Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Land Management Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-12-01

To reflect the requirement of section 4 of the Wastes Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act (the Act) (Public Law 102-579), this land management plan has been written for the withdrawal area consistent with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. The objective of this document, per the Act, is to describe the plan for the use of the withdrawn land until the end of the decommissioning phase. The plan identifies resource values within the withdrawal area and promotes the concept of multiple-use management. The plan also provides opportunity for participation in the land use planning process by the public and local, State, and Federal agencies. Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the reader with the purpose of this land management plan as well as an overview of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Chapter 2, Affected Environment, is a brief description of the existing resources within the withdrawal area. Chapter 3, Management Objectives and Planned Actions, describes the land management objectives and actions taken to accomplish these objectives.

A DNA barcode for land plants.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-04

DNA barcoding involves sequencing a standard region of DNA as a tool for species identification. However, there has been no agreement on which region(s) should be used for barcoding land plants. To provide a community recommendation on a standard plant barcode, we have compared the performance of 7 leading candidate plastid DNA regions (atpF-atpH spacer, matK gene, rbcL gene, rpoB gene, rpoC1 gene, psbK-psbI spacer, and trnH-psbA spacer). Based on assessments of recoverability, sequence quality, and levels of species discrimination, we recommend the 2-locus combination of rbcL+matK as the plant barcode. This core 2-locus barcode will provide a universal framework for the routine use of DNA sequence data to identify specimens and contribute toward the discovery of overlooked species of land plants.

A DNA barcode for land plants

Science.gov (United States)

Hollingsworth, Peter M.; Forrest, Laura L.; Spouge, John L.; Hajibabaei, Mehrdad; Ratnasingham, Sujeevan; van der Bank, Michelle; Chase, Mark W.; Cowan, Robyn S.; Erickson, David L.; Fazekas, Aron J.; Graham, Sean W.; James, Karen E.; Kim, Ki-Joong; Kress, W. John; Schneider, Harald; van AlphenStahl, Jonathan; Barrett, Spencer C.H.; van den Berg, Cassio; Bogarin, Diego; Burgess, Kevin S.; Cameron, Kenneth M.; Carine, Mark; Chacón, Juliana; Clark, Alexandra; Clarkson, James J.; Conrad, Ferozah; Devey, Dion S.; Ford, Caroline S.; Hedderson, Terry A.J.; Hollingsworth, Michelle L.; Husband, Brian C.; Kelly, Laura J.; Kesanakurti, Prasad R.; Kim, Jung Sung; Kim, Young-Dong; Lahaye, Renaud; Lee, Hae-Lim; Long, David G.; Madriñán, Santiago; Maurin, Olivier; Meusnier, Isabelle; Newmaster, Steven G.; Park, Chong-Wook; Percy, Diana M.; Petersen, Gitte; Richardson, James E.; Salazar, Gerardo A.; Savolainen, Vincent; Seberg, Ole; Wilkinson, Michael J.; Yi, Dong-Keun; Little, Damon P.

2009-01-01

DNA barcoding involves sequencing a standard region of DNA as a tool for species identification. However, there has been no agreement on which region(s) should be used for barcoding land plants. To provide a community recommendation on a standard plant barcode, we have compared the performance of 7 leading candidate plastid DNA regions (atpF–atpH spacer, matK gene, rbcL gene, rpoB gene, rpoC1 gene, psbK–psbI spacer, and trnH–psbA spacer). Based on assessments of recoverability, sequence quality, and levels of species discrimination, we recommend the 2-locus combination of rbcL+matK as the plant barcode. This core 2-locus barcode will provide a universal framework for the routine use of DNA sequence data to identify specimens and contribute toward the discovery of overlooked species of land plants. PMID:19666622

A horizontal gene transfer at the origin of phenylpropanoid metabolism: a key adaptation of plants to land.

Science.gov (United States)

Emiliani, Giovanni; Fondi, Marco; Fani, Renato; Gribaldo, Simonetta

2009-02-16

The pioneering ancestor of land plants that conquered terrestrial habitats around 500 million years ago had to face dramatic stresses including UV radiation, desiccation, and microbial attack. This drove a number of adaptations, among which the emergence of the phenylpropanoid pathway was crucial, leading to essential compounds such as flavonoids and lignin. However, the origin of this specific land plant secondary metabolism has not been clarified. We have performed an extensive analysis of the taxonomic distribution and phylogeny of Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase (PAL), which catalyses the first and essential step of the general phenylpropanoid pathway, leading from phenylalanine to p-Coumaric acid and p-Coumaroyl-CoA, the entry points of the flavonoids and lignin routes. We obtained robust evidence that the ancestor of land plants acquired a PAL via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) during symbioses with soil bacteria and fungi that are known to have established very early during the first steps of land colonization. This horizontally acquired PAL represented then the basis for further development of the phenylpropanoid pathway and plant radiation on terrestrial environments. Our results highlight a possible crucial role of HGT from soil bacteria in the path leading to land colonization by plants and their subsequent evolution. The few functional characterizations of sediment/soil bacterial PAL (production of secondary metabolites with powerful antimicrobial activity or production of pigments) suggest that the initial advantage of this horizontally acquired PAL in the ancestor of land plants might have been either defense against an already developed microbial community and/or protection against UV.

Quantitative Hydraulic Models Of Early Land Plants Provide Insight Into Middle Paleozoic Terrestrial Paleoenvironmental Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, J. P.; Fischer, W. W.

2010-12-01

humidity (25°C) could cause sufficient cavitation to reduce hydraulic conductivity by 50%. This suggests that the Early Devonian environments that supported the earliest vascular plants were not subject to prolonged midseason droughts, or, alternatively, that the growing season was short. This places minimum constraints on water availability (e.g., groundwater hydration, relative humidity) in locations where Asteroxylon fossils are found; these environments must have had high relative humidities, comparable to tropical riparian environments. Given these constraints, biome-scale paleovegetation models that place early vascular plants distal to water sources can be revised to account for reduced drought tolerance. Paleoclimate proxies that treat early terrestrial plants as functionally interchangeable can incorporate physiological differences in a quantitatively meaningful way. Application of hydraulic models to fossil plants provides an additional perspective on the 475 million-year history of terrestrial photosynthetic environments and has potential to corroborate other plant-based paleoclimate proxies.

A horizontal gene transfer at the origin of phenylpropanoid metabolism: a key adaptation of plants to land

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Gribaldo Simonetta

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The pioneering ancestor of land plants that conquered terrestrial habitats around 500 million years ago had to face dramatic stresses including UV radiation, desiccation, and microbial attack. This drove a number of adaptations, among which the emergence of the phenylpropanoid pathway was crucial, leading to essential compounds such as flavonoids and lignin. However, the origin of this specific land plant secondary metabolism has not been clarified. Results We have performed an extensive analysis of the taxonomic distribution and phylogeny of Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase (PAL, which catalyses the first and essential step of the general phenylpropanoid pathway, leading from phenylalanine to p-Coumaric acid and p-Coumaroyl-CoA, the entry points of the flavonoids and lignin routes. We obtained robust evidence that the ancestor of land plants acquired a PAL via horizontal gene transfer (HGT during symbioses with soil bacteria and fungi that are known to have established very early during the first steps of land colonization. This horizontally acquired PAL represented then the basis for further development of the phenylpropanoid pathway and plant radiation on terrestrial environments. Conclusion Our results highlight a possible crucial role of HGT from soil bacteria in the path leading to land colonization by plants and their subsequent evolution. The few functional characterizations of sediment/soil bacterial PAL (production of secondary metabolites with powerful antimicrobial activity or production of pigments suggest that the initial advantage of this horizontally acquired PAL in the ancestor of land plants might have been either defense against an already developed microbial community and/or protection against UV. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Purificación López-García, Janet Siefert, and Eugene Koonin.

Land Use Requirements of Modern Wind Power Plants in the United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denholm, P.; Hand, M.; Jackson, M.; Ong, S.

2009-08-01

This report provides data and analysis of the land use associated with modern, large wind power plants (defined as greater than 20 megawatts (MW) and constructed after 2000). The analysis discusses standard land-use metrics as established in the life-cycle assessment literature, and then discusses their applicability to wind power plants. The report identifies two major 'classes' of wind plant land use: 1) direct impact (i.e., disturbed land due to physical infrastructure development), and 2) total area (i.e., land associated with the complete wind plant project). The analysis also provides data for each of these classes, derived from project applications, environmental impact statements, and other sources. It attempts to identify relationships among land use, wind plant configuration, and geography. The analysts evaluated 172 existing or proposed projects, which represents more than 26 GW of capacity. In addition to providing land-use data and summary statistics, they identify several limitations to the existing wind project area data sets, and suggest additional analysis that could aid in evaluating actual land use and impacts associated with deployment of wind energy.

The Influence of Land Use Intensity on the Plant-Associated Microbiome of Dactylis glomerata L.

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Jennifer Estendorfer

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this study, we investigated the impact of different land use intensities (LUI on the root-associated microbiome of Dactylis glomerata (orchardgrass. For this purpose, eight sampling sites with different land use intensity levels but comparable soil properties were selected in the southwest of Germany. Experimental plots covered land use levels from natural grassland up to intensively managed meadows. We used 16S rRNA gene based barcoding to assess the plant-associated community structure in the endosphere, rhizosphere and bulk soil of D. glomerata. Samples were taken at the reproductive stage of the plant in early summer. Our data indicated that roots harbor a distinct bacterial community, which clearly differed from the microbiome of the rhizosphere and bulk soil. Our results revealed Pseudomonadaceae, Enterobacteriaceae and Comamonadaceae as the most abundant endophytes independently of land use intensity. Rhizosphere and bulk soil were dominated also by Proteobacteria, but the most abundant families differed from those obtained from root samples. In the soil, the effect of land use intensity was more pronounced compared to root endophytes leading to a clearly distinct pattern of bacterial communities under different LUI from rhizosphere and bulk soil vs. endophytes. Overall, a change of community structure on the plant–soil interface was observed, as the number of shared OTUs between all three compartments investigated increased with decreasing land use intensity. Thus, our findings suggest a stronger interaction of the plant with its surrounding soil under low land use intensity. Furthermore, the amount and quality of available nitrogen was identified as a major driver for shifts in the microbiome structure in all compartments.

Contrasting effects of land use intensity and exotic host plants on the specialization of interactions in plant-herbivore networks.

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de Araújo, Walter Santos; Vieira, Marcos Costa; Lewinsohn, Thomas M; Almeida-Neto, Mário

2015-01-01

Human land use tends to decrease the diversity of native plant species and facilitate the invasion and establishment of exotic ones. Such changes in land use and plant community composition usually have negative impacts on the assemblages of native herbivorous insects. Highly specialized herbivores are expected to be especially sensitive to land use intensification and the presence of exotic plant species because they are neither capable of consuming alternative plant species of the native flora nor exotic plant species. Therefore, higher levels of land use intensity might reduce the proportion of highly specialized herbivores, which ultimately would lead to changes in the specialization of interactions in plant-herbivore networks. This study investigates the community-wide effects of land use intensity on the degree of specialization of 72 plant-herbivore networks, including effects mediated by the increase in the proportion of exotic plant species. Contrary to our expectation, the net effect of land use intensity on network specialization was positive. However, this positive effect of land use intensity was partially canceled by an opposite effect of the proportion of exotic plant species on network specialization. When we analyzed networks composed exclusively of endophagous herbivores separately from those composed exclusively of exophagous herbivores, we found that only endophages showed a consistent change in network specialization at higher land use levels. Altogether, these results indicate that land use intensity is an important ecological driver of network specialization, by way of reducing the local host range of herbivore guilds with highly specialized feeding habits. However, because the effect of land use intensity is offset by an opposite effect owing to the proportion of exotic host species, the net effect of land use in a given herbivore assemblage will likely depend on the extent of the replacement of native host species with exotic ones.

Broad phylogenomic sampling and the sister lineage of land plants.

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Ruth E Timme

Full Text Available The tremendous diversity of land plants all descended from a single charophyte green alga that colonized the land somewhere between 430 and 470 million years ago. Six orders of charophyte green algae, in addition to embryophytes, comprise the Streptophyta s.l. Previous studies have focused on reconstructing the phylogeny of organisms tied to this key colonization event, but wildly conflicting results have sparked a contentious debate over which lineage gave rise to land plants. The dominant view has been that 'stoneworts,' or Charales, are the sister lineage, but an alternative hypothesis supports the Zygnematales (often referred to as "pond scum" as the sister lineage. In this paper, we provide a well-supported, 160-nuclear-gene phylogenomic analysis supporting the Zygnematales as the closest living relative to land plants. Our study makes two key contributions to the field: 1 the use of an unbiased method to collect a large set of orthologs from deeply diverging species and 2 the use of these data in determining the sister lineage to land plants. We anticipate this updated phylogeny not only will hugely impact lesson plans in introductory biology courses, but also will provide a solid phylogenetic tree for future green-lineage research, whether it be related to plants or green algae.

Post-Fire Peat Land Understory Plant in Rimba Panjang, Sumatera, Indonesia

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Firdaus, L. N.; Nursal; Wulandari, Sri; Syafi'i, Wan; Fauziah, Yuslim

2017-12-01

The existence of understory plants during early post-fire succession is essential in term of natural post-fire ecological restoration. More than fifty percent of fire incidents in Riau, Sumatera, Indonesia occurred in shallow peat lands which have the huge impact on vegetation damage. This study aims to explore the understory plants species and diversity in post-fire peat land at Rimba Panjang, Kampar Regency, Sumatera, Indonesia. By using survey method, the observations were conducted on 150 plots which were distributed randomly over four locations based on the year after fire: 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2016. We found respectively 12, 14, 19 and 17 species at that sites with respective Shannon Wiener diversity index were 1.72, 2.00, 2.14 and 2.40. All the sites were dominated by Stenochlaena palustris (Burm.). Coverage percentage of understory vegetation were respectively 28.87%, 25.50%, 51.60% and 54.13%. Overall, we found 31 species of 17 familia. The result showed that the species composition, diversity index and coverage percentage of understory plant are likely to decrease in line with the length of time after the fire. Post peatland fires in Rimba Panjang are still having the characteristics of the peat swamp habitat which was dominated by Stenochlaena palustris (Burm.). Ecological restoration of that habitat is still possible, but it is necessary to consider technological and socio-economical aspects of local communities.

Herbivore-plant interactions and desertification in arid lands

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Arid lands around the world have experienced or are currently experiencing degradation that is known as desertification. Animal-plant interactions that have an effect on desertification are among the most important function of animals in arid ecosystems. Desertification has been defined as land de...

Early detection of invasive plants: principles and practices

Science.gov (United States)

Welch, Bradley A.; Geissler, Paul H.; Latham, Penelope

2014-01-01

Invasive plants infest an estimated 2.6 million acres of the 83 million acres managed by the National Park Service (NPS) in the United States. The consequences of these invasions present a significant challenge for the NPS to manage the agency’s natural resources “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” More NPS lands are infested daily despite diligent efforts to curtail the problem. Impacts from invasive species have been realized in most parks, resulting in an expressed need to control existing infestations and restore affected ecosystems. There is a growing urgency in the NPS and other resource management organizations to be proactive. The NPS I&M Program, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Status and Trends Program, compiled this document to provide guidance and insight to parks and other natural areas engaged in developing early-detection monitoring protocols for invasive plants. While several rapid response frameworks exist, there is no consistent or comprehensive guidance informing the active detection of nonnative plants early in the invasion process. Early-detection was selected as a primary focus for invasive-species monitoring because, along with rapid response, it is a key strategy for successful management of invasive species. Eradication efforts are most successful on small infestations (that is less than 1 hectare) and become less successful as infestation size increases, to the point that eradication is unlikely for large (that is greater than 1,000 hectares) populations of invasive plants. This document provides guidance for natural resource managers wishing to detect invasive plants early through an active, directed monitoring program. It has a Quick-Start Guide to direct readers to specific chapters and text relevant to their needs. Decision trees and flow charts assist the reader in deciding what methods to choose and when to use them. This document is written in a modular format to accommodate use of

Selaginella moellendoffii telomeres: conserved and unique features in an ancient land plant lineage

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Eugene V Shakirov

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Telomeres, the essential terminal regions of linear eukaryotic chromosomes, consist of G-rich DNA repeats bound by a plethora of associated proteins. While the general pathways of telomere maintenance are evolutionarily conserved, individual telomere complex components show remarkable variation between eukaryotic lineages and even within closely related species. The recent genome sequencing of the lycophyte Selaginella moellendoffii and the availability of an ever-increasing number of flowering plant genomes provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the molecular and functional evolution of telomere components from the early evolving non-seed plants to the more developmentally advanced angiosperms. Here we analyzed telomere sequence in S. moellendorffii and found it to consist of TTTAGGG repeats, typical of most plants. Telomere tracts in S. moellendorffii range from 1-5.5 kb, closely resembling Arabidopsis thaliana. We identified several S. moellendorffii genes encoding sequence homologues of proteins involved in telomere maintenance in other organisms, including CST complex components and the telomere-binding proteins POT1 and TRFL. Notable sequence similarities and differences were uncovered among the telomere-related genes in some of the plant lineages. Taken together, the data indicate that comparative analysis of the telomere complex in early diverging land plants such as S. moellendorffii and green algae will yield important insights into the evolution of telomeres and their protein constituents.

Divergence and Conservative Evolution of XTNX Genes in Land Plants

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Yan-Mei Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The Toll-interleukin-1 receptor (TIR and Nucleotide-binding site (NBS domains are two major components of the TIR-NBS-leucine-rich repeat family plant disease resistance genes. Extensive functional and evolutionary studies have been performed on these genes; however, the characterization of a small group of genes that are composed of atypical TIR and NBS domains, namely XTNX genes, is limited. The present study investigated this specific gene family by conducting genome-wide analyses of 59 green plant genomes. A total of 143 XTNX genes were identified in 51 of the 52 land plant genomes, whereas no XTNX gene was detected in any green algae genomes, which indicated that XTNX genes originated upon emergence of land plants. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ancestral XTNX gene underwent two rounds of ancient duplications in land plants, which resulted in the formation of clades I/II and clades IIa/IIb successively. Although clades I and IIb have evolved conservatively in angiosperms, the motif composition difference and sequence divergence at the amino acid level suggest that functional divergence may have occurred since the separation of the two clades. In contrast, several features of the clade IIa genes, including the absence in the majority of dicots, the long branches in the tree, the frequent loss of ancestral motifs, and the loss of expression in all detected tissues of Zea mays, all suggest that the genes in this lineage might have undergone pseudogenization. This study highlights that XTNX genes are a gene family originated anciently in land plants and underwent specific conservative pattern in evolution.

STUDIES ON FUNCTIONAL BACTERIA OF INDONESIAN TROPICAL FOREST PLANTS FOR BIOREHABILITATION OF DEGRADED LANDS

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Irnayuli R. Sitepu

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Forest  degradations  have left vast amount  of damaged  and abandoned  lands in Indonesia.   In this paper, we present our approaches  in rehabilitation of adverse soils using functional  bacteria isolated from plant species of Indonesian tropical  rain forests. For these purposes,  we collected  bacteria  from various  bio-geo-climatically different forests and conducted bioassays to test these bacterial abilities in improving plant growth. Repeated seedling-based studies on Shorea spp., Alstonia scholaris, Acacia crassicarpa, and Agathis lorantifolia have revealed that many bacteria were able to promote plant growth at early stage in the nursery.  Various  plant responses towards  inoculations suggested that although  forest soils maintain  highly diverse and potent  bacteria,  it is necessary to select appropriate approaches to obtain optimum  benefits from these plant-bacteria interactions.  Our  ideas and futures  studies  for further  management  of these plant- bacteria interactions for biorehabilitation are also discussed.

LAND JUDGING AND PLANT NUTRITION, A PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION UNIT, REPORT NUMBER 13.

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LONG, GILBERT A.

A UNIT OF PROGRAMED LEARNING MATERIALS WAS PRESENTED ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES OF LAND JUDGING AND PLANT NUTRITION. IN HIS PREPARATION, THE AUTHOR FIRST IDENTIFIED PRINCIPLES AND FACTS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE LAND CLASSIFICATION AND PLANT NUTRITION BY EXAMINING RELEVANT SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. USING THIS INFORMATION, HE THEN FORMED A TEAM OF 16…

Spatial-temporal variation of marginal land suitable for energy plants from 1990 to 2010 in China

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Jiang, Dong; Hao, Mengmeng; Fu, Jingying; Zhuang, Dafang; Huang, Yaohuan

2014-01-01

Energy plants are the main source of bioenergy which will play an increasingly important role in future energy supplies. With limited cultivated land resources in China, the development of energy plants may primarily rely on the marginal land. In this study, based on the land use data from 1990 to 2010(every 5 years is a period) and other auxiliary data, the distribution of marginal land suitable for energy plants was determined using multi-factors integrated assessment method. The variation of land use type and spatial distribution of marginal land suitable for energy plants of different decades were analyzed. The results indicate that the total amount of marginal land suitable for energy plants decreased from 136.501 million ha to 114.225 million ha from 1990 to 2010. The reduced land use types are primarily shrub land, sparse forest land, moderate dense grassland and sparse grassland, and large variation areas are located in Guangxi, Tibet, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The results of this study will provide more effective data reference and decision making support for the long-term planning of bioenergy resources. PMID:25056520

Genome Size Diversity and Its Impact on the Evolution of Land Plants

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Jaume Pellicer

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Genome size is a biodiversity trait that shows staggering diversity across eukaryotes, varying over 64,000-fold. Of all major taxonomic groups, land plants stand out due to their staggering genome size diversity, ranging ca. 2400-fold. As our understanding of the implications and significance of this remarkable genome size diversity in land plants grows, it is becoming increasingly evident that this trait plays not only an important role in shaping the evolution of plant genomes, but also in influencing plant community assemblages at the ecosystem level. Recent advances and improvements in novel sequencing technologies, as well as analytical tools, make it possible to gain critical insights into the genomic and epigenetic mechanisms underpinning genome size changes. In this review we provide an overview of our current understanding of genome size diversity across the different land plant groups, its implications on the biology of the genome and what future directions need to be addressed to fill key knowledge gaps.

The charophycean green algae as model systems to study plant cell walls and other evolutionary adaptations that gave rise to land plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Iben; Rose, Jocelyn K.C.; Doyle, Jeff J.

2012-01-01

for terrestrial colonization. The nature and molecular bases of such traits are still being determined, but one critical adaptation is thought to have been the evolution of a complex cell wall. Very little is known about the identity, origins and diversity of the biosynthetic machinery producing the major suites......, during times of radical habitat changes. Orders of the CGA span early diverging taxa retaining more ancestral characters, through complex multicellular organisms with morphological characteristics resembling those of land plants. Examination of gene diversity and evolution within the CGA could help...

TAS3 miR390-dependent loci in non-vascular land plants: towards a comprehensive reconstruction of the gene evolutionary history

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Sergey Y. Morozov

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Trans-acting small interfering RNAs (ta-siRNAs are transcribed from protein non-coding genomic TAS loci and belong to a plant-specific class of endogenous small RNAs. These siRNAs have been found to regulate gene expression in most taxa including seed plants, gymnosperms, ferns and mosses. In this study, bioinformatic and experimental PCR-based approaches were used as tools to analyze TAS3 and TAS6 loci in transcriptomes and genomic DNAs from representatives of evolutionary distant non-vascular plant taxa such as Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta and Anthocerotophyta. We revealed previously undiscovered TAS3 loci in plant classes Sphagnopsida and Anthocerotopsida, as well as TAS6 loci in Bryophyta classes Tetraphidiopsida, Polytrichopsida, Andreaeopsida and Takakiopsida. These data further unveil the evolutionary pathway of the miR390-dependent TAS3 loci in land plants. We also identified charophyte alga sequences coding for SUPPRESSOR OF GENE SILENCING 3 (SGS3, which is required for generation of ta-siRNAs in plants, and hypothesized that the appearance of TAS3-related sequences could take place at a very early step in evolutionary transition from charophyte algae to an earliest common ancestor of land plants.

TAS3 miR390-dependent loci in non-vascular land plants: towards a comprehensive reconstruction of the gene evolutionary history.

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Morozov, Sergey Y; Milyutina, Irina A; Erokhina, Tatiana N; Ozerova, Liudmila V; Troitsky, Alexey V; Solovyev, Andrey G

2018-01-01

Trans-acting small interfering RNAs (ta-siRNAs) are transcribed from protein non-coding genomic TAS loci and belong to a plant-specific class of endogenous small RNAs. These siRNAs have been found to regulate gene expression in most taxa including seed plants, gymnosperms, ferns and mosses. In this study, bioinformatic and experimental PCR-based approaches were used as tools to analyze TAS3 and TAS6 loci in transcriptomes and genomic DNAs from representatives of evolutionary distant non-vascular plant taxa such as Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta and Anthocerotophyta. We revealed previously undiscovered TAS3 loci in plant classes Sphagnopsida and Anthocerotopsida, as well as TAS6 loci in Bryophyta classes Tetraphidiopsida, Polytrichopsida, Andreaeopsida and Takakiopsida. These data further unveil the evolutionary pathway of the miR390-dependent TAS3 loci in land plants. We also identified charophyte alga sequences coding for SUPPRESSOR OF GENE SILENCING 3 (SGS3), which is required for generation of ta-siRNAs in plants, and hypothesized that the appearance of TAS3-related sequences could take place at a very early step in evolutionary transition from charophyte algae to an earliest common ancestor of land plants.

Insights into the evolution and diversification of the AT-hook Motif Nuclear Localized gene family in land plants.

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Zhao, Jianfei; Favero, David S; Qiu, Jiwen; Roalson, Eric H; Neff, Michael M

2014-10-14

Members of the ancient land-plant-specific transcription factor AT-Hook Motif Nuclear Localized (AHL) gene family regulate various biological processes. However, the relationships among the AHL genes, as well as their evolutionary history, still remain unexplored. We analyzed over 500 AHL genes from 19 land plant species, ranging from the early diverging Physcomitrella patens and Selaginella to a variety of monocot and dicot flowering plants. We classified the AHL proteins into three types (Type-I/-II/-III) based on the number and composition of their functional domains, the AT-hook motif(s) and PPC domain. We further inferred their phylogenies via Bayesian inference analysis and predicted gene gain/loss events throughout their diversification. Our analyses suggested that the AHL gene family emerged in embryophytes and further evolved into two distinct clades, with Type-I AHLs forming one clade (Clade-A), and the other two types together diversifying in another (Clade-B). The two AHL clades likely diverged before the separation of Physcomitrella patens from the vascular plant lineage. In angiosperms, Clade-A AHLs expanded into 5 subfamilies; while, the ones in Clade-B expanded into 4 subfamilies. Examination of their expression patterns suggests that the AHLs within each clade share similar expression patterns with each other; however, AHLs in one monophyletic clade exhibit distinct expression patterns from the ones in the other clade. Over-expression of a Glycine max AHL PPC domain in Arabidopsis thaliana recapitulates the phenotype observed when over-expressing its Arabidopsis thaliana counterpart. This result suggests that the AHL genes from different land plant species may share conserved functions in regulating plant growth and development. Our study further suggests that such functional conservation may be due to conserved physical interactions among the PPC domains of AHL proteins. Our analyses reveal a possible evolutionary scenario for the AHL gene family

Plant life form based habitat monitoring in a European landscape framework for early warning of changes in land cover and biodiversity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt, Jesper; Olsen, Martin; Bloch-Petersen, Margit

and habitat composition and quality. The focus on essential features of the habitat that can be expressed easily and quantitatively for identification and mapping of small but significant changes at a landscape level has resulted in the reintroduction of Raunkiaers plant life form concept from 1907...... of agricultural land use, general land cover and tree and shrub cover of small biotopes), it has not been difficult to integrate the BioHab framework in the SBMP-monitoring system, thus permitting the monitoring system to deliver an additional important European perspective with only very limited extra resources...

Germination and early plant development of ten plant species ...

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Ten agronomic plant species were exposed to different concentrations of nano titanium dioxide (nTiO2) or nano cerium oxide (nCeO2) (0, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/L) to examine potential effects on germination and early seedling development. We modified a standard test protocol developed for soluble chemicals (OPPTS 850.4200) to determine if such an approach might be useful for screening engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) and whether there were differences in response across a range of commercially important plant species to two common metal oxide ENMs. Eight of 10 species responded to nTiO2, and 5 species responded to nCeO2. Overall, it appeared that early root growth may be a more sensitive indicator of potential effects from ENM exposure than germination. The observed effects did not always relate to the exposure concentration, indicating that mass-based concentration may not fully explain developmental effects of these two ENMs. The results suggest that nTiO2 and nCeO2 have different effects on early plant growth of agronomic species, which may alter the timing of specific developmental events during their life cycle. In addition, standard germination tests, which are commonly used for toxicity screening of new materials, may not detect the subtle but potentially more important changes associated with early growth and development in terrestrial plants. Engineered nanoparticles (ENMs) have been recognized as valuable components of new technologies and are current

An ancestral stomatal patterning module revealed in the non-vascular land plant Physcomitrella patens

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Chater, Caspar C.; Kamisugi, Yasuko

2016-01-01

The patterning of stomata plays a vital role in plant development and has emerged as a paradigm for the role of peptide signals in the spatial control of cellular differentiation. Research in Arabidopsis has identified a series of epidermal patterning factors (EPFs), which interact with an array of membrane-localised receptors and associated proteins (encoded by ERECTA and TMM genes) to control stomatal density and distribution. However, although it is well-established that stomata arose very early in the evolution of land plants, until now it has been unclear whether the established angiosperm stomatal patterning system represented by the EPF/TMM/ERECTA module reflects a conserved, universal mechanism in the plant kingdom. Here, we use molecular genetics to show that the moss Physcomitrella patens has conserved homologues of angiosperm EPF, TMM and at least one ERECTA gene that function together to permit the correct patterning of stomata and that, moreover, elements of the module retain function when transferred to Arabidopsis. Our data characterise the stomatal patterning system in an evolutionarily distinct branch of plants and support the hypothesis that the EPF/TMM/ERECTA module represents an ancient patterning system. PMID:27407102

Planting Jatropha curcas on Constrained Land: Emission and Effects from Land Use Change

Science.gov (United States)

Firdaus, M. S.; Husni, M. H. A.

2012-01-01

A study was carried out to assess carbon emission and carbon loss caused from land use change (LUC) of converting a wasteland into a Jatropha curcas plantation. The study was conducted for 12 months at a newly established Jatropha curcas plantation in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Assessments of soil carbon dioxide (CO2) flux, changes of soil total carbon and plant biomass loss and growth were made on the wasteland and on the established plantation to determine the effects of land preparation (i.e., tilling) and removal of the wasteland's native vegetation. Overall soil CO2 flux showed no significant difference (P Jatropha curcas to recover the biomass carbon stock lost during land conversion. As far as the present study is concerned, converting wasteland to Jatropha curcas showed no adverse effects on the loss of carbon from soil and biomass and did not exacerbate soil respiration. PMID:22545018

Symbiotic fungal associations in 'lower' land plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Read, D J; Ducket, J G; Francis, R; Ligron, R; Russell, A

2000-06-29

An analysis of the current state of knowledge of symbiotic fungal associations in 'lower' plants is provided. Three fungal phyla, the Zygomycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, are involved in forming these associations, each producing a distinctive suite of structural features in well-defined groups of 'lower' plants. Among the 'lower' plants only mosses and Equisetum appear to lack one or other of these types of association. The salient features of the symbioses produced by each fungal group are described and the relationships between these associations and those formed by the same or related fungi in 'higher' plants are discussed. Particular consideration is given to the question of the extent to which root fungus associations in 'lower' plants are analogous to 'mycorrhizas' of 'higher' plants and the need for analysis of the functional attributes of these symbioses is stressed. Zygomycetous fungi colonize a wide range of extant lower land plants (hornworts, many hepatics, lycopods, Ophioglossales, Psilotales and Gleicheniaceae), where they often produce structures analogous to those seen in the vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizas of higher plants, which are formed by members of the order Glomales. A preponderance of associations of this kind is in accordance with palaeohbotanical and molecular evidence indicating that glomalean fungi produced the archetypal symbioses with the first plants to emerge on to land. It is shown, probably for the first time, that glomalean fungi forming typical VA mycorrhiza with a higher plant (Plantago lanceolata) can colonize a thalloid liverwort (Pellia epiphylla), producing arbuscules and vesicles in the hepatic. The extent to which these associations, which are structurally analogous to mycorrhizas, have similar functions remains to be evaluated. Ascomycetous associations are found in a relatively small number of families of leafy liverworts. The structural features of the fungal colonization of rhizoids and underground axes of

Coastal glaciers advanced onto Jameson Land, East Greenland during the late glacial–early Holocene Milne Land Stade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helena Alexanderson

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We report on 10Be and optically stimulated luminescence ages from moraines and glaciolacustrine sediments on eastern Jameson Land, East Greenland. Sampled landforms and sediment are associated with advances of outlet glaciers from the local Liverpool Land ice cap situated in the coastal Scoresby Sund region. Previous studies have tentatively correlated these advances with the Milne Land Stade moraines, which are prominent moraine sets deposited by mountain glaciers in the inner Scoresby Sund region. Recent constraints on the formation of the outer and inner of these moraines have suggested two advances of local glaciers, one prior to or during the Younger Dryas and another during the Preboreal. In this paper, we test the correlation of the Liverpool Land glacial advance with the Milne Land Stade. Our results show that outlet glaciers from the Liverpool Land ice cap reached ice-marginal positions marked by moraines in east-facing valleys on Jameson Land sometime during late glacial–early Holocene time (ca. 13–11 Kya. This confirms the correlation of these moraines with the Milne Land Stade moraines described elsewhere in the Scoresby Sund region.

Land degradation and halophytic plant diversity of milleyha wetland ecosystem (samandag-hatay), Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altay, V.

2012-01-01

Investigations were undertaken during 2010-2011 to study effect of human induced land degradation on structure of some halophytic plant communities. Over all 183 taxa of vascular plant were recorded. Out of these 76 were of typical halophytes. The dominant plant taxa were; Phragmites australis, Halimione portulacoides and Bolboschoenus maritimus. The threatened categories of these taxa were identified from the Red Data Book of Turkey together with their distribution. The impact of degradation on the habitats due to land use for agriculture, organic and inorganic waste disposal and housing for tourisitc purposes were identified and conservation measures were outlined in this study. (author)

Plant-associated microbiomes in arid lands: diversity, ecology and biotechnological potential

KAUST Repository

Soussi, Asma

2015-08-28

Background: Aridification is a worldwide serious threat directly affecting agriculture and crop production. In arid and desert areas, it has been found that microbial diversity is huge, built of microorganisms able to cope with the environmental harsh conditions by developing adaptation strategies. Plants growing in arid lands or regions facing prolonged abiotic stresses such as water limitation and salt accumulation have also developed specific physiological and molecular stress responses allowing them to thrive under normally unfavorable conditions. Scope: Under such extreme selection pressures, special root-associated bacterial assemblages, endowed with capabilities of plant growth promotion (PGP) and extremophile traits, are selected by the plants. In this review, we provide a general overview on the microbial diversity in arid lands and deserts versus specific microbial assemblages associated with plants. The ecological drivers that shape this diversity, how plant-associated microbiomes are selected, and their biotechnological potential are discussed. Conclusions: Selection and recruitment of the plant associated bacterial assemblages is mediated by the combination of the bio-pedo-agroclimatic conditions and the plant species or varieties. Diversity and functional redundancy of these associated PGPR makes them very active in supporting plant improvement, health and resistance to drought, salt and related stresses. Implementing proper biotechnological applications of the arid and desert-adapted PGPR constitute the challenge to be raised.

Application of weighted early-arrival waveform inversion to shallow land data

KAUST Repository

Yu, Han

2014-03-01

Seismic imaging of deep land targets is usually difficult since the near-surface velocities are not accurately estimated. Recent studies have shown that inverting traces weighted by the energy of the early-arrivals can improve the accuracy of estimating shallow velocities. In this work, it is explained by showing that the associated misfit gradient function tends to be sensitive to the kinetics of wave propagation and insensitive to the dynamics. A synthetic example verifies the theoretical predictions and shows that the effects of noise and unpredicted amplitude variations in the inversion are reduced using this weighted early arrival waveform inversion (WEWI). We also apply this method to a 2D land data set for estimating the near-surface velocity distribution. The reverse time migration images suggest that, compared to the tomogram inverted directly from the early arrival waveforms, the WEWI tomogram provides a more convincing velocity model and more focused reflections in the deeper part of the image. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Planting Jatropha curcas on Constrained Land: Emission and Effects from Land Use Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. S. Firdaus

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A study was carried out to assess carbon emission and carbon loss caused from land use change (LUC of converting a wasteland into a Jatropha curcas plantation. The study was conducted for 12 months at a newly established Jatropha curcas plantation in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Assessments of soil carbon dioxide (CO2 flux, changes of soil total carbon and plant biomass loss and growth were made on the wasteland and on the established plantation to determine the effects of land preparation (i.e., tilling and removal of the wasteland's native vegetation. Overall soil CO2 flux showed no significant difference (<0.05 between the two plots while no significant changes (<0.05 on soil total carbon at both plots were detected. It took 1.5 years for the growth of Jatropha curcas to recover the biomass carbon stock lost during land conversion. As far as the present study is concerned, converting wasteland to Jatropha curcas showed no adverse effects on the loss of carbon from soil and biomass and did not exacerbate soil respiration.

Phytoremediation Potential of Plants Grown on Reclaimed Spoil Lands

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Post-mining reclamation is aimed at restoring the productive capacity of the disturbed land and ensuring socio-economic and environmental sustainability. Methods that have been employed for the reclamation activity are reported in the literature. This paper studied the utility of certain plant species in Ghana for remediating ...

Land-Use Requirements for Solar Power Plants in the United States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ong, S.; Campbell, C.; Denholm, P.; Margolis, R.; Heath, G.

2013-06-01

This report provides data and analysis of the land use associated with utility-scale ground-mounted solar facilities, defined as installations greater than 1 MW. We begin by discussing standard land-use metrics as established in the life-cycle assessment literature and then discuss their applicability to solar power plants. We present total and direct land-use results for various solar technologies and system configurations, on both a capacity and an electricity-generation basis. The total area corresponds to all land enclosed by the site boundary. The direct area comprises land directly occupied by solar arrays, access roads, substations, service buildings, and other infrastructure. As of the third quarter of 2012, the solar projects we analyze represent 72% of installed and under-construction utility-scale PV and CSP capacity in the United States.

A methodology for evaluating land suitability for medicinal plants at a regional level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Barbaro

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Before introducing a new crop in an area, such as medicinal plant species, crop-land suitability analysis is a prerequisite to achieve an optimum exploitation of the available land resources for a sustainable agricultural production. To evaluate the land suitability it is important to take into account the habitats of the plant species. Moreover, agronomic, logistic and product quality aspects have to be considered. The importance of these aspects changes according to the stakeholders: the local government is more involved in supporting environmental suitability and production sustainability, farmers need areas which satisfy agronomic and logistic requirements, while industry is interested in the quality of production. A methodology was developed and implemented to create suitability maps for medicinal plants. Because of the generally limited information about medicinal plant adaptation, a simple methodology, based on a priori information has been developed, based on three different criteria: i environmental suitability (point of view of local government; ii agronomic, productivity and logistic suitability (point of view of the farmer; iii quality suitability (point of view of industry. For each of the three criteria, a specific macro-indicator, based on land characteristics, was calculated using membership functions. Here, a methodology to create maps for the introduction of such species was developed and implemented. This methodology can be repeated by command scripts in an easy-to-use freeware GIS. The structure of the evaluation model can be easily adapted to consider more detailed land information like climate and soil. The methodology (implemented by scripts in a freeware GIS, can be easily repeated and adapted for other situations.

