Enhanced nitrogen deposition exacerbates the negative effect of increasing background ozone in Dactylis glomerata, but not Ranunculus acris

The combined impacts of simulated increased nitrogen (N) deposition (75 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and increasing background ozone (O₃) were studied using two mesotrophic grassland species (Dactylis glomerata and Ranunculus acris) in solardomes, by means of eight O₃ treatments ranging from 15.5 ppb to 92.7 ppb (24 h average mean). A-C_i curves were constructed for each species to gauge effects on photosynthetic efficiency and capacity, and effects on biomass partitioning were determined after 14 weeks. Increasing the background concentration of O₃ reduced the healthy above ground and root biomass of both species, and increased senesced biomass. N fertilisation increased biomass production in D. glomerata, and a significantly greater than additive effect of O₃ and N on root biomass was evident. In contrast, R. acris biomass was not affected by high N. The study shows the combined effects of these pollutants have differential implications for carbon allocation patterns in common grassland species.     

Lysimeter Soil Retriever (LSR)—An Application of a New Technique for Retrieving Soils from Lysimeters

In Europe more than 2,500 lysimeters operated by research institutes and industry (Lanthaler 2005). Originally lysimeters were built for investigations of soil water and solutes, nutrient leaching and pesticide degradation (see e.g. Winton and Weber 1996). Currently lysimeters additionally used as a tool for investigations on biological processes, and structural changes of plants, including root distribution, and enzyme activities etc. (see e.g. Dizer et al. 2002; Schloter et al. 2005).     

Allocation plasticity and plant-metal partitioning: meta-analytical perspectives in phytoremediation

In this meta-analysis of plant growth and metal uptake parameters, we selected 19 studies of heavy metal (HM) phytoremediation to evaluate trends of allocation plasticity and plant-metal partitioning in roots relative to shoots. We calculated indexes of biomass allocation and metal distribution for numerous metals and plant species among four families of interest for phytoremediation purposes (e.g. Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, and Solanaceae). We determined that plants shift their biomass and distribute metals more to roots than shoots possibly to circumvent the challenges of increasing soil-HM conditions. Although this shift is viewed as a stress-avoidance strategy complementing intrinsic stress-tolerance, our findings indicate that plants express different levels of allocation plasticity and metal partitioning depending on their overall growth strategy and status as ‘fast-grower’ or ‘slow-grower’ species. Accordingly, we propose a conceptual model of allocation plasticity and plant-metal partitioning comparing ‘fast-grower’ and ‘slow-grower’ strategies and outlining applications for remediation practices.     

The nitrate leached below maize root zone is available for deep-rooted wheat in winter wheat-summer maize rotation in the North China Plain

In winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-summer maize (Zea mays L.) rotation system in the North China Plain, maize roots do not extend beyond 1.2 m in the vertical soil profile, but wheat roots can reach up to 2.0 m. Increases in soil nitrate content at maize harvest and significant reductions after winter wheat harvest were observed in the 1.4-2.0 m depth under field conditions. The recovery of 15N isotope (calcium nitrate) from various (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 m) soil depths showed that deep-rooting winter wheat could use soil nitrate up to the 2.0 m depth. This accounted partially, for the reduced nitrate in the 1.4-2.0 m depth of the soil after harvest of wheat in the rotation system.     

Improving safety and availability of complex systems using a risk-based failure assessment approach

This paper presents a structured risk-based failure assessment (RBFA) approach, which provides a complete solution to avoid repeated and potential failures to improve overall plant safety and availability. Technological advancements and high product demand have encouraged designers to design mega-capacity systems to enhance system utilization and improve revenues. However, these benefits make the systems more complex and thus prone to unnoticed failure. It is an overwhelming task to address all the failures due to the limited resources and time constraints. This leads to substandard and poor quality failure assessments, which cause repeated failures. To address this common industry concern, a four phase RBFA framework is proposed which is not limited to the identification of root cause(s) but also includes other actions such as failure monitoring. The four phases include the plan phase, the assessment phase, the analysis phase and the implementation-tracking phase. These phases cover identification of failure, failure analysis, root cause(s) analysis, and failure monitoring. In this paper, the applicability and advantages of the proposed approach are examined through two real case studies pertaining to bearing failure and drive coupling failure. By implementing the proposed approach, significant improvements have been experienced in the system availability in both the cases.     

植物根系固土护坡机理的研究进展及展望

在综合国内外相关研究成果的基础上,详细介绍了近几年来植物根系固土护坡机理的研究进展。文章分别从水文效应和力学效应2个方面对根系固土护坡机理进行了介绍,并着重从根增强的理论模型、根-土相互作用等方面论述了植物根系固土护坡的力学效应。首先介绍了根增强理论的先驱模型Wu和Waldron模型,文章从多方面论证了Wu和Waldron模型假定穿过剪切面的所有根在受力时同时破坏高估了根的增强作用,详细介绍了国外学者对Wu和Waldron模型改进后,最新提出的2种考虑根系逐渐破坏的力学模型——纤维束增强模型FBM和根束增强模型RBM。FBM模型用动态纤维束来模拟根系的渐进破坏,假设荷载被分配给束中的每个根,当载荷增加到其值超过了某单根的抗拉强度时,该根被拉断,而被该根分担的载荷被重新分配到剩下的完好的根中,直到所有的根都拉断。该模型使用应力控制的加载过程,不能得到完整的力-位移关系曲线;且该模型中没有考虑根的直径分布、几何性质、力学性质等的影响。为了克服上述缺陷Schwarz在FBM模型的基础上,又提出了RBM模型。RBM模型是一个以位移控制加载过程的纤维束模型,该模型考虑整个根束的拔出力是位移的函数,并被表示成单根的拔出力之和。文章最后详细论述了根系的拔出机理,探讨了植物根系固土护坡研究的发展方向。     

