety of soil processes that involve LMWOS requires identifying their composition to elucidate reactions and transformations. In most studies, LMWOS are extracted under artificial conditions, e.g. batch experiments, which may overestimate the actual concentrations. This study measures the composition of carbohydrates and amino acids in solution of a Haplic Luvisol leached in a column experiment. A combined system for simultaneous leaching and blowout of CO₂ was used to estimate LMWOS decomposition. ¹⁴C-labeled glucose was added as a highly sensitive tracer to control the efficiency of the LMWOS extraction by leaching and to estimate LMWOS decomposition during leaching. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), optimized for soil extracts, was used to analyze LMWOS composition. For HPLC optimization, different preparations of leached solutions (filtration vs. centrifugation, and drying vs. no-drying) were compared. For sugar determination, drying had no influence on the solution concentrations. In contrast, amino acid concentrations significantly decreased by drying LMWOS eluted substances. Combining the HPLC identification of eluted substances with ¹⁴C tracer application revealed that about 5% of the glucose could be leached unchanged within 786 min (13.1 h), whereas about 84% remained in the soil, 9% were decomposed to CO₂, and 2% were transformed to other LMWOS and recovered in the soil solution. The total amino acid concentration (TAC) in soil solution was about 8.2 μmol l⁻¹, dominated by alanine (14.4% of TAC), glycine (13.4%), glutamic acid (9.9%), serine (9.4%), and leucine (9.3%). The total carbohydrate concentration was about 2.4 μM, dominated by glucose (29.9%), glucuronic acid (26.8%), and galacturonic acid (17.3%). Ratios of hexoses to pentoses, amino sugars glucosamine to galactosamine, and neutral sugars to uronic acids were determined. All three parameters pointed to the dominant influence of plants as the source of LMWOS in the leached soil solution. Within the small contribution of microorganisms, bacteria dominated over fungi. These used biomarker ratios as well as LMWOS concentrations differed widely from the ones obtained with conventional batch extraction. More research is necessary to evaluate the application of these biomarkers to soil solutions.     

Single-atom single-photon quantum interface

A major challenge for a scalable quantum computing architecture is the faithful transfer of information from one node to another. We report on the realization of an atom-photon quantum interface based on an optical cavity, using it to entangle a single atom with a single photon and then to map the quantum state of the atom onto a second single photon. The latter step disentangles the atom from the light and produces an entangled photon pair. Our scheme is intrinsically deterministic and establishes the basic element required to realize a distributed quantum network with individual atoms at rest as quantum memories and single flying photons as quantum messengers.     

Change of soil hydrological properties of fens as a result of soil development

This study deals with the change and evaluation of hydrological properties of peat soils (Histosols) in the course of soil development. Ash content, volumetric water content, and dry bulk density, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, water retention function, and wetting properties were measured for 84 fen sites in 19 fen regions of North‐Eastern Germany. Soil development resulted in porosity decrease. On the contrary, the macropore space and the capillary rise increased. With the start of consolidation processes and the development of segregation structure, a'noticeable reduction of the macropores and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were observed. In course of soil development and decreasing of aggregate size, these processes reversed. Both parameters increased from segregation structure horizon to earthyfied fen and weak moorshyfied fen horizon, until they partly exceeded the starting values of pedogenetic almost unchanged fen in strongly moorshyfied stadium. Differences in wetting properties of peat could not be explained by the changes of peat properties in the course of soil development.     

Organization and potential function of the mrjp3 locus in four honeybee species

Royal jelly is a nutritious secretion produced by nurse honeybees to provision queens and growing larvae. Major proteins of royal jelly are mutually similar, and they all belong to the MRJP/yellow protein family (pfam03022). The mrjp3 loci in four traditional honeybee species (Apis mellifera, Apis cerana,Apis dorsata, and Apis florea) were sequenced and found to share high sequence and structural similarities. PCR analyses confirmed the presence of an extensive repetitive region, which showed size and sequence polymorphisms in all species. The evolutionary history of mrjp genes and their repetitive regions was reconstructed from their nucleotide sequences. The analyses proved that the repeat region appeared early in the evolution of the mrjp gene family and that the extreme elongation of the repeat is mrjp3 specific. In the MRJPs was documented a correlation between nitrogen content and repeat length. Therefore, it is argued that the repeat occurred due to a selection for an increase in nitrogen storage for a more efficient nutrition of queens and larvae.     