On the Growth and Detectability of Land Plants on Habitable Planets around M Dwarfs.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Duo; Tian, Feng; Wang, Yuwei; Li, Changshen; Yu, Chaoqing; Yu, Le

2017-12-01

One signature of life on Earth is the vegetation red edge (VRE) feature of land plants, a dramatic change of reflectivity at wavelength near 0.7 μm. Potentially habitable planets around M dwarfs are tidally locked, which can limit the distribution of land plants. In this study, we used a biogeochemical model to investigate the distribution of land plants on potentially habitable planets around M dwarfs driven by climate data produced in a general circulation model (GCM). When considering the effects of clouds, the observation time needed for VRE detection on nearby p = 1 exoplanets around nearby M dwarfs is on the order of days using a 25 m 2 telescope if a large continent faces Earth during observations. For p = 1.5 exoplanets, the detection time could be similar if land plants developed the capability to endure a dark/cold environment for extended periods of time and the continent configuration favors observations. Our analysis suggests that hypothetical exovegetation VRE features are easier to detect than Earth vegetation and that VRE detection is possible for nearby exoplanets even under cloudy conditions. Key Words: Vegetation red edge-Exoplanets-M dwarfs-Biosignature detection. Astrobiology 17, 1219-1232.

The Rise of Flowering Plants and Land Surface Physics: The Cretaceous and Eocene Were Different

Science.gov (United States)

Upchurch, G. R.; Feild, T.

2010-12-01

The Cretaceous and Eocene have served as the poster children of past greenhouse climates. One difference between the two time periods is that angiosperms (flowering plants) underwent a major diversification and rise to dominance during the mid-Cretaceous to Paleocene. Flowering plants differ from all other living and fossil plants in having significantly higher rates of transpiration and photosynthesis, which in modern leaves correlate with the density of venation (Dv), a feature that can be measured directly from fossils. This increase in Dv, coupled with an increase in the abundance of angiosperms, is thought to have had major impact on the climate system. This is, in part, because transpiration plays an important role in determining the ratio of sensible to latent heat flux from the land surface and in determining precipitation rate in regions such as the equatorial rainforest. Analysis of Dv in fossil leaves indicates two phases of increase in transpiration rate for angiosperms during the Cretaceous-Paleocene. The oldest known angiosperms (Aptian-early Albian) have a low Dv characteristic of extant and fossil ferns and gymnosperms. At this time angiosperms are low-stature plants of minor importance in terms of relative abundance and diversity (ferns, and maximum Dv reaches levels characteristic of many trees from the temperate zone. This first phase coincides with the first local dominance of angiosperms, the first occurrence of moderate to large angiosperm trees (up to 1 m in diameter) , and the first common occurrence of angiosperms in the Arctic. The second phase of Dv increase occurs during the Maastrichtian to Paleocene, where average Dv reaches levels characteristic of modern tropical forests and maximum Dv reaches the level found in highly productive modern vegetation. This second phase coincides with the rise to dominance of angiosperms in regional vegetation, a corresponding decline of conifers and ferns, and the modernization of hydraulic architecture

Land burial facility at the Forsmark plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergman, C.; Ericsson, G.; Haegg, C.

1987-01-01

The report presents the formal background for the handling of the application for permission to build a plant for deposition of radioactive waste on land. The SSI (National Swedish Institute of Radiation Protection), basis for assessment are reported and relevant factors are presented. The radiation doses calculated by the SSI do not exceed a few stray microsievert per annum in spite of very pessimistical assumptions. The report constitutes assessment material for the standpoint to be taken by the SSI board. (L.F.)

Late Palaeozoic plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zhuo

2017-09-11

Land plants are one of the major constituents of terrestrial ecosystems on Earth, and play an irreplaceable role in human activities today. If we are to understand the extant plants, it is imperative that we have some understanding of the fossil plants from the deep geological past, particularly those that occurred during their early evolutionary history, in the late Palaeozoic. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk-based design of process plants with regard to domino effects and land use planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Khakzad, Nima; Reniers, Genserik

2015-12-15

Land use planning (LUP) as an effective and crucial safety measure has widely been employed by safety experts and decision makers to mitigate off-site risks posed by major accidents. Accordingly, the concept of LUP in chemical plants has traditionally been considered from two perspectives: (i) land developments around existing chemical plants considering potential off-site risks posed by major accidents and (ii) development of existing chemical plants considering nearby land developments and the level of additional off-site risks the land developments would be exposed to. However, the attempts made to design chemical plants with regard to LUP requirements have been few, most of which have neglected the role of domino effects in risk analysis of major accidents. To overcome the limitations of previous work, first, we developed a Bayesian network methodology to calculate both on-site and off-site risks of major accidents while taking domino effects into account. Second, we combined the results of risk analysis with Analytic Hierarchical Process to design an optimal layout for which the levels of on-site and off-site risks would be minimum. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biodiverse planting for carbon and biodiversity on indigenous land.

Science.gov (United States)

Renwick, Anna R; Robinson, Catherine J; Martin, Tara G; May, Tracey; Polglase, Phil; Possingham, Hugh P; Carwardine, Josie

2014-01-01

Carbon offset mechanisms have been established to mitigate climate change through changes in land management. Regulatory frameworks enable landowners and managers to generate saleable carbon credits on domestic and international markets. Identifying and managing the associated co-benefits and dis-benefits involved in the adoption of carbon offset projects is important for the projects to contribute to the broader goal of sustainable development and the provision of benefits to the local communities. So far it has been unclear how Indigenous communities can benefit from such initiatives. We provide a spatial analysis of the carbon and biodiversity potential of one offset method, planting biodiverse native vegetation, on Indigenous land across Australia. We discover significant potential for opportunities for Indigenous communities to achieve carbon sequestration and biodiversity goals through biodiverse plantings, largely in southern and eastern Australia, but the economic feasibility of these projects depend on carbon market assumptions. Our national scale cost-effectiveness analysis is critical to enable Indigenous communities to maximise the benefits available to them through participation in carbon offset schemes.

Application of weighted early-arrival waveform inversion to shallow land data

KAUST Repository

Yu, Han; Zhang, Dongliang; Wang, Xin

2014-01-01

predictions and shows that the effects of noise and unpredicted amplitude variations in the inversion are reduced using this weighted early arrival waveform inversion (WEWI). We also apply this method to a 2D land data set for estimating the near

Feasibility design study. Land-based OTEC plants. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brewer, J. H.; Minor, J.; Jacobs, R.

1979-01-01

The purpose of this study has been to determine the feasibility of installing 10 MWe (MegaWatt-electric) and 40 MWe land-based OTEC demonstration power plants at two specific sites: Keahole Point on the western shore of the island of Hawaii; and Punta Tuna, on the southeast coast of the main island of Puerto Rico. In addition, the study has included development of design parameters, schedules and budgets for the design, construction and operation of these plants. Seawater systems (intake and discharge pipes) were to be sized so that flow losses were equivalent to those expected with a platform-based OTEC power plant. The power module (components and general arrangement was established based on the TRW design. Results are presented in detail. (WHK)

SMALL HYDRO PLANTS IN LAND USE SYSTEM PLANNING IN POLAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anita Bernatek

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Small hydropower plants are present in the land use system planning in Poland. At the national level the important role of spatial planning in the development of renewable energy was highlighted, included small hydroplants. However, it seems that at the regional level this demand has not been realized. The necessity of developing small hydroplants as a renewable energy was highlighted, but negative environmental impact was not indicated. At local level legal instrument of small hydropower plants is specified.

Succession influences wild bees in a temperate forest landscape: the value of early successional stages in naturally regenerated and planted forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Taki, Hisatomo; Okochi, Isamu; Okabe, Kimiko; Inoue, Takenari; Goto, Hideaki; Matsumura, Takeshi; Makino, Shun'ichi

2013-01-01

In many temperate terrestrial forest ecosystems, both natural human disturbances drive the reestablishment of forests. Succession in plant communities, in addition to reforestation following the creation of open sites through harvesting or natural disturbances, can affect forest faunal assemblages. Wild bees perform an important ecosystem function in human-altered and natural or seminatural ecosystems, as they are essential pollinators for both crops and wild flowering plants. To maintain high abundance and species richness for pollination services, it is important to conserve and create seminatural and natural land cover with optimal successional stages for wild bees. We examined the effects of forest succession on wild bees. In particular, we evaluated the importance of early successional stages for bees, which has been suspected but not previously demonstrated. A range of successional stages, between 1 and 178 years old, were examined in naturally regenerated and planted forests. In total 4465 wild bee individuals, representing 113 species, were captured. Results for total bees, solitary bees, and cleptoparasitic bees in both naturally regenerated and planted conifer forests indicated a higher abundance and species richness in the early successional stages. However, higher abundance and species richness of social bees in naturally regenerated forest were observed as the successional stages progressed, whereas the abundance of social bees in conifer planted forest showed a concave-shaped relationship when plotted. The results suggest that early successional stages of both naturally regenerated and conifer planted forest maintain a high abundance and species richness of solitary bees and their cleptoparasitic bees, although social bees respond differently in the early successional stages. This may imply that, in some cases, active forest stand management policies, such as the clear-cutting of planted forests for timber production, would create early successional

Succession influences wild bees in a temperate forest landscape: the value of early successional stages in naturally regenerated and planted forests.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hisatomo Taki

Full Text Available In many temperate terrestrial forest ecosystems, both natural human disturbances drive the reestablishment of forests. Succession in plant communities, in addition to reforestation following the creation of open sites through harvesting or natural disturbances, can affect forest faunal assemblages. Wild bees perform an important ecosystem function in human-altered and natural or seminatural ecosystems, as they are essential pollinators for both crops and wild flowering plants. To maintain high abundance and species richness for pollination services, it is important to conserve and create seminatural and natural land cover with optimal successional stages for wild bees. We examined the effects of forest succession on wild bees. In particular, we evaluated the importance of early successional stages for bees, which has been suspected but not previously demonstrated. A range of successional stages, between 1 and 178 years old, were examined in naturally regenerated and planted forests. In total 4465 wild bee individuals, representing 113 species, were captured. Results for total bees, solitary bees, and cleptoparasitic bees in both naturally regenerated and planted conifer forests indicated a higher abundance and species richness in the early successional stages. However, higher abundance and species richness of social bees in naturally regenerated forest were observed as the successional stages progressed, whereas the abundance of social bees in conifer planted forest showed a concave-shaped relationship when plotted. The results suggest that early successional stages of both naturally regenerated and conifer planted forest maintain a high abundance and species richness of solitary bees and their cleptoparasitic bees, although social bees respond differently in the early successional stages. This may imply that, in some cases, active forest stand management policies, such as the clear-cutting of planted forests for timber production, would create

Evolution of photorespiration from cyanobacteria to land plants, considering protein phylogenies and acquisition of carbon concentrating mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagemann, Martin; Kern, Ramona; Maurino, Veronica G; Hanson, David T; Weber, Andreas P M; Sage, Rowan F; Bauwe, Hermann

2016-05-01

Photorespiration and oxygenic photosynthesis are intimately linked processes. It has been shown that under the present day atmospheric conditions cyanobacteria and all eukaryotic phototrophs need functional photorespiration to grow autotrophically. The question arises as to when this essential partnership evolved, i.e. can we assume a coevolution of both processes from the beginning or did photorespiration evolve later to compensate for the generation of 2-phosphoglycolate (2PG) due to Rubisco's oxygenase reaction? This question is mainly discussed here using phylogenetic analysis of proteins involved in the 2PG metabolism and the acquisition of different carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs). The phylogenies revealed that the enzymes involved in the photorespiration of vascular plants have diverse origins, with some proteins acquired from cyanobacteria as ancestors of the chloroplasts and others from heterotrophic bacteria as ancestors of mitochondria in the plant cell. Only phosphoglycolate phosphatase was found to originate from Archaea. Notably glaucophyte algae, the earliest branching lineage of Archaeplastida, contain more photorespiratory enzymes of cyanobacterial origin than other algal lineages or land plants indicating a larger initial contribution of cyanobacterial-derived proteins to eukaryotic photorespiration. The acquisition of CCMs is discussed as a proxy for assessing the timing of periods when photorespiratory activity may have been enhanced. The existence of CCMs also had marked influence on the structure and function of photorespiration. Here, we discuss evidence for an early and continuous coevolution of photorespiration, CCMs and photosynthesis starting from cyanobacteria via algae, to land plants. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Risk-based design of process plants with regard to domino effects and land use planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khakzad, Nima, E-mail: nkhakzad@gmail.com [Safety and Security Science Group (S3G), Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft, Delft (Netherlands); Reniers, Genserik [Safety and Security Science Group (S3G), Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft, Delft (Netherlands); Antwerp Research Group on Safety and Security (ARGoSS), Faculty of Applied Economics, Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerp (Belgium); Research Group CEDON, Campus Brussels, KULeuven, Brussels (Belgium)

2015-12-15

Highlights: • A Bayesian network methodology has been developed to estimate the total probability of major accidents in chemical plants. • Total probability of accidents includes the probability of individual accidents and potential domino effects. • The methodology has been extended to calculate on-site and off-site risks. • The results of the risk analysis have been used in a multi-criteria decision analysis technique to risk-based design of chemical plants. - Abstract: Land use planning (LUP) as an effective and crucial safety measure has widely been employed by safety experts and decision makers to mitigate off-site risks posed by major accidents. Accordingly, the concept of LUP in chemical plants has traditionally been considered from two perspectives: (i) land developments around existing chemical plants considering potential off-site risks posed by major accidents and (ii) development of existing chemical plants considering nearby land developments and the level of additional off-site risks the land developments would be exposed to. However, the attempts made to design chemical plants with regard to LUP requirements have been few, most of which have neglected the role of domino effects in risk analysis of major accidents. To overcome the limitations of previous work, first, we developed a Bayesian network methodology to calculate both on-site and off-site risks of major accidents while taking domino effects into account. Second, we combined the results of risk analysis with Analytic Hierarchical Process to design an optimal layout for which the levels of on-site and off-site risks would be minimum.

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and maternal plant sex on seed germination and early plant establishment.

Science.gov (United States)

Varga, Sandra

2015-03-01

• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi usually enhance overall plant performance, yet their effects on seed germination and early plant establishment, crucial steps in plant cycles, are generally overlooked. In gynodioecious species, sexual dimorphism in these traits has been reported, with females producing seeds that germinate at a faster rate than seeds from hermaphrodites.• Using the gynodioecious plant Geranium sylvaticum, I investigated in a greenhouse experiment whether the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal spores affects seed germination and early plant establishment, examining at the same time whether the sex of the mother producing the seeds also influences these parameters and whether sex-specific interactions between these two factors exist.• The presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal spores in the soil decreased seed germination, did not affect plant survival, but did increase plant growth. Moreover, no significant differences in seed traits were detected between the sexes of the plants producing the seeds.• This study demonstrates that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may have contrasting effects for plants during early life stages and that mycorrhizal effects can take place even at the precolonization stage. © 2015 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Sugar composition of the pectic polysaccharides of charophytes, the closest algal relatives of land-plants: presence of 3-O-methyl-D-galactose residues.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Rourke, Christina; Gregson, Timothy; Murray, Lorna; Sadler, Ian H; Fry, Stephen C

2015-08-01

During evolution, plants have acquired and/or lost diverse sugar residues as cell-wall constituents. Of particular interest are primordial cell-wall features that existed, and in some cases abruptly changed, during the momentous step whereby land-plants arose from charophytic algal ancestors. Polysaccharides were extracted from four charophyte orders [Chlorokybales (Chlorokybus atmophyticus), Klebsormidiales (Klebsormidium fluitans, K. subtile), Charales (Chara vulgaris, Nitella flexilis), Coleochaetales (Coleochaete scutata)] and an early-diverging land-plant (Anthoceros agrestis). 'Pectins' and 'hemicelluloses', operationally defined as extractable in oxalate (100 °C) and 6 m NaOH (37 °C), respectively, were acid- or Driselase-hydrolysed, and the monosaccharides analysed chromatographically. One unusual monosaccharide, 'U', was characterized by (1)H/(13)C-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and also enzymically. 'U' was identified as 3-O-methyl-D-galactose (3-MeGal). All pectins, except in Klebsormidium, contained acid- and Driselase-releasable galacturonate, suggesting homogalacturonan. All pectins, without exception, released rhamnose and galactose on acid hydrolysis; however, only in 'higher' charophytes (Charales, Coleochaetales) and Anthoceros were these sugars also efficiently released by Driselase, suggesting rhamnogalacturonan-I. Pectins of 'higher' charophytes, especially Chara, contained little arabinose, instead possessing 3-MeGal. Anthoceros hemicelluloses were rich in glucose, xylose, galactose and arabinose (suggesting xyloglucan and arabinoxylan), none of which was consistently present in charophyte hemicelluloses. Homogalacturonan is an ancient streptophyte feature, albeit secondarily lost in Klebsormidium. When conquering the land, the first embryophytes already possessed rhamnogalacturonan-I. In contrast, charophyte and land-plant hemicelluloses differ substantially, indicating major changes during terrestrialization. The presence of 3

The genetic origins of biosynthesis and light-responsive control of the chemical UV screen of land plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jorgensen, R.

1994-01-01

Most land plants possess the capacity to protect themselves from UV light, and do so by producing pigments that absorb efficiently in the UV-A and UV-B regions of the spectrum while allowing transmission of nearly all photosynthetically useful wavelengths. These UV-absorbing pigments are mainly phenylpropanoids and flavonoids. This chapter summarizes current understanding of the mechanism of UV protection in higher land plants, evaluates the information available from lower land plants and their green-algal relatives, and then considers the possible evolutionary origins of this use of chemical filters for selectively screening UV light from solar radiation. It is proposed that photo control over the biosynthesis of UV-absorbing phenylpropanoids and flavonoids may have evolved in concert with the evolution of the high biosynthetic activity necessary for UV protection. The toxicity of phenylpropanoids and flavonoids has been postulated to have been a barrier to the evolution of an effective chemical UV screen, and that some means for sequestering these compounds and/or for controlling their synthesis probably evolved prior to, or in concert with, the evolution of high rates of biosynthesis. The original photoreceptor and signal transduction system is speculated to have been based on photo isomerization of a phenylpropanoid ester and a pre-existing product feedback mechanism for controlling phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Understanding the original mechanism for photo control of the chemical UV screen of land plants could be valuable for understanding the adaptability of extant land plants to rising levels of solar UV-B radiation and may suggest genetic strategies for engineering improved UV tolerance in crop plants. (author)

The Mechanism Forming the Cell Surface of Tip-Growing Rooting Cells Is Conserved among Land Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Honkanen, Suvi; Jones, Victor A S; Morieri, Giulia; Champion, Clement; Hetherington, Alexander J; Kelly, Steve; Proust, Hélène; Saint-Marcoux, Denis; Prescott, Helen; Dolan, Liam

2016-12-05

To discover mechanisms that controlled the growth of the rooting system in the earliest land plants, we identified genes that control the development of rhizoids in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. 336,000 T-DNA transformed lines were screened for mutants with defects in rhizoid growth, and a de novo genome assembly was generated to identify the mutant genes. We report the identification of 33 genes required for rhizoid growth, of which 6 had not previously been functionally characterized in green plants. We demonstrate that members of the same orthogroup are active in cell wall synthesis, cell wall integrity sensing, and vesicle trafficking during M. polymorpha rhizoid and Arabidopsis thaliana root hair growth. This indicates that the mechanism for constructing the cell surface of tip-growing rooting cells is conserved among land plants and was active in the earliest land plants that existed sometime more than 470 million years ago [1, 2]. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

PRINCIPLE "EARLY MATCHING" AERODYNAMIC DESIGN AIRCRAFT WITH LANDING GEAR HOVERCRAFT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. P. Morozov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The principle of "early matching" aircraft aerohydrodynamic layouts with air cushion landing gear is suggested. Application of this principle is considered as an example of adaptation to the ball screw base circuit of light transport aircraft. The principle, other than weight, aerodynamic, technological and operational requirements includes additional project activities related to the installation of ball screws.

Assessment of plant biomass and nitrogen nutrition with plant height in early-to mid-season corn.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Xinhua; Hayes, Robert M; McClure, M Angela; Savoy, Hubert J

2012-10-01

The physiological basis for using non-destructive high-resolution measurements of plant height through plant height sensing to guide variable-rate nitrogen (N) applications on corn (Zea mays L.) during early (six-leaf growth stage, V6) to mid (V12) season is largely unknown. This study was conducted to assess the relationships of plant biomass and leaf N with plant height in early- to mid-season corn under six different N rate treatments. Corn plant biomass was significantly and positively related to plant height under an exponential model when both were measured at V6. This relationship explained 62-78% of the variations in corn biomass production. Leaf N concentration was, in general, significantly and positively related to plant height when both were measured at V6, V8, V10 and V12. This relationship became stronger as the growing season progressed from V6 to V12. The relationship of leaf N with plant height in early- to mid-season corn was affected by initial soil N fertility and abnormal weather conditions. The relationship of leaf N concentration with plant height may provide a physiological basis for using plant height sensing to guide variable-rate N applications on corn. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

Predicting plant diversity patterns in Madagascar: understanding the effects of climate and land cover change in a biodiversity hotspot.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerry A Brown

Full Text Available Climate and land cover change are driving a major reorganization of terrestrial biotic communities in tropical ecosystems. In an effort to understand how biodiversity patterns in the tropics will respond to individual and combined effects of these two drivers of environmental change, we use species distribution models (SDMs calibrated for recent climate and land cover variables and projected to future scenarios to predict changes in diversity patterns in Madagascar. We collected occurrence records for 828 plant genera and 2186 plant species. We developed three scenarios, (i.e., climate only, land cover only and combined climate-land cover based on recent and future climate and land cover variables. We used this modelling framework to investigate how the impacts of changes to climate and land cover influenced biodiversity across ecoregions and elevation bands. There were large-scale climate- and land cover-driven changes in plant biodiversity across Madagascar, including both losses and gains in diversity. The sharpest declines in biodiversity were projected for the eastern escarpment and high elevation ecosystems. Sharp declines in diversity were driven by the combined climate-land cover scenarios; however, there were subtle, region-specific differences in model outputs for each scenario, where certain regions experienced relatively higher species loss under climate or land cover only models. We strongly caution that predicted future gains in plant diversity will depend on the development and maintenance of dispersal pathways that connect current and future suitable habitats. The forecast for Madagascar's plant diversity in the face of future environmental change is worrying: regional diversity will continue to decrease in response to the combined effects of climate and land cover change, with habitats such as ericoid thickets and eastern lowland and sub-humid forests particularly vulnerable into the future.

Interagency partnering for weed prevention--progress on development of a National Early Detection and Rapid Response System for Invasive Plants in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Westbrooks, R.; Westbrooks, R.

2011-01-01

Over the past 50 years, experience has shown that interagency groups provide an effective forum for addressing various invasive species issues and challenges on multiple land units. However, more importantly, they can also provide a coordinated framework for early detection, reporting, identification and vouchering, rapid assessment, and rapid response to new and emerging invasive plants in the United States. Interagency collaboration maximizes the use of available expertise, resources, and authority for promoting early detection and rapid response (EDRR) as the preferred management option for addressing new and emerging invasive plants. Currently, an interagency effort is underway to develop a National EDRR System for Invasive Plants in the United States. The proposed system will include structural and informational elements. Structural elements of the system include a network of interagency partner groups to facilitate early detection and rapid response to new invasive plants, including the Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW), State Invasive Species Councils, State Early Detection and Rapid Response Coordinating Committees, State Volunteer Detection and Reporting Networks, Invasive Plant Task Forces, and Cooperative Weed Management Areas. Informational elements and products being developed include Regional Invasive Plant Atlases, and EDRR Guidelines for EDRR Volunteer Network Training, Rapid Assessment and Rapid Response, and Criteria for Selection of EDRR Species. System science and technical support elements which are provided by cooperating state and federal scientists, include EDRR guidelines, training curriculum for EDRR volunteers and agency field personnel, plant identification and vouchering, rapid assessments, as well as predictive modeling and ecological range studies for invasive plant species.

Phylogeny and expression analyses reveal important roles for plant PKS III family during the conquest of land by plants and angiosperm diversification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lulu Xie

2016-08-01

diversification of plant type III PKS enzymes played a critical role in the ancient conquest of the land by early plants and angiosperm diversification.Keywords PKS III multigene family, CHS, STS, phylogenetic reconstruction, functional diversification, gene expression, cis-elements

Intensive land use drives small-scale homogenization of plant- and leafhopper communities and promotes generalists.

Science.gov (United States)

Chisté, Melanie N; Mody, Karsten; Kunz, Gernot; Gunczy, Johanna; Blüthgen, Nico

2018-02-01

The current biodiversity decline through anthropogenic land-use not only involves local species losses, but also homogenization of communities, with a few generalist species benefitting most from human activities. Most studies assessed community heterogeneity (β-diversity) on larger scales by comparing different sites, but little is known about impacts on β-diversity within each site, which is relevant for understanding variation in the level of α-diversity, the small-scale distribution of species and associated habitat heterogeneity. To obtain our dataset with 36,899 individuals out of 117 different plant- and leafhopper (Auchenorrhyncha) species, we sampled communities of 140 managed grassland sites across Germany by quantitative vacuum suction of five 1 m 2 plots on each site. Sites differed in land-use intensity as characterized by intensity of fertilization, mowing and grazing. Our results demonstrate a significant within-site homogenization of plant- and leafhopper communities with increasing land-use intensity. Correspondingly, density (- 78%) and γ-diversity (- 35%) declined, particularly with fertilization and mowing intensity. More than 34% of plant- and leafhopper species were significant losers and only 6% were winners of high land-use intensity, with abundant and widespread species being less affected. Increasing land-use intensity adversely affected dietary specialists and promoted generalist species. Our study emphasizes considerable, multifaceted effects of land-use intensification on species loss, with a few dominant generalists winning, and an emerging trend towards more homogenized assemblages. By demonstrating homogenization for the first time within sites, our study highlights that anthropogenic influences on biodiversity even occur on small scales.

Structure and dynamics of thylakoids in land plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pribil, Mathias; Labs, Mathias; Leister, Dario

2014-01-01

Thylakoids of land plants have a bipartite structure, consisting of cylindrical grana stacks, made of membranous discs piled one on top of the other, and stroma lamellae which are helically wound around the cylinders. Protein complexes predominantly located in the stroma lamellae and grana end....... Depending on light conditions, thylakoid membranes undergo dynamic structural changes that involve alterations in granum diameter and height, vertical unstacking of grana, and swelling of the thylakoid lumen. This plasticity is realized predominantly by reorganization of the supramolecular structure...

Planning for closures of hazardous waste land disposal units at the Oak Ridge Y-12 plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welch, S.H.; Kelly, B.A.; DeLozier, M.F.P.; Manrod, W.E.

1988-01-01

Eight hazardous waste land disposal units at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant are being closed in accordance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) under an integrated multi-year program. The units, some of which date back to the early 1950s and include five surface impoundments, two landfills and a land treatment unit, have been used for the management of a variety of types of hazardous wastes. Closure plans for the units have been submitted and are in various stages of revision and regulatory review. The units will be closed by various combinations of methods, including liquid removal and treatment, sludge stabilization, contaminated sludge and/or soil removal, and capping. Closure of all eight units must be initiated by November 8, 1988. Funding for the eight closures is being provided by a new Department of Energy budget category, the environmental Restoration Budget Category (ERBC), which is intended to allow for a more rapid response to environmental problems and regulatory requirements. A major project, Closure and Post-Closure Activities (CAPCA) has been identified for ERBC funding to close the land disposal units in accordance with RCRA requirements. Establishing the project scope has required the development of a detailed set of assumptions and a confirmation program for each assumption. Other significant activities in the CAPCA project include risk assessments and the preparation of an integrated project schedule

Carbon cost of plant nitrogen acquisition: global carbon cycle impact from an improved plant nitrogen cycle in the Community Land Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Mingjie; Fisher, Joshua B; Brzostek, Edward R; Phillips, Richard P

2016-03-01

Plants typically expend a significant portion of their available carbon (C) on nutrient acquisition - C that could otherwise support growth. However, given that most global terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) do not include the C cost of nutrient acquisition, these models fail to represent current and future constraints to the land C sink. Here, we integrated a plant productivity-optimized nutrient acquisition model - the Fixation and Uptake of Nitrogen Model - into one of the most widely used TBMs, the Community Land Model. Global plant nitrogen (N) uptake is dynamically simulated in the coupled model based on the C costs of N acquisition from mycorrhizal roots, nonmycorrhizal roots, N-fixing microbes, and retranslocation (from senescing leaves). We find that at the global scale, plants spend 2.4 Pg C yr(-1) to acquire 1.0 Pg N yr(-1) , and that the C cost of N acquisition leads to a downregulation of global net primary production (NPP) by 13%. Mycorrhizal uptake represented the dominant pathway by which N is acquired, accounting for ~66% of the N uptake by plants. Notably, roots associating with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi - generally considered for their role in phosphorus (P) acquisition - are estimated to be the primary source of global plant N uptake owing to the dominance of AM-associated plants in mid- and low-latitude biomes. Overall, our coupled model improves the representations of NPP downregulation globally and generates spatially explicit patterns of belowground C allocation, soil N uptake, and N retranslocation at the global scale. Such model improvements are critical for predicting how plant responses to altered N availability (owing to N deposition, rising atmospheric CO2 , and warming temperatures) may impact the land C sink. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Land-use intensity and host plant simultaneously shape the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in a Mediterranean drained peatland.

Science.gov (United States)

Ciccolini, Valentina; Ercoli, Laura; Davison, John; Vasar, Martti; Öpik, Maarja; Pellegrino, Elisa

2016-12-01

Land-use change is known to be a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services in Mediterranean areas. However, the potential for different host plants to modulate the effect of land-use intensification on community composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is still poorly understood. To test the hypothesis that low land-use intensity promotes AMF diversity at different taxonomic scales and to determine whether any response is dependent upon host plant species identity, we characterised AMF communities in the roots of 10 plant species across four land use types of differing intensity in a Mediterranean peatland system. AMF were identified using 454 pyrosequencing. This revealed an overall low level of AMF richness in the peaty soils; lowest AMF richness in the intense cropping system at both virtual taxa and family level; strong modulation by the host plant of the impact of land-use intensification on AMF communities at the virtual taxa level; and a significant effect of land-use intensification on AMF communities at the family level. These findings have implications for understanding ecosystem stability and productivity and should be considered when developing soil-improvement strategies in fragile ecosystems, such as Mediterranean peatlands. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Geographical view on agricultural land and structural changes plant production Montenegro

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Rajović

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE This paper analyzes agricultural land and structural changes in plant production Montenegro. The Montenegro represents a significant potential for agricultural development, but plant production insufficiently developed in relation to natural resources and the demands of intensive agricultural production. Average possession by agricultural holdings in 1960 amounts is 5.34 ha with only 2.05 ha arable area per agricultural holdings. Yet more unfavorable is the situation with arable surfaces. Namely, agricultural holdings in the Montenegro in 1960 are on average dispose with maximum of 0.74 ha of arable land. Judging by the size of the cultivated area, production volume, as well as according other parameters, plant production in the Montenegro in 2007, mainly used for meeting need households. A smaller area for is market. The role of the Montenegrin village and agriculture must be first-rate, as are its potentials, the main power future development of Montenegro. This requires radically new relationship between society and science to agriculture and the countryside. Instead of the existing approach in which they observed the preventive as producers of cheap food has to be developed a new concept, a comprehensive agricultural and rural development, which will be based on demographic, natural, economic and socio-cultural potential of Montenegro. 

Ion and metabolite transport in the chloroplast of algae: lessons from land plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchand, Justine; Heydarizadeh, Parisa; Schoefs, Benoît; Spetea, Cornelia

2018-06-01

Chloroplasts are endosymbiotic organelles and play crucial roles in energy supply and metabolism of eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms (algae and land plants). They harbor channels and transporters in the envelope and thylakoid membranes, mediating the exchange of ions and metabolites with the cytosol and the chloroplast stroma and between the different chloroplast subcompartments. In secondarily evolved algae, three or four envelope membranes surround the chloroplast, making more complex the exchange of ions and metabolites. Despite the importance of transport proteins for the optimal functioning of the chloroplast in algae, and that many land plant homologues have been predicted, experimental evidence and molecular characterization are missing in most cases. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge about ion and metabolite transport in the chloroplast from algae. The main aspects reviewed are localization and activity of the transport proteins from algae and/or of homologues from other organisms including land plants. Most chloroplast transporters were identified in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, reside in the envelope and participate in carbon acquisition and metabolism. Only a few identified algal transporters are located in the thylakoid membrane and play role in ion transport. The presence of genes for putative transporters in green algae, red algae, diatoms, glaucophytes and cryptophytes is discussed, and roles in the chloroplast are suggested. A deep knowledge in this field is required because algae represent a potential source of biomass and valuable metabolites for industry, medicine and agriculture.

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Plant parameters envelope report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

The Early Site Permit (ESP) Demonstration Program is the nuclear industry's initiative for piloting the early resolution of siting-related issues before the detailed design proceedings of the combined operating license review. The ESP Demonstration Program consists of three phases. The plant parameters envelopes task is part of Phase 1, which addresses the generic review of applicable federal regulations and develops criteria for safety and environmental assessment of potential sites. The plant parameters envelopes identify parameters that characterize the interface between an ALWR design and a potential site, and quantify the interface through values selected from the Utility Requirements Documents, vendor design information, or engineering assessments. When augmented with site-specific information, the plant parameters envelopes provide sufficient information to allow ESPs to be granted based on individual ALWR design information or enveloping design information for the evolutionary, passive, or generic ALWR plants. This document is expected to become a living document when used by future applicants

The Multifunctional Environmental Energy Tower: Carbon Footprint and Land Use Analysis of an Integrated Renewable Energy Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emanuele Bonamente

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The Multifunctional Environmental Energy Tower (MEET is a single, vertical, stand-alone renewable energy plant designed to decrease the primary energy consumption from fossil fuels, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to maximize the energy production from renewable sources available in place and to minimize land use. A feasibility case study was performed for the city of Rome, Italy. Several technologies are exploited and integrated in a single system, including a photovoltaic plant, a geothermal plant and a biomass digester for urban organic waste and sewage sludge. In the proposed configuration, the MEET could cover more than 11% of the electric power demand and up to 3% of the space heating demand of the surrounding urban area. An LCA analysis evaluates the environmental impact in a cradle-to-grave approach for two impact categories: global warming (carbon footprint and land use (land occupation and land transformation. The functional unit is a mix of electric (49.1% and thermal (50.9% energy (kWhmix. The carbon footprint is 48.70 g CO2eq/kWhmix; the land transformation is 4.058 m2/GWhmix; and the land occupation is 969.3 m2y/GWhmix. With respect to other energy production technologies, the carbon footprint is lower and similar to the best-performing ones (e.g., co-generation from wood chips; both of the land use indicators are considerably smaller than the least-impacting technologies. A systematic study was finally performed, and possible optimizations of the original design are proposed. Thanks to the modular design, the conceptual idea can be easily applied to other urban and non-urban scenarios.

Urban land use decouples plant-herbivore-parasitoid interactions at multiple spatial scales.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda E Nelson

Full Text Available Intense urban and agricultural development alters habitats, increases fragmentation, and may decouple trophic interactions if plants or animals cannot disperse to needed resources. Specialist insects represent a substantial proportion of global biodiversity and their fidelity to discrete microhabitats provides a powerful framework for investigating organismal responses to human land use. We sampled site occupancy and densities for two plant-herbivore-parasitoid systems from 250 sites across a 360 km2 urban/agricultural landscape to ask whether and how human development decouples interactions between trophic levels. We compared patterns of site occupancy, host plant density, herbivory and parasitism rates of insects at two trophic levels with respect to landcover at multiple spatial scales. Geospatial analyses were used to identify landcover characters predictive of insect distributions. We found that herbivorous insect densities were decoupled from host tree densities in urban landcover types at several spatial scales. This effect was amplified for the third trophic level in one of the two insect systems: despite being abundant regionally, a parasitoid species was absent from all urban/suburban landcover even where its herbivore host was common. Our results indicate that human land use patterns limit distributions of specialist insects. Dispersal constraints associated with urban built development are specifically implicated as a limiting factor.

[Assessment and early warning of land ecological security in rapidly urbanizing coastal area: A case study of Caofeidian new district, Hebei, China].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Li; Chen, Ying; Wang, Shu-tao; Men, Ming-xin; Xu, Hao

2015-08-01

Assessment and early warning of land ecological security (LES) in rapidly urbanizing coastal area is an important issue to ensure sustainable land use and effective maintenance of land ecological security. In this study, an index system for the land ecological security of Caofeidian new district was established based on the Pressure-State-Response (P-S-R) model. Initial assessment units of 1 km x 1 km created with the remote sensing data and GIS methods were spatially interpolated to a fine pixel size of 30 m x 30 m, which were combined with the early warning method (using classification tree method) to evaluate the land ecological security of Caofeidian in 2005 and 2013. The early warning level was classed into four categories: security with degradation potential, sub-security with slow degradation, sub-security with rapid degradation, and insecurity. Result indicated that, from 2005 to 2013, the average LES of Caofeidian dropped from 0.55 to 0.52, indicating a degradation of land ecological security from medium security level to medium-low security level. The areas at the levels of insecurity with rapid degradation were mainly located in the rapid urbanization areas, illustrating that rapid expansion of urban construction land was the key factor to the deterioration of the regional land ecological security. Industrial District, Shilihai town and Nanpu saltern, in which the lands at the levels of insecurity and sub-security with rapid degradation or slow degradation accounted for 58.3%, 98.9% and 81.2% of their respective districts, were at the stage of high early warning. Thus, land ecological security regulation for these districts should be strengthened in near future. The study could provide a reference for land use planning and ecological protection of Caofeidian new district.

The late Paleozoic ecological-evolutionary laboratory, a land-plant fossil record perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Looy, Cindy; Kerp, Hans; Duijnstee, Ivo; DiMichele, Bill

2014-01-01

In this essay we examine the fossil record of land plants, focusing on the late Paleozoic. We explore the nature of this record in terms of what is preserved, where, why and with what biases. And as a consequence, how it can be used to answer questions posed at various spatial and temporal scales,

Topical radiation protection questions of use of agricultural land in the environs of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carach, J.; Csupka, S.; Petrasova, M.

1982-01-01

A survey is presented of the problems of the use of agricultural land in the environs of nuclear power plants. The analysis of emission activity in nuclear power plants presently under construction shows that for normal operation no precautions are necessary. For accidents, specific health protection measures are planned. (author)

Effect of Plant Density and Land Race on the Growth and Yield of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Field study was conducted at National Root Crops Research Institute out station Nyanya Research farm located at Zhewun Jidna Nasarawa State during 2007 and 2008 cropping seasons. The aim was to determine the effect of optimum plant population Density of sweet potato land races under improved management ...

