Nitrogen to phosphorus ratios of two understory plant species in response to nitrogen and phosphorus addition in tropical forest of southern China北大核心CSCD

The secondary tropical forests in southern China have suffered from frequent human disturbance and increasing high N deposition. In order to explore the nutrient limitation status in secondary tropical forests of South China, this 3-year field experiment of nitrogen (+N) and phosphorus (+P) addition investigated nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations of the aboveground tissue (leaf and branch) of two widely distributed understory native species Clerodendrum cyrtophyllum and Uvaria microcarpa in a secondary tropical forest of South China. The results showed that: 1) the N and P concentrations of the two species were significantly different (P < 0.001); N and P concentrations of different tissues in the same species were different; N&P addition greatly affected N and P concentrations in branch rather than new leaf and older leaf. 2) +N treatment had no significant effect on N or P concentrations of either species, but significantly decreased N:P ratios (P = 0.001), at the level of 9% for C. cyrtophyllum and 50% for U. microcarpa, respectively. 3) +P treatment had no significant effect on tissue N concentrations, but significantly increased plant P concentrations (P < 0.001), at 54% for C. cyrtophyllum and 88% for U. microcarpa, respectively; +P treatment significantly decreased plant N:P ratios (P < 0.001), at 28% and 60%, respectively. 4) The alterations of P concentrations of two species had significantly negative correlations with N:P alterations under +N/+P treatment (P < 0.001), suggesting that the alteration of P concentrations in plant tissue was the major driver for N:P alteration. Our results show that N and P addition would affect tissue N and P concentrations of the two species, with +P treatment having relatively greater effect on nutrient concentrations than +N treatment; the branch is more sensitive than new or older leaf in response to nutrient addition. Therefore, P availability may be the limiting factor for plant growth in the tropical forests.     

Variation in soil organic carbon mineralization and microbial community structure induced by the conversion from double rice fields to drained fields北大核心CSCD

Land use conversion is an important factor influencing the carbon gas exchange between land and atmosphere. The effect of land use conversion on soil organic carbon mineralization and microbial function is important for soil organic carbon sequestration and stability. This research studied the effects of land use conversion on soil chemical properties, organic carbon mineralization and microbial community structure after two years of conversion from double rice cropping (RR) to maize-maize (MM) and soybean-peanut (SP) double cropping systems in southern China. The results showed that soil pH significantly decreased by 0.50 (MM) and 0.52 (SP, P = 0.002), and dissolved organic carbon significantly increased by 23%- 35% (P = 0.016). No significant difference was found in soil organic carbon mineralization rate with the land use conversion, though the accumulated mineralization decreased after 13 days of incubation (P = 0.019). Land use conversion from paddy to upland significantly changed soil microbial community structure. The total PLFAs, bacterial, gram-positive bacterial (G+), gram-negative bacterial (G-) and actinomycetic PLFAs decreased significantly (P < 0.05), the ratio of fungal PLFAs to bacterial PLFAs (F/B) increased significantly (P = 0.006). But no significant differences in microbial groups were found between MM and SP. The accumulated mineralization at the beginning period of the incubation were significantly positively correlated with soil actinomycetic PLFAs (P = 0.034). After 13 days of incubation, soil F/B showed a positive correlation with the accumulated mineralization (P = 0.004). However, soil microbial community structure(P = 0.014)and total PLFAs(P = 0.033)showed a positive correlation with the accumulated mineralization after 108 days of incubation. Our results indicated that after conversion from paddy soils to drained soils, soil pH and total nitrogen are the key factors regulating the variations in soil microbial community structure and biomass, and then influencing soil organic carbon mineralization.     

Isolation,identification and desulfurization mechanism of a sulfur-oxidizing bacterium with salt tolerance北大核心CSCD

Micro-organism with efficient desulfurization performance is a key factor in the biological desulfurization technology. This study aimed to seek such a sulfur-oxidizing strain and understand its desulfurization mechanism. Wastewater in a sewage station of natural gas purification plant was used to screen the sulfide-oxidizing strain, and to identify it based on sequence similarity analysis of 16S rDNA and the morphological characteristics. Thiosulfate was used as substrate for investigating the sulfur oxidation performance and salinity tolerance; the OD600, content change of thiosulfate, sulfate, sulfur, pH and total alkalinity in the cultural system were also investigated. The strain DS-B was found to share the highest sequence similarity with Thioalkalivibrio thiocyanoxidans ARh2, therefore determined as Thioalkalivibrio. At the optimum temperature of 35 °C for growth and degradation, the removal efficiency of thiosulfate could reach 98.7% after 7 days. Strain DS-B had strong resistance to thiosulfate, and the optimal concentration of S2O32- was 2 × 104 mg/L. The analysis for sulfur oxides showed that it could oxidize thiosulfate by the pathway of S2O32-→SO42- / S2O32- → S → SO42-. Therefore the strain DS-B is a sulfur-oxidizing bacterium with great application prospect for its strong salt tolerance and conspicuous removal capability for thiosulfate.     