Promotion mechanism of self-transmissible degradative plasmid transfer in maize rhizosphere and its application in naphthalene degradation in soil

Rhizospheres can promote self-transmissible plasmid transfer, however, the corresponding mechanism has not received much attention. Plant-microbe remediation is an effective way to promote pollutant biodegradation; however, some pollutants, such as naphthalene, are harmful to plants and result in inefficient plant-microbe remediation. In this study, transfer of a TOL-like plasmid, a self-transmissible plasmid loaded with genetic determinants for pollutant degradation, among different bacteria was examined in bulk and rhizosphere soils as well as addition of maize root exudate and its artificial root exudate (ARE). The results showed that the numbers of transconjugants and recipients as well as bacterial metabolic activities, such as xylE mRNA expression levels and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase (C23O) activities of bacteria, remained high in rhizosphere soils, when compared with bulk soils. The number of transconjugants and bacterial metabolic activities increased with the increasing exudate and ARE concentrations, whereas the populations of donor and recipient bacteria were substantially unaltered at all concentrations. All the experiments consistently showed that a certain number of bacteria is required for self-transmissible plasmid transfer, and that the increased plasmid transfer might predominantly be owing to bacterial metabolic activity stimulated by root exudates and ARE. Furthermore, ARE addition increased naphthalene degradation by transconjugants in both culture medium and soil. Thus, the combined action of a wide variety of components in ARE might contribute to the increased plasmid transfer and naphthalene degradation. These findings suggest that ARE could be an effectively alternative for plant-microbe remediation of pollutants in environments where plants cannot survive.     

Radiocaesium accumulation in stemwood: integrated approach at the scale of forest stands for contaminated Scots pine in Belarus

Twenty years after the Chernobyl accident, root uptake from the surface layers of contaminated forest soils plays a major role in radiocaesium ((137)Cs) transfer to the trees and accumulation in perennial compartments, including stemwood. Trustworthy long-term predictions (modelling) of stemwood contamination with (137)Cs should accordingly be based on a reliable picture of this source-sink relationship. Considering the complexity of the processes involved in (137)Cs cycling in forest stands, elementary ratios like transfer factors (TF) were shown to be not very relevant for that purpose. At the tree level, alternatives like the wood immobilisation potential (WIP) have therefore been proposed in order to quantify the current net (137)Cs accumulation in stemwood. Our objective was here to compare WIP values determined for a series of contaminated forest stands in Belarus with the corresponding pools of (137)Cs available in the soil for root uptake. The comparison reveals that both indices are quite proportional, whatever the forest ecosystem features. This corroborates the relevancy of WIP as an indicator of the current (137)Cs root uptake by the trees, which could accordingly help to improve the existing models of (137)Cs cycling and the long-term management of contaminated forest ecosystems.     

3种毒性预测模型在镉对小麦根毒性预测中的应用及比较

一些基于重金属形态的生物毒性机理模型被广泛应用于水体和陆生生态系统,例如:自由离子活度模型(FIAM)、生物配体模型(BLM)和生物膜电势斯特恩双电层模型(GCSM),但不同模型的应用效果之间还缺乏系统比较。本研究选取小麦作为受试生物,采用水培实验进行了镉对小麦根伸长的毒性测试,通过数据分析软件对实验数据进行非线性拟合,分别建立了3种模型,并从根毒性、根表面吸附镉和根中富集镉3个方面对3个模型的预测能力进行了比较。除此之外,选取苹果酸和柠檬酸2种有机配体,研究了配体对镉生物毒性的影响。结果表明,Ca~(2+)和H~+对Cd的根毒性存在竞争效应,而Mg~(2+)、K~+和Na~+未发现竞争效应。由于BLM模型同时考虑了镉的自由离子态浓度和竞争离子的影响,在预测镉对杨麦13号根毒性和生物体内富集量时效果最好。而FIAM和GCSM模型由于计算中仅考虑了离子活度的影响,缺乏对竞争离子保护效应的考虑,因此预测效果相对较差;此外,Cd对小麦根毒性的主要受扩散过程控制,而非跨膜过程,这可能也是FIAM模型和GCSM模型预测不佳的原因之一。同时结果还发现有机配体存在时尽管降低了溶液中镉的离子活度,但未显著影响镉毒性,进一步证明了扩散过程对Cd毒性的影响。以上结果为评价和预测镉的陆生生态毒性提供了基础数据和模型依据。     

植物根系分泌物分析及对湿地微生物群落的影响研究

植物是人工湿地的重要组成部分,其通过根系分泌物对湿地中的微生物群落结构产生影响。本研究分析了美人蕉（Canna indica）、茭白（Zizania caduciflora）、千屈菜（Lythrum salicaria Linn）等3种湿地植物的根系分泌能力及分泌物组成。3种植物的根系分泌物主要组成物质相似,均含有小分子有机酸、酚类、芳香族蛋白质,但各组成比例有所差异。分泌能力则随生长周期持续下降,千屈菜的分泌能力远强于美人蕉和茭白。本研究利用醌指纹研究人工湿地中微生物群落结构,结果发现不同湿地植物对湿地中微生物的组成和多样性产生显著影响。