Contrasting land uses in Mediterranean agro-silvo-pastoral systems generated patchy diversity patterns of vascular plants and below-ground microorganisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagella, Simonetta; Filigheddu, Rossella; Caria, Maria Carmela; Girlanda, Mariangela; Roggero, Pier Paolo

2014-12-01

The aims of this paper were (i) to define how contrasting land uses affected plant biodiversity in Mediterranean agro-silvo-pastoral-systems across a gradient of disturbance regimes: cork oak forests, secondary grasslands, hay crops, grass covered vineyards, tilled vineyards; (ii) to determine whether these patterns mirrored those of below-ground microorganisms and whether the components of γ-diversity followed a similar model. The disturbance regimes affected plant assemblage composition. Species richness decreased with increasing land use intensity, the Shannon index showed the highest values in grasslands and hay crops. Plant assemblage composition patterns mirrored those of Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. Richness in Basidiomycota, denitrifying bacteria and microbial biomass showed the same trend as that observed for vascular plant richness. The Shannon index pattern of below-ground microorganisms was different from that of plants. The plant γ-diversity component model weakly mirrored those of Ascomycota. Patchy diversity patterns suggest that the maintenance of contrasting land uses associated with different productions typical of agro-silvo-pastoral-systems can guarantee the conservation of biodiversity. Copyright © 2014 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

The early evolution of the Archegoniatae: a re-appraisal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meeuse, A.D.J.

1966-01-01

After a re-appraisal of the alternative hypotheses concerning the origin and the early evolution of the archegoniate land plants, the postulation of a thalassiophytic group of precursors with free isomorphic alternating generations by Church, Zimmermann, and several others is rejected. Several

Management of plant communities on set-aside land and its effects on earthworm communities

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gormsen, D.; Hedlund, K.; Korthals, G. W.; Mortimer, S. R.; Pižl, Václav; Šmilauerová, M.; Sugg, E.

2004-01-01

Roč. 40, 3-4 (2004), s. 123-128 ISSN 1164-5563 Grant - others:Evropská unie(XE) ENV4-CT95-0002 Keywords : earthworm community * plant community * land use Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 0.776, year: 2004

Contractual practice and land conflicts : the "Plant & Share" arrangement in Côte d'Ivoire

OpenAIRE

Colin, Jean-Philippe

2017-01-01

This paper tackles the broad issue of agrarian contracts, property rights and conflicts in the context of rural Côte d'Ivoire. Since the beginning of the 2000s, a new type of contractual arrangement has been developing rapidly: the 'Plant & Share' contract. Through such a contract, a landowner provides the land to a farmer who develops a perennial tree crop plantation; when production starts, the plantation, the plantation and the land, or the product is shared. The aim of the paper is to dis...

Cultural plant harvests on federal lands: perspectives from members of the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association

Science.gov (United States)

Rebecca Dobkins; Ceara Lewis; Susan Hummel; Emily. Dickey

2016-01-01

Native Americans who wish to harvest forest plants for traditional uses report difficulties gaining access to federal lands in the northwestern United States. To learn more about this issue, we reviewed the published literature on site access and resource harvests by tribal members and discussed it with Native American traditional users of plant resources. Specifically...

Analyses of charophyte chloroplast genomes help characterize the ancestral chloroplast genome of land plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Civaň, Peter; Foster, Peter G; Embley, Martin T; Séneca, Ana; Cox, Cymon J

2014-04-01

Despite the significance of the relationships between embryophytes and their charophyte algal ancestors in deciphering the origin and evolutionary success of land plants, few chloroplast genomes of the charophyte algae have been reconstructed to date. Here, we present new data for three chloroplast genomes of the freshwater charophytes Klebsormidium flaccidum (Klebsormidiophyceae), Mesotaenium endlicherianum (Zygnematophyceae), and Roya anglica (Zygnematophyceae). The chloroplast genome of Klebsormidium has a quadripartite organization with exceptionally large inverted repeat (IR) regions and, uniquely among streptophytes, has lost the rrn5 and rrn4.5 genes from the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene cluster operon. The chloroplast genome of Roya differs from other zygnematophycean chloroplasts, including the newly sequenced Mesotaenium, by having a quadripartite structure that is typical of other streptophytes. On the basis of the improbability of the novel gain of IR regions, we infer that the quadripartite structure has likely been lost independently in at least three zygnematophycean lineages, although the absence of the usual rRNA operonic synteny in the IR regions of Roya may indicate their de novo origin. Significantly, all zygnematophycean chloroplast genomes have undergone substantial genomic rearrangement, which may be the result of ancient retroelement activity evidenced by the presence of integrase-like and reverse transcriptase-like elements in the Roya chloroplast genome. Our results corroborate the close phylogenetic relationship between Zygnematophyceae and land plants and identify 89 protein-coding genes and 22 introns present in the chloroplast genome at the time of the evolutionary transition of plants to land, all of which can be found in the chloroplast genomes of extant charophytes.

The Evolution of Land Plants and the Silicate Weathering Feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Ibarra, D. E.; Caves Rugenstein, J. K.; Bachan, A.; Baresch, A.; Lau, K. V.; Thomas, D.; Lee, J. E.; Boyce, C. K.; Chamberlain, C. P.

2017-12-01

It has long been recognized that the advent of vascular plants in the Paleozoic must have changed silicate weathering and fundamentally altered the long-term carbon cycle. Efforts to quantify these effects have been formulated in carbon cycle models that are, in part, calibrated by weathering studies of modern plant communities. In models of the long-term carbon cycle, plants play a key role in controlling atmospheric CO2, particularly in the late Paleozoic. We test the impact of some established and recent theories regarding plant-enhanced weathering by coupling a one-dimensional vapor transport model to a reactive transport model of silicate weathering. In this coupled model, we evaluate consequences of plant evolutionary innovation that have not been mechanistically incorporated into most existing models: 1) the role of evolutionary shifts in plant transpiration in enhancing silicate weathering by increasing downwind transport and recycling of water vapor to continental interiors; 2) the importance of deeply-rooted plants and their associated microbial communities in increasing soil CO2 and weathering zone length scales; and, 3) the cumulative effect of these processes. Our modeling approach is framed by energy/supply constraints calibrated for minimally vegetated-, vascular plant forested-, and angiosperm-worlds. We find that the emergence of widespread transpiration and associated inland vapor recycling approximately doubles weathering solute concentrations when deep-rooted vascular plants (Devonian-Carboniferous) fully replace a minimally vegetated (pre-Devonian) world. The later evolution of angiosperms (Cretaceous and Cenozoic) and subsequent increase in transpiration fluxes increase weathering solute concentrations by approximately an additional 20%. Our estimates of the changes in weatherability caused by land plant evolution are of a similar magnitude, but explained with new process-based mechanisms, than those used in existing carbon cycle models. We

Interspecific competition of early successional plant species in ex-arable fields as influenced by plant-soil feedback

OpenAIRE

Jing, Jingying; Bezemer, T. Martijn; Van der Putten, Wim H.

2015-01-01

Plant–soil feedback can affect plants that belong to the same (intraspecific feedback) or different species (interspecific feedback). However, little is known about how intra- and interspecific plant–soil feedbacks influence interspecific plant competition. Here, we used plants and soil from early-stage ex-arable fields to examine how intra- and interspecific plant–soil feedbacks affect the performance of 10 conditioning species and the focal species, Jacobaea vulgaris. Plants were grown alon...

The Desecration of "the Most Holy Temple of All the World" in the "Holy Land" : Early Jewish and Early Christian Recollections of Antiochus’ "Abomination of Desolation"

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Kooten, G.H.; van Ruiten, J.T.A.G.M.; de Vos, J.C.

2009-01-01

George H. van Kooten, “The Desecration of ‘the Most Holy Temple of All the World’ in the ‘Holy Land’: Early Jewish and Early Christian Recollections of Antiochus’ ‘Abomination of Desolation,’” in The Land of Israel in Bible, History, and Theology: Studies in Honour of Ed Noort (ed. Jacques van

Structure and evolution of the plant cation diffusion facilitator family of ion transporters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zanis Michael J

2011-03-01

identification, which currently is lacking for this family in plants. Third, the plant-specific expansion resulting in Groups 8 and 9 evolved coincident to the early primary radiation of plants onto land, suggesting these families may have been important for early land colonization.

Monitoring of lipoxygenase-related plant emission for early detection of drought stress in greenhouse

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Takayama, K.; Jansen, R.M.C.; Verstappen, F.W.A.; Bouwmeester, H.J.

2008-01-01

Early detection of plant stress is a key to effective plant management for crop production. Drought stress is a common abiotic stress in crop production and early detection of drought stress allows us to improve water usage effi ciency and crop quality by demandbased irrigation. This study

Response of Soybean to Early-Season Planting Dates along the Upper Texas Gulf Coast

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W. James Grichar

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Soybeans (Glycine max L. can be planted along the upper Texas Gulf Coast from mid-March through May to take advantage of early season rains and to complete harvest before hurricane season and fall rains become a problem. However, in the Calhoun County area (28.5° north latitude, these planting dates have resulted in below average yields and reasons for these yield reductions are not clear. To determine if earlier planting dates could be an option to eliminate the low yields, field studies were conducted from 2005 through 2010 in Calhoun County, Texas, to determine soybean cultivar response to planting dates which ranged from mid-February through the last of April. Typically, soil temperatures in this area are above 18°C in mid-February and depending on weather patterns may not fall much lower during any time in the early portion of the growing season. The greatest yield was obtained with the mid-February and mid-March planting dates compared with early- or late-April planting dates. Typically, as planting date was delayed, the interval between planting and harvest decreased.

Complete plastid genomes from Ophioglossum californicum, Psilotum nudum, and Equisetum hyemale reveal an ancestral land plant genome structure and resolve the position of Equisetales among monilophytes

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Grewe Felix

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Plastid genome structure and content is remarkably conserved in land plants. This widespread conservation has facilitated taxon-rich phylogenetic analyses that have resolved organismal relationships among many land plant groups. However, the relationships among major fern lineages, especially the placement of Equisetales, remain enigmatic. Results In order to understand the evolution of plastid genomes and to establish phylogenetic relationships among ferns, we sequenced the plastid genomes from three early diverging species: Equisetum hyemale (Equisetales, Ophioglossum californicum (Ophioglossales, and Psilotum nudum (Psilotales. A comparison of fern plastid genomes showed that some lineages have retained inverted repeat (IR boundaries originating from the common ancestor of land plants, while other lineages have experienced multiple IR changes including expansions and inversions. Genome content has remained stable throughout ferns, except for a few lineage-specific losses of genes and introns. Notably, the losses of the rps16 gene and the rps12i346 intron are shared among Psilotales, Ophioglossales, and Equisetales, while the gain of a mitochondrial atp1 intron is shared between Marattiales and Polypodiopsida. These genomic structural changes support the placement of Equisetales as sister to Ophioglossales + Psilotales and Marattiales as sister to Polypodiopsida. This result is augmented by some molecular phylogenetic analyses that recover the same relationships, whereas others suggest a relationship between Equisetales and Polypodiopsida. Conclusions Although molecular analyses were inconsistent with respect to the position of Marattiales and Equisetales, several genomic structural changes have for the first time provided a clear placement of these lineages within the ferns. These results further demonstrate the power of using rare genomic structural changes in cases where molecular data fail to provide strong phylogenetic

Glycosyltransferase family 43 is also found in early eukaryotes and has three subfamilies in Charophycean green algae.

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Rahil Taujale

Full Text Available The glycosyltransferase family 43 (GT43 has been suggested to be involved in the synthesis of xylans in plant cell walls and proteoglycans in animals. Very recently GT43 family was also found in Charophycean green algae (CGA, the closest relatives of extant land plants. Here we present evidence that non-plant and non-animal early eukaryotes such as fungi, Haptophyceae, Choanoflagellida, Ichthyosporea and Haptophyceae also have GT43-like genes, which are phylogenetically close to animal GT43 genes. By mining RNA sequencing data (RNA-Seq of selected plants, we showed that CGA have evolved three major groups of GT43 genes, one orthologous to IRX14 (IRREGULAR XYLEM14, one orthologous to IRX9/IRX9L and the third one ancestral to all land plant GT43 genes. We confirmed that land plant GT43 has two major clades A and B, while in angiosperms, clade A further evolved into three subclades and the expression and motif pattern of A3 (containing IRX9 are fairly different from the other two clades likely due to rapid evolution. Our in-depth sequence analysis contributed to our overall understanding of the early evolution of GT43 family and could serve as an example for the study of other plant cell wall-related enzyme families.

Early Site Permit Demonstration Program: Plant parameters envelope report. Volume 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-03-01

The Early Site Permit (ESP) Demonstration Program is the nuclear industry`s initiative for piloting the early resolution of siting-related issues before the detailed design proceedings of the combined operating license review. The ESP Demonstration Program consists of three phases. The plant parameters envelopes task is part of Phase 1, which addresses the generic review of applicable federal regulations and develops criteria for safety and environmental assessment of potential sites. The plant parameters envelopes identify parameters that characterize the interface between an ALWR design and a potential site, and quantify the interface through values selected from the Utility Requirements Documents, vendor design information, or engineering assessments. When augmented with site-specific information, the plant parameters envelopes provide sufficient information to allow ESPs to be granted based on individual ALWR design information or enveloping design information for the evolutionary, passive, or generic ALWR plants. This document is expected to become a living document when used by future applicants.

Water, plants, and early human habitats in eastern Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Magill, Clayton R; Ashley, Gail M; Freeman, Katherine H

2013-01-22

Water and its influence on plants likely exerted strong adaptive pressures in human evolution. Understanding relationships among water, plants, and early humans is limited both by incomplete terrestrial records of environmental change and by indirect proxy data for water availability. Here we present a continuous record of stable hydrogen-isotope compositions (expressed as δD values) for lipid biomarkers preserved in lake sediments from an early Pleistocene archaeological site in eastern Africa--Olduvai Gorge. We convert sedimentary leaf- and algal-lipid δD values into estimates for ancient source-water δD values by accounting for biochemical, physiological, and environmental influences on isotopic fractionation via published water-lipid enrichment factors for living plants, algae, and recent sediments. Reconstructed precipitation and lake-water δD values, respectively, are consistent with modern isotopic hydrology and reveal that dramatic fluctuations in water availability accompanied ecosystem changes. Drier conditions, indicated by less negative δD values, occur in association with stable carbon-isotopic evidence for open, C(4)-dominated grassland ecosystems. Wetter conditions, indicated by lower δD values, are associated with expanded woody cover across the ancient landscape. Estimates for ancient precipitation amounts, based on reconstructed precipitation δD values, range between approximately 250 and 700 mm · y(-1) and are consistent with modern precipitation data for eastern Africa. We conclude that freshwater availability exerted a substantial influence on eastern African ecosystems and, by extension, was central to early human proliferation during periods of rapid climate change.

Restoring crop productivity of eroded lands through , integrated plant nutrient management (IPNM) for sustained production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhatti, A.U.; Ali, S.

2005-01-01

Crop productivity of eroded lands is very poor due to removal of top fertile soil losing organic matter and plant nutrients, with consequent exposure of the sub-soil with poor fertility status. Crop productivity of such lands needs to be restored in order to help farmers feed many mouths because of increased population and high land pressure. Three field experiments were laid out at three sites, Thana, Malakand Agency; Kabal and Matta, Swat during 2003-2004 to study the effect of integrated plant nutrient management on the yield of wheat. The fertilizer treatments consisted of farmer's practice (60-45-0 kg N-P/sub 2/O/sub 5/-K/sub 2/O ha/sup -1/), recommended fertilizer rate (120-90-60 kg N-P/sub 2/O/sub 5/-K/sub 2/O ha/sup -l/ + 5 kg Zn ha/sup -1), and combined application of organic and inorganic sources of plant nutrients (FYM at the rate of 20 t ha/sup -1/ plus 60-90-60 kg N-P/sub 2/O/sub 5/-K/sub 2/O ha/sup -1/ + 5 kg Zn ha/sup -1/). The results obtained from these field trails showed that the combined application of FYM with NPK Zn increased the grain yield significantly over the other two treatments with an increase of 50-80% over the farmer's practice and 11 to 23 % over the recommended dose. As regards straw yields, T/sub 2/ and T/sub 3/ increased the yields significantly over farmer's practice (T) at all the sites; However, T/sub 2/ and T/sub 3/ at Thana and Kabal were at par with each other. As regards effect of various treatments on soil properties, organic matter content was improved at Thana and Kabal sites while at Matta the results were inconsistent. Similarly soil P and Zn contents were increased considerably in T/sub 2/ and T/sub 3/ at Thana and Kabal being at par with each other. It is apparent from these results that the crop productivity of eroded lands at all the three sties was considerably restored and the soil fertility status was improved by integrated plant nutrient management. (author)

The Physcomitrella genome reveals evolutionary insights into the conquest of land by plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rensing, Stefan A.; Lang, Daniel; Zimmer, Andreas D.; Terry, Astrid; Salamov, Asaf; Shapiro, Harris; Nishiyama, Tomaoki; Perroud, Pierre-Francois; Lindquist, Erika A.; Kamisugi, Yasuko; Tanahashi, Takako; Sakakibara, Keiko; Fujita, Tomomichi; Oishi, Kazuko; Shin, Tadasu; Kuroki, Yoko; Toyoda, Atsushi; Suzuki, Yutaka; Hashimoto, Shin-ichi; Yamaguchi, Kazuo; Sugano, Sumio; Kohara, Yuji; Fujiyama, Asao; Anterola, Aldwin; Aoki, Setsuyuki; Ashton, Neil; Barbazuk, W. Brad; Barker, Elizabeth; Bennetzen, Jeffrey L.; Blankenship, Robert; Cho, Sung Hyun; Dutcher, Susan K.; Estelle, Mark; Fawcett, Jeffrey A.; Gundlach, Heidrum; Hanada, Kousuke; Melkozernov, Alexander; Murata, Takashi; Nelson, David R.; Pils, Birgit; Prigge, Michael; Reiss, Bernd; Renner, Tanya; Rombauts, Stephane; Rushton, Paul J.; Sanderfoot, Anton; Schween, Gabriele; Shiu, Shin-Han; Stueber, Kurt; Theodoulou, Frederica L.; Tu, Hank; Van de Peer, Yves; Verrier, Paul J.; Waters, Elizabeth; Wood, Andrew; Yang, Lixing; Cove, David; Cuming, Andrew C.; Hasebe, Mitsayasu; Lucas, Susan; Mishler, Brent D.; Reski, Ralf; Grigoriev, Igor V.; Quatrano, Rakph S.; Boore, Jeffrey L.

2007-09-18

We report the draft genome sequence of the model moss Physcomitrella patens and compare its features with those of flowering plants, from which it is separated by more than 400 million years, and unicellular aquatic algae. This comparison reveals genomic changes concomitant with the evolutionary movement to land, including a general increase in gene family complexity; loss of genes associated with aquatic environments (e.g., flagellar arms); acquisition of genes for tolerating terrestrial stresses (e.g., variation in temperature and water availability); and the development of the auxin and abscisic acid signaling pathways for coordinating multicellular growth and dehydration response. The Physcomitrella genome provides a resource for phylogenetic inferences about gene function and for experimental analysis of plant processes through this plant's unique facility for reverse genetics.

High compatibility between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities and seedlings of different land use types in a tropical dry ecosystem.

Science.gov (United States)

Gavito, Mayra E; Pérez-Castillo, Daniel; González-Monterrubio, César F; Vieyra-Hernández, Teresa; Martínez-Trujillo, Miguel

2008-12-01

We conducted this study to explore limitations for the establishment of mycorrhizal associations in disturbed areas of the tropical dry ecosystem in the Chamela region of Jalisco, Mexico. Specifically, we: (1) assessed the diversity and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) communities through spore morphospecies identification in three common land uses (primary forest, secondary forest, and pasture), (2) tested the inoculum potential of the AMF communities and the effect of water stress on the establishment of mycorrhizal associations in seedlings of various plant species, and (3) explored the importance of AMF community composition on early seedling development. Soil and root samples were taken from 15 random points in each of three plots established in two primary forests, two 26-year-old secondary forests, and two 26-year-old pastures. We expected that because of soil degradation and management, pastures would have the lowest and primary forests the highest AMF species richness. We found evidence for changes in AMF species composition due to land use and for higher morphospecies richness in primary forests than in secondary forests and pastures. We expected also that water stress limited plant and mycorrhizal development and that plants and AMF communities from secondary forests and pastures would be less affected by (better adapted to) water stress than those from the primary forest. We found that although all plant species showed biomass reductions under water stress, only some of the plant species had lower mycorrhizal development under water stress, and this was regardless of the AMF community inoculated. The third hypothesis was that plant species common to all land use types would respond similarly to all AMF communities, whereas plant species found mainly in one land use type would grow better when inoculated with the AMF community of that specific land use type. All plant species were however equally responsive to the three AMF communities

Stomatal Blue Light Response Is Present in Early Vascular Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Doi, Michio; Kitagawa, Yuki; Shimazaki, Ken-ichiro

2015-10-01

Light is a major environmental factor required for stomatal opening. Blue light (BL) induces stomatal opening in higher plants as a signal under the photosynthetic active radiation. The stomatal BL response is not present in the fern species of Polypodiopsida. The acquisition of a stomatal BL response might provide competitive advantages in both the uptake of CO2 and prevention of water loss with the ability to rapidly open and close stomata. We surveyed the stomatal opening in response to strong red light (RL) and weak BL under the RL with gas exchange technique in a diverse selection of plant species from euphyllophytes, including spermatophytes and monilophytes, to lycophytes. We showed the presence of RL-induced stomatal opening in most of these species and found that the BL responses operated in all euphyllophytes except Polypodiopsida. We also confirmed that the stomatal opening in lycophytes, the early vascular plants, is driven by plasma membrane proton-translocating adenosine triphosphatase and K(+) accumulation in guard cells, which is the same mechanism operating in stomata of angiosperms. These results suggest that the early vascular plants respond to both RL and BL and actively regulate stomatal aperture. We also found three plant species that absolutely require BL for both stomatal opening and photosynthetic CO2 fixation, including a gymnosperm, C. revoluta, and the ferns Equisetum hyemale and Psilotum nudum. © 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Reduced early growing season freezing resistance in alpine treeline plants under elevated atmospheric CO2.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martin, M.; Gavazov, K.S.; Körner, S.; Rixen, C.

2010-01-01

The frequency of freezing events during the early growing season and the vulnerability to freezing of plants in European high-altitude environments could increase under future atmospheric and climate change. We tested early growing season freezing sensitivity in 10 species, from four plant

Genetic identification of female Cannabis sativa plants at early developmental stage.

Science.gov (United States)

Techen, Natascha; Chandra, Suman; Lata, Hemant; Elsohly, Mahmoud A; Khan, Ikhlas A

2010-11-01

Sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers were used to identify female plants at an early developmental stage in four different varieties of Cannabis sativa. Using the cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) method, DNA was isolated from two-week-old plants of three drug-type varieties (Terbag W1, Terbag K2, and Terbag MX) and one fiber-type variety (Terbag Fedora A7) of C. sativa grown under controlled environmental conditions through seeds. Attempts to use MADC2 (male-associated DNA from Cannabis sativa) primers as a marker to identify the sex of Cannabis sativa plants were successful. Amplification of genomic DNA using MADC2-F and MADC2-R primers produced two distinct fragments, one with a size of approximately 450 bp for female plants and one for male plants with a size of approximately 300 bp. After harvesting the tissues for DNA extraction, plants were subjected to a flowering photoperiod (i.e., 12-h light cycle), and the appearance of flowers was compared with the DNA analysis. The results of the molecular analysis were found to be concordant with the appearance of male or female flowers. The results of this study represent a quick and reliable technique for the identification of sex in Cannabis plants using SCAR markers at a very early developmental stage. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Interrelationships between soil cover and plant cover depending on land use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tiina Köster

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Interrelationships between soil cover and plant cover of normally developed (or postlithogenic mineral soils are analysed on the basis of four sampling soil groups. The four-link pedo-ecological sequence of analysed soils, rendzinas → brown soils → pseudopodzolic soils → gley-podzols, forms a representative cross section in relation to the normal mineral soils of Estonia. All groups differ substantially from each other in terms of soil properties (calcareousness, acidity, nutrition conditions, profile fabric and humus cover. The primary tasks of the research were (1 to elucidate the main pedo-ecological characteristics of the four soil groups and their suitability for plant cover, (2 to evaluate comparatively soils in terms of productivity, sustainability, biodiversity and environmental protection ability and (3 to analyse possibilities for ecologically sound matching of soil cover with suitable plant cover. On the basis of the same material, the influence of land-use change on humus cover (epipedon fabric, properties of the entire soil cover and soil–plant interrelationship were also analysed. An ecosystem approach enables us to observe particularities caused by specific properties of a soil type (species, variety in biological turnover and in the formation of biodiversity.

A remote oil spill detection system for early warning of spills at waterfront or land-based facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parsons, M.J.; Stocky, W.D.; Westerlind, J.; Gram, H.R.; Jadamec, M.P.; Johnson, J.R.

1992-01-01

Early detection of spills during loading/unloading of crude oil or products at terminals or plants is essential for quickly stopping the spill and minimizing its impact. Such detection is particularly difficult at night or in remote areas. In order to provide a reliable and inexpensive spill detection system for such an application, a joint development process was undertaken to redesign an oil spill detection buoy system which had been successfully tested in the 1970s. The sensor's operation is based on the stimulated fluorescence of oil and selective wavelength detection of this fluorescence. The prototype system consists of a flotation buoy for remote deployment of the sensor, rechargeable battery supply, a land-based computer base station, and radio signal transmitter. The oil spill detection buoy was modified in 1991 and tested in the laboratory. Field trials are under way and tests to date have confirmed the unit's ability to detect oil and to differentiate between various types of oil and/or products, particularly if the software is alerted to the type of product being transferred. 2 figs

Land Use Alters the Plant-Derived Carbon and Nitrogen Pools in Terraced Rice Paddies in a Mountain Village

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seiji Shimoda

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In Japan, terraced paddies in mountain villages are symbolic of the traditional landscape, but they are gradually being abandoned. To compare plant-derived C and N among land uses, we compared adjacent forest floor (FF, agricultural paddy (AP, and post-agricultural paddy (PP sites. Long-term litter accumulation could explain the significantly higher litter C and belowground biomass C in FF than in AP and PP. The low-density-fraction (LF soil C was significantly higher in FF than in PP and better reflected land use than the whole-soil C. The AP soil held more N than FF and PP at 20–30 cm, associated with higher LF soil N. Periodic tillage in AP maintains the LF soil N, but N supplied to the surface soil reduced with depth following abandonment. Differences in recycling of organic matter and nutrients among land uses are crucial to plant-derived C and N contents of soil.

Sporophytes of polysporangiate land plants from the early Silurian period may have been photosynthetically autonomous

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Libertín, M.; Kvaček, J.; Bek, Jiří; Žárský, V.; Štorch, Petr

2018-01-01

Roč. 4, 30 April 2018 (2018), s. 269-271 ISSN 2055-026X Institutional support: RVO:67985831 Keywords : earliest vascular plant s * in situ spores * Silurian * polysporangiate plant s Subject RIV: DB - Geology ; Mineralogy OBOR OECD: Paleontology Impact factor: 10.300, year: 2016

Application of Satellite Data for Early Season Assessment of Fallowed Agricultural Lands for Drought Impact Reporting

Science.gov (United States)

Rosevelt, C.; Melton, F. S.; Johnson, L.; Verdin, J. P.; Thenkabail, P. S.; mueller, R.; Zakzeski, A.; Jones, J.

2013-12-01

Rapid assessment of drought impacts can aid water managers in assessing mitigation options, and guide decision making with respect to requests for local water transfers, county drought disaster designations, or state emergency proclamations. Satellite remote sensing offers an efficient way to provide quantitative assessments of drought impacts on agricultural production and land fallowing associated with reductions in water supply. A key advantage of satellite-based assessments is that they can provide a measure of land fallowing that is consistent across both space and time. Here we describe an approach for monthly mapping of land fallowing developed as part of a joint effort by USGS, USDA, and NASA to provide timely assessments of land fallowing during drought events. This effort has used the Central Valley of California as a pilot region for development and testing of an operational approach. To provide quantitative measures of fallowed land from satellite data early in the season, we developed a decision tree algorithm and applied it to timeseries of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data from Landsat TM, ETM+, and MODIS. Our effort has been focused on development of leading indicators of drought impacts in the March - June timeframe based on measures of crop development patterns relative to a reference period with average or above average rainfall. This capability complements ongoing work by USDA to produce and publicly release within-season estimates of fallowed acreage from the USDA Cropland Data Layer. To assess the accuracy of the algorithms, monthly ground validation surveys were conducted along transects across the Central Valley at more than 200 fields per month from March - June, 2013. Here we present the algorithm for mapping fallowed acreage early in the season along with results from the accuracy assessment, and discuss potential applications to other regions.

Early decline of asparagus in the Netherlands : etiology, epidemiology and management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blok, W.J.

1997-01-01

Asparagus plants on fields cropped with asparagus before establish well but economic life of the crop is only half of that on fresh land. Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. asparagi was identified as the main cause of this early decline. Autotoxic compounds

Agriculture: Land Use

Science.gov (United States)

Land Use and agriculture. Information about land use restrictions and incentive programs.Agricultural operations sometimes involve activities regulated by laws designed to protect water supplies, threatened or endangered plants and animals, or wetlands.

Land uses, fire, and invasion: Exotic annual Bromus and human dimensions [Chapter 11

Science.gov (United States)

David A. Pyke; Jeanne C. Chambers; Jeffrey L. Beck; Matthew L. Brooks; Brian A. Mealor

2016-01-01

Human land uses are the primary cause of the introduction and spread of exotic annual Bromus species. Initial introductions were likely linked to contaminated seeds used by homesteading farmers in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Transportation routes aided their spread. Unrestricted livestock grazing from the 1800s through the mid-1900s reduced native plant competitors...

Effect of the recent land use on the plant diversity and community structure of Omayed Biosphere Reserve, Egypt

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dalia A. Ahmed

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The present study aims at describing and analysing the floristic composition and vegetation types, as well as determining the effect of recent land uses on the vegetation structure. It aims also at identifying the alien plants species and elucidating the impact of these species on the plant diversity and community structure of the study area. One hundred and ninety stands were selected monthly for this study, 145 species were recorded (69 perennials and 76 annuals related to 83 genera, 40 families in 9 identified habitats in El-Omayed Biosphere Reserve (coastal sand dunes, salt marshes, saline depression, non-saline depression, inland ridges, inland plateau, irrigation canals, road sides and cultivated lands. Therophytes were the most represented life form. Three habitat groups resulted after the application of TWINSPAN and DCA as classification and ordination techniques: 2 represented the natural habitats and one represented the urban and cultivated habitats. Group I represented coastal dunes and salt marshes GII: saline depressions, non-saline depressions, inland plateau and inland ridges and GIII: irrigation canals, road sides and cultivated lands. Coastal dunes had the highest species richness (α-diversity, followed by cultivated lands, while inland plateau had the lowest; but saline depressions had the highest species turnover (β-diversity. Non-saline depressions had the highest relative evenness, while saline depressions had the highest relative concentration of dominance. Coastal dunes had highest values of calcium carbonates and calcium ions, and salt marshes had the highest salinity, pH, potassium and sodium contents, but cultivated lands had the highest values of silt, clay and organic matter. The diagram resulting from CCA showed an influence of most soil variables, except nitrogen, calcium and potassium. Twenty two species were recorded for the first time in the study area. The recent land use (overgrazing, wood cutting and

Evaluation of Durum Wheat Lines for Tolerance to Early Season Cold via Early Planting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Rashidi

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Cold stress is one of the environmental factors that affect planting date of durum wheat in mountainous North West areas of Iran. To study tolerance of 36 Durum wheat lines for cold, an experiment was conducted in mid winter (mid of February at the Agricultural Research Station of Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, in 2007. Experimental design used was simple lattice. The results of analysis of variance showed that the lines under study responded differently to cold as to traits like percentage of survival, yield and its components. This indicates existence of genetic diversity among durum wheat lines. Percentage of survival of the lines 30, 5, 16, 27, 31 and 35 were for higher than those at other lines. Thus, they can be considered to be tolerant to early season cold. Comparison of means showed that lines 35, 31, 16 and 5 possessed higher percentage of survival and other percent survival also correlated positive with plant height, number of fertile spike seed yield and 1000 grain weight. As a whole line 35 was found to be more tolerant to early season cold than the others were. Cluster analysis was divided 36 lines into three groups. Lines in the third group possessed higher percentage of survival, plant height, number of fertile spike, biomass and high yield than their over all means.

Projecting trends in plant invasions in Europe under different scenarios of future land-use change

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Chytrý, M.; Wild, Jan; Pyšek, Petr; Jarošík, Vojtěch; Dendoncker, N.; Reginster, I.; Pino, J.; Maskell, L. C.; Vila, M.; Pergl, Jan; Kühn, I.; Spangenberg, J.H.; Settele, J.

2012-01-01

Roč. 21, č. 1 (2012), s. 75-87 ISSN 1466-822X R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC06073 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : plant invasions * land-use change * prediction Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 7.223, year: 2012

The Potential Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Restoration of Degraded Lands

Science.gov (United States)

Asmelash, Fisseha; Bekele, Tamrat; Birhane, Emiru

2016-01-01

Experiences worldwide reveal that degraded lands restoration projects achieve little success or fail. Hence, understanding the underlying causes and accordingly, devising appropriate restoration mechanisms is crucial. In doing so, the ever-increasing aspiration and global commitments in degraded lands restoration could be realized. Here we explain that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) biotechnology is a potential mechanism to significantly improve the restoration success of degraded lands. There are abundant scientific evidences to demonstrate that AMF significantly improve soil attributes, increase above and belowground biodiversity, significantly improve tree/shrub seedlings survival, growth and establishment on moisture and nutrient stressed soils. AMF have also been shown to drive plant succession and may prevent invasion by alien species. The very few conditions where infective AMF are low in abundance and diversity is when the soil erodes, is disturbed and is devoid of vegetation cover. These are all common features of degraded lands. Meanwhile, degraded lands harbor low levels of infective AMF abundance and diversity. Therefore, the successful restoration of infective AMF can potentially improve the restoration success of degraded lands. Better AMF inoculation effects result when inocula are composed of native fungi instead of exotics, early seral instead of late seral fungi, and are consortia instead of few or single species. Future research efforts should focus on AMF effect on plant community primary productivity and plant competition. Further investigation focusing on forest ecosystems, and carried out at the field condition is highly recommended. Devising cheap and ethically widely accepted inocula production methods and better ways of AMF in situ management for effective restoration of degraded lands will also remain to be important research areas. PMID:27507960

Invasiveness does not predict impact: response of native land snail communities to plant invasions in riparian habitats

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Horáčková, J.; Juřičková, L.; Šizling, A. L.; Jarošík, Vojtěch; Pyšek, Petr

2014-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 9 (2014), s. 1-10, e108296 E-ISSN 1932-6203 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : plant invasions * land snails * impact Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 3.234, year: 2014

RCRA closure of eight land-based units at the Y-12 plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stone, J.E.; Welch, S.H.

1988-01-01

Eight land-based hazardous waste management units at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant are being closed under an integrated multi-year program. Closure plans for the units have been submitted and are in various stages of revision and regulatory review. These units will be closed by various combinations of methods, including liquid removal and treatment, sludge stabilization, contaminated sludge and/or soil removal, and capping. The closure of these sites will be funded by a new Department of Energy budget category, the Environmental Restoration Budget Category (ERBC), which is intended to provide greater flexibility in the response to closure and remedial activities. A major project, Closure and Post-Closure Activities (CAPCA), has been identified for ERBC funding to close and remediate the land units in accordance with RCRA requirements. Establishing the scope of this program has required the development of risk assessments and the preparation of an integrated schedule

Evolution of the bHLH genes involved in stomatal development: implications for the expansion of developmental complexity of stomata in land plants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin-Hua Ran

Full Text Available Stomata play significant roles in plant evolution. A trio of closely related basic Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH subgroup Ia genes, SPCH, MUTE and FAMA, mediate sequential steps of stomatal development, and their functions may be conserved in land plants. However, the evolutionary history of the putative SPCH/MUTE/FAMA genes is still greatly controversial, especially the phylogenetic positions of the bHLH Ia members from basal land plants. To better understand the evolutionary pattern and functional diversity of the bHLH genes involved in stomatal development, we made a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of the homologous genes from 54 species representing the major lineages of green plants. The phylogenetic analysis indicated: (1 All bHLH Ia genes from the two basal land plants Physcomitrella and Selaginella were closely related to the FAMA genes of seed plants; and (2 the gymnosperm 'SPCH' genes were sister to a clade comprising the angiosperm SPCH and MUTE genes, while the FAMA genes of gymnosperms and angiosperms had a sister relationship. The revealed phylogenetic relationships are also supported by the distribution of gene structures and previous functional studies. Therefore, we deduce that the function of FAMA might be ancestral in the bHLH Ia subgroup. In addition, the gymnosperm "SPCH" genes may represent an ancestral state and have a dual function of SPCH and MUTE, two genes that could have originated from a duplication event in the common ancestor of angiosperms. Moreover, in angiosperms, SPCHs have experienced more duplications and harbor more copies than MUTEs and FAMAs, which, together with variation of the stomatal development in the entry division, implies that SPCH might have contributed greatly to the diversity of stomatal development. Based on the above, we proposed a model for the correlation between the evolution of stomatal development and the genes involved in this developmental process in land plants.

Estimation of Wheat Plant Density at Early Stages Using High Resolution Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shouyang Liu

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Crop density is a key agronomical trait used to manage wheat crops and estimate yield. Visual counting of plants in the field is currently the most common method used. However, it is tedious and time consuming. The main objective of this work is to develop a machine vision based method to automate the density survey of wheat at early stages. RGB images taken with a high resolution RGB camera are classified to identify the green pixels corresponding to the plants. Crop rows are extracted and the connected components (objects are identified. A neural network is then trained to estimate the number of plants in the objects using the object features. The method was evaluated over three experiments showing contrasted conditions with sowing densities ranging from 100 to 600 seeds⋅m-2. Results demonstrate that the density is accurately estimated with an average relative error of 12%. The pipeline developed here provides an efficient and accurate estimate of wheat plant density at early stages.

The potential role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in the restoration of degraded lands

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Fisseha Asmelash Belay

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Experiences worldwide reveal that degraded lands restoration projects achieve little success or fail. Hence, understanding the underlining causes and accordingly, devising appropriate restoration mechanisms is crucial. In doing so, the ever-increasing aspiration and global commitments in degraded lands restoration could be realized. Here we explain that Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF biotechnology is a potential mechanism to significantly improve the restoration success of degraded lands. There are abundant scientific evidences to demonstrate that AMF significantly improve soil attributes, increase above and belowground biodiversity, significantly improve tree/shrub seedlings survival, growth and establishment on moisture and nutrient stressed soils. AMF have also been shown to drive plant succession and may prevent invasion by alien species. The very few conditions where infective AMF are low in abundance and diversity is when the soil erodes, is disturbed and is devoid of vegetation cover. These are all common features of degraded lands. Meanwhile, degraded lands harbor low levels of infective AMF abundance and diversity. Therefore, the successful restoration of infective AMF can potentially improve the restoration success of degraded lands. Better AMF inoculation effects result when inocula are composed of native fungi instead of exotics, early seral instead of late seral fungi, and are consortia instead of few or single species. Future research efforts should focus on AMF effect on plant community primary productivity and plant competition. Further investigation focusing on forest ecosystems and carried out at the field condition is highly recommended. Devising cheap and ethically widely accepted inocula production methods and better ways of AMF in-situ management for effective restoration of degraded lands will also remain to be important research areas. Keywords: AMF, ecological restoration, facilitation, inoculation, land degradation

Target or barrier? The cell wall of early- and later- diverging plants vs cadmium toxicity: differences in the response mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luigi eParrotta

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Increasing industrialization and urbanization result in emission of pollutants in the environment including toxic heavy metals, as cadmium and lead. Among the different heavy metals contaminating the environment, cadmium raises great concern, as it is ecotoxic and as such can heavily impact ecosystems. The cell wall is the first structure of plant cells to come in contact with heavy metals. Its composition, characterized by proteins, polysaccharides and in some instances lignin and other phenolic compounds, confers the ability to bind non-covalently and/or covalently heavy metals via functional groups. A strong body of evidence in the literature has shown the role of the cell wall in heavy metal response: it sequesters heavy metals, but at the same time its synthesis and composition can be severely affected. The present review analyzes the dual property of plant cell walls, i.e. barrier and target of heavy metals, by taking Cd toxicity as example. Following a summary of the known physiological and biochemical responses of plants to Cd, the review compares the wall-related mechanisms in early- and later-diverging land plants, by considering the diversity in cell wall composition. By doing so, common as well as unique response mechanisms to metal/cadmium toxicity are identified among plant phyla and discussed. After discussing the role of hyperaccumulators’ cell walls as a particular case, the review concludes by considering important aspects for plant engineering.

