RESEARCH NEWS

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  Scientists Find Soil Microbial Functional Gene Beta-diversity Is Determined By the Variation in Aboveground Plant Biomass Composition

  Understanding linkages between the diversity of organisms aboveground and that of organisms belowground constitutes an important challenge for our knowledge of the maintenance and stability of ecosystem processes. Increased attention has been paid to the biodiversity linkages between aboveground and belowground biological communities in last decade.

  Feb 06, 2018
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  Researchers Quantify the Community-level Stoichiometric Traits to Nitrogen Enrichment and Precipitation Changes

  Stoichiometric traits in plants are important drivers for several fundamental ecological processes , including primary productivity , herbivory , and nutrient cycling .While there is mounting evidence for the substantial species-specific variation in the responses of plant stoichiometric traits to global change drivers , we still know little about such changes at community-level .

  Jan 25, 2018
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  Novel Corrinoid Discovered

  Corrinoids , represented by vitamin B12 are the most complicated , nonpolymeric macromolecules produced in nature .Up to date , sixteen different lower bases have been discovered , but the correlation between the lower bases and corrinoid functions are not well understood .Entitled as“Purinyl - cobamide Is a Native Prosthetic Group of Reductive Dehalogenase”. Email : yueqian @ iae . ac . cn Publication Name : YAN Jun et al .

  Jan 25, 2018
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  Scientists Underpin Varying and Constant Settings Determine Microbial Responses to Temperature

  Lab incubation experiments are always used to simulate nutrition cycling in response to global warming under constant and/or varying status .The scientists from Research Group of Soil Fertility and Nutrient Cyclingin Institute of Applied Ecology ( IAE ) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( CAS ) conducted a 4 - month incubation study to test for differences between varying and constant temperature settings in changing the thermal acclimation of microorganisms derived from different forest stands and soil horizons .

  Jan 10, 2018
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  Researchers Quantify the Sources of Extractable Organic Nitrogen in Agricultural Soil

  Soil extractable organic nitrogen ( EON ) , also called soil soluble organic nitrogen ( SON ) , is defined as the organic forms of N that are extracted by water or salt solutions ( e . g . , K2SO4 .The research results were published in a top journal of soil science “ Soil Biology and Biochemistry ” as a Short Communication Paper entitled “ Formation of extractable organic nitrogen in an agricultural soil : a 15N labeling study ” . The work was supported by Strategic Priority Research Program .

  Jan 10, 2018
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  Effect of Biodiversit of Forest Litter on the Rate of Its Decomposition

  Plant litter decomposition is an indispensable link for matter cycling of ecosystem and an important function of the system .The results were published in Journal of Plant Ecology entitled as Species and Genetic Diversity Affect Leaf Litter Decomposition in Subtropical Broadleaved Forest in Southern China . The work was supported by NNSFC and German Research Fund .

  Jan 08, 2018
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  Researchers Found Difference in Winter Soil Respiration Rate between Two Temperate Plantations

  Winter soil respiration composes 3 - 50% of annual carbon release , plays an important role in the C budget .Temperate forest ecosystem is the biggest C sink in north hemisphere , makes up 10% of global C storage .The difference is resulted from that the soil under Pinus tabuliformis plantation has higher soil microbial biomass , fungus richness , fungus/bacterium ratio and soil enzyme activities than that under Larix gmelinii plantation .Obvious , the soil microbe is more important than soil nutrition in determining the winter soil respiration rate .

  Dec 29, 2017
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  Factors in Migration of Tree Range Boundaries

  Climate change has been attributed as major factor resulting in the migration of tree range boundaries .However , the migration may not keep pace with Climate change , but lagged by the rate of range expansion to the suitable new region .The seed spread and competition between tree species is very slow process .Disturbance such as forest felling , fire , pests and diseases and changes in land use may affect the changes in tree range by modifying tree species composition and competition .This increased the complexity of the research of changes in tree range .

  Dec 15, 2017
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  Scientists Reveal Linkage of Microbial Residue Dynamics with Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation during Subtropical Forest Succession

  The formation and subsequent sequestration of soil organic carbon ( SOC ) during forest succession are primarily driven by soil microorganisms .The microbial residues are important source of soil organic C and play an important role in C sequestration by soil .The results were published in a top journal of soil science Soil Biology and Biochemistry entitled “ Linkage of microbial residue dynamics with soil organic carbon accumulation during subtropical forest succession ” . The work was supported by special project in CAS Strategic Pilot Program .

  Nov 21, 2017
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  Scientists Reveal Precipitation-mediated Responses of Soil Acid Buffering Capacity to Long-term Nitrogen Addition in a Semi-arid Grassland

  Increasing atmospheric nitrogen ( N ) deposition-induced soil acidification has been an increasing global threat to terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning .Chronic N inputs could increase soil inorganic N and thus induce more leaching of nitrate and base cations .The input of NHx could lead to an increase in soil acidity via nitrification and plant uptake of ammonium .This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China , and the National Science Foundation of China .

  Oct 13, 2017