Wasser‐ und nahrstoffbilanzen einiger niederungsböden ‐lysimeterergebnisse

Nährstoff‐ und Wasserbilanzen unterschiedlicher hydromorpher Böden wurden bei Gras‐ und Maisnutzung mittels Grundwasserlysimetern geprüft. Die Kalium‐, Stickstoff‐ und Phosphorbilanzen waren besonders von den Ernteentzügen geprägt. Gras entzog dem Boden wesentlich mehr Nährstoffe als Mais, obwohl der Mais höhere Erträge lieferte. Die Böden mit den größten Nährstoffvorräten lieferten der Vegetation auch über die Düngermengen hinaus die meisten Nährstoffe nach. In der Kaliumbilanz trifft das besonders für den Boden (Eutric Fluvisol) aus der Elbaue zu und in den Stickstoffteilbilanzen für die Niedermoore (Eutric Histosols).

In den Wasserbilanzen konnten keine bodentypischen Unterschiede festgestellt werden.     

Ein fossiler podsol in brandenburg - ursachen seiner entstehung und ein vergleich zu seinem folgeboden

In der Wutzetzer Heide (Mittelbrandenburg) wurde ein fossiler Podsol gefunden und radiometrisch, boden-, pollen- und großrestanalytisch untersucht. Die überwehung des Podsols durch eine relativ junge Düne begann der 14 C - Datierung zufolge vor 1400 bis 1200 Jahren. Eine Pollenanalyse zeigt, dass die oberste Lage der fossilen Humusstoffschicht um 700-1000 Jahre alt ist. Frühe Hutungen, die zur Verheidung in der Umgebung führten oder (Brand)rodung potentieller Ackerstandorte lösten die überwehung aus. Neben Eiche, Hainbuche und Buche hatte die Kiefer einen untergeordneten Anteil an der Waldgesellschaft, der wahrscheinlich bis zur forstwirtschaftlichen Zeit erhalten blieb. Weiterhin wurde ein bodenanalytischer Vergleich des fossilen- und rezenten Podsols vorgenommen.     

Ertragsbildung,Bestandesaufbau und Stickstoffverwertung von Winterweizen bei kombinierter Gülle- und Mineraldüngung

Effect of combined slurry and mineral fertilization on yield formation, yield components and nitrogen efficiency of winter wheat From 1984/85 to 1987/88 field trials were conducted on the experimental farm Roggenstein in order to examine the efficiency of pig slurry applied at different developmental stages of winter wheat combined with different dosage and distributions of mineral N-fertilizer. On the average over 4 years, maximum grain yield by applying exclusively mineral N-fertilizer has been achieved with 120 kg N/ha, with the optimal amount of N-fertilizer at the 3 developmental stages being 40 kg N/ha, respectively. Decreased yields induced by a reduced mineral N-fertilization could be compensated by application of 20 m³/ha or 40 m³/ha slurry either at the beginning of the growing period, EC 30-31 or EC 33-35 developmental stages. However, mineral fertilizer equivalents calculated on the basis of the NH₄^? N-content of slurries for each year ranged from 25 to 79 in dependence of application date and prevailing weather conditions. Regarding the effect on yield components, no difference between slurry and mineral N-fertilizer were observed. The mediocre and very variable efficiency of slurry-N leads to the conclusion, that the use of slurry in cereal production may be of limited value for agronomic as well as for ecological reasons, as long as no efficient and cost-effective application techniques are available.     

Origin of the superflock of cichlid fishes from Lake Victoria,East Africa

Lake Victoria harbors a unique species-rich flock of more than 500 endemic haplochromine cichlid fishes. The origin, age, and mechanism of diversification of this extraordinary radiation are still debated. Geological evidence suggests that the lake dried out completely about 14,700 years ago. On the basis of phylogenetic analyses of almost 300 DNA sequences of the mitochondrial control region of East African cichlids, we find that the Lake Victoria cichlid flock is derived from the geologically older Lake Kivu. We suggest that the two seeding lineages may have already been lake-adapted when they colonized Lake Victoria. A haplotype analysis further shows that the most recent desiccation of Lake Victoria did not lead to a complete extinction of its endemic cichlid fauna and that the major lineage diversification took place about 100,000 years ago.