Preliminary Study of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Plant Food Strategies in China

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashi Tang, M.; Liu, X.; Fritz, G.; Zhao, Z.

2017-12-01

In recent decades, studies on the domestication and early cultivation of seed crops have contributed significantly to how we understand human-plant interactions, and their impact on human social organisation and the environment. It is becoming clear, however, that plants have been critical to the human diet for much longer and in more diverse ways than previously assumed. This paper is a preliminary attempt at identifying and addressing early prehistoric plant food strategies in China. In particular, very little is known about the use of vegetatively propagated plants, despite their significant representation in modern crops. Many ingredients of Chinese medicine are also roots and tubers (or vegetative storage organs, VSOs). Unlike seed crops, however, we lack a systematic criterion for examining diagnostic characters of different VSO taxa in the archaeological record. To address this issue, we characterized commonly consumed and historically significant VSOs in China, by studying experimentally charred modern samples under the optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. We then compared the characteristics of these modern VSO samples against plant remains from Late Pleistocene to early Holocene archaeological sites in China, such as Zengpiyan (Guangxi), Zhaoguodong (Guizhou), and Jiahu (Henan) sites. We found that different taxa of VSOs can be differentiated by using multiple lines of evidence, including: shape and size of various cells, texture and arrangement of cell walls, as well as anatomical arrangements of organs, especially the vascular bundles. Though identification can be difficult when fragile cell structures have collapsed or deteriorated, more robust features are often preserved for diagnosis. Our results suggest that the potential for studying the role of vegetatively propagated plants in early human-environmental interactions is overlooked, and can be expanded significantly with further investment in their systematic identification.

Land use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rickard, W.H.; Rogers, L.E.

1977-01-01

Justification for large land holdings at the Hanford Reservation has centered around a need for security and also as a buffer zone in the event of accidents. In recent years the importance of these large land holdings have become nationally recognized as highly desirable locations for ecological research concerning the function and structure of terrestrial ecosystems and as places to investigate the response of terrestrial ecosystems to long-term man-imposed environmental stresses. Carefully selected and protected land areas exist on the 110 square mile Arid Land Ecology Reserve (ALE) at Hanford. The projects described here provide supporting research for several applied projects that deal with environmental impact and land restoration. Information gained from this research has wide use and applicability to all kinds of energy technologies centered in the semi-arid shrub-steppe region of the northwestern United States. Ecological information reported includes: biotic characterization, including description of major habitats and endangered or threatened species; performances of native plant species, including determination of growth habits, nutrient requirements, and productivity; and, mineral cycling, including particularly the estimation of availability and behavior of airborne deposits to green plants

Change detection and identification of land potential for planting Krajood (Lepironia articulata in Thale Noi, Southern Thailand

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Jitnapa Maeaid

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Lepironia articulata, commonly called grey sedge or krajood, can be transformed into various products to generateextra income for local families in the southern part of Thailand. In recent years, the amount of Lepironia articulata used asraw material has decreased and does not currently meet the demand for the resource. Appropriate areas where naturalresources and the environment can be restored and the abundance of natural produce can be increased must be sought.Therefore, this research considered the opportunity to identify appropriate areas for planting Lepironia articulata. Geographicinformation system (GIS and remote sensing were integrated to map land use changes in 1990, 1998 and 2006 in theThale Noi area. The study found that from 1990-1998, emergent aquatic areas increased by 16.18 square kilometers, the areaof swamp forests increased by 15.33 square kilometers, the area of rice paddies decreased by 0.80 square kilometers, and thearea of mixed orchards increased by approximately 0.32 square kilometers. From 1998-2006, the area of swamp forestsincreased by 1.9 square kilometers, but emergent aquatic areas decreased by 1.23 square kilometers. The area of rubberplantations increased by 0.63 square kilometers, and the area of rice paddies decreased by 0.69 square kilometers. This studyaimed to define land potential for Krajood (Lepironia articulata cultivation in the Thale Noi area by considering five factors:land use, distance from water sources, slope, soil characteristics, and soil drainage. The study found that the areas of highpotential for planting Lepironia articulata were wetlands and near water sources, covering a total area of 5.54 square kilometers.The areas with moderate potential were swamp forests and rice paddies, covering a total area of 4.27 square kilometres.GIS and remote sensing were found to be very useful for identifying land use changes and potential areas for plantingLepironia articulata.

Aquatic plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, T. V.; Sand-Jensen, K.

2006-01-01

Aquatic fl owering plants form a relatively young plant group on an evolutionary timescale. The group has developed over the past 80 million years from terrestrial fl owering plants that re-colonised the aquatic environment after 60-100 million years on land. The exchange of species between terre...... terrestrial and aquatic environments continues today and is very intensive along stream banks. In this chapter we describe the physical and chemical barriers to the exchange of plants between land and water.......Aquatic fl owering plants form a relatively young plant group on an evolutionary timescale. The group has developed over the past 80 million years from terrestrial fl owering plants that re-colonised the aquatic environment after 60-100 million years on land. The exchange of species between...

A review of public desert land lease policies for concentrated solar power plants and the impact on their economic performance

Science.gov (United States)

Smyrnakis, Christos; Phocas-Cosmetatos, Alex; Kynigalakis, Kostantinos

2016-05-01

Large scale Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants need large plots of land with very high solar resource and thus are often deployed in desert areas which are usually owned by the state or a municipal authority. This study discusses the implication and practices of land lease policies with regards to CSP development. The strategy followed on a land lease is examined by definition on a case-specific basis and this text is by no means exhaustive with regards to its content. The study also discusses the pricing of land in various cases, presents the governing types of land lease and their effect on the economic performance of hypothetical CSP projects under various cases.

A complex systems approach to dynamic spatial simulation modeling: LandUse and LandCover change in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Science.gov (United States)

Messina, Joseph Paul

The Ecuadorian Amazon, lying in the headwaters of the Napo and Aguarico River valleys, is experiencing rapid change in LandUse and LandCover (LULC) conditions and regional landscape diversity uniquely tied to spontaneous agricultural colonization and oil exploration. Beginning in the early 1970s, spontaneous colonization occurred on squattered lands located adjacent to oil company roads and in government development sectors composed of multiple 50 ha land parcels organized into "piano key" shaped family farms or fincas. Since fincas are managed at the household level as spatially discrete, temporally independent units, land conversion at the finca-level is recognized as the chief proximate cause of deforestation within the region. Focusing on the spatial and temporal dynamics of deforestation, agricultural extensification, and plant succession at the finca-level, and urbanization at the community-level, cell-based morphogenetic models of LandUse and LandCover Change (LULCC) were developed as the foundation for predictive models of regional LULCC dynamics and landscape diversity. Two cellular automata models were developed and used to integrate biophysical, geographical, and social variables to characterize temporally dynamic landscapes. The human, geographical, and biophysical dimensions of land use and land cover change were examined, specifically deforestation, anthropogenic extensification, and reforestation. Remotely-sensed data ranging temporally from the 1970s through 1999, combined with thematic map coverages of biophysical gradients and geographical accessibility, were linked to household and community survey data collected in 1990 and 1999. Image processing techniques for LULC characterization and spatial analyses of landscape structure were used to assess the rate and nature of LULCC throughout the time-series. In addition, LULC and LULCC associated with secondary plant succession and agricultural extensification were assessed and simulated for specific

Optimization of planting pattern plan in Logung irrigation area using linear program

Science.gov (United States)

Wardoyo, Wasis; Setyono

2018-03-01

Logung irrigation area is located in Kudus Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia. Irrigation area with 2810 Ha of extent is getting water supply from Logung dam. Yet, the utilization of water at Logung dam is not optimal and the distribution of water is still not evenly distributed. Therefore, this study will discuss about the optimization of irrigation water utilization based on the beginning of plant season. This optimization begins with the analysis of hydrology, climatology and river discharge in order to determine the irrigation water needs. After determining irrigation water needs, six alternatives of planting patterns with the different early planting periods, i.e. 1st November, 2nd November, 3rd November, 1st December, 2nd December, and 3rd December with the planting pattern of rice-secondary crop-sugarcane is introduced. It is continued by the analysis of water distribution conducted using linear program assisted by POM-Quantity method for Windows 3 with the reliable discharge limit and the available land area. Output of this calculation are to determine the land area that can be planted based on the type of plant and growing season, and to obtaine the profits of harvest yields. Based on the optimum area of each plant species with 6 alternatives, the most optimum area was obtained at the early planting periods on 3rd December with the production profit of Rp 113.397.338.854,- with the planting pattern of rice / beans / sugarcane-rice / beans / sugarcane-beans / sugarcane.

Africa's wild C4 plant foods and possible early hominid diets.

Science.gov (United States)

Peters, Charles R; Vogel, John C

2005-03-01

A small minority of Africa's wild plant foods are C4. These are primarily the seeds of some of the C4 grasses, the rootstocks and stem/leaf bases of some of the C4 sedges (especially papyrus), and the leaves of some of the C4 herbaceous dicots (forbs). These wild food plants are commonly found in disturbed ground and wetlands (particularly the grasses and sedges). Multiple lines of evidence indicate that C4 grasses were present in Africa by at least the late Miocene. It is a reasonable hypothesis that the prehistory of the C4 sedges parallels that of the C4 grasses, but the C4 forbs may not have become common until the late Pleistocene. CAM plants may have a more ancient history, but offer few opportunities for an additional C4-like dietary signal. The environmental reconstructions available for the early South African hominid sites do not indicate the presence of large wetlands, and therefore probably the absence of a strong potential for a C4 plant food diet. However, carbon isotope analyses of tooth enamel from three species of early South African hominids have shown that there was a significant but not dominant contribution of C4 biomass in their diets. Since it appears unlikely that this C4 component could have come predominantly from C4 plant foods, a broad range of potential animal contributors is briefly considered, namely invertebrates, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. It is concluded that the similar average C4 dietary intake seen in the three South African hominid species could have been acquired by differing contributions from the various sources, without the need to assume scavenging or hunting of medium to large grazing ungulates. Effectively similar dominantly dryland paleo-environments may also be part of the explanation. Theoretically, elsewhere in southern and eastern Africa, large wetlands would have offered early hominids greater opportunities for a C4 plant diet.

Early Triassic wrinkle structures on land: stressed environments and oases for life

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Daoliang; Tong, Jinnan; Song, Haijun; Benton, Michael J.; Bottjer, David J.; Song, Huyue; Tian, Li

2015-06-01

Wrinkle structures in rocks younger than the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) extinction have been reported repeatedly in marine strata, but rarely mentioned in rocks recording land. Here, three newly studied terrestrial P-Tr boundary rock succession in North China have yielded diverse wrinkle structures. All of these wrinkles are preserved in barely bioturbated shore-shallow lacustrine siliciclastic deposits of the Liujiagou Formation. Conversely, both the lacustrine siliciclastic deposits of the underlying Sunjiagou Formation and the overlying Heshanggou Formation show rich bioturbation, but no wrinkle structures or other microbial-related structures. The occurrence of terrestrial wrinkle structures in the studied sections reflects abnormal hydrochemical and physical environments, presumably associated with the extinction of terrestrial organisms. Only very rare trace fossils occurred in the aftermath of the P-Tr extinction, but most of them were preserved together with the microbial mats. This suggests that microbial mats acted as potential oases for the surviving aquatic animals, as a source of food and oxygen. The new finds suggests that extreme environmental stresses were prevalent both in the sea and on land through most of the Early Triassic.

Establishment of land model at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant. Mainly, on rock board classification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katagawa, Hideki; Hashimoto, Toru; Hirano, Shuji

1999-01-01

In order to grasp engineering properties of basic land of constructions, there is rock board classification as a method to classify whole of rock board to some groups considerable to be nearly equal on its properties. Among the method, various methods in response to its aim and characteristics are devised, and for a classification to hard rock board, the Denken type rock board classification considering degree of weathering to its main element and so forth are well known. The basic rock board of the Shika Nuclear Power Plant is composed of middle and hard types of rock, and its weathering is limited to its shallow portion, most of which are held at fresh condition. For such land, a new classification standard in response to characteristics of land was established. Here were introduced on a progress to establish a new classification standard, its application results and rock board properties. (G.K.)

Herbivory more limiting than competition on early and established native plants in an invaded meadow.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzales, Emily K; Arcese, Peter

2008-12-01

The dominance of nonnative plants coupled with declines of native plants suggests that competitive displacement drives extinctions, yet empirical examples are rare. Herbivores, however, can alter vegetation structure and reduce diversity when abundant. Herbivores may act on mature, reproductive life stages whereas some of the strongest competitive effects might occur at early life stages that are difficult to observe. For example, competition by perennial nonnative grasses can interfere with the establishment of native seeds. We contrasted the effects of ungulate herbivory and competition by neighboring plants on the performance of native plant species at early and established life stages in invaded oak meadows. We recorded growth, survival, and flowering in two native species transplanted as established plants, six native species grown from seed, and five extant lily species as part of two 2 x 2 factorial experiments that manipulated herbivory and competition. Herbivory reduced the performance of nearly all focal native species at early and established life stages, whereas competition had few measurable effects. Our results suggest that herbivory has a greater local influence on native plant species than competition and that reducing herbivore impacts will be required to successfully restore endangered oak meadows where ungulates are now abundant.

Paleoclimate from fossil plants and application to the early Cenozoic Rocky Mountains

Science.gov (United States)

Wing, S. L.

2011-12-01

Wladimir Köppen called vegetation "crystallized, visible climate," and his metaphor encouraged paleobotanists to climb the chain of inference from fossil plants to paleovegetation to paleoclimate. Inferring paleovegetation from fossils has turned out to be very difficult, however, and today most paleobotanical methods for inferring paleoclimate do not try to reconstruct paleovegetation as a first step. Three major approaches are widely use to infer paleoclimate from plant fossils: 1) phylogenetic inferences rely on the climatic distributions of extant relatives of fossils, 2) morphological inferences use present-day correlations of climate with plant morphology (e.g, leaf shape, wood anatomy), and 3) chemical inferences rely on correlations between climate and the stable isotopic composition of plants or organic compounds. Each approach makes assumptions that are hard to verify. Phylogenetic inference depends on accurate identification of fossils, and also assumes that evolution and/or extinction has not shifted the climatic distributions of plant lineages through time. On average this assumption is less valid for older time periods, but probably it is not radically wrong for the early Cenozoic. Morphological approaches don't require taxonomic identification of plant fossils, but do assume that correlations between plant form and climate have been constant over time. This assumption is bolstered if the ecophysiological cause of the morphology-climate correlation is well understood, but often it isn't. Stable isotopic approaches assume that present-day correlations between isotopic composition and climate apply to the past. Commonly the chemical and physiological mechanisms responsible for the correlation are moderately well known, but often the variation among different taxonomic and functional groups of plants is poorly characterized. In spite of limitations and uncertainties on all methods for inferring paleoclimate from fossil plants, broad patterns emerge from

Evaluating the influence of plant-specific physiological parameterizations on the partitioning of land surface energy fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Sulis, Mauro; Langensiepen, Matthias; Shrestha, Prabhakar; Schickling, Anke; Simmer, Clemens; Kollet, Stefan

2015-04-01

Vegetation has a significant influence on the partitioning of radiative forcing, the spatial and temporal variability of soil water and soil temperature. Therefore plant physiological properties play a key role in mediating and amplifying interactions and feedback mechanisms in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere continuum. Because of the direct impact on latent heat fluxes, these properties may also influence weather generating processes, such as the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). In land surface models, plant physiological properties are usually obtained from literature synthesis by unifying several plant/crop species in predefined vegetation classes. In this work, crop-specific physiological characteristics, retrieved from detailed field measurements, are included in the bio-physical parameterization of the Community Land Model (CLM), which is a component of the Terrestrial Systems Modeling Platform (TerrSysMP). The measured set of parameters for two typical European mid-latitudinal crops (sugar beet and winter wheat) is validated using eddy covariance measurements (sensible heat and latent heat) over multiple years from three measurement sites located in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, Germany. We found clear improvements of CLM simulations, when using the crop-specific physiological characteristics of the plants instead of the generic crop type when compared to the measurements. In particular, the increase of latent heat fluxes in conjunction with decreased sensible heat fluxes as simulated by the two new crop-specific parameter sets leads to an improved quantification of the diurnal energy partitioning. These findings are cross-validated using estimates of gross primary production extracted from net ecosystem exchange measurements. This independent analysis reveals that the better agreement between observed and simulated latent heat using the plant-specific physiological properties largely stems from an improved simulation of the

Early arrival waveform inversion of shallow seismic land data

KAUST Repository

Hanafy, Sherif M.

2013-09-22

We estimate the near-surface velocity distribution over Wadi Qudaid in Saudi Arabia by applying early arrival waveform inversion (EWI) to shallow seismic land data collected with source-receiver offsets no longer than 232 m. The main purpose is to characterize the shallow subsurface for its water storage and reuse potential. To enhance the accuracy of EWI, we extracted a natural source wavelet from the data, and also corrected for the attenuation effects with an estimated factor Q. Results suggest that, compared to traveltime tomography, EWI can generate a highly resolved velocity tomogram from shallow seismic data. The more accurate EWI tomogram can make an economically important difference in assessing the storage potential of this wadi; in this case we find an increase of 18% of storage potential in the EWI tomogram relative to the traveltime tomogram. This approach suggests that FWI might be a more accurate means for economically characterizing the water storage potential for wadis’ throughout the world.

Assessment of bioenergy potential on marginal land in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhuang, Dafang; Jiang, Dong; Liu, Lei; Huang, Yaohuan [Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101 (China)

2011-02-15

Bioenergy developed from energy plants will play a more and more important role in future energy supply. Much attention has been paid to energy plants in recent years. As China has fairly limited cultivated land resources, the bioenergy development may mainly rely on the exploitation of marginal land. This study focused on the assessment of marginal land resources and bio-fuel potential in China using newly acquired data and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. A multi-factor analysis method was adopted to identify marginal lands for bioenergy development in China, with data of several main types of energy plants on the eco-environmental requirements and natural habits employed. A combined planting zonation strategy was proposed, which was targeted for five species of energy plants including Helianthus tuberous L., Pistacia chinensis, Jatropha curcas L., Cassava and Vernicia fordii. The results indicated that total area of marginal land exploitable for development of energy plants on a large scale was about 43.75 million ha. If 10% of this marginal land was fully utilized for growing the energy plants, the production of bio-fuel would be 13.39 million tons. (author)

Woody plants and land use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huxley, P.A.

1982-01-01

The importance of woody species in land use systems has recently gained international attention. In addition to the production of food and fuelwood, trees can maintain or improve the fertility status of the soil and conserve both soil and water. The use of multipurpose trees in land use system and the important role of trees in association with other crops is now recognized. The methods of scientifically studying such systems, and of manipulating them to improve their productivity or net utility have not been well developed. This introductory paper documents the role of woody species in agriculture, forestry and agroforestry. It outlines some of the important research needs for such systems and the role which isotopes could play in the research. (author)

Beyond ectomycorrhizal bipartite networks: projected networks demonstrate contrasted patterns between early- and late-successional plants in Corsica.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrien eTaudiere

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The ectomycorrhizal (ECM symbiosis connects mutualistic plants and fungal species into bipartite networks. While links between one focal ECM plant and its fungal symbionts have been widely documented, systemic views of ECM networks are lacking, in particular, concerning the ability of fungal species to mediate indirect ecological interactions between ECM plant species (projected-ECM networks. We assembled a large dataset of plant-fungi associations at the species level and at the scale of Corsica using molecular data and unambiguously host-assigned records to: (i examine the correlation between the number of fungal symbionts of a plant species and the average specialization of these fungal species, (ii explore the structure of the plant-plant projected network and (iii compare plant association patterns in regard to their position along the ecological succession. Our analysis reveals no trade-off between specialization of plants and specialization of their partners and a saturation of the plant projected network. Moreover, there is a significantly lower-than-expected sharing of partners between early- and late-successional plant species, with fewer fungal partners for early-successional ones and similar average specialization of symbionts of early- and late-successional plants. Our work paves the way for ecological readings of Mediterranean landscapes that include the astonishing diversity of below-ground interactions.

ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMICAL AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION OF THE MINING AFFECTED LAND IN GORJ COUNTY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Calinoiu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Gorj, Valcea and Mehedinti counties have important reserves of lignite whose recovery began over 50 years ago. Exploitation of lignite deposits produced and produces multiple changes, affecting almost the entire ecosystem, affecting the environment and forest sealing of large areas of land by building new pathways through displacement of human settlements, deviations of water courses, building new productive and social objectives. Cast mining leaves behind a relief disturbed, chaotic mixture consisting of rocks, devoid of vegetation, erosion and strong subject with a look of "soft lunar land". These rocks are mixtures of low fertility, have degrees of suitability for recultivation very different due to heterogeneity, with particular problems in the process of recultivation. Many countries in the world has experienced in the restoration of degraded land for coal mining activities. Such technology upgrading in Romania, refertilization and recultivation of land affected by mining were addressed in Rovinari mining basin since 1968 by the Fruit Research Station Targu-Jiu, Soil and Agrochemical Research Institute Bucharest. The data recorded during the 15 years of study come to, the following conclusions: • plum pretend best on the land redeveloped, making a 10-year average production of 6.2 t/ha in variety Stanley, 5.9 t / ha the variety Anna Spath and 5.2 t/ha in variety Early haulm; Of phenological observations made that early haulm varieties mature in 8-10 days earlier compared to those in other areas of the county, as dump area creates a microclimate determined by the remnants of coal mixed with tailings • apple varieties first, Golden Delicious and Starkrimson achieved average yields of 12-15 t/ha • a good development on the land had walnut planted in pure culture or sandwiched with hazelnut or cherry species • Walnut was experienced and agrosylvicultural under grass strips between rows in a demonstration plot with good results on growth

Land use suitability screening for power plant sites in Maryland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobson, J.E.

1975-01-01

Since 1974 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been engaged in developing an automated procedure for land use suitability screening. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has funded the project to aid in the selection of power plant sites in Maryland. Its purpose is to identify candidate areas from which specific candidate sites can be chosen for detailed analyses. The ORNL approach assures that certain key variables are examined empirically for every cell in the study region before candidate sites are selected. Each variable is assigned an importance weight and compatibility score based upon its effect on the economic, social, or ecologic costs associated with construction in a given cell. The weighted scores for each variable are aggregated and output as a suitability score for each cell

Land availability for biofuel production.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Ximing; Zhang, Xiao; Wang, Dingbao

2011-01-01

Marginal agricultural land is estimated for biofuel production in Africa, China, Europe, India, South America, and the continental United States, which have major agricultural production capacities. These countries/regions can have 320-702 million hectares of land available if only abandoned and degraded cropland and mixed crop and vegetation land, which are usually of low quality, are accounted. If grassland, savanna, and shrubland with marginal productivity are considered for planting low-input high-diversity (LIHD) mixtures of native perennials as energy crops, the total land availability can increase from 1107-1411 million hectares, depending on if the pasture land is discounted. Planting the second generation of biofuel feedstocks on abandoned and degraded cropland and LIHD perennials on grassland with marginal productivity may fulfill 26-55% of the current world liquid fuel consumption, without affecting the use of land with regular productivity for conventional crops and without affecting the current pasture land. Under the various land use scenarios, Africa may have more than one-third, and Africa and Brazil, together, may have more than half of the total land available for biofuel production. These estimations are based on physical conditions such as soil productivity, land slope, and climate.

Managing the early termination of operation of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has the statutory mandate to seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. However, it has become more and more apparent that many States are facing the decision of closing nuclear power plants (NPPs) before expiration of their operating licences. Some NPPs have already closed and the owners are evaluating the effects on their staffs, the local economies and safety at the sites. It is evident that safety aspects and management strategies are important factors to be reviewed and monitored throughout the process of early termination and closure.The owners and employees of the NPPs are realizing that they are entering into very difficult phases of the plant life cycle with significant safety concerns. Although a great deal of work has been done to review and process information on technical aspects of early termination prior to decommissioning, far less attention has been given to the management and organizational issues involved in maintaining the required safety level in such nuclear installations. It is important that when decisions are made to terminate operation early, the same safety measures are applied to management concerns for strategic planning as are applied to technical reviews. These management and organizational issues are fundamental to any future decommissioning process. Managers at sites that decided to close early may be working to cope with management of change issues arising during the transition from operation to decommissioning as they monitor resource and competence needs, as well as staff morale and technical issues. If these issues are not treated satisfactorily they can have significant safety consequences. The organization often must address all these challenges with little guidance or experience and with reduced resources. This Safety Report has been developed with the support of experts from regulatory, operating and

EARLY ENTRANCE COPRODUCTION PLANT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John S. Abughazaleh; Mushtaq Ahmed; Ashok Anand; John H. Anderson; Charles Benham; Fred D. Brent; Thomas E. Chance; William K. Davis; Raymond F. Drnevich; Larry Hall; Ming He; Stephen A. Lang; David Mintner; Wendy Moore; Jimmy O. Ong; George Potoczniak; Adela G. Sanchez; Charles H. Schrader; Lalit S. Shah; Kalapi D. Sheth; Phil J. Shires; Rae Song

2001-05-17

The overall objective of this project is the three-phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) that produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: Electric power (or heat); Fuels; and Chemicals. The objective is to have these products produced by technologies capable of using synthesis gas derived from coal and/or some other carbonaceous feedstock, such as petroleum coke. The objective of Phase I was to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site and to develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD and T) Plan for implementation in Phase II. This objective has now been accomplished. A specific site, Motiva Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, has been selected as the location best suited for the EECP. The accomplishments of Phase I are discussed in detail in this Phase I Concept Report. A RD and T Plan and a preliminary project financing plan have been developed and are submitted separately from this report.

Early planting and hand sorting effectively controls seed-borne fungi in farm-retained bean seed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ernest Dube

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Home-saved bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. seed can be hand-sorted to remove discoloured seed, thereby reducing the level of contamination by certain seed-borne fungi and improving seed germination. In this study, the effect of planting date on the infection and discolouration of bean seed by seed-borne fungi was investigated in order to improve the quality of hand-sorted, farm-retained bean seeds used by resource poor smallholder farmers. The germination quality and level of seed-borne fungi in hand-sorted first-generation bean seed harvested from an early-, mid- and late-summer season planted crop was therefore assessed. The highest percentage of discoloured seed (68% was obtained from the mid-summer season planting. Non-discoloured seed from early- and late-season plantings had significantly (p"less than"0.001 higher normal germination (82% and 77%, respectively than that from the mid-season planting date (58%. Irrespective of planting date, unsorted seed and discoloured seed had higher levels of infection by Fusarium spp. and Phaeoisariopsis spp. than the non-discoloured seed. Removal of discoloured seed by hand sorting eliminated Rhizoctonia spp. from all seed lots. Farmers can eliminate this pathogen by simply removing discoloured seed. Non-discoloured seed from the early-planted crop had the lowest level of infection by Fusarium spp. and Phaeoisariopsis spp. The results indicate that planting date is an important consideration in improving the quality of hand-sorted farm-retained bean seed.

Inhibitory activity of plant extracts on the early blight pathogen ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study evaluated the effect of two plant extracts, Ricinus communis and Chromolaena odorata on the control of the early blight pathogen, Alternaria solani (Ell. and Mart.). The study was conducted in the Laboratory of the Crop Production and Horticulture Department, Federal University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa ...

RCRA land unit closures at the Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welch, S.H.; Kelly, B.A.; Delozier, M.F.P.; Manrod, W.E.

1987-01-01

Eight land-based hazardous waste management units at the Y-12 Plant are being closed under an integrated multi-year program. Closure plans for the units have been submitted and are in various stages of revision and regulatory review. These units will be closed by various combinations of methods, including liquid removal and treatment, sludge stabilization, contaminated sludge and/or soil removal, and capping. The closure of these sites will be funded by a new Department of Energy budget category, the Environmental Restoration Budget Category (ERBC), which is intended to provide greater flexibility in the response to closure and remedial activities. A major project, Closure and Post-Closure Activities (CAPCA), has been identified for ERBC funding to close and remediate the land units in accordance with RCRA requirements. Establishing the scope of this program has required the development of a detailed set of assumptions and a confirmation program for each assumption. Other significant activities in the CAPCA program include the development of risk assessments and the preparation of an integrated schedule

Vulnerability of oak-dominated forests in West Virginia to invasive exotic plants: temporal and spatial patterns of nine exotic species using herbarium records and land classification data

Science.gov (United States)

Cynthia D. Huebner

2003-01-01

Are oak-dominated forests immune to invasive exotic plants? Herbarium and land classification data were used to evaluate the extent of spread of nine invasive exotic plants and to relate their distributions to remotely-sensed land use types in West Virginia. Collector-defined habitats indicated that the most common habitat was roadsides, but seven of the nine species...

Bolatu's pharmacy theriac in early modern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Nappi, Carla

2009-01-01

In early modem China, natural history and medicine were shifting along with the boundaries of the empire. Naturalists struggled to cope with a pharmacy's worth of new and unfamiliar substances, texts, and terms, as plants, animals, and the drugs made from them travelled into China across land and sea. One crucial aspect of this phenomenon was the early modern exchange between Islamic and Chinese medicine. The history of theriac illustrates the importance of the recipe for the naturalization of foreign objects in early modem Chinese medicine. Theriac was a widely sought-after and hotly debated product in early modern European pharmacology and arrived into the Chinese medical canon via Arabic and Persian texts. The dialogue between language and material objects was critical to the Silk Road drug trade, and transliteration was ultimately a crucial technology used to translate drugs and texts about them in the early modern world.

Does Climate Care about Land?

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, E.; Lague, M. M.; Swann, A. L. S.

2017-12-01

Everyone knows that plants are influenced by the climate they live in. However, the reverse is also true: plants can influence climate both locally and globally by changing atmospheric circulation. Uncovering the role that plants play in climate has been challenging—the interactions are complex and vary greatly in different regions of the world. We lack a systematic understanding of the role of vegetation in the climate system. Using a new simplified land model coupled to a modern Earth System Model (ESM), we are able to separate the individual influences of the land system in the context of modern ESMs. For example, with our model we are able to test how the capacity of the land to hold water influences the atmosphere. If less water is able to evaporate, this could lead to substantial warming, and could even influence clouds. Understanding specifically where and how the atmosphere is influenced by the land surface improves our understanding of how future changes in the land surface will in turn feedback on climate, and how that will impact people. This improved understanding also advances our knowledge of the key role biology plays in driving the global climate system.

Fibonacci spirals in a brown alga [Sargassum muticum (Yendo Fensholt] and in a land plant [Arabidopsis thaliana (L. Heynh.]: a case of morphogenetic convergence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexis Peaucelle

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In this article, the morphology of a brown alga is revisited and compared to the phyllotaxis of land plants. The alga, Sargassum muticum (Yendo Fensholt has a highly organized thallus with a stipe, the stem-like main axis, and hierarchically organized lateral branches of successive orders. Around each of these axes, the lateral organs: blades, side-branches, and receptacles grow in a spiral disposition. As in land plants, this organization is related to an apical mode of growth. Measurements performed along the mature differentiated axes as well as in their meristematic regions confirm the similarity of the large-scale organization of this brown alga with that of the land plants. In particular, the divergence angle between successive elements has similar values and it results from the existence around the meristem of parastichies having the same Fibonacci ordering. This is remarkable in view of the fact that brown algae (Phaeophyceae and land plants (Embryophyta are two clades that diverged approximately 1800 million years ago when they were both unicellular organisms. We argue that the observed similarity results from a morphogenetic convergence. This is in strong support of the genericity and robustness of self-organization models in which similar structures, here Fibonacci related spirals, can be obtained in various situations in which the genetic and physiological implementation of development can be of a different nature.

Phthalate esters contamination in soil and plants on agricultural land near an electronic waste recycling site.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Ting Ting; Christie, Peter; Luo, Yong Ming; Teng, Ying

2013-08-01

The accumulation of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in soil and plants in agricultural land near an electronic waste recycling site in east China has become a great threat to the neighboring environmental quality and human health. Soil and plant samples collected from land under different utilization, including fallow plots, vegetable plots, plots with alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) as green manure, fallow plots under long-term flooding and fallow plots under alternating wet and dry periods, together with plant samples from relative plots were analyzed for six PAE compounds nominated as prior pollutants by USEPA. In the determined samples, the concentrations of six target PAE pollutants ranged from 0.31-2.39 mg/kg in soil to 1.81-5.77 mg/kg in various plants (dry weight/DW), and their bioconcentration factors (BCFs) ranged from 5.8 to 17.9. Health risk assessments were conducted on target PAEs, known as typical environmental estrogen analogs, based on their accumulation in the edible parts of vegetables. Preliminary risk assessment to human health from soil and daily vegetable intake indicated that DEHP may present a high-exposure risk on all ages of the population in the area by soil ingestion or vegetable consumption. The potential damage that the target PAE compounds may pose to human health should be taken into account in further comprehensive risk assessments in e-waste recycling sites areas. Moreover, alfalfa removed substantial amounts of PAEs from the soil, and its use can be considered a good strategy for in situ remediation of PAEs.

WAY OF PRE-PLANTING TREATMENT OF EARLY-RIPENNING POTATO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Semibratskaja

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The technology of pre-planting treatment of early-ripening potato increasing the volume of production in the Eastern forest-Steppe of Ukraine is presented. This technology is referred to development of organic-mineral container, which covers the surface of tubers and remains there until planting. During this period, the substance of the substrate has a direct impact on growth of apical points of tubers that stimulate its germination and development of root system, and prevent the breaking of sprouts. Comparative data of time of seedling emergence and yield of different potato varieties are presented.

Evaluation of regulatory processes affecting nuclear power plant early site approval and standardization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-12-01

This report presents the results of a survey and evaluation of existing federal, state and local regulatory considerations affecting siting approval of power plants in the United States. Those factors that may impede early site approval of nuclear power plants are identified, and findings related to the removal of these impediments and the general improvement of the approval process are presented. A brief evaluation of standardization of nuclear plant design is also presented

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant land management plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

On October 30, 1992, the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act became law. This Act transferred the responsibility for the management of the WIPP Land Withdrawal Area (WILWA) from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Energy. In accordance with sections 3(a)(1) and (3) of the Act, these lands open-quotes hor-ellipsis are withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws hor-ellipsis close quotesand are reserved for the use of the Secretary of Energy open-quotes hor-ellipsis for the construction, experimentation, operation, repair and maintenance, disposal, shutdown, monitoring, decommissioning, and other activities, associated with the purposes of WIPP as set forth in the Department of Energy National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Act of 1980 and this Act.close quotes. As a complement to this LMP, a MOU has been executed between the DOE and the BLM, as required by section 4(d) of the Act. The state of New Mexico was consulted in the development of the MOU and the associated Statement of Work (SOW)

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant land management plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-05-01

On October 30, 1992, the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act became law. This Act transferred the responsibility for the management of the WIPP Land Withdrawal Area (WILWA) from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of Energy. In accordance with sections 3(a)(1) and (3) of the Act, these lands {open_quotes}{hor_ellipsis}are withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws{hor_ellipsis}{close_quotes}and are reserved for the use of the Secretary of Energy {open_quotes}{hor_ellipsis}for the construction, experimentation, operation, repair and maintenance, disposal, shutdown, monitoring, decommissioning, and other activities, associated with the purposes of WIPP as set forth in the Department of Energy National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Act of 1980 and this Act.{close_quotes}. As a complement to this LMP, a MOU has been executed between the DOE and the BLM, as required by section 4(d) of the Act. The state of New Mexico was consulted in the development of the MOU and the associated Statement of Work (SOW).

The importance of historical land use in the maintenance of early successional habitat for a threatened rattlesnake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric M. McCluskey

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Understanding how historic habitat changes have impacted species and searching the past for clues to better understand the current plight of threatened species can help inform and improve future conservation efforts. We coupled species distribution modeling with historical imagery analysis to assess how changes in land use/land cover have influenced the distribution of eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus, a federally threatened species, and its habitat in northeastern Ohio over the past ∼75 years. We also examined land use/land cover changes throughout southern Michigan for a broader perspective on the influence of historical processes on contemporary habitat. There was a pronounced shift in northeastern Ohio land cover from 1938 to 2011 with forest cover becoming the predominant land cover type as agricultural fields were abandoned and succession occurred. Most known eastern massasauga locations in the area were at some point used for agriculture and higher habitat suitability values were associated with agricultural fields that were eventually abandoned. We observed more stable habitat conditions across southern Michigan populations indicating agricultural abandonment was not as necessary for habitat creation in this part of their range. We present a new approach for linking historical landscapes to present day habitat suitability models; permitting inferences on how prior land use/land cover states have influenced the current distribution of species and their habitats. We demonstrate how agricultural abandonment was an important source of early successional habitat for a species that requires an open canopy, a finding applicable to a broad array of species with similar habitat requirements. Keywords: Eastern massasauga, Agriculture, Aerial photography, Maxent

Phenomenological uncertainty analysis of early containment failure at severe accident of nuclear power plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Su Won

2011-02-15

The severe accident has inherently significant uncertainty due to wide range of conditions and performing experiments, validation and practical application are extremely difficult because of its high temperature and pressure. Although internal and external researches were put into practice, the reference used in Korean nuclear plants were foreign data of 1980s and safety analysis as the probabilistic safety assessment has not applied the newest methodology. Also, it is applied to containment pressure formed into point value as results of thermal hydraulic analysis to identify the probability of containment failure in level 2 PSA. In this paper, the uncertainty analysis methods for phenomena of severe accident influencing early containment failure were developed, the uncertainty analysis that apply Korean nuclear plants using the MELCOR code was performed and it is a point of view to present the distribution of containment pressure as a result of uncertainty analysis. Because early containment failure is important factor of Large Early Release Frequency(LERF) that is used as representative criteria of decision-making in nuclear power plants, it was selected in this paper among various modes of containment failure. Important phenomena of early containment failure at severe accident based on previous researches were comprehended and methodology of 7th steps to evaluate uncertainty was developed. The MELCOR input for analysis of the severe accident reflected natural circulation flow was developed and the accident scenario for station black out that was representative initial event of early containment failure was determined. By reviewing the internal model and correlation for MELCOR model relevant important phenomena of early containment failure, the uncertainty factors which could affect on the uncertainty were founded and the major factors were finally identified through the sensitivity analysis. In order to determine total number of MELCOR calculations which can

Consideration of early closure or continued operation of a nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-07-01

This publication provides information to management and executives of electrical utilities responsible for the operation of nuclear power plants who are tasked with decision making related to early closures or continued operation. This information is based on the experiences of a number of countries in addressing a spectrum of issues broader than only the economics of the operation of the plant itself. Any major decision involving changes in direction for a major investment such as a nuclear power plant has the potential to incur considerable additional costs for stakeholders. Major economic risks can be unexpectedly encountered when decisions based on a simplified economic understanding of energy options are successfully challenged on the grounds that choices and decisions have been made without accounting for some environmental, social or economic issues which are considered of prime significance to important stakeholders. Such risks include not only changes in project scope and delays in project implementation due to re-evaluations necessitated by such challenges, but risks related to the effectiveness, efficiency and safety of ongoing operations or shutdown maintenance of the nuclear power plant. Additional risks encountered at this stage are the adequacy of the decommissioning fund and the need to establish a process whereby the availability of adequate funds will be assured at the time of the final plant shutdown. This publication provides information on several of these additional issues important to key stakeholders, and on methods that allow for their assessment and consideration when developing recommendations related to early closures or continued operations of a NPP. This publication consists of two parts: Part I: Includes a discussion of the main issues for consideration, with emphasis on issues important to stakeholders in addition to plant owners. Part II: Provides an example of a basic analytical approach to the assessment of plant life cycle

Hyperspectral remote sensing for advanced detection of early blight (Alternaria solani) disease in potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants

Science.gov (United States)

Atherton, Daniel

Early detection of disease and insect infestation within crops and precise application of pesticides can help reduce potential production losses, reduce environmental risk, and reduce the cost of farming. The goal of this study was the advanced detection of early blight (Alternaria solani) in potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants using hyperspectral remote sensing data captured with a handheld spectroradiometer. Hyperspectral reflectance spectra were captured 10 times over five weeks from plants grown to the vegetative and tuber bulking growth stages. The spectra were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA), spectral change (ratio) analysis, partial least squares (PLS), cluster analysis, and vegetative indices. PCA successfully distinguished more heavily diseased plants from healthy and minimally diseased plants using two principal components. Spectral change (ratio) analysis provided wavelengths (490-510, 640, 665-670, 690, 740-750, and 935 nm) most sensitive to early blight infection followed by ANOVA results indicating a highly significant difference (p potato plants.