Study of gas-water properties under high temperature and pressure for water-soluble gas reservoirs

The physical properties of gas and water are important in usage of gas reservoirs with water and water-soluble gas reservoirs. According to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry Standards SY/T5542-2009 of the People's Republic of China, by applying the crude oil multistage degassing method from the “Test Method for Reservoir fluid Physical Properties” and the formation water high-pressure property testing method described in the “Theory and Application of Reservoir Fluid Phase”, this investigation employed a Ruska 2370–601A phase analyzer to obtain data regarding gas–water ratios, water volume factors, compressibility coefficients, and densities. The results showed curve trends with changes in the temperature and pressure. The gas–water ratio was compared to the gas content of subsurface samples from the X water-soluble gas reservoir, suggesting that these findings might help in the analysis of water-soluble gas reservoirs.     

Studying developmental neurotoxic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) using embryonic stem cells

There is little to no toxicity information regarding thousands of chemicals to which people are exposed daily. In fact, of the 84,000 chemicals listed in the United States Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory, there is limited information available on their effects on neural development (Betts, 2010 and US EPA, 2015). The number of chemicals tested remains low due to the high cost of conducting multi-generational animal studies and the lack of alternative testing methods.     

Rice: Reducing arsenic content by controlling water irrigation

<正>Arsenic has long been recognized as a poison.Arsenic in water supplies that are used for both drinking and crop irrigation can expose many people chronically to elevated levels of arsenic.The main health concern for chronic exposure to arsenic is the development of cancer.Although the World Health Organization(WHO)recommends that total arsenic in drinking water should be under 10μg/L(or 10 ppb),(WHO,2011),some regions     

Genotoxic effects of microcystins mediated by nitric oxide and mitochondria

<正>Microcystins are potent toxins,produced naturally by cyanobacteria(blue green algae),and they present significant threats to human and animal health(WHO,1999;Chorus,2001;Carmichael et al.,2001;Falconer,2005;IARC,2010;Ma et al.,2015).These cyclic peptides consist of five common core amino     

Soil organic carbon decomposition and carbon pools in temperate and sub-tropical forests in China

Decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC) is a critical component of the global carbon cycle, and accurate estimates of SOC decomposition are important for forest carbon modeling and ultimately for decision making relative to carbon sequestration and mitigation of global climate change. We determined the major pools of SOC in four sites representing major forest types in China: temperate forests at Changbai Mountain (CBM) and Qilian Mountain (QLM), and sub-tropical forests at Yujiang (YJ) and Liping (LP) counties. A 90-day laboratory incubation was conducted to measure CO(2) evolution from forest soils from each site, and data from the incubation study were fitted to a three-pool first-order model that separated mineralizable soil organic carbon into active (C(a)), slow (C(s)) and resistant (C(r)) carbon pools. Results indicate that: (1) the rate of SOC decomposition in the sub-tropical zone was faster than that in the temperature zone, (2) The C(a) pool comprised approximately 1-3% of SOC with an average mean residence time (MRT) of 219 days. The C(s) pool comprised approximately 25-65% with an average MRT of 78 yr. The C(r) pool accounted for approximately 35-80% of SOC, (3) The YJ site in the sub-tropical zone had the greatest C(a) pool and the lowest MRT, while the QLM in the temperature zone had the greatest MRT for both the C(a) and C(s) pools. The results suggest a higher capacity for long-term C sequestration as SOC in temperature forests than in sub-tropical forests.     

Tests of soil organic carbon density modeled by InTEC in China's forest ecosystems

The integrated terrestrial ecosystem C-budget model (InTEC) developed by Chen and co-workers has been used successfully to predict carbon dynamics of forests in Canada. It was tested here for forest soil organic carbon (SOC) density of China's northern temperate zone and southern subtropical zone. The results show that the simulated SOC density is highly correlated and in broad agreement with observations in Liping and in Changbaishan, representing the southern subtropical zone and the northern temperate zone in China, respectively. SOC density ranged from 2.2 to 11.2 kg/m(2) in Liping and from 3.4 to 14.8 kg/m(2) in Changbaishan. The correlation coefficients (r(2)) are 0.63 (N=16) and 0.76 (N=14) between the simulated and measured data in Liping and Changbaishan, respectively. The SOC densities under different vegetation types in Liping decrease in the order of mixed forest, broadleaf forest, Chinese fir, couch grass, and Chinese redpine, and in Changbaishan in the order of mixed forest, silver fir, larch forest, and birch forest.     

LAI inversion algorithm based on directional reflectance kernels

Leaf area index (LAI) is an important ecological and environmental parameter. A new LAI algorithm is developed using the principles of ground LAI measurements based on canopy gap fraction. First, the relationship between LAI and gap fraction at various zenith angles is derived from the definition of LAI. Then, the directional gap fraction is acquired from a remote sensing bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) product. This acquisition is obtained by using a kernel driven model and a large-scale directional gap fraction algorithm. The algorithm has been applied to estimate a LAI distribution in China in mid-July 2002. The ground data acquired from two field experiments in Changbai Mountain and Qilian Mountain were used to validate the algorithm. To resolve the scale discrepancy between high resolution ground observations and low resolution remote sensing data, two TM images with a resolution approaching the size of ground plots were used to relate the coarse resolution LAI map to ground measurements. First, an empirical relationship between the measured LAI and a vegetation index was established. Next, a high resolution LAI map was generated using the relationship. The LAI value of a low resolution pixel was calculated from the area-weighted sum of high resolution LAIs composing the low resolution pixel. The results of this comparison showed that the inversion algorithm has an accuracy of 82%. Factors that may influence the accuracy are also discussed in this paper.