LANDSAT-4 Science Characterization Early Results. Volume 4: Applications. [agriculture, soils land use, geology, hydrology, wetlands, water quality, biomass identification, and snow mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Barker, J. L. (Editor)

1985-01-01

The excellent quality of TM data allows researchers to proceed directly with applications analyses, without spending a significant amount of time applying various corrections to the data. The early results derived of TM data are discussed for the following applications: agriculture, land cover/land use, soils, geology, hydrology, wetlands biomass, water quality, and snow.

[Edge effect of the plant community structure on land-bridge islands in the Thousand Island Lake].

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Xiao-Fei; Yuan, Jin-Feng; Hu, Guang; Xu, Gao-Fu; Yu, Ming-Jian

2014-01-01

The research was conducted on 29 land-bridge islands in the Thousand Island Lake (TIL), where long-term monitoring plots were set up during 2009-2010. The community attributes including species richness, Shannon index, plant mean height, plant mean diameter at breast height (DBH) and plant density along the edge-interior gradient from edge to interior forest were calculated to investigate the edge effect. The results showed that the species richness and Shannon index were affected through the whole gradient (larger than 50 m), while the range of edge effect was 20-30 m on mean plant height, and 10 m on plant density and mean DBH. Community attributes differed significantly among the edge gradients. The species richness and Shannon index peaked at the intermediate edge gradient. Plant density decreased and plant mean height increased along the edge to interior gradient. All five community attributes were significantly associated with the edge gradient, also different functional groups, evergreen or deciduous species, trees or shrubs, shade tolerant or shade intolerant species, were differentially influenced by the edge effect. It was demonstrated the influence of edge effect on the fragmented forest community varied with community attributes and functional groups.

Effectiveness of Some Ameliorants in Reducing Co2 and N2o Emission in Corn Planting in Peat Land

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eni Maftuah

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Amelioration is very important in supporting plant growth in peat land. The use of low emission ameliorant will support the sustainability of agricultural system in peat land. The research is intended to study the effectiveness of some ameliorants in reducing CO2 and N2O emission in corn planting in peat land. The research was conducted in April to October 2013, in Kalampangan Village Palangkaraya Municipality Central Kalimantan. Ameliorant materials used were chicken manure fertilizer, domolite, mineral soil, paddy husk biochar, coconut shell biochar. Ameliorant treatments applied were the type of ameliorant compositions, those were (A1 80% chicken manure fertilizer + 20% dolomite, (A2 20% chicken manure fertilizer + 20% agricultural weeds + 20% spodosol mineral soil + 20% “purun tikus” (eleocharis dulcis compost + 20% dolomite, (A3 19% chicken manure fertilizer + 9% dolomite + 72% mineral soil, (A4 100% coconut shell biochar, (A5 paddy husk biochar, (A6 farmer’s way (20% ash + 40% spodosol mineral soil + 40% chicken manure fertilizer and control. Experiment design used a Randomized Factorial Block Design, with 3 repetitions. Ameliorant dosage used was 7.5 t/ha. The crop used was hybrid corn. Parameters which were observed periodically were emission of CO2 and N2O, ground water level height, soil pH and Eh, once a month for 5 periods. The research result showed that ameliorant was capable of reducing emission of both CO2 and N2O in corn planting in peat land. Coconut shell biochar could reduce emission of CO2 up to 26% as compared with control, whereas paddy husk biochar could reduce emission of N2O up to 52% as compared with control.

Plant species diversity as a driver of early succession in abandoned fields: a multi-site approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Putten, W H; Mortimer, S R; Hedlund, K; Van Dijk, C; Brown, V K; Lepä, J; Rodriguez-Barrueco, C; Roy, J; Diaz Len, T A; Gormsen, D; Korthals, G W; Lavorel, S; Regina, I Santa; Smilauer, P

2000-07-01

Succession is one of the most studied processes in ecology and succession theory provides strong predictability. However, few attempts have been made to influence the course of succession thereby testing the hypothesis that passing through one stage is essential before entering the next one. At each stage of succession ecosystem processes may be affected by the diversity of species present, but there is little empirical evidence showing that plant species diversity may affect succession. On ex-arable land, a major constraint of vegetation succession is the dominance of perennial early-successional (arable weed) species. Our aim was to change the initial vegetation succession by the direct sowing of later-successional plant species. The hypothesis was tested that a diverse plant species mixture would be more successful in weed suppression than species-poor mixtures. In order to provide a robust test including a wide range of environmental conditions and plant species, experiments were carried out at five sites across Europe. At each site, an identical experiment was set up, albeit that the plant species composition of the sown mixtures differed from site to site. Results of the 2-year study showed that diverse plant species mixtures were more effective at reducing the number of natural colonisers (mainly weeds from the seed bank) than the average low-diversity treatment. However, the effect of the low-diversity treatment depended on the composition of the species mixture. Thus, the effect of enhanced species diversity strongly depended on the species composition of the low-diversity treatments used for comparison. The effects of high-diversity plant species mixtures on weed suppression differed between sites. Low-productivity sites gave the weakest response to the diversity treatments. These differences among sites did not change the general pattern. The present results have implications for understanding biological invasions. It has been hypothesised that alien

Demonstration tokamak fusion power plant for early realization of net electric power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hiwatari, R.; Okano, K.; Asaoka, Y.; Shinya, K.; Ogawa, Y.

2005-01-01

A demonstration tokamak fusion power plant Demo-CREST is proposed as the device for early realization of net electric power generation by fusion energy. The plasma configuration for Demo-CREST is optimized to satisfy the electric breakeven condition (the condition for net electric power, P e net = 0 MW) with the plasma performance of the ITER reference operation mode. This optimization method is considered to be suitable for the design of a demonstration power plant for early realization of net electric power generation, because the demonstration power plant has to ensure the net electric generation. Plasma performance should also be more reliably achieved than in past design studies. For the plasma performance planned in the present ITER programme, net electric power from 0 to 500 MW is possible with Demo-CREST under the following engineering conditions: maximum magnetic field 16 T, thermal efficiency 30%, NBI system efficiency 50% and NBI current drive power restricted to 200 MW. By replacing the blanket system with one of higher thermal efficiency, a net electric power of about 1000 MW is also possible so that the performance of the commercial plant with Demo-CREST can also be studied from the economic point of view. The development path from the experimental reactor 'ITER' to the commercial plant 'CREST' through the demonstration power plant 'Demo-CREST' is proposed as an example of the fast track concept. (author)

Effect of Irradiation of 60CO Gamma Rays on Growth of Garlic (Allium Sativum L) Plants Cv. Lumbu Hijau at Low Land Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ismiyati Sutarto; Kumala Dewi; Arwin; Nurrohma

2004-01-01

Garlic originally come from the sub tropical area. In Indonesia, garlic is grown generally in high land area with an altitude between 1000 - 1600 m above sea level. Therefore, the area for growing and producing garlic is limited. Besides, genetic variation of garlic is very narrow since garlic belongs to vegetatively propagated crops. An effort for increasing genetic variation of garlic was done by exposing garlic cloves to gamma rays in order to obtain garlic mutant lines adapted to low land area. Garlic cloves were exposed to different doses of gamma rays 0 (untreated) 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 Gy at the Centre for Research and Development of Isotope and Radiation Technology. Each dose consisted of 150 garlic cloves. Untreated and irradiated garlic cloves were grown at Bandar Buat Experimental Station (50 m above sea level), Padang, West Sumatera. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with three replication. The parameter observed were percentage of grown plants and survival harvested plants, plant height, leaf number, chlorophyll content, number of stomata, plant age, number of cloves per bulbs, fresh, dry weight and diameter of bulbs. The result indicated that the dose of gamma rays 6 Gy is an advantage dose for obtaining well adapted garlic mutant lines in the low land area. (author)

Evaluation of Seed and Forage Yield of Perennial Plants with Low Water Requirement in Abandoned Farming Lands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali gazanchian

2017-10-01

Mashhad from 2013 to 2014. The seeds were sown in early November and well-watered for twice after planting and then irrigated by the end of rainfall from May to August, every 22 days.The harvesting time was late August. Results and Discussion The results showed that in the first year, the average of seedling establishment was 71% for all species with the lowest 13% for P. antidutale Retz. and the highest 99% for S. montanum Guss. Also, in the years 2013 and 2014 the average of dry forage yield were 1432 and 3663 kg.ha-1, respectively. In the second year, the highest dry forage yield among the species belonged to A. elongatum Host.and B. inermis Leyss. with 10584 and 4029 kg.ha-1, respectively. Also, the grain yield of perennial grasses varied between 185 for A. elongatum Host. to 1085 kg.ha-1for A. cristatum L. In the studied species harvest index was between 2 and 34%. In the first year of perennial species growth, emergence and seedling establishment are one of the most important factors affecting on the increasing seed yield and forage yield. Also, the grain yield was affected by the high number of fertile tillers or stem per plant and number of grains per spike. Another remarkable point was that some grasses showed good seed germination and seedling vigor after immediately harvesting time. The highest seed germination percentage for S. montanum Guss., A. elongatum Host., B. inermis Leyss., A. cristatum L. and B. riparius Rehmann were 96%, 90%, 58%, 55% and 40%, respectively. Conclusion The results suggest that the yield of perennial species in the first year was very low and weak to compete with weeds (except S. montanum Guss.. But in the second year, dry forage yield has increased up to 2 or 3 times. Due to limited water resources in Iran, area of abandoned lands (low yield is increasing. Therefore, the selection of Agropyron genera as a drought tolerant species with the aim of increasing the productivity of the land and to prevent soil erosion and to produce forage

Copper, zinc and lead biogeochemistry in aquatic and land plants from the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Portugal) and north of Morocco mining areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Durães, Nuno; Bobos, Iuliu; Ferreira da Silva, Eduardo; Dekayir, Abdelilah

2015-02-01

The ability of aquatic (Juncus effusus L., Scirpus holoschoenus L., Thypha latifolia L. and Juncus sp.) and land (Cistus ladanifer L., Erica andevalensis C.-R., Nerium oleander L., Isatis tinctoria L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Cynodon dactylon L. and Hordeum murinum L.) plants from Portugal (Aljustrel, Lousal and São Domingos) and Morocco (Tighza and Zeida) mining areas to uptake, translocate and tolerate heavy metals (Cu, Zn and Pb) was evaluated. The soils (rhizosphere) of the first mining area are characterized by high acidity conditions (pH 2-5), whereas from the second area, by alkaline conditions (pH 7.0-8.5). Physicochemical parameters and mineralogy of the rhizosphere were determined from both areas. Chemical analysis of plants and the rhizosphere was carried out by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry. The sequential chemical extraction procedure was applied for rhizosphere samples collected from both mining areas. In the acid conditions, the aquatic plants show a high capacity for Zn bioaccumulation and translocation and less for Pb, reflecting the following metal mobility sequence: Zn > Cu > Pb. Kaolinite detected in the roots by infrared spectroscopy (IR) contributed to metal fixation (i.e. Cu), reducing its translocation to the aerial parts. Lead identified in the roots of land plants (e.g. E. andevalensis) was probably adsorbed by C-H functional groups identified by IR, being easily translocated to the aerial parts. It was found that aquatic plants are more efficient for phytostabilization than bioaccumulation. Lead is more bioavailable in the rhizosphere from Morocco mining areas due to scarcity of minerals with high adsorption ability, being absorbed and translocated by both aquatic and land plants.

Land-sea coupling of early Pleistocene glacial cycles in the southern North Sea exhibit dominant Northern Hemisphere forcing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Donders, Timme; Van Helmond, Niels A.G.M.; Verreussel, Roel; Munsterman, Dirk; Veen, Johan Ten; Speijer, Robert P.; Weijers, Johan W.H.; Sangiorgi, Francesca; Peterse, Francien; Reichart, Gert-Jan; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S.; Lourens, Lucas; Kuhlmann, Gesa; Brinkhuis, Henk

2018-01-01

We assess the disputed phase relations between forcing and climatic response in the early Pleistocene with a spliced Gelasian (ĝ1/4 2.6-1.8ĝ€Ma) multi-proxy record from the southern North Sea basin. The cored sections couple climate evolution on both land and sea during the intensification of

Germination and early plant development of ten plant species exposed to titanium dioxide and cerium oxide nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Ten agronomic plant species were exposed to different concentrations of nano titanium dioxide (nTiO2) or nano cerium oxide (nCeO2) (0, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/L) to examine potential effects on germination and early seedling development. We modified a standard test protocol develop...

[Interrelations between plant communities and environmental factors of wetlands and surrounding lands in mid- and lower reaches of Tarim River].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Ruifeng; Zhou, Huarong; Qian, Yibing; Zhang, Jianjun

2006-06-01

A total of 16 quadrants of wetlands and surrounding lands in the mid- and lower reaches of Tarim River were surveyed, and the data about the characteristics of plant communities and environmental factors were collected and counted. By using PCA (principal component analysis) ordination and regression procedure, the distribution patterns of plant communities and the relationships between the characteristics of plant community structure and environmental factors were analyzed. The results showed that the distribution of the plant communities was closely related to soil moisture, salt, and nutrient contents. The accumulative contribution rate of soil moisture and salt contents in the first principal component accounted for 35.70%, and that of soil nutrient content in the second principal component reached 25.97%. There were 4 types of habitats for the plant community distribution, i. e., fenny--light salt--medium nutrient, moist--medium salt--medium nutrient, mesophytic--medium salt--low nutrient, and medium xerophytic-heavy salt--low nutrient. Along these habitats, swamp vegetation, meadow vegetation, riparian sparse forest, halophytic desert, and salinized shrub were distributed. In the wetlands and surrounding lands of mid- and lower reaches of Tarim River, the ecological dominance of the plant communities was markedly and unitary-linearly correlated with the compound gradient of soil moisture and salt contents. The relationships between species diversity, ecological dominance, and compound gradient of soil moisture and salt contents were significantly accorded to binary-linear regression model.

On-plant movement and feeding of western bean cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) early instars on corn.

Science.gov (United States)

Paula-Moraes, S V; Hunt, T E; Wright, R J; Hein, G L; Blankenship, E E

2012-12-01

Western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith), has undergone a recent eastward expansion from the western U.S. Corn Belt to Pennsylvania and parts of Canada. Little is known about its ecology and behavior, particularly during the early instars, on corn (Zea mays L.). There is a narrow treatment window for larvae, and early detection of the pest in the field is essential. An understanding of western bean cutworm larval feeding and early-instar dispersal is essential to understand larval survival and establishment in corn. Studies were conducted in 2009 through 2011 in Nebraska to determine the feeding and dispersal of early-instar western bean cutworm on corn. The treatment design was a factorial with three corn stages (pretassel, tassel, and posttassel) and five corn plant zones (tassel, above ear, primary ear, secondary ear, and below ear) in a randomized complete block design. The effects of different corn tissues on larval survival and development were investigated in laboratory studies in a randomized complete block design during 2009 and 2011. Treatments were different corn tissues (leaf alone, leaf with developing tassel, pollen, pollen plus silk, and silk alone). Results demonstrated that neonate larvae move to the upper part of the plant, independent of corn stage. Larval growth was optimal when fed on tassel tissue. Overall results indicated a selective benefit for movement of the early instar to upper part of the plant.

Siting and early-stage project management of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Kai; Li Guojin

2013-01-01

In this paper, difficulties and challenges facing in siting of nuclear power plant after Fukushima nuclear accident is introduced. The key points for siting are analyzed. The site characteristics related to nuclear safety and the evaluated methods are discussed. From project management perspective, main procedures and key points for the early-stage of a nuclear power project are described. (authors)

Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, water and land use for concentrated solar power plants with different energy backup systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klein, Sharon J.W.; Rubin, Edward S.

2013-01-01

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is unique among intermittent renewable energy options because for the past four years, utility-scale plants have been using an energy storage technology that could allow a CSP plant to operate as a baseload renewable energy generator in the future. No study to-date has directly compared the environmental implications of this technology with more conventional CSP backup energy options. This study compares the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water consumption, and direct, onsite land use associated with one MW h of electricity production from CSP plants with wet and dry cooling and with three energy backup systems: (1) minimal backup (MB), (2) molten salt thermal energy storage (TES), and (3) a natural gas-fired heat transfer fluid heater (NG). Plants with NG had 4–9 times more life cycle GHG emissions than plants with TES. Plants with TES generally had twice as many life cycle GHG emissions as the MB plants. Dry cooling reduced life cycle water consumption by 71–78% compared to wet cooling. Plants with larger backup capacities had greater life cycle water consumption than plants with smaller backup capacities, and plants with NG had lower direct, onsite life cycle land use than plants with MB or TES. - highlights: • We assess life cycle environmental effects of concentrated solar power (CSP). • We compare CSP with three energy backup technologies and two cooling technologies. • We selected solar field area to minimize energy cost for plants with minimal backup and salt storage. • Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions were 4–9 times lower with thermal energy storage than with fossil fuel backup. • Dry cooling reduced life cycle water use by 71–78% compared to wet cooling

Impact of the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the land cover and use: study of the basin Lajeado Bonito - RS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tramontina, Juliana; Breunig, Fabio Marcelo

2015-01-01

This work aims to analyze the impact of the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on land cover and use in Lajeado Bonito-RS watershed. The study evaluated the temporal evolution of land cover and use in the watershed for the period before and after to installation of hydroelectric plant Foz do Chapeco (2009 to 2010). For temporal analysis, two images were interpreted, one orbital image of High Resolution Camera (HRC) onboard of the CBERS-2B, acquired in December 29, 2009. And a high-resolution image obtained from Google Earth application, acquired at December 26, 2010. The land cover and use maps were generated by vector editing SPRING software. We found that the predominant land use related to agriculture and livestock, including bare soil. In 2009 this class accounted for 70.23% of the total area, while it come to represent 61.8% in 2010. At the same time, there was increase of areas with native forest cover, from 27.49% covered by forest in 2009, to 31% in 2010. The results showed that in both 2009 and 2010 years, approximately 49% of permanent preservation area were used inappropriately. (author)

Trace elements in land plants: concentration ranges and accumulators of rare earths, Ba, Ra, Mn, Fe, Co and heavy halogens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koyama, M.; Shirakawa, M.; Takada, J.; Katayama, Y.; Matsubara, T.

1987-01-01

More than 2000 samples of land plant leaves, mostly of tree, were analyzed by neutron activation analysis in order to find out macroscopic relations between distributions of chemical elements in plants and soil characteristics. The distributions of the elements in plants were also examined from the view point of botanical taxonomy or phylogeny. New species which accumulate Co, rare earths, Ba, Ra, heavy halogens and some other elements were found. Capability or potentiality for accumulating elements could be related to higher ranks of taxonomy, that is, genus or family. The nature of soil is also found to have profound effects on the extent of accumulation of elements in plants. (author)

Identification of Sweet Sorghum accessions with seedling cold tolerance using both lab cold germination test and field early Spring planting evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Cultivars with quick seedling emergence and stand establishment at early spring cold conditions may be planted early in the same region with an extended period of plant growth and can potentially increase either grain yield, stem sugar yield, or biomass production of sorghum. Planting cultivars with...

Focus on land reclamation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-04-01

Various aspects of land reclamation, i.e. returning disturbed land to a state where, at minimum, it is at least capable of supporting the same kinds of land uses as before the disturbance, are discussed. Activities which disturb the land such as surface mining of coal, surface mining and extraction of oil sands, drilling for oil and natural gas, waste disposal sites, including sanitary landfills, clearing timber for forestry, excavating for pipelines and transportation are described, along with land reclamation legislation in Alberta, and indications of future developments in land reclamation research, legislation and regulation. Practical guidelines for individuals are provided on how they might contribute to land reclamation through judicious and informed consumerism, and through practicing good land management, inclusive of reduced use of herbicides, composting of household wastes, and planting of native species or ground cover in place of traditional lawns.

Distribution of trace elements in land plants and botanical taxonomy with special reference to rare earth elements and actinium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koyama, Mutsuo

1989-01-01

Distribution profiles of trace elements in land plants were studied by neutron activation analysis and radioactivity measurements without activation. Number of botanical samples analyzed were more than three thousand in which more than three hundred botanical species were included. New accumulator plants of Co, Cr, Zn, Cd, rare earth elements, Ac, U, etc., were found. Capabilities of accumulating trace elements can be related to the botanical taxonomy. Discussions are given from view points of inorganic chemistry as well as from botanical physiology

Evolution of green plants as deduced from 5S rRNA sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Hori, H; Lim, B L; Osawa, S

1985-02-01

We have constructed a phylogenic tree for green plants by comparing 5S rRNA sequences. The tree suggests that the emergence of most of the uni- and multicellular green algae such as Chlamydomonas, Spirogyra, Ulva, and Chlorella occurred in the early stage of green plant evolution. The branching point of Nitella is a little earlier than that of land plants and much later than that of the above green algae, supporting the view that Nitella-like green algae may be the direct precursor to land plants. The Bryophyta and the Pteridophyta separated from each other after emergence of the Spermatophyta. The result is consistent with the view that the Bryophyta evolved from ferns by degeneration. In the Pteridophyta, Psilotum (whisk fern) separated first, and a little later Lycopodium (club moss) separated from the ancestor common to Equisetum (horsetail) and Dryopteris (fern). This order is in accordance with the classical view. During the Spermatophyta evolution, the gymnosperms (Cycas, Ginkgo, and Metasequoia have been studied here) and the angiosperms (flowering plants) separated, and this was followed by the separation of Metasequoia and Cycas (cycad)/Ginkgo (maidenhair tree) on one branch and various flowering plants on the other.

Plant indicator values as a tool for land mollusc autecology assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Horsák, Michal; Hájek, Michal; Tichý, Lubomír; Juřičková, Lucie

2007-09-01

The aim of this paper was to utilize Ellenberg's plant indicator system for assessing mollusc autecology and to highlight possibilities and advantages of that approach in the case of fen mollusc communities. Molluscs and plants from 137 fen sites in the Western Carpathian Mountains were recorded quantitatively from homogeneous areas of 16 m 2. Water conductivity and pH were measured in the field. Values of Ellenberg's "light, temperature, continentality, moisture, soil reaction, and nutrients" were estimated for each site. The whole data set was processed using ordinations (PCA, DCA, and CCA) and generalized additive models (GAMs). We observed a strong correlation between water pH and Ellenberg soil reaction estimated by plant indicator values ( r = 0.72, P < 0.001). Ellenberg soil reaction was found to be the best predictor of mollusc species composition, which expressed the main mineral-richness gradient. We found the existence of a second important gradient, the gradient of "light", expressing site and canopy openness. A tight correspondence between the results of species response curve modelling based on water conductivity and Ellenberg soil reaction confirmed that "soil reaction" does not express merely pH, but rather the total amount of calcium. We conclude that the Ellenberg's indicator system can be used to study the ecology of land molluscs, an important group of invertebrates in bioindication and nature conservation. Our data and approach could help design appropriate conservation management regimes for threatened snail species. We propose that our approach will be useful also in ecological studies of other animal groups.

Changes in the distribution of alien plants along roadsides in relation to adjacent land use over the course of 40 years

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Dostálek, J.; Frantík, Tomáš; Šilarová, V.

2016-01-01

Roč. 150, č. 3 (2016), s. 442-448 ISSN 1126-3504 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : adjacent land use * alien plants * roads Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 1.390, year: 2016

Genesis of the Lunar Landing Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Gelzer, Christian

2009-01-01

The author examines early research regarding return flight from a Moon landing made prior to President Kennedy's 1961 challenge to put men on the Moon before the end of the decade. Organizations involved in early research include NACA, the Flight Research Center (now Dryden) Bell Aircraft Corporation. The discussion focuses on development of a flight simulator to model the Moon's reduced gravity and development of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle.

Influence of high-latitude warming and land-use changes in the early 20th century northern Eurasian CO2 sink

Science.gov (United States)

Bastos, Ana; Peregon, Anna; Gani, Érico A.; Khudyaev, Sergey; Yue, Chao; Li, Wei; Gouveia, Célia M.; Ciais, Philippe

2018-06-01

While the global carbon budget (GCB) is relatively well constrained over the last decades of the 20th century [1], observations and reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 growth rate present large discrepancies during the earlier periods [2]. The large uncertainty in GCB has been attributed to the land biosphere, although it is not clear whether the gaps between observations and reconstructions are mainly because land-surface models (LSMs) underestimate inter-annual to decadal variability in natural ecosystems, or due to inaccuracies in land-use change reconstructions. As Eurasia encompasses about 15% of the terrestrial surface, 20% of the global soil organic carbon pool and constitutes a large CO2 sink, we evaluate the potential contribution of natural and human-driven processes to induce large anomalies in the biospheric CO2 fluxes in the early 20th century. We use an LSM specifically developed for high-latitudes, that correctly simulates Eurasian C-stocks and fluxes from observational records [3], in order to evaluate the sensitivity of the Eurasian sink to the strong high-latitude warming occurring between 1930 and 1950. We show that the LSM with improved high-latitude phenology, hydrology and soil processes, contrary to the group of LSMs in [2], is able to represent enhanced vegetation growth linked to boreal spring warming, consistent with tree-ring time-series [4]. By compiling a dataset of annual agricultural area in the Former Soviet Union that better reflects changes in cropland area linked with socio-economic fluctuations during the early 20th century, we show that land-abadonment during periods of crisis and war may result in reduced CO2 emissions from land-use change (44%–78% lower) detectable at decadal time-scales. Our study points to key processes that may need to be improved in LSMs and LUC datasets in order to better represent decadal variability in the land CO2 sink, and to better constrain the GCB during the pre-observational record.

Using LIDAR and Quickbird Data to Model Plant Production and Quantify Uncertainties Associated with Wetland Detection and Land Cover Generalizations

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Bruce D.; Bolstad, Paul V.; Naesset, Erik; Anderson, Ryan S.; Garrigues, Sebastian; Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Nickeson, Jaime; Davis, Kenneth J.

2009-01-01

Spatiotemporal data from satellite remote sensing and surface meteorology networks have made it possible to continuously monitor global plant production, and to identify global trends associated with land cover/use and climate change. Gross primary production (GPP) and net primary production (NPP) are routinely derived from the MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard satellites Terra and Aqua, and estimates generally agree with independent measurements at validation sites across the globe. However, the accuracy of GPP and NPP estimates in some regions may be limited by the quality of model input variables and heterogeneity at fine spatial scales. We developed new methods for deriving model inputs (i.e., land cover, leaf area, and photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by plant canopies) from airborne laser altimetry (LiDAR) and Quickbird multispectral data at resolutions ranging from about 30 m to 1 km. In addition, LiDAR-derived biomass was used as a means for computing carbon-use efficiency. Spatial variables were used with temporal data from ground-based monitoring stations to compute a six-year GPP and NPP time series for a 3600 ha study site in the Great Lakes region of North America. Model results compared favorably with independent observations from a 400 m flux tower and a process-based ecosystem model (BIOME-BGC), but only after removing vapor pressure deficit as a constraint on photosynthesis from the MODIS global algorithm. Fine resolution inputs captured more of the spatial variability, but estimates were similar to coarse-resolution data when integrated across the entire vegetation structure, composition, and conversion efficiencies were similar to upland plant communities. Plant productivity estimates were noticeably improved using LiDAR-derived variables, while uncertainties associated with land cover generalizations and wetlands in this largely forested landscape were considered less important.

Early land use and centennial scale changes in lake-water organic carbon prior to contemporary monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer-Jacob, Carsten; Tolu, Julie; Bigler, Christian; Yang, Handong; Bindler, Richard

2015-05-26

Organic carbon concentrations have increased in surface waters across parts of Europe and North America during the past decades, but the main drivers causing this phenomenon are still debated. A lack of observations beyond the last few decades inhibits a better mechanistic understanding of this process and thus a reliable prediction of future changes. Here we present past lake-water organic carbon trends inferred from sediment records across central Sweden that allow us to assess the observed increase on a centennial to millennial time scale. Our data show the recent increase in lake-water carbon but also that this increase was preceded by a landscape-wide, long-term decrease beginning already A.D. 1450-1600. Geochemical and biological proxies reveal that these dynamics coincided with an intensification of human catchment disturbance that decreased over the past century. Catchment disturbance was driven by the expansion and later cessation of widespread summer forest grazing and farming across central Scandinavia. Our findings demonstrate that early land use strongly affected past organic carbon dynamics and suggest that the influence of historical landscape utilization on contemporary changes in lake-water carbon levels has thus far been underestimated. We propose that past changes in land use are also a strong contributing factor in ongoing organic carbon trends in other regions that underwent similar comprehensive changes due to early cultivation and grazing over centuries to millennia.

Land-use change has no detectable effect on reproduction of a disturbance-adapted, hawkmoth-pollinated plant species.

Science.gov (United States)

Skogen, Krissa A; Jogesh, Tania; Hilpman, Evan T; Todd, Sadie L; Rhodes, Matthew K; Still, Shannon M; Fant, Jeremie B

2016-11-01

Land-use change is cited as a primary driver of global biodiversity loss, with myriad consequences for species, populations, and ecosystems. However, few studies have examined its impact on species interactions, particularly pollination. Furthermore, when the effects of land-use change on pollination have been studied, the focus has largely been on species pollinated by diurnal pollinators, namely, bees and butterflies. Here, we focus on Oenothera harringtonii, a night-flowering, disturbance-adapted species that has experienced a range-wide gradient of land-use change. We tested the hypothesis that the negative impacts of land-use change are mitigated by long-distance pollination. Our study included both temporal (4 yr) and spatial (19 populations range-wide, and 1, 2, and 5 km from the population center) data, providing a comprehensive understanding of the role of land-use change on pollination biology and reproduction. We first confirmed that O. harringtonii is self-incompatible and reliant on pollinators for reproduction. We then showed that hawkmoths (primarily Hyles lineata) are highly reliable and effective pollinators in both space and time. Unlike other studies, we did not detect an effect of population size, increased isolation, or a reduction in suitable habitat in areas with evidence of land-use change on pollination (visitation, pollen removal and deposition). Furthermore, the proportion of suitable habitat and other fragmentation metrics examined were not associated with population size or density in this plant species. We conclude that nocturnal pollination of Oenothera harringtonii via hawkmoths is robust to the negative impacts of land-use change. © 2016 Skogen et al. Published by the Botanical Society of America. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY).

Plant twitter: ligands under 140 amino acids enforcing stomatal patterning.

Science.gov (United States)

Rychel, Amanda L; Peterson, Kylee M; Torii, Keiko U

2010-05-01

Stomata are an essential land plant innovation whose patterning and density are under genetic and environmental control. Recently, several putative ligands have been discovered that influence stomatal density, and they all belong to the epidermal patterning factor-like family of secreted cysteine-rich peptides. Two of these putative ligands, EPF1 and EPF2, are expressed exclusively in the stomatal lineage cells and negatively regulate stomatal density. A third, EPFL6 or CHALLAH, is also a negative regulator of density, but is expressed subepidermally in the hypocotyl. A fourth, EPFL9 or STOMAGEN, is expressed in the mesophyll tissues and is a positive regulator of density. Genetic evidence suggests that these ligands may compete for the same receptor complex. Proper stomatal patterning is likely to be an intricate process involving ligand competition, regional specificity, and communication between tissue layers. EPFL-family genes exist in the moss Physcomitrella patens, the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii, and rice, Oryza sativa, and their sequence analysis yields several genes some of which are related to EPF1, EPF2, EPFL6, and EPFL9. Presence of these EPFL family members in the basal land plants suggests an exciting hypothesis that the genetic components for stomatal patterning originated early in land plant evolution.

Plant exploitation during the early Natufian in north-eastern Jordan: preliminary results from Shubayqa 1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Otaegui, Amaia Arranz; Richter, Tobias

-woody plant analyses from two in situ hearth structures, along with a summary of the available evidence at other contemporary early Natufian sites. In terms of past vegetation, the results show the presence of wetland species indicating a more forested and wet environment during the early Natufian, which...

Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic results from Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica: Implications for the Weddellia collage of crustal blocks

Science.gov (United States)

Divenere, Vic; Kent, Dennis V.; Dalziel, Ian W. D.

1995-05-01

A new approximately 117 Ma paleomagnetic pole has been defined from the study of volcanic and plutonic rocks from the eastern portion Marie Byrd Land (MBL). The new pole (185.6 deg E/56.8 deg S, A(sub 95) = 8.7 deg) implies that the eastern portion of MBL was an integral part of Weddellia, which included the ancestral Antarctic Peninsula, Thurston Island, and Ellsworth-Whitmore Mountains blocks of West Antarctica. This pole is generally similar to a approximately 125 Ma pole from Thurston Island. Both poles call for major clockwise rotation and poleward motion of eastern MBL and Thurston Island between the Early Cretaceous (125-117 Ma) and the mid-Cretaceous (110-100 Ma). We propose that in the Early Cretaceous, eastern MBL and the Eastern Province of New Zealand were part of a continuous active Pacific margin of Gondwana, connecting with the Antarctic Peninsula, and distinct from western MBL, the Western Province of New Zealand, and North Victoria Land. These western terranes are thought to have accreted to Gondwana in the Devonian. Eastern MBL and the Eastern Province of New Zealand amalgamated with western MBL and the Western Province of New Zealand by the mid-Cretaceous. Major Early Cretaceous motions of the Weddellia blocks postdate the estimated initiation of seafloor spreading in the Weddell Sea and therefore may be the result of plate reorganization during the Cretaceous Quiet Zone.

Land-Use and Socioeconomic Change, Medicinal Plant Selection and Biodiversity Resilience in Far Western Nepal

Science.gov (United States)

Baral, Kedar; Paudel, Prashant; Acharya, Ram P.; Thapa-Magar, Khum B.; Cameron, Mary; Bussmann, Rainer W.

2016-01-01

Indigenous plant use-systems have evolved under, and constantly adapted to human and non-human impacts. In the last decades however, increasing socioeconomic and cultural transformations, including land-use change, outmigration, globalized markets, the introduction of new species, and climate change have led to a decreasing availability of indigenous resources, and are ultimately leading to a reduction of local use-knowledge. Participant observations, discussions, walks-in-the-woods, semi-structured interviews and informal meetings were carried out in 12 villages of far western Nepal between 2011 and 2015 to assess how sociocultural changes have affected the sustenance of indigenous systems and local biodiversity, when compared to studies carried out in the previous decades. Our findings show that there were no statistically significant differences in subject variable means, but differences were relatively important to plant parts-use and plant growth-forms (p = 0.183 and 0.088 respectively). Cissampelos pareira, Acorus calamus, Calotropis gigantea were found to have the greatest relative importance, whereas Ageratina adenophora, Melia azedarach, Carum carvi were most important based on use values. Among them, C. pareira and A. adenophora were introduced. The spatial distribution of species collected for medicine showed that all habitats were important for collection however, habitats close to villages were more favored. The use of non-indigenous and easily available species and more accessible habitats is becoming more prevalent as primary forests become increasingly overexploited, indigenous species become limited, and sociocultural cause of land use change expand. The utilization of indigenous and non-indigenous species and nearby habitats, although possibly affecting the quality of medicinal species, nonetheless reveals the dynamism of indigenous medicines as an adaptive asset mitigating human and non-human environmental changes. PMID:27936247

Land-Use and Socioeconomic Change, Medicinal Plant Selection and Biodiversity Resilience in Far Western Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunwar, Ripu M; Baral, Kedar; Paudel, Prashant; Acharya, Ram P; Thapa-Magar, Khum B; Cameron, Mary; Bussmann, Rainer W

2016-01-01

Indigenous plant use-systems have evolved under, and constantly adapted to human and non-human impacts. In the last decades however, increasing socioeconomic and cultural transformations, including land-use change, outmigration, globalized markets, the introduction of new species, and climate change have led to a decreasing availability of indigenous resources, and are ultimately leading to a reduction of local use-knowledge. Participant observations, discussions, walks-in-the-woods, semi-structured interviews and informal meetings were carried out in 12 villages of far western Nepal between 2011 and 2015 to assess how sociocultural changes have affected the sustenance of indigenous systems and local biodiversity, when compared to studies carried out in the previous decades. Our findings show that there were no statistically significant differences in subject variable means, but differences were relatively important to plant parts-use and plant growth-forms (p = 0.183 and 0.088 respectively). Cissampelos pareira, Acorus calamus, Calotropis gigantea were found to have the greatest relative importance, whereas Ageratina adenophora, Melia azedarach, Carum carvi were most important based on use values. Among them, C. pareira and A. adenophora were introduced. The spatial distribution of species collected for medicine showed that all habitats were important for collection however, habitats close to villages were more favored. The use of non-indigenous and easily available species and more accessible habitats is becoming more prevalent as primary forests become increasingly overexploited, indigenous species become limited, and sociocultural cause of land use change expand. The utilization of indigenous and non-indigenous species and nearby habitats, although possibly affecting the quality of medicinal species, nonetheless reveals the dynamism of indigenous medicines as an adaptive asset mitigating human and non-human environmental changes.

Rubber and Land-Cover Land-Use Change in Mainland Southeast Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, J. M.; Hurni, K.

2017-12-01

Over the past half century, the five countries of Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam - have witnessed major shifts from predominantly subsistence agrarian economies to increasingly commercialized agriculture. Major drivers of change include policy initiatives that fostered regional economic integration and promoted among other changes rapid expansion of boom-crop plantations. Among the many types of commercial boom crops promoted and grown in MSEA are numerous tree-based products such as rubber, coffee, tree species for pulp and paper (particularly eucalyptus and acacia), cashews, and fruits such as oranges, lychees, and longans. The project proposal hypothesized that most (but not all) tree crops replaced swidden cultivation fields and hence are not necessarily accompanied by deforestation. We used MODIS EVI and SWIR time-series from 2001-2014 to classify changes in tree cover across MSEA; a total of 6849 sample points were used to train the classifier (75%) and verification (25%). The classification consists of 24 classes and 17 classes represent tree crops. Project results suggest that 4.4 m ha of rubber have been planted since 2003; 50% of rubber is planted on former evergreen forest land, 18% on deciduous forest land, and 32% on low vegetation area (former crop lands, bushes, scrub). Tree crops occupy about 8% of the landscape (half of that is rubber). Due to the differences in their political and economic histories these countries display different LCLUCs. In northern Laos, smallholder rubber plantations dominate and shifting cultivation is common in the upland. In southern Laos, large-scale plantations of rubber, coffee, eucalyptus, and sugarcane are widespread. In Thailand, vast areas are covered by annual agriculture; fruit trees and rubber are the prevailing tree crops and are mostly planted by smallholders. In Cambodia, large-scale rubber plantations have expanded in recent years on forest lands; smallholder

Global Land Carbon Uptake from Trait Distributions

Science.gov (United States)

Butler, E. E.; Datta, A.; Flores-Moreno, H.; Fazayeli, F.; Chen, M.; Wythers, K. R.; Banerjee, A.; Atkin, O. K.; Kattge, J.; Reich, P. B.

2016-12-01

Historically, functional diversity in land surface models has been represented through a range of plant functional types (PFTs), each of which has a single value for all of its functional traits. Here we expand the diversity of the land surface by using a distribution of trait values for each PFT. The data for these trait distributions is from a sub-set of the global database of plant traits, TRY, and this analysis uses three leaf traits: mass based nitrogen and phosphorus content and specific leaf area, which influence both photosynthesis and respiration. The data are extrapolated into continuous surfaces through two methodologies. The first, a categorical method, classifies the species observed in TRY into satellite estimates of their plant functional type abundances - analogous to how traits are currently assigned to PFTs in land surface models. Second, a Bayesian spatial method which additionally estimates how the distribution of a trait changes in accord with both climate and soil covariates. These two methods produce distinct patterns of diversity which are incorporated into a land surface model to estimate how the range of trait values affects the global land carbon budget.

The polyphenol oxidase gene family in land plants: Lineage-specific duplication and expansion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tran Lan T

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Plant polyphenol oxidases (PPOs are enzymes that typically use molecular oxygen to oxidize ortho-diphenols to ortho-quinones. These commonly cause browning reactions following tissue damage, and may be important in plant defense. Some PPOs function as hydroxylases or in cross-linking reactions, but in most plants their physiological roles are not known. To better understand the importance of PPOs in the plant kingdom, we surveyed PPO gene families in 25 sequenced genomes from chlorophytes, bryophytes, lycophytes, and flowering plants. The PPO genes were then analyzed in silico for gene structure, phylogenetic relationships, and targeting signals. Results Many previously uncharacterized PPO genes were uncovered. The moss, Physcomitrella patens, contained 13 PPO genes and Selaginella moellendorffii (spike moss and Glycine max (soybean each had 11 genes. Populus trichocarpa (poplar contained a highly diversified gene family with 11 PPO genes, but several flowering plants had only a single PPO gene. By contrast, no PPO-like sequences were identified in several chlorophyte (green algae genomes or Arabidopsis (A. lyrata and A. thaliana. We found that many PPOs contained one or two introns often near the 3’ terminus. Furthermore, N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis using ChloroP and TargetP 1.1 predicted that several putative PPOs are synthesized via the secretory pathway, a unique finding as most PPOs are predicted to be chloroplast proteins. Phylogenetic reconstruction of these sequences revealed that large PPO gene repertoires in some species are mostly a consequence of independent bursts of gene duplication, while the lineage leading to Arabidopsis must have lost all PPO genes. Conclusion Our survey identified PPOs in gene families of varying sizes in all land plants except in the genus Arabidopsis. While we found variation in intron numbers and positions, overall PPO gene structure is congruent with the phylogenetic

Influence of establishment timing and planting stock on early rotational growth of loblolly pine plantations in Texas

Science.gov (United States)

M. A. Blazier; E. L. Taylor; A. G. Holley

2010-01-01

Planting container seedlings, which have relatively fully formed root systems encased in a soil-filled plug, may improve loblolly pine plantation productivity by increasing early survival and growth relative to that of conventionally planted bareroot seedlings. Planting seedlings in fall may also confer productivity increases to loblolly pine plantations by giving...

Emerging crops in the USDA arid lands germplasm collection

Science.gov (United States)

The USDA National Plant Germplasm System maintains collections of several emerging crops for arid lands at the National Arid Land Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Parlier, CA (NALPGRU). The guayule, jojoba, and prickly pear collections are most active in terms of current research and crop development...

Estimation of water pollution by domestic in-land nuclear power plant under severe accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Hong; Fang Sheng; Fang Dong

2013-01-01

In-land nuclear power plant sites of China are usually located in densely populated area and are close to large surface water. This paper proposed scenarios and corresponding calculation models for water contamination caused by radioactive plume release after a severe accident. The models were applied to an imaginary lake (reservoir)-adjacent site in the south of China. The results showed that, the short-time concentration of radioactivity in the lake due to dry and wet deposition and runoff was higher than the generic action levels for foodstuffs in GB 18871-2002, and the public dose resulted was unacceptable. (authors)

Gross and net land cover changes in the main plant functional types derived from the annual ESA CCI land cover maps (1992-2015)

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wei; MacBean, Natasha; Ciais, Philippe; Defourny, Pierre; Lamarche, Céline; Bontemps, Sophie; Houghton, Richard A.; Peng, Shushi

2018-01-01

Land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) impacts local energy and water balance and contributes on global scale to a net carbon emission to the atmosphere. The newly released annual ESA CCI (climate change initiative) land cover maps provide continuous land cover changes at 300 m resolution from 1992 to 2015, and can be used in land surface models (LSMs) to simulate LULCC effects on carbon stocks and on surface energy budgets. Here we investigate the absolute areas and gross and net changes in different plant functional types (PFTs) derived from ESA CCI products. The results are compared with other datasets. Global areas of forest, cropland and grassland PFTs from ESA are 30.4, 19.3 and 35.7 million km2 in the year 2000. The global forest area is lower than that from LUH2v2h (Hurtt et al., 2011), Hansen et al. (2013) or Houghton and Nassikas (2017) while cropland area is higher than LUH2v2h (Hurtt et al., 2011), in which cropland area is from HYDE 3.2 (Klein Goldewijk et al., 2016). Gross forest loss and gain during 1992-2015 are 1.5 and 0.9 million km2 respectively, resulting in a net forest loss of 0.6 million km2, mainly occurring in South and Central America. The magnitudes of gross changes in forest, cropland and grassland PFTs in the ESA CCI are smaller than those in other datasets. The magnitude of global net cropland gain for the whole period is consistent with HYDE 3.2 (Klein Goldewijk et al., 2016), but most of the increases happened before 2004 in ESA and after 2007 in HYDE 3.2. Brazil, Bolivia and Indonesia are the countries with the largest net forest loss from 1992 to 2015, and the decreased areas are generally consistent with those from Hansen et al. (2013) based on Landsat 30 m resolution images. Despite discrepancies compared to other datasets, and uncertainties in converting into PFTs, the new ESA CCI products provide the first detailed long-term time series of land-cover change and can be implemented in LSMs to characterize recent carbon dynamics

Trace elements in land plants: concentration ranges and accumulators of rare earths, Ba, Ra, Mn, Fe, Co, and heavy halogens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koyama, Mutsuo; Shirakawa, Masahiro; Takada, Jitsuya; Katayama, Yukio; Matsubara, Takashi

1986-01-01

More than 2000 samples of land plant leaves, mostly of tree, have been analysed by neutron activation analysis in order to find out macroscopic relations between distributions of chemical elements in plants and soil characteristics. The distributions of the elements in plants were also examined from the view point of botanical taxonomy or phylogeny. New species which accumulate Co, rare earths, Ba, Ra, heavy halogens and other elements have been found. Capability or potentiality for accumulating elements could be related to primarily to species. In several cases, however, it is related to higher ranks of taxonomy, that is, genus or family. The nature of soil is also found to have profound effects on the extent of accumulation of elements in plants. (author)

Evolution of allosteric regulation in chorismate mutases from early plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kroll, Kourtney; Holland, Cynthia K.; Starks, Courtney M.; Jez, Joseph M.

2017-09-28

Plants, fungi, and bacteria synthesize the aromatic amino acids: l-phenylalanine, l-tyrosine, and l-tryptophan. Chorismate mutase catalyzes the branch point reaction of phenylalanine and tyrosine biosynthesis to generate prephenate. In Arabidopsis thaliana, there are two plastid-localized chorismate mutases that are allosterically regulated (AtCM1 and AtCM3) and one cytosolic isoform (AtCM2) that is unregulated. Previous analysis of plant chorismate mutases suggested that the enzymes from early plants (i.e. bryophytes/moss, lycophytes, and basal angiosperms) formed a clade distinct from the isoforms found in flowering plants; however, no biochemical information on these enzymes is available. To understand the evolution of allosteric regulation in plant chorismate mutases, we analyzed a basal lineage of plant enzymes homologous to AtCM1 based on sequence similarity. The chorismate mutases from the moss/bryophyte Physcomitrella patens (PpCM1 and PpCM2), the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii (SmCM), and the basal angiosperm Amborella trichopoda (AmtCM1 and AmtCM2) were characterized biochemically. Tryptophan was a positive effector for each of the five enzymes examined. Histidine was a weak positive effector for PpCM1 and AmtCM1. Neither tyrosine nor phenylalanine altered the activity of SmCM; however, tyrosine was a negative regulator of the other four enzymes. Phenylalanine down-regulates both moss enzymes and AmtCM2. The 2.0 Å X-ray crystal structure of PpCM1 in complex with the tryptophan identified the allosteric effector site and reveals structural differences between the R- (more active) and T-state (less active) forms of plant chorismate mutases. Molecular insight into the basal plant chorismate mutases guides our understanding of the evolution of allosteric regulation in these enzymes.

Attempt for reconstruction of agricultural land in Fukushima using biofertilizer microorganisms and Ce-removing plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokoyama, Tadashi

2016-01-01

A group of microorganisms inhabiting the crop rhizosphere promote the absorption of nutrients of crops and helps improve their productivity. These are collectively referred to as biofertilizers. In Fukushima Prefecture, potassium is applied to suppress absorption of radioactive Cs into crops. As a technique to remove radioactive Cs from agricultural lands, the authors investigated whether the combinations of biofertilizer microorganisms with radioactive Cs-removing plants can promote the rooting of these plants and accelerate the removal rate of radioactive Cs contained in the soil. In the field test, the absorption promoting effect on radioactive Cs was recognized by the combination of 3 varieties of Komatsuna and Bacillus genus fertilizer. However, the absorption promotion effect on radioactive Cs was less than 1/10 of that of the model experiment, which suggested the soil factor that the soils in Nihonmatsu City contained vermiculite as clay minerals. Then, the authors conducted a pot test, where the biofertilizer microorganisms having potassium-dissolving bacteria capable of mobilizing the radioactive Cs fixed on vermiculite were applied. It was confirmed that the transfer of radioactive Cs to the plant roots was increased. The combination of filamentous fungus and Ce-removing plants will also be studied in the future. (A.O.)

Germination and early plant development of 10 plant species exposed to Nano TiO2 and CeO2

Science.gov (United States)

Ten agronomic plant species were exposed to different concentrations of nano-TiO2 or CeO2 (0, 250, 500 and 1000 ug/l) and followed to examine effects on germination and early seedling development. For TiO2, cabbage showed increased and corn decreased percent germination, while ...

Dietary options and behavior suggested by plant biomarker evidence in an early human habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Magill, Clayton R.; Ashley, Gail M.; Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel; Freeman, Katherine H.

2016-03-01

The availability of plants and freshwater shapes the diets and social behavior of chimpanzees, our closest living relative. However, limited evidence about the spatial relationships shared between ancestral human (hominin) remains, edible resources, refuge, and freshwater leaves the influence of local resources on our species' evolution open to debate. Exceptionally well-preserved organic geochemical fossils-biomarkers-preserved in a soil horizon resolve different plant communities at meter scales across a contiguous 25,000 m2 archaeological land surface at Olduvai Gorge from about 2 Ma. Biomarkers reveal hominins had access to aquatic plants and protective woods in a patchwork landscape, which included a spring-fed wetland near a woodland that both were surrounded by open grassland. Numerous cut-marked animal bones are located within the wooded area, and within meters of wetland vegetation delineated by biomarkers for ferns and sedges. Taken together, plant biomarkers, clustered bone debris, and hominin remains define a clear spatial pattern that places animal butchery amid the refuge of an isolated forest patch and near freshwater with diverse edible resources.

Land-use history affects understorey plant species distributions in a large temperate-forest complex, Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenning, J.-C.; Baktoft, Karen H.; Balslev, Henrik

2009-01-01

In Europe, forests have been strongly influenced by human land-use for millennia. Here, we studied the importance of anthropogenic historical factors as determinants of understorey species distributions in a 967 ha Danish forest complex using 156 randomly placed 100-m2 plots, 15 environmental, 9...... dispersal and a strong literature record as ancient-forest species, were still concentrated in areas that were high forest in 1805. Among the younger forests, there were clear floristic differences between those on reclaimed bogs and those not. Apparently remnant populations of wet-soil plants were still...

Recent land cover history and nutrient retention in riparian wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, D.M.; Walbridge, M.R.

2009-01-01

Wetland ecosystems are profoundly affected by altered nutrient and sediment loads received from anthropogenic activity in their surrounding watersheds. Our objective was to compare a gradient of agricultural and urban land cover history during the period from 1949 to 1997, with plant and soil nutrient concentrations in, and sediment deposition to, riparian wetlands in a rapidly urbanizing landscape. We observed that recent agricultural land cover was associated with increases in Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) concentrations in a native wetland plant species. Conversely, recent urban land cover appeared to alter receiving wetland environmental conditions by increasing the relative availability of P versus N, as reflected in an invasive, but not a native, plant species. In addition, increases in surface soil Fe content suggests recent inputs of terrestrial sediments associated specifically with increasing urban land cover. The observed correlation between urban land cover and riparian wetland plant tissue and surface soil nutrient concentrations and sediment deposition, suggest that urbanization specifically enhances the suitability of riparian wetland habitats for the invasive species Japanese stiltgrass [Microstegium vimenium (Trinius) A. Camus]. ?? 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

On the Effects of the Evolution of Microbial Mats and Land Plants on the Earth as a Planet. Photometric and Spectroscopic Light Curves of Paleo-Earths

Science.gov (United States)

Sanromá, E.; Pallé, E.; García Munõz, A.

2013-04-01

Understanding the spectral and photometric variability of the Earth and the rest of the solar system planets has become of utmost importance for the future characterization of rocky exoplanets. As this is not only interesting at present times but also along the planetary evolution, we studied the effect that the evolution of microbial mats and plants over land has had on the way our planet looks from afar. As life evolved, continental surfaces changed gradually and non-uniformly from deserts through microbial mats to land plants, modifying the reflective properties of the ground and most likely the distribution of moisture and cloudiness. Here, we used a radiative transfer model of the Earth, together with geological paleo-records of the continental distribution and a reconstructed cloud distribution, to simulate the visible and near-IR radiation reflected by our planet as a function of Earth's rotation. We found that the evolution from deserts to microbial mats and to land plants produces detectable changes in the globally averaged Earth's reflectance. The variability of each surface type is located in different bands and can induce reflectance changes of up to 40% in period of hours. We conclude that by using photometric observations of an Earth-like planet at different photometric bands it would be possible to discriminate between different surface types. While recent literature proposes the red-edge feature of vegetation near 0.7 μm as a signature for land plants, observations in near-IR bands can be equally or even better suited for this purpose.

ON THE EFFECTS OF THE EVOLUTION OF MICROBIAL MATS AND LAND PLANTS ON THE EARTH AS A PLANET. PHOTOMETRIC AND SPECTROSCOPIC LIGHT CURVES OF PALEO-EARTHS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanromá, E.; Pallé, E.; García Munõz, A.

2013-01-01

Understanding the spectral and photometric variability of the Earth and the rest of the solar system planets has become of utmost importance for the future characterization of rocky exoplanets. As this is not only interesting at present times but also along the planetary evolution, we studied the effect that the evolution of microbial mats and plants over land has had on the way our planet looks from afar. As life evolved, continental surfaces changed gradually and non-uniformly from deserts through microbial mats to land plants, modifying the reflective properties of the ground and most likely the distribution of moisture and cloudiness. Here, we used a radiative transfer model of the Earth, together with geological paleo-records of the continental distribution and a reconstructed cloud distribution, to simulate the visible and near-IR radiation reflected by our planet as a function of Earth's rotation. We found that the evolution from deserts to microbial mats and to land plants produces detectable changes in the globally averaged Earth's reflectance. The variability of each surface type is located in different bands and can induce reflectance changes of up to 40% in period of hours. We conclude that by using photometric observations of an Earth-like planet at different photometric bands it would be possible to discriminate between different surface types. While recent literature proposes the red-edge feature of vegetation near 0.7 μm as a signature for land plants, observations in near-IR bands can be equally or even better suited for this purpose.

Early Growth of Improved Acacia mangium at Different Planting Densities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arif Nirsatmanto

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Integrating tree improvement into silvicultural practices is essential in forest plantation. Concerning this fact, Acacia mangium spacing trial planted using genetically improved seed was established in West Java. This study was aimed to evaluate the impact of ages and planting density on early growth of improved seed A. mangium in the spacing trial. Improved seed from 2 seed orchards (SSO-5 and SSO-20 and a control of unimproved seed from seed stand (SS-7 were tested together in spacing 3 × 3 m and 2 × 2 m. Height, diameter, stem volume, and stand volume were observed at 3 ages. The results showed that improved seed consistently outperformed to unimproved seed. Ages were highly significant for all traits, but the significant difference varied among traits and seed sources for planting density and the interactions. High density performed better growth than low density at first year, and they were varied in subsequent ages depending on traits and seed sources. Improved seed from less intensity selection orchard was less tolerance to high density than that from high intensity selection orchard, but the tolerance was reversed in low density. Improved seed A. mangium from different level of genetic selection has responded differently in behavior to the changes of planting density.

Quality Assurance Project Plan for Closure of the Central Facilities Area Sewage Treatment Plant Lagoon 3 and Land Application Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, Michael G.

2016-01-01

This quality assurance project plan describes the technical requirements and quality assurance activities of the environmental data collection/analyses operations to close Central Facilities Area Sewage treatment Plant Lagoon 3 and the land application area. It describes the organization and persons involved, the data quality objectives, the analytical procedures, and the specific quality control measures to be employed. All quality assurance project plan activities are implemented to determine whether the results of the sampling and monitoring performed are of the right type, quantity, and quality to satisfy the requirements for closing Lagoon 3 and the land application area.

Quality Assurance Project Plan for Closure of the Central Facilities Area Sewage Treatment Plant Lagoon 3 and Land Application Area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lewis, Michael G. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2016-10-01

This quality assurance project plan describes the technical requirements and quality assurance activities of the environmental data collection/analyses operations to close Central Facilities Area Sewage treatment Plant Lagoon 3 and the land application area. It describes the organization and persons involved, the data quality objectives, the analytical procedures, and the specific quality control measures to be employed. All quality assurance project plan activities are implemented to determine whether the results of the sampling and monitoring performed are of the right type, quantity, and quality to satisfy the requirements for closing Lagoon 3 and the land application area.

Early Flowering as a Drought Escape Mechanism in Plants: How Can It Aid Wheat Production?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuri Shavrukov

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Drought escape (DE is a classical adaptive mechanism which involves rapid plant development to enable the completion of the full life-cycle prior to a coming drought event. This strategy is widely used in populations of native plants, and is also applicable to cereal crops such as wheat. Early flowering time and a shorter vegetative phase can be very important for wheat production in conditions of terminal drought since this can minimize exposure to dehydration during the sensitive flowering and post-anthesis grain filling periods. A gradual shift toward early flowering has been observed over the last century of wheat breeding in countries with a Mediterranean-type climate and frequent terminal drought. This trend is predicted to continue for wheat production in the coming years in response to global climate warming. The advantage of early flowering wheat is apparent under conditions of impending terminal drought, and modern varieties are significantly more productive due to minimization of the risk associated with drought stress. Under favorable conditions, a short vegetative phase can result in reduced plant biomass due to the reduction in time available for photosynthetic production and seed nutrient accumulation. However, high yield potential has been reported for the development of both shallow and deep roots, representing plasticity in response to drought in combination with the early flowering trait. Wheat productivity can be high both in well-watered and drought-affected field trials, where an efficient strategy of DE was associated with quick growth, yield potential and water use efficiency. Therefore, early flowering provides a promising strategy for the production of advanced drought-adapted wheat cultivars.

EARLY ENTRANCE COPRODUCTION PLANT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

William K. Davis

2001-01-01

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals. The objective is to have these products produced by technologies capable of using synthesis gas derived from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD and T) Plan for implementation in Phase II; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD and T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology that produces high-value products, particularly those that are critical to our domestic fuel and power requirements. The project will resolve critical knowledge and technology gaps on the integration of gasification and downstream processing to coproduce some combination of power, fuels, and chemicals from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing plan for an EECP located at a specific site. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information needed by industry to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation

CeLAND: search for a 4th light neutrino state with a 3 PBq ¹⁴⁴Ce-¹⁴⁴Pr electron antineutrino generator in KamLAND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gando, A; Gando, Y; Hayashida, S; Ikeda, H; Inoue, K; Ishidoshiro, K; Ishikawa, H; Koga, M; Matsuda, R; Matsuda, S; Mitsui, T; Motoki, D; Nakamura, K; Oki, Y; Otani, M; Shimizu, I; Shirai, J; Suekane, F; Suzuki, A; Takemoto, Y; Tamae, K; Ueshima, K; Watanabe, H; Xu, BD; Yamada, S; Yamauchi, Y; Yoshida, H; Cribier, M; Durero, M; Fischer, V; Gaffiot, J; Jonqueres, N; Kouchner, A; Lasserre, T; Leterme, D; Letourneau, A; Lhuillier, D; Mention, G; Rampal, G; Scola, L; Veyssiere, C; Vivier, M; Yala, P; Berger, BE; Kozlov, A; Banks, T; Dwyer, D; Fujikawa, BK; Han, K; Kolomensky, YG; Mei, Y; O' Donnell, T; Decowski, P; Markoff, DM; Yoshida, S; Kornoukhov, VN; Gelis, TVM; Tikhomirov, GV; Learned, JG; Maricic, J; Matsuno, S; Milincic, R; Karwowski, HJ; Efremenko, Y; Detwiler, A; Enomoto, S

2017-05-12

The reactor neutrino and gallium anomalies can be tested with a 3-4 PBq (75-100 kCi scale) ¹⁴⁴Ce-¹⁴⁴Pr antineutrino beta-source deployed at the center or next to a large low-background liquid scintillator detector. The antineutrino generator will be produced by the Russian reprocessing plant PA Mayak as early as 2014, transported to Japan, and deployed in the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detector (KamLAND) as early as 2015. KamLAND's 13 m diameter target volume provides a suitable environment to measure the energy and position dependence of the detected neutrino flux. A characteristic oscillation pattern would be visible for a baseline of about 10 m or less, providing a very clean signal of neutrino disappearance into a yet-unknown, sterile neutrino state. This will provide a comprehensive test of the electron dissaperance neutrino anomalies and could lead to the discovery of a 4th neutrino state for Δm$2\\atop{new}$ ≳ 0.1 eV² and sin²(2θ_new) > 0.05.

Water hammer experiences in the startup and early operation of the Shearon Harris plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casada, D.A.

1987-01-01

During the course of preoperational testing and early operation of the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, several water hammer events have occurred. A description of the events and corrective/preventive measures taken are discussed

Comparative analysis of the conceptual design studies of potential early commercial MHD power plants (CSPEC)

Science.gov (United States)

Sovie, R. J.; Winter, J. M.; Juhasz, A. J.; Berg, R. D.

A conceptual design study of the MHD/steam plant that incorporates the use of oxygen enriched air preheated in a metallic heat exchanger as the combustor oxidant showed that this plant is the most attractive for early commercial applications. The variation of performance and cost was investigated as a function of plant size. The contractors' results for the overall efficiencies are in reasonable agreement considering the slight differences in their plant designs. NASA LeRC is reviewing cost and performance results for consistency with those of previous studies, including studies of conventional steam plants. LeRC in house efforts show that there are still many tradeoffs to be considered for these oxygen enriched plants and considerable variations can be made in channel length and level of oxygen enrichment with little change in overall plant efficiency.

Bacterial spot and early blight biocontrol by epiphytic bacteria in tomato plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Lanna Filho

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to evaluate in vitro and in vivo biocontrol of bacterial spot (Xanthomonas vesicatoria and early blight (Alternaria solani by the epiphytic bacteria Paenibacillus macerans and Bacillus pumilus. Tomato plants were previously sprayed with epiphytic bacteria, benzalkonium chloride and PBS buffer and, after four days, they were inoculated with A. solani and X. vesicatoria. To determine the phytopathogenic bacteria population, leaflet samples were collected from each treatment every 24 hours, for seven days, and plated on semi-selective medium. The effect of epiphytic bacteria over phytopathogens was performed by the antibiosis test and antagonistic activity measured by inhibition zone diameter. The epiphytic and benzalkonium chloride drastically reduced the severity of early blight and bacterial spot in comparison to the control (PBS. In detached leaflets, the epiphytic bacteria reduced in 70% the number of phytopathogenic bacteria cells in the phylloplane. The antibiosis test showed that the epiphytic bacteria efficiently inhibit the phytopathogens growth. In all the bioassays, the epiphytic bacteria protect tomato plants against the phytopathogens

The availability and economic analyses of using marginal land for bioenergy production in China

Science.gov (United States)

Yuqi, Chen; Xudong, Guo; Chunyan, Lv

2017-04-01

In recent years, China has witnessed rapid increase in the dependence of foreign oil import. In 2015, the primary energy consumption of China is 543 million tons, of which 328 million tons was imported. The total amount of imported foreign oil increased from 49.8% in 2008 to 60.41% in 2016. To address the national energy security and GHG emission reduction, China has made considerable progress in expanding renewable energy portfolio, especially liquid biofuels. However, under the pressure of high population and vulnerable food security, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) ruled that bioenergy is only allowed to be produced using non-cereal feedstock. In addition, the energy crops can only be planted on marginal land, which is the land not suitable for growing field crops due to edaphic and/or climatic limitations, and other environmental risks. Although there have been a number of studies about estimating the marginal land for energy plants' cultivation in China, as to the different definition of marginal land and land use data, the results are quite different. Furthermore, even if there is enough marginal land suitable for energy plants' cultivation, economic viability of cultivating energy plants on marginal land is critical. In order to analyze the availability and economic analyses of the marginal land for bioenergy production strategy, firstly, by using of the latest and most authoritative land use data, this study focused on the assessment of marginal land resources and bioenergy potential by planting five species of energy plants including Cassava, Jatropha curcas, Helianthus tuberous L, Pistacia chinensis, Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge. The results indicate that there are 289.71 million ha marginal land can be used for these five energy plants' cultivation, which can produce 24.45 million tons bioethanol and 8.77 million tons of biodiesel. Secondly, based on field survey data and literature reviews, we found that, from the farmers

Lithological and land-use based assessment of heavy metal pollution in soils surrounding a cement plant in SW Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutillas-Barreiro, Laura; Pérez-Rodríguez, Paula; Gómez-Armesto, Antía; Fernández-Sanjurjo, María José; Álvarez-Rodríguez, Esperanza; Núñez-Delgado, Avelino; Arias-Estévez, Manuel; Nóvoa-Muñoz, Juan Carlos

2016-08-15

We study the influence of phasing out a cement plant on the heavy metal (Hg, Pb and Cr) content in the surrounding soils, taking into account factors often neglected, such as contributions due to local lithology or land use. The range of total Hg was 10-144µg kg(-1), reaching up to 41 and 145mgkg(-1) for total contents of Pb and Cr, respectively. Forest soils showed higher concentration of Hg than prairie soils, indicating the importance of land use on the accumulation of volatile heavy metals in soils. In forest soils, total Hg showed a trend to decrease with soil depth, whereas in prairie soils the vertical pattern of heavy metal concentrations was quite homogeneous. In most cases, the distance to the cement plant was not a factor of influence in the soils content of the analyzed heavy metals. Total Pb and Cr contents in soils nearby the cement plant were quite similar to those found in the local lithology, resulting in enrichment factor values (EF's) below 2. This suggests that soil parent material is the main source of these heavy metals in the studied soils, while the contribution of the cement plant to Pb and Cr soil pollution was almost negligible. On the contrary, the soils surrounding the cement plant accumulate a significant amount of Hg, compared to the underlying lithology. This was especially noticeable in forest soils, where Hg EF achieved values up to 36. These results are of relevance, bearing in mind that Hg accumulation in soils may be an issue of environmental concern, particularly in prairie soils, where temporal flooding can favor Hg transformation to highly toxic methyl-Hg. In addition, the concurrence of acid soils and total-Cr concentrations in the range of those considered phytotoxic should be also stressed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SPECIES COMPOSITION, DISTRIBUTION, LIFE FORMS AND FOLK NOMENCLATURE OF FOREST AND COMMON LAND PLANTS OF WESTERN CHITWAN, NEPAL

Science.gov (United States)

Dangol, D. R.

2012-01-01

This paper enumerates 349 plant species belonging to 77 families of vascular plants collected in the winter seasons of 1996 and 2000 by the flora teams of the Population and Ecology Research Laboratory, Nepal. Of the total species, 249 species belong to dicotyledons, 87 species to monocotyledons and 13 species to pteridophytes. Among the families, dicotyledons contributed the highest number of families (55 in number) followed by monocotyledons and pteridophytes. In the study areas, species composition varies with the type of habitats in the study plots. Some species are unique in distribution. The highest unique species are contributed by common lands (87 spp.), followed by the Chitwan National Park forest (36 spp.) and Tikauli forest (32 spp.). Ageratum houstonianum Mill., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv., Rungia parviflora (Retz.) Nees, Saccharum spontaneum L. and Thelypteris auriculata (J. Sm.) K. Iwats are the most common species across all the research blocks. Of the listed plants, many plants have local names either in Nepalese or other tribal languages. Plants are named in different ways on the basis of habit, habitat, smell, taste, and morphological characters of the plants, which are also the basis of nomenclature in plant taxonomy. PMID:22962539

SafeLand guidelines for landslide monitoring and early warning systems in Europe - Design and required technology

Science.gov (United States)

Bazin, S.

2012-04-01

Landslide monitoring means the comparison of landslide characteristics like areal extent, speed of movement, surface topography and soil humidity from different periods in order to assess landslide activity. An ultimate "universal" methodology for this purpose does not exist; every technology has its own advantages and disadvantages. End-users should carefully consider each one to select the methodologies that represent the best compromise between pros and cons, and are best suited for their needs. Besides monitoring technology, there are many factors governing the choice of an Early Warning System (EWS). A people-centred EWS necessarily comprises five key elements: (1) knowledge of the risks; (2) identification, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of the hazards; (3) operational centre; (4) communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings; and (5) local capabilities to respond to the warnings received. The expression "end-to-end warning system" is also used to emphasize that EWSs need to span all steps from hazard detection through to community response. The aim of the present work is to provide guidelines for establishing the different components for landslide EWSs. One of the main deliverables of the EC-FP7 SafeLand project addresses the technical and practical issues related to monitoring and early warning for landslides, and identifies the best technologies available in the context of both hazard assessment and design of EWSs. This deliverable targets the end-users and aims to facilitate the decision process by providing guidelines. For the purpose of sharing the globally accumulated expertise, a screening study was done on 14 EWSs from 8 different countries. On these bases, the report presents a synoptic view of existing monitoring methodologies and early-warning strategies and their applicability for different landslide types, scales and risk management steps. Several comprehensive checklists and toolboxes are also included to support informed

Plasma membrane potential depolarization and cytosolic calcium flux are early events involved in tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) plant-to-plant communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Zebelo, Simon A; Matsui, Kenji; Ozawa, Rika; Maffei, Massimo E

2012-11-01

Tomato plants respond to herbivory by emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are released into the surrounding atmosphere. We analyzed the tomato herbivore-induced VOCs and tested the ability of tomato receiver plants to detect tomato donor volatiles by analyzing early responses, including plasma membrane potential (V(m)) variations and cytosolic calcium ([Ca²⁺](cyt)) fluxes. Receiver tomato plants responded within seconds to herbivore-induced VOCs with a strong V(m) depolarization, which was only partly recovered by fluxing receiver plants with clean air. Among emitted volatiles, we identified by GC-MS some green leaf volatiles (GLVs) such as (E)-2-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, the monoterpene α-pinene, and the sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene. GLVs were found to exert the stronger V(m) depolarization, when compared to α-pinene and β-caryophyllene. Furthermore, V(m) depolarization was found to increase with increasing GLVs concentration. GLVs were also found to induce a strong [Ca²⁺](cyt) increase, particularly when (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate was tested both in solution and with a gas. On the other hand, α-pinene and β-caryophyllene, which also induced a significant V(m) depolarization with respect to controls, did not exert any significant effect on [Ca²⁺](cyt) homeostasis. Our results show for the first time that plant perception of volatile cues (especially GLVs) from the surrounding environment is mediated by early events, occurring within seconds and involving the alteration of the plasma membrane potential and the [Ca²⁺](cyt) flux. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Projecting large-scale area changes in land use and land cover for terrestrial carbon analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Ralph J. Alig; Brett J. Butler

2004-01-01

One of the largest changes in US forest type areas over the last half-century has involved pine types in the South. The area of planted pine has increased more than 10-fold since 1950, mostly on private lands. Private landowners have responded to market incentives and government programs, including subsidized afforestation on marginal agricultural land. Timber harvest...

Migration studies at the Savannah River Plant shallow land burial site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stone, J.A.; Oblath, S.B.; Hawkins, R.H.; Emslie, R.H.; Ryan, J.P. Jr.; King, C.M.

1983-01-01

Radionuclide migration from the Savannah River Plant low-level waste burial ground was studied in ongoing programs that provide generic data on a shallow land burial site in a humid region and support local waste disposal operations. Field, laboratory, and theoretical work continued in four areas. (1) Subsurface Monitoring: Groundwater around the burial ground was monitored for traces of radioactivity and mercury. (2) Lysimeter Tests: Gamma-emitting radionuclides were identified by sensitive methods in defense waste lysimeter percolate waters. Results from these and other lysimeters containing tritium, I-129, or Pu-239 sources are given. (3) Soil-Water Chemistry: Experiments on specific factors affecting migration of Cs-137 showed that potassium significantly increases cesium mobility, thus confirming observations with trench waters. Distribution coefficients for ruthenium were measured. (4) Transport Modeling: Efforts to refine and validate the SRL dose-to-man model continued. Transport calculations were made for tritium, Sr-90, Tc-99, and TRU radionuclides. 12 references, 3 tables

Tamarisk control on public lands in the desert of southern California: two case studies

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

As a land manager, the Federal Government faces enormous challenges from exotic pest invasions and associated changes to the structure and stability of native ecosystems (Bureau of Land Management, 1988). On public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) alone, it is estimated that almost three million hectares are occupied by invasive exotic plant species (weeds). Assuming an annual rate of invasion of 14 percent, 930 hectares of BLM-administered land are infested everyday by weeds (Jerry Asher, personal communication). When one considers the fact that BLM administers only about one-third of the public land in the United States (The Keystone Center, 1991), the magnitude of the problem assumes staggering proportions. The scenario described in the quote above portrays only some of the problems associated with the spread of the exotic plant tamarisk, a species on the California Exotic Pest Plant Council’s list of exotic pest plants of greatest concern (California Exotic Pest Plant Council, 1993). In this paper we review the threats posed by tamarisk invasion and proliferation and examine the traits that make the plant such a successful competitor. In addition, we highlight two tamarisk control efforts conducted by the Bureau of Land Management in the southern California desert.

A Study of Insect Pollinators Associated with DoD TER-S Flowering Plants, Including Identification of Habitat Types Where They Co-Occur by Military Installation in the Western United States

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

environmental stewardship division chiefs can interact with contractors and partner land managers and biologists with plant and pollinator information in hand...1979. Pollination of Southwestern Opuntias. Plant Systematics and Evolution 133: 15-28. Keywords: Opuntia sp. Agapostemon angelicus...Parrish, J.A.D and F.A. Bazzaz. 1979. Difference in pollination niche relationships in early and late successional plant communities. Ecology 60

Environment Quality: Impact From Traffic, Power Plant and Land Morphology, a Case Study of Prishtina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bajcinovci Bujar

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Environmental air pollution is a global health concern, a complex phenomenon which is directly reflected on public health, economic and human development. Environmental air pollution has been drastically multiplied, followed by the beginning of the new Millennia in Prishtina, the capital city of the Kosovo. The new millennium began as a crucial activity for the city of Prishtina in terms of demographic, human geography, social and economic phenomena. The presented study aims to determine prevalent traffic and land morphology composition attributes, which have influenced and continue to have environmental impact in the city of Prishtina. According to the conceptual findings from the empirical observations, the heavy city traffic and the land morphology structure, determine the urban air pollution level. Prishtina is generally polluted due to its geomorphic position in relation to the power plants Kosovo A, and Kosova B. The impact of the above cited factors, is even bigger when the dominant winds prevail through valley, which encompasses the city. The findings from this paper propose the necessity of careful driven urban solutions.

Environment Quality: Impact From Traffic, Power Plant and Land Morphology, a Case Study of Prishtina

Science.gov (United States)

Bajcinovci, Bujar

2017-05-01

Environmental air pollution is a global health concern, a complex phenomenon which is directly reflected on public health, economic and human development. Environmental air pollution has been drastically multiplied, followed by the beginning of the new Millennia in Prishtina, the capital city of the Kosovo. The new millennium began as a crucial activity for the city of Prishtina in terms of demographic, human geography, social and economic phenomena. The presented study aims to determine prevalent traffic and land morphology composition attributes, which have influenced and continue to have environmental impact in the city of Prishtina. According to the conceptual findings from the empirical observations, the heavy city traffic and the land morphology structure, determine the urban air pollution level. Prishtina is generally polluted due to its geomorphic position in relation to the power plants Kosovo A, and Kosova B. The impact of the above cited factors, is even bigger when the dominant winds prevail through valley, which encompasses the city. The findings from this paper propose the necessity of careful driven urban solutions.

Maryland Power Plant Siting Project: an application of the ORNL-Land Use Screening Procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobson, J.E.

1975-01-01

Since 1974 the Resource Analysis Group in the Regional and Urban Studies Section of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been engaged in developing a procedure for regional and local siting analysis known as the ORNL Land Use Screening Procedure (LUSP). This document is the final report of the Maryland Power Plant Siting Project (MPPSP) in which the ORNL LUSP was used to identify candidate areas for power plant sites in northern Maryland. Numerous candidate areas are identified on the basis of four different siting objectives: the minimization of adverse ecologic impact, the minimization of adverse socioeconomic impact, the minimization of construction and operating costs, and a composite of all siting objectives. Siting criteria have been defined for each of these objectives through group processing techniques administered to four different groups of siting specialists. The siting priorities and opinions of each group have been expressed quantitatively and applied to a geographic information system containing 52 variables for each 91.8-acre cell in the northern eight counties of Maryland

Maryland Power Plant Siting Project: an application of the ORNL-Land Use Screening Procedure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dobson, J.E.

1975-01-01

Since 1974 the Resource Analysis Group in the Regional and Urban Studies Section of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been engaged in developing a procedure for regional and local siting analysis known as the ORNL Land Use Screening Procedure (LUSP). This document is the final report of the Maryland Power Plant Siting Project (MPPSP) in which the ORNL LUSP was used to identify candidate areas for power plant sites in northern Maryland. Numerous candidate areas are identified on the basis of four different siting objectives: the minimization of adverse ecologic impact, the minimization of adverse socioeconomic impact, the minimization of construction and operating costs, and a composite of all siting objectives. Siting criteria have been defined for each of these objectives through group processing techniques administered to four different groups of siting specialists. The siting priorities and opinions of each group have been expressed quantitatively and applied to a geographic information system containing 52 variables for each 91.8-acre cell in the northern eight counties of Maryland.

Nutrient cycle benchmarks for earth system land model

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Q.; Riley, W. J.; Tang, J.; Zhao, L.

2017-12-01

Projecting future biosphere-climate feedbacks using Earth system models (ESMs) relies heavily on robust modeling of land surface carbon dynamics. More importantly, soil nutrient (particularly, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) dynamics strongly modulate carbon dynamics, such as plant sequestration of atmospheric CO2. Prevailing ESM land models all consider nitrogen as a potentially limiting nutrient, and several consider phosphorus. However, including nutrient cycle processes in ESM land models potentially introduces large uncertainties that could be identified and addressed by improved observational constraints. We describe the development of two nutrient cycle benchmarks for ESM land models: (1) nutrient partitioning between plants and soil microbes inferred from 15N and 33P tracers studies and (2) nutrient limitation effects on carbon cycle informed by long-term fertilization experiments. We used these benchmarks to evaluate critical hypotheses regarding nutrient cycling and their representation in ESMs. We found that a mechanistic representation of plant-microbe nutrient competition based on relevant functional traits best reproduced observed plant-microbe nutrient partitioning. We also found that for multiple-nutrient models (i.e., N and P), application of Liebig's law of the minimum is often inaccurate. Rather, the Multiple Nutrient Limitation (MNL) concept better reproduces observed carbon-nutrient interactions.

Fire management, managed relocation, and land conservation options for long-lived obligate seeding plants under global changes in climate, urbanization, and fire regime.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonebrake, Timothy C; Syphard, Alexandra D; Franklin, Janet; Anderson, Kurt E; Akçakaya, H Resit; Mizerek, Toni; Winchell, Clark; Regan, Helen M

2014-08-01

Most species face multiple anthropogenic disruptions. Few studies have quantified the cumulative influence of multiple threats on species of conservation concern, and far fewer have quantified the potential relative value of multiple conservation interventions in light of these threats. We linked spatial distribution and population viability models to explore conservation interventions under projected climate change, urbanization, and changes in fire regime on a long-lived obligate seeding plant species sensitive to high fire frequencies, a dominant plant functional type in many fire-prone ecosystems, including the biodiversity hotspots of Mediterranean-type ecosystems. First, we investigated the relative risk of population decline for plant populations in landscapes with and without land protection under an existing habitat conservation plan. Second, we modeled the effectiveness of relocating both seedlings and seeds from a large patch with predicted declines in habitat area to 2 unoccupied recipient patches with increasing habitat area under 2 projected climate change scenarios. Finally, we modeled 8 fire return intervals (FRIs) approximating the outcomes of different management strategies that effectively control fire frequency. Invariably, long-lived obligate seeding populations remained viable only when FRIs were maintained at or above a minimum level. Land conservation and seedling relocation efforts lessened the impact of climate change and land-use change on obligate seeding populations to differing degrees depending on the climate change scenario, but neither of these efforts was as generally effective as frequent translocation of seeds. While none of the modeled strategies fully compensated for the effects of land-use and climate change, an integrative approach managing multiple threats may diminish population declines for species in complex landscapes. Conservation plans designed to mitigate the impacts of a single threat are likely to fail if additional

Early season herbivore differentially affects plant defence responses to subsequently colonizing herbivores and their abundance in the field

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poelman, E.H.; Broekgaarden, C.; Loon, van J.J.A.; Dicke, M.

2008-01-01

Induction of plant defences by early season herbivores can mediate interspecific herbivore competition. We have investigated plant-mediated competition between three herbivorous insects through studies at different levels of biological integration. We have addressed (i) gene expression; (ii) insect

Role of land-based prototype plants in propulsion nuclear power plants engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voronin, V.E.; Prokhorov, Yu.A.

1993-01-01

Prototype plants provide a powerful tool for accomplishing tasks of development and construction of newly designed new power plants (NPPs). Leaving aside momentary political or economical considerations, one should admit that the use of prototype plants in testing of new NPPs is quite a necessity. To make the most of prototype plant, its commissioning should precede lead plant construction by 2-3 years. To make good use of prototype plants, a set of basic requirements should be fulfilled: greatest possible identity beteen the facility under test and a new series NPP; provision of high performance data acquisitoin, processing and storage firmware and a modelling system using update computer technique; and developed science infrastructure, engineering support and adequate maintenance. Prototype plants should comply with safety requirements to meet environmental protection standards

Increased power supplied to the shelf from land

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The report analyses how increasing the power supply from land to the offshore installations will affect the emissions of carbon dioxide from the power production on land. For the time being the CO 2 emissions from the production in existing power plants outside Norway will increase. Since the power price also rises, this checks the rise in consumption. This means that the total emission of carbon dioxide does not increase as much as it would have done if the power supply to the shelf had been covered entirely by increased production in existing coal power plants. If in the long term new conventional gas power capacity can be developed commercially, then increased power supply to the shelf will cause the CO 2 emission from power production on land in Norway to increase. Should conventional gas power plants not be granted concession, then the effect will be to increase the power production in existing plants in other countries and to check the rise in consumption. The net rise in consumption increases the emission of carbon dioxide from production in coal, oil, or gas power plants in Denmark, Finland, Germany or Poland

Using Flux Site Observations to Calibrate Root System Architecture Stencils for Water Uptake of Plant Functional Types in Land Surface Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouda, M.

2017-12-01

Root system architecture (RSA) can significantly affect plant access to water, total transpiration, as well as its partitioning by soil depth, with implications for surface heat, water, and carbon budgets. Despite recent advances in land surface model (LSM) descriptions of plant hydraulics, RSA has not been included because of its three-dimensional complexity, which makes RSA modelling generally too computationally costly. This work builds upon the recently introduced "RSA stencil," a process-based 1D layered model that captures the dynamic shifts in water potential gradients of 3D RSA in response to heterogeneous soil moisture profiles. In validations using root systems calibrated to the rooting profiles of four plant functional types (PFT) of the Community Land Model, the RSA stencil predicts plant water potentials within 2% of the outputs of full 3D models, despite its trivial computational cost. In transient simulations, the RSA stencil yields improved predictions of water uptake and soil moisture profiles compared to a 1D model based on root fraction alone. Here I show how the RSA stencil can be calibrated to time-series observations of soil moisture and transpiration to yield a water uptake PFT definition for use in terrestrial models. This model-data integration exercise aims to improve LSM predictions of soil moisture dynamics and, under water-limiting conditions, surface fluxes. These improvements can be expected to significantly impact predictions of downstream variables, including surface fluxes, climate-vegetation feedbacks and soil nutrient cycling.

Hydrogen production in early generation fusion power plant and its socio-economic implication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konishi, S.; Yamamoto, Y.

2007-01-01

Full text: This paper describes technical possibility of high temperature blanket for the early generation of fusion power plant and its application to hydrogen production. Its anticipated implication and strategy from the socio-economic aspects will be also discussed. Material and energy balances, such as fuel supply and delivery of product energy from fusion plants, as well as waste discharge and accident scenario that lead to environmental impact, are characterized by blanket concepts. Thus blankets are considered to dominate the feature of fusion energy that should respond to the requirements of the sponsors, i.e., public and future market. Fusion blanket concept based on the combinations of LiPb and SiC materials are regarded as a candidate for ITER/TBM, and at the same time, applied in various DEMO designs encompassing high temperature output. Recent developments of SiC-LiPb blanket in Japan, EU, US or China suggests staged development paths starting from TBMs and targeting high temperature blanket and efficient energy output from early generation plants. These strategies are strongly affected by the views of these parties on fusion energy, from the aspects of socio-economics. Hydrogen production process with the high temperature blanket is one of the most important issues, because temperature range much higher than is possible with current or near future fission plants are needed, suggesting market possibility different from that of fission. Fuel cycles, particularly lithium supply and TBR control will be also important. Self-sustained fusion fuel cycle requires technical capability to maintain the lithium contents. Liquid blanket has an advantage in continuous and real-time control TBR in a plant, but large amount of lithium-6 and initial tritium supply remains as issues. As for the environmental effect, normal operation release, assumed accidental scenario, and rad-waste will be the key issue to dominate social acceptance of fusion. (author)

Hydrogen production in early generation fusion power plant and its socio-economic implication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konishi, Satoshi; Yamamoto, Yasushi

2008-01-01

This paper describes technical possibility of high temperature blanket for the early generation of fusion power plant and its application to hydrogen production. Its anticipated implication and strategy from the socio-economic aspects will be also discussed. Material and energy balances, such as fuel supply and delivery of product energy from fusion plants, as well as waste discharge and accident scenario that lead to environmental impact, are characterized by blanket concepts. Thus blankets are considered to dominate the feature of fusion energy that should respond to the requirements of the sponsors, i.e., public and future market. Fusion blanket concept based on the combinations of LiPb and SiC materials are regarded as a candidate for ITER/TBM, and at the same time, applied in various DEMO designs encompassing high temperature output. Recent developments of SiC-LiPb blanket in Japan, EU, US or China suggests staged development paths starting from TBMs and targeting high temperature blanket and efficient energy output from early generation plants. These strategies are strongly affected by the views of these parties on fusion energy, from the aspects of socio-economics. Hydrogen production process with the high temperature blanket is one of the most important issues, because temperature range much higher than is possible with current or near future fission plants are needed, suggesting market possibility different from that of fission. Fuel cycles, particularly lithium supply and TBR control will be also important. Self-sustained fusion fuel cycle requires technical capability to maintain the lithium contents. Liquid blanket has an advantage in continuous and real-time control TBR in a plant, but large amount of lithium-6 and initial tritium supply remains as issues. As for the environmental effect, normal operation release, assumed accidental scenario, and rad-waste will be the key issue to dominate social acceptance of fusion. (author)

Studies of land-cover, land-use, and biophysical properties of vegetation in the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere experiment in Amazonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Dar A. Robertsa; Michael Keller; Joao Vianei Soares

2003-01-01

We summarize early research on land-cover, land-use, and biophysical properties of vegetation from the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere (LBA) experiment in Amazoˆnia. LBA is an international research program developed to evaluate regional function and to determine how land-use and climate modify biological, chemical and physical processes there. Remote sensing has...

Atmospheric Oxygen Concentrations for the Past 350 Myr Modeled from the δ13C of C3 Land Plants

Science.gov (United States)

Nordt, L.; Breecker, D.

2016-12-01

Numerous studies have focused on the systematic collection of long-term d13C records from marine sediments, but no such isotopic compilation exists for C3 land plants. Consequently, we gathered a meta-data base of 8003 plant-derived δ13C values (ISOORG) from various carbon sources binned into 5 myr time steps. The results of this investigation were reported in a recent publication showing that most δ13C sources co-vary with ten CIEs during the last 400 myr. For this paper we culled ISOORG to produce ISOORG16-H that contains 7025 plant-derived δ13C values from paleo-moist environments to reflect secular controls on the δ13C of C3 plants. We then constructed atmospheric pO2 curves for the past 350 myr using prior experimental work showing a direct relationship between the Δ13C of C3 plants and pO2 concentration. Periods of hyperoxia (25-30% pO2) were identified from 300-250, 225-190, and 110-105 myr, and intervals of hypoxia (10-15% pO2) from 350-345, 245-230, and 185-115 myr. During the last 150 myr, pO2 stabilized at 17-24% except for a notable positive excursion from 110-105 myr. Hyperoxia, apparently from widespread carbon burial, supports the notion of insect gigantism during the Late Paleozoic. Hypoxia during the early Triassic correlates with the coal gap following the collapse of Paleozoic ecosystems. Rising pO2 in the late Triassic seems to reflect renewed carbon burial from reorganization of Mesozoic ecosystems. The middle Mesozoic is characterized by low pO2 during an intense greenhouse interval, with ambient conditions ensuing thereafter possibly linked to carbon burial from the radiation of angiosperms. pO2 concentrations >14% suggest wildfires persisted through the study interval except possibly at 160 and 140 myr. Intervals of low pO2 concentration were likely accompanied by lower atmospheric pressure and higher temperatures, particularly from 245-230 myr and 180-120 myr. Our O2 reconstructions conform with GEOCARBSULF, but not with proxy

Noise diagnosis - a method for early detection of failures in a nuclear plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brinckmann, H.F.

1981-01-01

Noise diagnosis constitutes one method for early detection of plant failures. The method is based on the fact that nearly all undesired processes in a nuclear power plant make a measurable contribution to the noise portion of signals. Well-known examples of undesired processes in pressurized water reactors include core-barrel movement, the vibration of control elements, the appearance of loose parts in the coolant flow, and the process of coolant boiling. Each of these processes has been implicated in past nuclear plant failures. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) P. Liewers and his colleagues have introduced noise analysis systems into the primary circuit of WWER-440 pressurized water reactors (PWR). The most progressive version (RAS-II) has become a prototype for research and routine investigations. This system is described. (author)

Cumulative drought and land-use impacts on perennial vegetation across a North American dryland region

Science.gov (United States)

Munson, Seth M.; Long, A. Lexine; Wallace, Cynthia; Webb, Robert H.

2016-01-01

Question The decline and loss of perennial vegetation in dryland ecosystems due to global change pressures can alter ecosystem properties and initiate land degradation processes. We tracked changes of perennial vegetation using remote sensing to address the question of how prolonged drought and land-use intensification have affected perennial vegetation cover across a desert region in the early 21st century? Location Mojave Desert, southeastern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, USA. Methods We coupled the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Enhanced Vegetation Index (MODIS-EVI) with ground-based measurements of perennial vegetation cover taken in about 2000 and about 2010. Using the difference between these years, we determined perennial vegetation changes in the early 21st century and related these shifts to climate, soil and landscape properties, and patterns of land use. Results We found a good fit between MODIS-EVI and perennial vegetation cover (2000: R2 = 0.83 and 2010: R2 = 0.74). The southwestern, far southeastern and central Mojave Desert had large declines in perennial vegetation cover in the early 21st century, while the northeastern and southeastern portions of the desert had increases. These changes were explained by 10-yr precipitation anomalies, particularly in the cool season and during extreme dry or wet years. Areas heavily impacted by visitor use or wildfire lost perennial vegetation cover, and vegetation in protected areas increased to a greater degree than in unprotected areas. Conclusions We find that we can extrapolate previously documented declines of perennial plant cover to an entire desert, and demonstrate that prolonged water shortages coupled with land-use intensification create identifiable patterns of vegetation change in dryland regions.

Water-hammer experiences in the startup and early operation of the Shearon Harris plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casada, D.

1987-01-01

During the startup testing and initial operation of any power plant, systems undergo planned transients to confirm their ability to respond as designed. In addition to planned testing, unplanned transients infrequently occur as equipment is initially used. Some of both the planned and unplanned transients result in water-hammer events. Several water-hammer events experienced during preoperational testing, power ascension testing, and early operation of the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant are presented. The cause, effect, and corrective actions undertaken to prevent recurrence for each event discussed are provided. In addition, examples of preventive measures taken, based on industry experience accrued at other plants, to prevent a similar occurrence at Shearon Harris are discussed

MHD channel performance for potential early commercial MHD power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swallom, D.W.

1981-01-01

The commercial viability of full and part load early commercial MHD power plants is examined. The load conditions comprise a mass flow of 472 kg/sec in the channel, Rosebud coal, 34% by volume oxygen in the oxidizer preheated to 922 K, and a one percent by mass seeding with K. The full load condition is discussed in terms of a combined cycle plant with optimized electrical output by the MHD channel. Various electrical load parameters, pressure ratios, and magnetic field profiles are considered for a baseload MHD generator, with a finding that a decelerating flow rate yields slightly higher electrical output than a constant flow rate. Nominal and part load conditions are explored, with a reduced gas mass flow rate and an enriched oxygen content. An enthalpy extraction of 24.6% and an isentropic efficiency of 74.2% is predicted for nominal operation of a 526 MWe MHD generator, with higher efficiencies for part load operation

Externality costs by emission. F. Land use and water pollution impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

This section discusses the environmental impacts associated with solid and liquid combustion wastes and cooling system discharges from nuclear, coal, oil, and gas fired power plants. This chapter also presents data for land use requirements for these types of power plants. Coal, oil and nuclear power plants also generate a variety of solid wastes from power generation and maintenance operations. These solid wastes must be disposed of in landfills, which may have a variety of adverse effects on surface water, groundwater, and land use. Power plants also require significant amounts of land for plant sites, fuel storage, transmission lines, and waste disposal. Large fossil fuel and nuclear plants require large quantities of water for cooling and maintenance. The removal from and return of cooling water to rivers, streams and lakes may have adverse effects on fish populations and other aspects of aquatic ecosystems. other water impacts include pollution of surface water from coal storage pile and plant site run-off, and wastewater discharges of acids, organics, suspended solids and metals derived from boiler or cooling system maintenance procedures

The interaction of land-use legacies and hurricane disturbance in subtropical wet forest: twenty-one years of change

OpenAIRE

Hogan, James Aaron; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Thompson, Jill; Nytch, Christopher J.; Uriarte, Maria

2016-01-01

Disturbance shapes plant communities over a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales. How natural and anthropogenic disturbance interact to shape ecological communities is highly variable and begs a greater understanding. We used five censuses spanning the years 1990–2011 from the 16-ha Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP) in northeast Puerto Rico to investigate the interplay of human land-use legacies dating to the early 20th century and two recent hurricanes (Hugo, 1989 and Georges, 1998...

Quantifying the effects of land use and climate on Holocene vegetation in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Marquer, Laurent; Gaillard, Marie-José; Sugita, Shinya; Poska, Anneli; Trondman, Anna-Kari; Mazier, Florence; Nielsen, Anne Birgitte; Fyfe, Ralph M.; Jönsson, Anna Maria; Smith, Benjamin; Kaplan, Jed O.; Alenius, Teija; Birks, H. John B.; Bjune, Anne E.; Christiansen, Jörg; Dodson, John; Edwards, Kevin J.; Giesecke, Thomas; Herzschuh, Ulrike; Kangur, Mihkel; Koff, Tiiu; Latałowa, Małgorzata; Lechterbeck, Jutta; Olofsson, Jörgen; Seppä, Heikki

2017-09-01

Early agriculture can be detected in palaeovegetation records, but quantification of the relative importance of climate and land use in influencing regional vegetation composition since the onset of agriculture is a topic that is rarely addressed. We present a novel approach that combines pollen-based REVEALS estimates of plant cover with climate, anthropogenic land-cover and dynamic vegetation modelling results. This is used to quantify the relative impacts of land use and climate on Holocene vegetation at a sub-continental scale, i.e. northern and western Europe north of the Alps. We use redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to quantify the percentage of variation in vegetation composition explained by the climate and land-use variables, and Monte Carlo permutation tests to assess the statistical significance of each variable. We further use a similarity index to combine pollen-based REVEALS estimates with climate-driven dynamic vegetation modelling results. The overall results indicate that climate is the major driver of vegetation when the Holocene is considered as a whole and at the sub-continental scale, although land use is important regionally. Four critical phases of land-use effects on vegetation are identified. The first phase (from 7000 to 6500 BP) corresponds to the early impacts on vegetation of farming and Neolithic forest clearance and to the dominance of climate as a driver of vegetation change. During the second phase (from 4500 to 4000 BP), land use becomes a major control of vegetation. Climate is still the principal driver, although its influence decreases gradually. The third phase (from 2000 to 1500 BP) is characterised by the continued role of climate on vegetation as a consequence of late-Holocene climate shifts and specific climate events that influence vegetation as well as land use. The last phase (from 500 to 350 BP) shows an acceleration of vegetation changes, in particular during the last century, caused by new farming

APPLICATION OF DRIP IRRIGATION ON COTTON PLANT GROWTH (Gossypium sp.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syahruni Thamrin

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The condition of cotton planting in South Sulawesi is always constrained in the fulfillment of water. All plant growth stages are not optimal to increase production, so it is necessary to introduce good water management technology, such as through water supply with drip irrigation system. This study aims to analyze the strategy of irrigation management in cotton plants using drip irrigation system. Model of application by designing drip irrigation system and cotton planting on land prepared as demonstration plot. Observations were made in the germination phase and the vegetative phase of the early plants. Based on the result of drip irrigation design, the emitter droplet rate (EDR was 34.266 mm/hour with an operational time of 4.08 min/day. From the observation of cotton growth, it is known that germination time lasted from 6 to 13 days after planting, the average plant height reached 119.66 cm, with the number of leaves averaging 141.93 pieces and the number of bolls averaging 57.16 boll.

Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilic ants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals.

Science.gov (United States)

Archibald, S Bruce; Johnson, Kirk R; Mathewes, Rolf W; Greenwood, David R

2011-12-22

Early Eocene land bridges allowed numerous plant and animal species to cross between Europe and North America via the Arctic. While many species suited to prevailing cool Arctic climates would have been able to cross throughout much of this period, others would have found dispersal opportunities only during limited intervals when their requirements for higher temperatures were met. Here, we present Titanomyrma lubei gen. et sp. nov. from Wyoming, USA, a new giant (greater than 5 cm long) formiciine ant from the early Eocene (approx. 49.5 Ma) Green River Formation. We show that the extinct ant subfamily Formiciinae is only known from localities with an estimated mean annual temperature of about 20°C or greater, consistent with the tropical ranges of almost all of the largest living ant species. This is, to our knowledge, the first known formiciine of gigantic size in the Western Hemisphere and the first reported cross-Arctic dispersal by a thermophilic insect group. This implies intercontinental migration during one or more brief high-temperature episodes (hyperthermals) sometime between the latest Palaeocene establishment of intercontinental land connections and the presence of giant formiciines in Europe and North America by the early middle Eocene.

Impacts of accidental radioactive releases to the hydrosphere from floating and land-based nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vollmer, R.H.

1978-01-01

To assess the impacts of accidental radioactive releases to the hydrosphere from floating and land-based nuclear power plants, the Liquid Pathway Generic Study was initiated. The objective of this study was to compare the risks associated with releases through the liquid pathway from accidents that may reasonably be expected and those that are very improbable. Consequences were estimated in terms of radiation dose to man from drinking water ingestion, shell-fish and fish flesh consumption, and direct exposure (swimming, beach) as well as long-term effects, such as genetic effects or aquatic species degradation. (author)

Demand for Agricultural Land in Slovakia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dirgasová Katarína

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In general, soil is perceived as an unreplaceable and unrenewable natural resource that allows plants, animals and man to live. It is significant in several ways out of which the most important is the production of food for population, the production of fodder for livestock and the production of raw materials for food and light industry. Due to these as well as the other reasons, land becomes the object of competition between different subjects which are trying to get it and use it. The aim of the paper is to map and to characterise the demand for agricultural land at the agricultural land market based on the certificates on fulfilment of the requirements on purchase of agricultural land. Based on the data collected throughout 31 months, it was proved that the demand for agricultural land is influenced by price, land quality, area, fragmentation of land ownership, distance of the offered plot from a county seat and localisation of a given land plot.

Powerful qPCR assays for the early detection of latent invaders: interdisciplinary approaches in clinical cancer research and plant pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Luchi, Nicola; Capretti, Paolo; Pazzagli, Mario; Pinzani, Pamela

2016-06-01

Latent invaders represent the first step of disease before symptoms occur in the host. Based on recent findings, tumors are considered to be ecosystems in which cancer cells act as invasive species that interact with the native host cell species. Analogously, in plants latent fungal pathogens coevolve within symptomless host tissues. For these reasons, similar detection approaches can be used for an early diagnosis of the invasion process in both plants and humans to prevent or reduce the spread of the disease. Molecular tools based on the evaluation of nucleic acids have been developed for the specific, rapid, and early detection of human diseases. During the last decades, these techniques to assess and quantify the proliferation of latent invaders in host cells have been transferred from the medical field to different areas of scientific research, such as plant pathology. An improvement in molecular biology protocols (especially referring to qPCR assays) specifically designed and optimized for detection in host plants is therefore advisable. This work is a cross-disciplinary review discussing the use of a methodological approach that is employed within both medical and plant sciences. It provides an overview of the principal qPCR tools for the detection of latent invaders, focusing on comparisons between clinical cancer research and plant pathology, and recent advances in the early detection of latent invaders to improve prevention and control strategies.

Post-translational control of nitrate reductase activity responding to light and photosynthesis evolved already in the early vascular plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Nemie-Feyissa, Dugassa; Królicka, Adriana; Førland, Nina; Hansen, Margarita; Heidari, Behzad; Lillo, Cathrine

2013-05-01

Regulation of nitrate reductase (NR) by reversible phosphorylation at a conserved motif is well established in higher plants, and enables regulation of NR in response to rapid fluctuations in light intensity. This regulation is not conserved in algae NR, and we wished to test the evolutionary origin of the regulatory mechanism by physiological examination of ancient land plants. Especially a member of the lycophytes is of interest since their NR is candidate for regulation by reversible phosphorylation based on sequence analysis. We compared Selaginella kraussiana, a member of the lycophytes and earliest vascular plants, with the angiosperm Arabidopsis thaliana, and also tested the moss Physcomitrella patens. Interestingly, optimization of assay conditions revealed that S. kraussiana NR used NADH as an electron donor like A. thaliana, whereas P. patens NR activity depended on NADPH. Examination of light/darkness effects showed that S. kraussiana NR was rapidly regulated similar to A. thaliana NR when a differential (Mg(2+) contra EDTA) assay was used to reveal activity state of NR. This implies that already existing NR enzyme was post-translationally activated by light in both species. Light had a positive effect also on de novo synthesis of NR in S. kraussiana, which could be shown after the plants had been exposed to a prolonged dark period (7 days). Daily variations in NR activity were mainly caused by post-translational modifications. As for angiosperms, the post-translational light activation of NR in S. kraussiana was inhibited by 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1*1-dimethylurea (DCMU), an inhibitor of photosynthesis and stomata opening. Evolutionary, a post-translational control mechanism for NR have occurred before or in parallel with development of vascular tissue in land plants, and appears to be part of a complex mechanisms for coordination of CO2 and nitrogen metabolism in these plants. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Response of sunflower to different planting dates in cotton based cropping system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yousaf, M.; Shakoor, A.; Rana, M.A.

2007-01-01

A field study on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L) was conducted for three. years (1991-1993) on different planting dates. Two hybrids (Hysun-33 and PI-6480) were sown on five different dates with 15 days interval from January 15 to March 15 at Cotton Research Station, Multan. Significant higher seed yield of 1880 and 2097 kg ha-1 was obtained when the crop was planted on February 1 and 15 than other treatments. The yield significantly decreased when sunflower was planted on January 15 (1264 kg ha-l), March 1 (1382 kg ha-l) and March 15 (927 kg hall. Maturity period was longest (128 days) of early sown (January 15) and shortest of late sown (March 15) sunflower hybrids. Therefore, it can be concluded that sunflower planted on February 1 to 15 gave higher seed yield as well as allowed enough time for land preparation and thereby, planting of cotton crop in the same field during its regular planting time. (author)

Oils and rubber from arid land plants

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, J. D.; Hinman, C. W.

1980-05-01

In this article the economic development potentials of Cucurbita species (buffalo gourd and others), Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba), Euphorbia lathyris (gopher plant), and Parthenium argentatum (guayule) are discussed. All of these plants may become important sources of oils or rubber.

Minnesota's tax-forfeited land: some trends in acreages, sales, and prices.

Science.gov (United States)

David C. Lothner; Edwin Kallio; David T. Davis

1978-01-01

The area of tax-forfeited land that is county-administered in Minnesota is currently estimated at almost 2.9 million acres--a decrease of about 17% since the mid-1960's. This decrease is the result of a change in land sales, land forfeitures, and other land transfers. Not only have land sales decreased since the early 1960's, but also less land has been...

Early evidence (late 2nd millennium BCE of plant-based dyeing of textiles from Timna, Israel.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naama Sukenik

Full Text Available In this article, we focus on the analysis of dyed textile fragments uncovered at an early Iron Age (11th-10th centuries BCE copper smelting site during new excavations in the Timna Valley conducted by the Central Timna Valley (CTV Project, as well as those found by the Arabah Expedition at the Hathor Temple (Site 200, dated to the Late Bronze/early Iron Ages (13th-11th centuries BCE. Analysis by HPLC-DAD identified two organic dyestuffs, Rubia tinctorum L. and indigotin, from a plant source (probably Isatis tinctoria L.. They are among the earliest plants known in the dyeing craft and cultivated primarily for this purpose. This study provides the earliest evidence of textiles dyed utilizing a chemical dyeing process based on an industrial dyeing plant from the Levant. Moreover, our results shed new light on the society operating the copper mines at the time, suggesting the existence of an elite that was interested in these high quality textiles and invested efforts in procuring them by long-distance trade.

Early evidence (late 2nd millennium BCE) of plant-based dyeing of textiles from Timna, Israel.

Science.gov (United States)

Sukenik, Naama; Iluz, David; Amar, Zohar; Varvak, Alexander; Workman, Vanessa; Shamir, Orit; Ben-Yosef, Erez

2017-01-01

In this article, we focus on the analysis of dyed textile fragments uncovered at an early Iron Age (11th-10th centuries BCE) copper smelting site during new excavations in the Timna Valley conducted by the Central Timna Valley (CTV) Project, as well as those found by the Arabah Expedition at the Hathor Temple (Site 200), dated to the Late Bronze/early Iron Ages (13th-11th centuries BCE). Analysis by HPLC-DAD identified two organic dyestuffs, Rubia tinctorum L. and indigotin, from a plant source (probably Isatis tinctoria L.). They are among the earliest plants known in the dyeing craft and cultivated primarily for this purpose. This study provides the earliest evidence of textiles dyed utilizing a chemical dyeing process based on an industrial dyeing plant from the Levant. Moreover, our results shed new light on the society operating the copper mines at the time, suggesting the existence of an elite that was interested in these high quality textiles and invested efforts in procuring them by long-distance trade.

Bilaterally symmetric axes with rhizoids composed the rooting structure of the common ancestor of vascular plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Hetherington, Alexander J; Dolan, Liam

2018-02-05

There are two general types of rooting systems in extant land plants: gametophyte rhizoids and sporophyte root axes. These structures carry out the rooting function in the free-living stage of almost all land plant gametophytes and sporophytes, respectively. Extant vascular plants develop a dominant, free-living sporophyte on which roots form, with the exception of a small number of taxa that have secondarily lost roots. However, fossil evidence indicates that early vascular plants did not develop sporophyte roots. We propose that the common ancestor of vascular plants developed a unique rooting system-rhizoidal sporophyte axes. Here we present a synthesis and reinterpretation of the rootless sporophytes of Horneophyton lignieri , Aglaophyton majus , Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii and Nothia aphylla preserved in the Rhynie chert. We show that the sporophyte rooting structures of all four plants comprised regions of plagiotropic (horizontal) axes that developed unicellular rhizoids on their underside. These regions of axes with rhizoids developed bilateral symmetry making them distinct from the other regions which were radially symmetrical. We hypothesize that rhizoidal sporophyte axes constituted the rooting structures in the common ancestor of vascular plants because the phylogenetic positions of these plants span the origin of the vascular lineage.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The Rhynie cherts: our earliest terrestrial ecosystem revisited'. © 2017 The Authors.

Land use and habitat conditions across the southwestern Wyoming sagebrush steppe: development impacts, management effectiveness and the distribution of invasive plants

Science.gov (United States)

Manier, Daniel J.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Anderson, Patrick; Chong, Geneva; Homer, Collin G.; O'Donnell, Michael S.; Schell, Spencer

2011-01-01

For the past several years, USGS has taken a multi-faceted approach to investigating the condition and trends in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. This recent effort builds upon decades of work in semi-arid ecosystems providing a specific, applied focus on the cumulative impacts of expanding human activities across these landscapes. Here, we discuss several on-going projects contributing to these efforts: (1) mapping and monitoring the distribution and condition of shrub steppe communities with local detail at a regional scale, (2) assessing the relationships between specific, land-use features (for example, roads, transmission lines, industrial pads) and invasive plants, including their potential (environmentally defined) distribution across the region, and (3) monitoring the effects of habitat treatments on the ecosystem, including wildlife use and invasive plant abundance. This research is focused on the northern sagebrush steppe, primarily in Wyoming, but also extending into Montana, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. The study area includes a range of sagebrush types (including, Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata, Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis, Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana, Artemisia nova) and other semi-arid shrubland types (for example, Sarcobatus vermiculatus, Atriplex confertifolia, Atriplex gardneri), impacted by extensive interface between steppe ecosystems and industrial energy activities resulting in a revealing multiple-variable analysis. We use a combination of remote sensing (AWiFS (1 Any reference to platforms, data sources, equipment, software, patented or trade-marked methods is for information purposes only. It does not represent endorsement of the U.S.D.I., U.S.G.S. or the authors), Landsat and Quickbird platforms), Geographic Information System (GIS) design and data management, and field-based, replicated sampling to generate multiple scales of data representing the distribution of shrub communities for the habitat inventory. Invasive plant

The impact of land abandonment on species richness and abundance in the Mediterranean Basin

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Plieninger, Tobias; Hui, Cang; Gaertner, Mirijam

2014-01-01

species richness and abundance in agroforestry, arable land, pastures, and permanent crops of the Mediterranean Basin. In particular, we investigated (1) which taxonomic groups (arthropods, birds, lichen, vascular plants) are more affected by land abandonment; (2) at which spatial and temporal scales.......0001) plant and animal species richness and abundance overall, though results were heterogeneous, with differences in effect size between taxa, spatial-temporal scales, land uses, landforms, and climate. In conclusion, there is no "one-size-fits-all" conservation approach that applies to the diverse contexts......Land abandonment is common in the Mediterranean Basin, a global biodiversity hotspot, but little is known about its impacts on biodiversity. To upscale existing case-study insights to the Pan-Mediterranean level, we conducted a metaanalysis of the effects of land abandonment on plant and animal...

Homogenizing and diversifying effects of intensive agricultural land-use on plant species beta diversity in Central Europe - A call to adapt our conservation measures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buhk, Constanze; Alt, Martin; Steinbauer, Manuel

2016-01-01

understood due to a lack of systematic case studies: The specific impacts by agriculture in contrast to other land-use creating open habitat are not studied as such landscapes hardly exist in temperate regions. Applying systematic grids, we compared the plant species distribution at the landscape scale....... This was probably the result of species nestedness due to fragmentation. The natural process of increasing dissimilarity with distance (distance-decay) was suppressed by intense agricultural land-use, generalist and long-distance dispersers gained importance, while rare species lost continuity. There are two...

Land-sea coupling of early Pleistocene glacial cycles in the southern North Sea exhibit dominant Northern Hemisphere forcing

Science.gov (United States)

Donders, Timme H.; van Helmond, Niels A. G. M.; Verreussel, Roel; Munsterman, Dirk; ten Veen, Johan; Speijer, Robert P.; Weijers, Johan W. H.; Sangiorgi, Francesca; Peterse, Francien; Reichart, Gert-Jan; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S.; Lourens, Lucas; Kuhlmann, Gesa; Brinkhuis, Henk

2018-03-01

We assess the disputed phase relations between forcing and climatic response in the early Pleistocene with a spliced Gelasian (˜ 2.6-1.8 Ma) multi-proxy record from the southern North Sea basin. The cored sections couple climate evolution on both land and sea during the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (NHG) in NW Europe, providing the first well-constrained stratigraphic sequence of the classic terrestrial Praetiglian stage. Terrestrial signals were derived from the Eridanos paleoriver, a major fluvial system that contributed a large amount of freshwater to the northeast Atlantic. Due to its latitudinal position, the Eridanos catchment was likely affected by early Pleistocene NHG, leading to intermittent shutdown and reactivation of river flow and sediment transport. Here we apply organic geochemistry, palynology, carbonate isotope geochemistry, and seismostratigraphy to document both vegetation changes in the Eridanos catchment and regional surface water conditions and relate them to early Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles and relative sea level changes. Paleomagnetic and palynological data provide a solid integrated timeframe that ties the obliquity cycles, expressed in the borehole geophysical logs, to Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 103 to 92, independently confirmed by a local benthic oxygen isotope record. Marine and terrestrial palynological and organic geochemical records provide high-resolution reconstructions of relative terrestrial and sea surface temperature (TT and SST), vegetation, relative sea level, and coastal influence.During the prominent cold stages MIS 98 and 96, as well as 94, the record indicates increased non-arboreal vegetation, low SST and TT, and low relative sea level. During the warm stages MIS 99, 97, and 95 we infer increased stratification of the water column together with a higher percentage of arboreal vegetation, high SST, and relative sea level maxima. The early Pleistocene distinct warm-cold alterations are

Biomass production on marginal lands - catalogue of bioenergy crops

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgarten, Wibke; Ivanina, Vadym; Hanzhenko, Oleksandr

2017-04-01

Marginal lands are the poorest type of land, with various limitations for traditional agriculture. However, they can be used for biomass production for bioenergy based on perennial plants or trees. The main advantage of biomass as an energy source compared to fossil fuels is the positive influence on the global carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. During combustion of biofuels, less carbon dioxide is emitted than is absorbed by plants during photosynthesis. Besides, 20 to 30 times less sulphur oxide and 3 to 4 times less ash is formed as compared with coal. Growing bioenergy crops creates additional workplaces in rural areas. Soil and climatic conditions of most European regions are suitable for growing perennial energy crops that are capable of rapid transforming solar energy into energy-intensive biomass. Selcted plants are not demanding for soil fertility, do not require a significant amount of fertilizers and pesticides and can be cultivated, therefore, also on unproductive lands of Europe. They prevent soil erosion, contribute to the preservation and improvement of agroecosystems and provide low-cost biomass. A catalogue of potential bioenergy plants was developed within the EU H2020 project SEEMLA including woody and perennial crops that are allowed to be grown in the territory of the EU and Ukraine. The catalogue lists high-productive woody and perennial crops that are not demanding to the conditions of growing and can guarantee stable high yields of high-energy-capacity biomass on marginal lands of various categories of marginality. Biomass of perennials plants and trees is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which are directly used to produce solid biofuels. Thanks to the well-developed root system of trees and perennial plants, they are better adapted to poor soils and do not require careful maintenance. Therefore, they can be grown on marginal lands. Particular C4 bioenergy crops are well adapted to a lack of moisture and high

Land Grabbing and Human Rights: the Involvement of European Corporate and Financial Entities in Land Grabbing outside the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S.M. Borras jr. (Saturnino); P. Seufert (Philip); S. Backes (Stephan); D. Fyfe (Daniel); R. Herre (Roman); L. Michele (Laura); E.N. Mills (Elyse)

2016-01-01

markdownabstractIn early research on land grabbing, the initial focus was on foreign companies investing abroad, with a particular focus on those based in countries such as China, Gulf States, South Korea, and India. In recent years, it has become evident that the range of countries land investors

Land regeneration: soil development through forestation on former opencast coal-lands in upland Wales

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haigh, M.J. [Oxford Brookes University, Oxford (United Kingdom)

2001-07-01

The degradation of lands that have been 'reclaimed' after surface coal mining is an international concern. Research near the UNESCO World Heritage site for industrial land at Blaenavon, Wales, seeks more effective ways of creating self-sustaining soils on coal-lands, where the auto-compaction of minespoils causes land degradation. Remedies are sought through the use of close-planted trees as bio-accumulators. Preliminary findings suggest that: 1. forestation quickly mitigates soil compaction, 2. soil fertilisation with NPK improves the survival rate of Alnus glutinosa but may not enhance average growth, 3. soil remineralisation with basic igneous rock flour may be more effective than conventional NPK application alone for enhancing both survival rates and growth and that 4. soil disturbance causes long term depletion of the soil microbial ecosystem. 16 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs.

A study of the early detection of insect infestations and density/distribution of host plants

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, W. G.; Ingle, S. J.; Davis, M. R. (Principal Investigator)

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Significant results have been obtained in the identification of citrus, sugarcane, winter vegetables, irrigated pastures, and unimproved pastures which contain brush. Land without vegetation, lakes, roads, and waterways can also be determined. Different densities of vegetation covering some cultivated areas are apparent. The practical applications of these results are many. The abundance of host plants of pests can be determined. Avenues of entry of pests can be plotted, facilitating control or preventing entry of pest species. The boundaries of areas to be quarantined can be accurately established after viewing the S-190B data. Better cultural methods can be employed such as planning where to plant certain crops that indirectly are detrimental to those already growing. This would relate to such factors as pesticide drift or alternate hosts of major pests.

The 'Big bang' in the Early Iron Age

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Medović Aleksandar

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The Early Iron Age granaries of Tell Gradina upon Bosut exploded in a fire inferno in the 8th century B.C. The result of this catastrophe is 2-5 cm thick layer with mixed carbonized seeds and fruits. Recently, eight samples were taken from Gradina's profile for archaeobotanical analysis. The goal was to obtain basic information on land use and on major crops and weeds of that period. The most abundant were cereals, followed by millets, pulses and oil/fibre plants. The dominant cereals were einkorn (Triticum monococcum and hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare vulgare. Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum was also very important. Pulses were represented with six and oil/fibre plants with three species. Among weeds and ruderals, most common are rye brome (Bromus secalinus, fat hen (Chenopodium album, darnel ryegrass (Lolium temulentum, hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis and corncockle (Agrostemma githago.

Patterns of plant diversity loss and species turnover resulting from land abandonment and intensification in semi-natural grasslands.

Science.gov (United States)

Uchida, Kei; Koyanagi, Tomoyo F; Matsumura, Toshikazu; Koyama, Asuka

2018-07-15

Land-use changes cause biodiversity loss in semi-natural ecosystems worldwide. Biotic homogenization has led to biodiversity loss, mainly through declines in species composition turnover. Elucidating patterns of turnover in species composition could enhance our understanding of how anthropogenic activities affect community assembly. Here, we focused on whether the decreasing patterns in plant diversity and turnover of species composition resulting from land-use change vary in two regions. We estimated the species diversity and composition of semi-natural grasslands surrounding paddy fields in satoyama landscapes. We examined the differences in species diversity and composition across three land-use types (abandoned, traditional, and intensified) in two regions (Hyogo and Niigata Prefectures, Japan), which were characterized by different climatic conditions. We then assessed alpha-, beta-, and gamma-diversity to compare the patterns of diversity losses in the two regions as a result of land-use changes. In each region, gamma-diversity was consistently higher in the traditional sites compared to abandoned or intensified sites. The analyses revealed that most of the beta-diversity in traditional sites differed significantly from those of abandoned and intensified sites in both regions. However, the beta-diversity of total and perennial species did not differ between traditional and abandoned sites in the Hyogo region. We noted that the beta-diversity of total and perennial species in intensified sites was much lower than that in the traditional sites of the Niigata region. Overall, the patterns of alpha- and gamma-diversity loss were similar in both study regions. Although the biotic homogenization was caused by intensified land-use in the Niigata region, this hypothesis did not completely explain the loss of biodiversity in the abandoned sites in the Hyogo region. The present study contributes to the growing body of work investigating changes in biodiversity as a

Radiological health risk evaluation of radium contaminated land: A real life implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paridaens, J.

2005-01-01

A plot of land, currently used for dairy farming, has been contaminated over the years with radium due to the operation of one of the world's largest radium production plants. Within the framework of a global remediation approach for the plant surroundings, the land owner needed advice for a future destination of the land. Therefore, the radium contamination was accurately mapped, and on the basis of its severity a practically feasible subdivision of the land into four plots was proposed. For all four plots, the radiological risk was evaluated for the current type of land use and for possible alternative types. Hence a clear and usable advice could be formulated to the authorities reconciling public health, economic and practical issues. (authors)

A coupled hydrogeophysical modeling approach to estimate soil moisture redistribution in the face of land use changes

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhl, A.; Hyndman, D. W.; Van Dam, R. L.

2013-12-01

Predicting the impacts of land use changes on local water balances requires knowledge of the detailed water uptake dynamics associated with different plants. Mapping the extent of roots and quantifying their relationships to the movement of water through the vadose zone is critical to better understand this aspect of plant physiology. Electrical resistivity (ER) methods offer the ability to non-invasively capture this crucial hydrologic information at relevant scales, bridging the spatial gap between remote sensing and in-situ point measurements. Our research uses a coupled hydrogeophysical model to image the boundary of root zones and the control roots have on hydrologic fluxes. Advantages of this approach include: incorporating basic hydrologic parameters to constrain the model physics and using a forward geophysical model to avoid errors related to non-unique solutions and imaging. The model optimizes root distributions to correlate with soil moisture variability characterized by ER surveys, maximizing the value of the geophysics and yielding information that can answer questions related to water budgets in the face of land use and climate changes. To validate this approach, preliminary ER data was collected from two sites in south-east Michigan instrumented with permanent lines of electrodes, enabling consistent surveys through time. One site traverses a progression of vegetation types over a relatively short distance, reflecting the type of natural plant succession associated with passive land use changes in the area. Early interpretations of the ER results indicate that apparent resistivity is controlled by the varying plant regimes. The other is part of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, spanning a stand of maize, which is ideal for initial models because root zone development has been extensively researched for this crop.

Stakeholder Perceptions of an Ecosystem Services Approach to Clearing Invasive Alien Plants on Private Land

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lauren S. Urgenson

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Incentivizing private landowners and other stakeholders is central to the effective conservation of ecosystem services in working landscapes. To better understand how to design effective incentives, the perceptions of landowners and other stakeholders are explored regarding a proposed approach to clearing invasive alien plants on private land in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The public funded national program, Working for Water, conserves ecosystem services while employing and training people from marginalized sectors of society to clear these plants. Private landowner involvement is a key conservation challenge, because without adequate landowner involvement, invasive alien plants persist on the landscape and continuously reinvade cleared areas. We collected interview data from private landowners in three study sites, and web-survey data from conservation professionals and Working for Water managers, in order to compare stakeholder perceptions of (1 government and landowners' responsibilities for clearing invasive alien plants; (2 existing and proposed policy tools; and (3 the extent to which stakeholders consider the proposed financial incentive to be sufficient. There was significant consensus among stakeholders concerning their preference for shared landowner and government responsibility and for a policy mix that combines incentives with disincentives. Landowners from the three study sites differed in the level of responsibility they were willing to assume. Stakeholders also diverged in terms of their perceptions of the proposed financial incentives. Furthermore, the perspectives of landowners were strongly associated with ecological and social features of the landscapes in which they are located. Understanding stakeholders' points of view within their differing contexts is shown to be a valuable means of gaining insight into the opportunities and constraints that face ecosystem service conservation in working landscapes.

Relation between seasonally detrended shortwave infrared reflectance data and land surface moisture in semi-arid Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Jørgen Lundegaard; Ceccato, Pietro; Proud, Simon Richard

2013-01-01

in vegetation moisture status, and is compared to detrended time series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). It was found that when plant available water is low, the SIWSI anomalies increase over time, while the NDVI anomalies decrease over time, but less systematically. Therefore SIWSI may......In the Sudano-Sahelian areas of Africa droughts can have serious impacts on natural resources, and therefore land surface moisture is an important factor. Insufficient conventional sites for monitoring land surface moisture make the use of Earth Observation data for this purpose a key issue...... Second Generation (MSG) satellite. We focused on responses in surface reflectance to soil- and surface moisture for bare soil and early to mid- growing season. A method for implementing detrended time series of the Shortwave Infrared Water Stress Index (SIWSI) is examined for detecting variations...

Surface mining and land reclamation in Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nephew, E.A.

1972-05-01

Mining and land restoration methods as well as planning and regulatory procedures employed in West Germany to ameliorate environmental impacts from large-scale surface mining are described. The Rhineland coalfield in North Rhine Westphalia contains some 55 billion tons of brown-coal (or lignite), making the region one of Europe's most important energy centers. The lignite is extracted from huge, open-pit mines, resulting in large areas of disturbed land. The German reclamation approach is characterized by planning and carrying out the mining process as one continuum from early planning to final restoration of land and its succeeding use. Since the coalfield is located in a populated region with settlements dating back to Roman times, whole villages lying in the path of the mining operations sometimes have to be evacuated and relocated. Even before mining begins, detailed concepts must be worked out for the new landscape which will follow: the topography, the water drainage system, lakes and forests, and the intended land-use pattern are designed and specified in advance. Early, detailed planning makes it possible to coordinate mining and concurrent land reclamation activities. The comprehensive approach permits treating the overall problem as a whole rather than dealing with its separate aspects on a piecemeal basis.

Agricultural land management options following large-scale environmental contamination - evaluation for Fukushima affected agricultural land

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vandenhove, Hildegarde

2013-01-01

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has raised questions about the accumulation of radionuclides in soils, the transfer in the food chain and the possibility of continued restricted future land use. This paper summarizes what is generally understood about the application of agricultural countermeasures as a land management option to reduce the radionuclides transfer in the food chain and to facilitate the return of potentially affected soils to agricultural practices in areas impacted by a nuclear accident. (authors)

Agricultural land management options following large-scale environmental contamination - evaluation for Fukushima affected agricultural land

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vandenhove, Hildegarde [Biosphere Impact Studies, Belgian Nuclear Research Center SCK-CEN, Mol (Belgium)

2013-07-01

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has raised questions about the accumulation of radionuclides in soils, the transfer in the food chain and the possibility of continued restricted future land use. This paper summarizes what is generally understood about the application of agricultural countermeasures as a land management option to reduce the radionuclides transfer in the food chain and to facilitate the return of potentially affected soils to agricultural practices in areas impacted by a nuclear accident. (authors)

Early impact of oil palm planting density on vegetative and oil yield variables in West Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bonneau Xavier

2014-07-01

Full Text Available A range of various different planting distances (from 7.5 to 9.5 m between oil palms were tested using an equilateral triangle design in a plantation density experiment which was settled in an oil palm commercial plantation in Nigeria. Climatic conditions were quite stable, with two seasons and around 2000 mm of annual rainfall. The soil was of desaturated ferralitic type, sandy on the surface, deep and without coarse elements. The early impact of plantation density was analysed at eight years after planting. Some early signs of depressive effect on yields were found for high planting densities (180 and 205 p/ha. Such a negative impact was not severe enough to counteract the effects of a higher number of palms per hectare. As a consequence, a gradient could be observed as yields (in tons of bunches per hectare increased with density. We can anticipate that the competition effect between palms will increase over time with high densities, so that the counteracting point ought to be reached in a few years. A thinning treatment has been included in the protocol. Thinning was carried out at the end of the eight-year period.

Intercontinental dispersal of giant thermophilic ants across the Arctic during early Eocene hyperthermals

Science.gov (United States)

Archibald, S. Bruce; Johnson, Kirk R.; Mathewes, Rolf W.; Greenwood, David R.

2011-01-01

Early Eocene land bridges allowed numerous plant and animal species to cross between Europe and North America via the Arctic. While many species suited to prevailing cool Arctic climates would have been able to cross throughout much of this period, others would have found dispersal opportunities only during limited intervals when their requirements for higher temperatures were met. Here, we present Titanomyrma lubei gen. et sp. nov. from Wyoming, USA, a new giant (greater than 5 cm long) formiciine ant from the early Eocene (approx. 49.5 Ma) Green River Formation. We show that the extinct ant subfamily Formiciinae is only known from localities with an estimated mean annual temperature of about 20°C or greater, consistent with the tropical ranges of almost all of the largest living ant species. This is, to our knowledge, the first known formiciine of gigantic size in the Western Hemisphere and the first reported cross-Arctic dispersal by a thermophilic insect group. This implies intercontinental migration during one or more brief high-temperature episodes (hyperthermals) sometime between the latest Palaeocene establishment of intercontinental land connections and the presence of giant formiciines in Europe and North America by the early middle Eocene. PMID:21543354

Productivity of selected plant species adapted to arid regions. [Crassulacean metabolizing plants; Agave deserti and Ferocactus acanthodes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nobel, P.S.

1980-01-01

The biomass potential of selected arid region species for alcohol production merits careful consideration. The basis for this interest is the current low agronomic use of arid lands and the potential productivity of certain species adapted to these lands. Plants displaying Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) are particularly interesting with reference to biomass for fuel in regions with low rainfall, because plants with this photosynthetic process are strikingly efficient in water requirements. For CAM plants, CO/sub 2/ fixation occurs primarily at night, when tissue surface temperature and hence transpirational water loss is less than daytime values. For Agave deserti in the Sonoran desert, the water-use efficiency (mass of CO/sub 2/ fixed/mass of water transpired) over an entire year is an order of magnitude or more larger than for C-3 and C-4 plants. This indicates how well adapted CAM species are to arid regions. The potential productivity per unit land area of CAM plants is fairly substantial and, therefore, of considerable economic interest for arid areas where growth of agricultural plants is minimal.

Plant embryogenesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vries, de Sacco C.; Weijers, Dolf

2017-01-01

Land plants are called ‘embryophytes’ and thus, their collective name is defined by their ability to form embryos. Indeed, embryogenesis is a widespread phenomenon in plants, and much of our diet is composed of embryos (just think of grains, beans or nuts; Figure 1). However, in addition to embryos

THE LAND TRANSPORT SYSTEM, TO AND FROM CONSTANTA, IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DOMINTE Paul

2014-09-01

Full Text Available A sustained progress of the town of Constanta, a predominantly commercial and touristic centre, needed the support of a modern transport infrastructure, i.e. secure and quick communication networks. This is why the development of the land transportation system, technically, as well as organizationally, turned out to be just as important as the harbour’s well known commercial shipping lanes. As such, the city was among the first towns in the country to build a connecting railway with the Danube River, once the bridges over the river were put up, and, consequently, to have a direct link with Western Europe, and the Orient Express. On the other hand, the city owes much of its progress to the local authorities, for whom the transport from town to places such as the harbour, the hippodrome, the beaches at Vii and Mamaia, were not to be neglected. Overall, this progress transformed Constanta into one of the most modern and dynamic economic areas in the Romanian Old Kingdom, in the early 20th century.

EARLY ENTRANCE CO-PRODUCTION PLANT - DECENTRALIZED GASIFICATION COGENERATION TRANSPORTATION FUELS AND STEAM FROM AVAILABLE FEEDSTOCKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Unknown

2001-01-01

Waste Processors Management Inc. (WMPI), along with its subcontractors entered into a cooperative agreement with the USDOE to assess the techno-economic viability of building an Early Entrance Co-Production Plant (EECP) in the US that produces ultra clean Fischer-Tropsch transportation fuels with either power or steam as the major co-product. The EECP will emphasize on reclaiming and gasifying low-cost coal waste and/or its mixture as the primary feedstocks. The project consists of three phases. Phase I objectives include conceptual development, technical assessment, feasibility design and economic evaluation of a Greenfield commercial co-production plant and a site specific demonstration EECP to be located adjacent to the existing WMPI Gilberton Power Station. There is very little foreseen design differences between the Greenfield commercial coproduction plant versus the EECP plant other than: The greenfield commercial plant will be a stand alone FT/power co-production plant, potentially larger in capacity to take full advantage of economy of scale, and to be located in either western Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Ohio, using bituminous coal waste (gob) and Pennsylvania No.8 coal or other comparable coal as the feedstock; The EECP plant, on the other hand, will be a nominal 5000 bpd plant, fully integrated into the Gilbertson Power Company's Cogeneration Plant to take advantage of the existing infrastructure to reduce cost and minimize project risk. The Gilberton EECP plant will be designed to use eastern Pennsylvania anthracite coal waste and/or its mixture as feedstock

Use of composts in revegetating arid lands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brandt, C.A.; Hendrickson, P.L.

1991-09-01

Compost has been suggested as a soil amendment for arid lands at the US Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. The operating contractor of the site, Westinghouse Hanford Company, requested that the Pacific Northwest Laboratory conduct a literature review to compile additional information on the use of compost amendments and their benefits. This report provides background information on the factors needed for plant growth and the consequences of severe soil disturbance. This report also discussed the characteristics of composts relative to other amendments and how they each affect plant growth. Finally,regulatory requirements that could affect land application of sludge-based compost on the Hanford Site are reviewed.

On results of measurement and method of behavior analysis for land slide protection wall in excavation works for main building foundation of No.2 plant in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otsuki, Hideo; Tsuchi, Hiroyuki; Nishioka, Toshimichi

1987-01-01

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been constructing the nuclear power station having 8 million kW capacity of seven BWR plants in the site of about 4.2 million m 2 in Niigata Prefecture. No.1 BWR plant of 1100 MWe output started the operation in September, 1985. As a rule, the important structures in nuclear power stations such as a reactor building and a turbine building are to be directly supported on bedrocks, and in this case, on the mudstone of Nishiyama strata. As this Nishiyama strata exists in large depth, the excavation works for the foundations of buildings are to be carried out by installing large scale land slide protection walls. In this report, among the excavation works for the main building foundation of No.2 plant, the results of examining the behavior of the land slide protection wall installed in soft rock ground based on the results of measurement of vertical excavation by land slide protection method and the techniques of its analysis are described. The geological features, the design of land slide protection walls, the measurement of the land slide protection walls and surrounding ground and the results, and the examination of the analysis methods by a beam model and FEM are reported. (Kako, I.)

Developing an early laekage detection system for thermal power plant boiler tubes by using acoustic emission technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sang Bum [RECTUSON, Co., LTD, Masan (Korea, Republic of); Roh, Seon Man [Samcheonpo Division, Korea South-East Power Co., Samcheonpo (Korea, Republic of)

2016-06-15

A thermal power plant has a heat exchanger tube to collect and convert the heat generated from the high temperature and pressure steam to energy, but the tubes are arranged in a complex manner. In the event that a leakage occurs in any of these tubes, the high-pressure steam leaks out and may cause the neighboring tubes to rupture. This leakage can finally stop power generation, and hence there is a dire need to establish a suitable technology capable of detecting tube leaks at an early stage even before it occurs. As shown in this paper, by applying acoustic emission (AE) technology in existing boiler tube leak detection equipment (BTLD), we developed a system that detects these leakages early enough and generates an alarm at an early stage to necessitate action; the developed system works better that the existing system used to detect fine leakages. We verified the usability of the system in a 560 MW-class thermal power plant boiler by conducting leak tests by simulating leakages from a variety of hole sizes (⌀2, ⌀5, ⌀10 mm). Results show that while the existing fine leakage detection system does not detect fine leakages of ⌀2 mm and ⌀5 mm, the newly developed system could detect leakages early enough and generate an alarm at an early stage, and it is possible to increase the signal to more than 18 dB.

Developing an early laekage detection system for thermal power plant boiler tubes by using acoustic emission technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Bum; Roh, Seon Man

2016-01-01

A thermal power plant has a heat exchanger tube to collect and convert the heat generated from the high temperature and pressure steam to energy, but the tubes are arranged in a complex manner. In the event that a leakage occurs in any of these tubes, the high-pressure steam leaks out and may cause the neighboring tubes to rupture. This leakage can finally stop power generation, and hence there is a dire need to establish a suitable technology capable of detecting tube leaks at an early stage even before it occurs. As shown in this paper, by applying acoustic emission (AE) technology in existing boiler tube leak detection equipment (BTLD), we developed a system that detects these leakages early enough and generates an alarm at an early stage to necessitate action; the developed system works better that the existing system used to detect fine leakages. We verified the usability of the system in a 560 MW-class thermal power plant boiler by conducting leak tests by simulating leakages from a variety of hole sizes (⌀2, ⌀5, ⌀10 mm). Results show that while the existing fine leakage detection system does not detect fine leakages of ⌀2 mm and ⌀5 mm, the newly developed system could detect leakages early enough and generate an alarm at an early stage, and it is possible to increase the signal to more than 18 dB

Plant Glandular Trichomes

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

landing on the plant. Glandular trichomes in catmint (Nepeta sp.) produce nepetalactone, closely related to the aphid sex pheromone, nepetalactol. Nepetalactone can be reduced to the corresponding nepetalactol. ... Plant glandular trichomes function either as repositories or releasing sites of various chemicals. Interest in ...

A high-level dynamic analysis approach for studying global process plant availability and production time in the early stages of mining projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Travagini Cremonese

Full Text Available Abstract In the early stage of front-end studies of a Mining Project, the global availability (i.e. number of hours a plant is available for production and production (number of hours a plant is actually operated with material time of the process plant are normally assumed based on the experience of the study team. Understanding and defining the availability hours at the early stages of the project are important for the future stages of the project, as drastic changes in work hours will impact the economics of the project at that stage. An innovative high-level dynamic modeling approach has been developed to assist in the rapid evaluation of assumptions made by the study team. This model incorporates systems or equipment that are commonly used in mining projects from mine to product stockyard discharge after the processing plant. It includes subsystems that will simulate all the component handling, and major process plant systems required for a mining project. The output data provided by this high-level dynamic simulation approach will enhance the confidence level of engineering carried out during the early stage of the project. This study discusses the capabilities of the approach, and a test case compared with standard techniques used in mining project front-end studies.

Land Use and Land Cover Changes under Climate Uncertainty: Modelling the Impacts on Hydropower Production in Western Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salomon Obahoundje

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Bui hydropower plant plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of Ghana. This paper attempt to explore the combined effects of climate-land use land cover change on power production using the (WEAP model: Water Evaluation and Planning system. The historical analysis of rainfall and stream flow variability showed that the annual coefficient of variation of rainfall and stream flow are, respectively, 8.6% and 60.85%. The stream flow varied greatly than the rainfall, due to land use land cover changes (LULC. In fact, the LULC analysis revealed important changes in vegetative areas and water bodies. The WEAP model evaluation showed that combined effects of LULC and climate change reduce water availability for all of demand sectors, including hydropower generation at the Bui hydropower plant. However, it was projected that Bui power production will increase by 40.7% and 24.93%, respectively, under wet and adaptation conditions, and decrease by 46% and 2.5%, respectively, under dry and current conditions. The wet condition is defined as an increase in rainfall by 14%, the dry condition as the decrease in rainfall by 15%; current account is business as usual, and the adaptation is as the efficient use of water for the period 2012–2040.

Land Surface Phenology from MODIS: Characterization of the Collection 5 Global Land Cover Dynamics Product

Science.gov (United States)

Ganguly, Sangram; Friedl, Mark A.; Tan, Bin; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Verma, Manish

2010-01-01

Information related to land surface phenology is important for a variety of applications. For example, phenology is widely used as a diagnostic of ecosystem response to global change. In addition, phenology influences seasonal scale fluxes of water, energy, and carbon between the land surface and atmosphere. Increasingly, the importance of phenology for studies of habitat and biodiversity is also being recognized. While many data sets related to plant phenology have been collected at specific sites or in networks focused on individual plants or plant species, remote sensing provides the only way to observe and monitor phenology over large scales and at regular intervals. The MODIS Global Land Cover Dynamics Product was developed to support investigations that require regional to global scale information related to spatiotemporal dynamics in land surface phenology. Here we describe the Collection 5 version of this product, which represents a substantial refinement relative to the Collection 4 product. This new version provides information related to land surface phenology at higher spatial resolution than Collection 4 (500-m vs. 1-km), and is based on 8-day instead of 16-day input data. The paper presents a brief overview of the algorithm, followed by an assessment of the product. To this end, we present (1) a comparison of results from Collection 5 versus Collection 4 for selected MODIS tiles that span a range of climate and ecological conditions, (2) a characterization of interannual variation in Collections 4 and 5 data for North America from 2001 to 2006, and (3) a comparison of Collection 5 results against ground observations for two forest sites in the northeastern United States. Results show that the Collection 5 product is qualitatively similar to Collection 4. However, Collection 5 has fewer missing values outside of regions with persistent cloud cover and atmospheric aerosols. Interannual variability in Collection 5 is consistent with expected ranges of

Phased Restoration Plan for Degraded Land in North Korea by the Clustered Distribution Pattern of Suitable Afforestation Plants

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, S. G.; Lee, W. K.; Choi, H. A.; Yoo, H.; Song, C.; Son, Y.; Cha, S.; Bae, S. W.

2017-12-01

Degraded forest of North Korea (DPRK; The Democratic People's Republic of Koprea) is not only confined itself, it could cause serious problem in Korean Peninsula. The importance of restoration for degraded land has increased to improve an healthy ecosystem and solve a shortage of food in North Korea lately. On the other hand, although effort of North Korea government, degraded problem have consistently got worse. There are two main reasons it does not show effectively. The most critical one is absence of technique and information to restore, they concentrate urgent problem which is related to a poor food supply. The other problem is that they demand an efficiency plan in a short period. In these aspect, this study aims selecting suitable tree by spatial characteristics and establishing phased restoration plan to support policy decision about a degraded land in North Korea. The suitable tree for restoration is taken from references which involve natural plant distribution of North and South Korea (ROK; Republic of Korea). Optimal environmental predicted map is deducted from accumulated data of plant physiology whose endemic environmental optimal range individually. It is integrated a map by order of priorities that first is suitable tree species according to the region, and second is clustering distribution rate in a same species. The two types of priority is applied to weighting method. The research result shows that 23 afforestation species fit to restore, and lager distributed plants agree with the major species in Korean Peninsula. The integrated map considers weight of priorities, and it appears that Picea jezoensis is matched the widest. The integrated map shows a view of suitable restoration according to the space, but this is finespun to utilize in a policy. Therefore It provides 3 step plan to support policy decision by Block Statistics, as 12.5km (long-term general plan), 5km (medium-term detailed plan), 1km (short-term implementation plan).

Summary and evaluation of the conceptual design study of a potential early commercial MHD power plant (CSPEC)

Science.gov (United States)

Staiger, P. J.; Penko, P. F.

1982-01-01

The conceptual design study of a potential early commercial MHD power plant (CSPEC) is described and the results are summarized. Each of two contractors did a conceptual design of an approximtely 1000 MWe open-cycle MHD/steam plant with oxygen enriched combustion air preheated to an intermediate temperatue in a metallic heat exchanger. The contractors were close in their overall plant efficiency estimates but differed in their capital cost and cost of electricity estimates, primarily because of differences in balance-of-plant material, contingency, and operating and maintenance cost estimates. One contractor concluded that its MHD plant design compared favorably in cost of electricity with conventional coal-fired steam plants. The other contractor is making such a comparison as part of a follow-on study. Each contractor did a preliminary investigation of part-load performance and plant availability. The results of NASA studies investigating the effect of plant size and oxidizer preheat temperature on the performance of CSPEC-type MHD plants are also described. The efficiency of a 1000 MWe plant is about three points higher than of a 200 MWe plant. Preheating to 1600 F gives an efficiency about one and one-half points higher than preheating to 800 F for all plant sizes. For each plant size and preheat temperature there is an oxidizer enrichment level and MHD generator length that gives the highest plant efficiency.

The Positive Impact of the Early-Feeding of a Plant-Based Diet on Its Future Acceptance and Utilisation in Rainbow Trout

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geurden, I.; Borchert, P.; Balasubramanian, M.N.; Schrama, J.W.; Dupont-Nivet, M.; Quillet, E.; Kaushik, S.J.; Panserat, S.; Médale, F.

2013-01-01

Sustainable aquaculture, which entails proportional replacement of fish-based feed sources by plant-based ingredients, is impeded by the poor growth response frequently seen in fish fed high levels of plant ingredients. This study explores the potential to improve, by means of early nutritional

Microtubule dynamics of the centrosome-like polar organizers from the basal land plant Marchantia polymorpha.

Science.gov (United States)

Buschmann, Henrik; Holtmannspötter, Michael; Borchers, Agnes; O'Donoghue, Martin-Timothy; Zachgo, Sabine

2016-02-01

The liverwort Marchantia employs both modern and ancestral devices during cell division: it forms preprophase bands and in addition it shows centrosome-like polar organizers. We investigated whether polar organizers and preprophase bands cooperate to set up the division plane. To this end, two novel green fluorescent protein-based microtubule markers for dividing cells of Marchantia were developed. Cells of the apical notch formed polar organizers first and subsequently assembled preprophase bands. Polar organizers were formed de novo from multiple mobile microtubule foci localizing to the nuclear envelope. The foci then became concentrated by bipolar aggregation. We determined the comet production rate of polar organizers and show that microtubule plus ends of astral microtubules polymerize faster than those found on cortical microtubules. Importantly, it was observed that conditions increasing polar organizer numbers interfere with preprophase band formation. The data show that polar organizers have much in common with centrosomes, but that they also have specialized features. The results suggest that polar organizers contribute to preprophase band formation and in this way are involved in controlling the division plane. Our analyses of the basal land plant Marchantia shed new light on the evolution of plant cell division. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Satellite Soil Moisture and Water Storage Observations Identify Early and Late Season Water Supply Influencing Plant Growth in the Missouri Watershed

Science.gov (United States)

A, G.; Velicogna, I.; Kimball, J. S.; Du, J.; Kim, Y.; Colliander, A.; Njoku, E. G.

2017-12-01

We employ an array of continuously overlapping global satellite sensor observations including combined surface soil moisture (SM) estimates from SMAP, AMSR-E and AMSR-2, GRACE terrestrial water storage (TWS), and satellite precipitation measurements, to characterize seasonal timing and inter-annual variations of the regional water supply pattern and its associated influence on vegetation growth estimates from MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI), AMSR-E/2 vegetation optical depth (VOD) and GOME-2 solar-induced florescence (SIF). Satellite SM is used as a proxy of plant-available water supply sensitive to relatively rapid changes in surface condition, GRACE TWS measures seasonal and inter-annual variations in regional water storage, while precipitation measurements represent the direct water input to the analyzed ecosystem. In the Missouri watershed, we find surface SM variations are the dominant factor controlling vegetation growth following the peak of the growing season. Water supply to growth responds to both direct precipitation inputs and groundwater storage carry-over from prior seasons (winter and spring), depending on land cover distribution and regional climatic condition. For the natural grassland in the more arid central and northwest watershed areas, an early season anomaly in precipitation or surface temperature can have a lagged impact on summer vegetation growth by affecting the surface SM and the underlying TWS supplies. For the croplands in the more humid eastern portions of the watershed, the correspondence between surface SM and plant growth weakens. The combination of these complementary remote-sensing observations provides an effective means for evaluating regional variations in the timing and availability of water supply influencing vegetation growth.

Pairing FLUXNET sites to validate model representations of land-use/land-cover change

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Liang; Dirmeyer, Paul A.; Guo, Zhichang; Schultz, Natalie M.

2018-01-01

Land surface energy and water fluxes play an important role in land-atmosphere interactions, especially for the climatic feedback effects driven by land-use/land-cover change (LULCC). These have long been documented in model-based studies, but the performance of land surface models in representing LULCC-induced responses has not been investigated well. In this study, measurements from proximate paired (open versus forest) flux tower sites are used to represent observed deforestation-induced changes in surface fluxes, which are compared with simulations from the Community Land Model (CLM) and the Noah Multi-Parameterization (Noah-MP) land model. Point-scale simulations suggest the CLM can represent the observed diurnal and seasonal changes in net radiation (Rnet) and ground heat flux (G), but difficulties remain in the energy partitioning between latent (LE) and sensible (H) heat flux. The CLM does not capture the observed decreased daytime LE, and overestimates the increased H during summer. These deficiencies are mainly associated with models' greater biases over forest land-cover types and the parameterization of soil evaporation. Global gridded simulations with the CLM show uncertainties in the estimation of LE and H at the grid level for regional and global simulations. Noah-MP exhibits a similar ability to simulate the surface flux changes, but with larger biases in H, G, and Rnet change during late winter and early spring, which are related to a deficiency in estimating albedo. Differences in meteorological conditions between paired sites is not a factor in these results. Attention needs to be devoted to improving the representation of surface heat flux processes in land models to increase confidence in LULCC simulations.

Growth responses of Phragmites karka - a candidate for second generation biofuel from degraded saline lands

Science.gov (United States)

Zaheer Ahmed, Muhammad; Shoukat, Erum; Abideen, Zainul; Aziz, Irfan; Gulzar, Salman; Ajmal Khan, M.

2017-04-01

following order: root > senesced leaves > young leaves. Moreover, plants maintained nutrient homeostasis (K+, Ca++, Mg++, NO-) by selective uptake via root and transport towards leaf. Moderate salinity increased instantaneous carboxylation efficiency and water use efficiency with stomatal density and smaller pore size compared to control which supported unchanged photosynthetic rate by protecting light harvesting machinery. Low photosynthetic rate in early phase of higher salinity was related to reduced stomatal conductance, while in later phase (15-30 days) due to decreased carboxylation efficiency, effective quantum yield and Fv/Fm (at noon). In conclusion, organ specific responses to short and long term exposure in moderate salinity ensures successful plant survival, whereas long term exposure tohigh salinitywas toxic for plant growth. It is recommended that P. karka could be grown as a biofuel crop on marginally saline and degraded lands.

Potential for enhancing nongame bird habitat values on abandoned mine lands of western North Dakota

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burley, J.B.; Hopkins, R.B.

1984-01-01

Throughout western North Dakota the number of unreclaimed surface coal and coal-uranium mines might total over 1100. We examined the potential for enhancing the nongame bird habitat values of unreclaimed mine lands in the arid, western region of North Dakota. Generally, the greatest variety of birds occurred in natural and planted woodlands, while fewer birds occurred in unreclaimed mine lands, grasslands, shrublands and croplands. Deciduous woodland types supported more species of birds than coniferous types. Planted woodlands supported about the same number of bird species as some natural deciduous woodland types and more species than coniferous woods. Unreclaimed mine lands supported more species than grasslands and croplands, and about the same number of species as native shrublands. The highest bird densities were in planted woodlands. Bird diversity varied positively with habitat diversity. The bird fauna of unreclaimed mine lands can be enhanced by creating more diverse habitats. Seventeen guidelines to enhance unreclaimed mine lands for nongame birds are presented. These guidelines can be used in preserving habitats threatened by surface mining and reclaiming previously mined lands

Shallow land burial of radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobs, D.G.; Rose, R.R.

1985-01-01

The authors discuss low-level, solid radioactive wastes buried in the ground since the startup of nuclear operations by the Manhattan Engineer District in the early 1940's. These operations were originally intended to be temporary so the primary consideration in locating land burial sites was their accessibility from the source of waste production. Early land-burial facilities were located on large reservations owned by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and operated by their prime contractors. Shallow land burial consists of excavating a trench or vault, emplacing the waste, minimizing void space within the disposal unit, and covering the waste with earth to control access to the waste. Problems encountered in the land-burial of radioactive wastes are classified into areas which relate to the environmental characteristics of the sites, waste characteristics, operational practices and control, and predictive capability. The most serious environmentally related problems involve water management. Water provides primary vehicle for both erosional processes, which affect the structural integrity of the waste trenches, and for the migration of radionuclides. Although there is consensus that the current level of off-site movement of radionuclides from operating burial grounds does not constitute an immediate health hazard, there is less certainty with respect to the ability of the facilities to provide long-term containment and isolation

A two-locus global DNA barcode for land plants: the coding rbcL gene complements the non-coding trnH-psbA spacer region.

Science.gov (United States)

Kress, W John; Erickson, David L

2007-06-06

A useful DNA barcode requires sufficient sequence variation to distinguish between species and ease of application across a broad range of taxa. Discovery of a DNA barcode for land plants has been limited by intrinsically lower rates of sequence evolution in plant genomes than that observed in animals. This low rate has complicated the trade-off in finding a locus that is universal and readily sequenced and has sufficiently high sequence divergence at the species-level. Here, a global plant DNA barcode system is evaluated by comparing universal application and degree of sequence divergence for nine putative barcode loci, including coding and non-coding regions, singly and in pairs across a phylogenetically diverse set of 48 genera (two species per genus). No single locus could discriminate among species in a pair in more than 79% of genera, whereas discrimination increased to nearly 88% when the non-coding trnH-psbA spacer was paired with one of three coding loci, including rbcL. In silico trials were conducted in which DNA sequences from GenBank were used to further evaluate the discriminatory power of a subset of these loci. These trials supported the earlier observation that trnH-psbA coupled with rbcL can correctly identify and discriminate among related species. A combination of the non-coding trnH-psbA spacer region and a portion of the coding rbcL gene is recommended as a two-locus global land plant barcode that provides the necessary universality and species discrimination.

Land-Ocean-Atmospheric Coupling Associated with Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, A. K.; Singh, R. P.; Kumar, S.; Cervone, G.; Kafatos, M.; Zlotnicki, J.

2007-12-01

Earthquakes are well known to occur along the plate boundaries and also on the stable shield. The recent studies have shown existence of strong coupling between land-ocean-atmospheric parameters associated with the earthquakes. We have carried out detailed analysis of multi sensor data (optical and microwave remote) to show existence of strong coupling between land-ocean-atmospheric parameters associated with the earthquakes with focal depth up to 30 km and magnitude greater than 5.5. Complimentary nature of various land, ocean and atmospheric parameters will be demonstrated in getting an early warning information about an impending earthquake.

Analysis of Anomaly in Land Surface Temperature Using MODIS Products

Science.gov (United States)

Yorozu, K.; Kodama, T.; Kim, S.; Tachikawa, Y.; Shiiba, M.

2011-12-01

Atmosphere-land surface interaction plays a dominant role on the hydrologic cycle. Atmospheric phenomena cause variation of land surface state and land surface state can affect on atmosphereic conditions. Widely-known article related in atmospheric-land interaction was published by Koster et al. in 2004. The context of this article is that seasonal anomaly in soil moisture or soil surface temperature can affect summer precipitation generation and other atmospheric processes especially in middle North America, Sahel and south Asia. From not only above example but other previous research works, it is assumed that anomaly of surface state has a key factor. To investigate atmospheric-land surface interaction, it is necessary to analyze anomaly field in land surface state. In this study, soil surface temperature should be focused because it can be globally and continuously observed by satellite launched sensor. To land surface temperature product, MOD11C1 and MYD11C1 products which are kinds of MODIS products are applied. Both of them have 0.05 degree spatial resolution and daily temporal resolution. The difference of them is launched satellite, MOD11C1 is Terra and MYD11C1 is Aqua. MOD11C1 covers the latter of 2000 to present and MYD11C1 covers the early 2002 to present. There are unrealistic values on provided products even if daily product was already calibrated or corrected. For pre-analyzing, daily data is aggregated into 8-days data to remove irregular values for stable analysis. It was found that there are spatial and temporal distribution of 10-years average and standard deviation for each 8-days term. In order to point out extreme anomaly in land surface temperature, standard score for each 8-days term is applied. From the analysis of standard score, it is found there are large anomaly in land surface temperature around north China plain in early April 2005 and around Bangladesh in early May 2009.

Early tube leak detection system for steam boiler at KEV power plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail Firas B.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Tube leakage in boilers has been a major contribution to trips which eventually leads to power plant shut downs. Training of network and developing artificial neural network (ANN models are essential in fault detection in critically large systems. This research focusses on the ANN modelling through training and validation of real data acquired from a sub-critical boiler unit. The artificial neural network (ANN was used to develop a compatible model and to evaluate the working properties and behaviour of boiler. The training and validation of real data has been applied using the feed-forward with back-propagation (BP. The right combination of number of neurons, number of hidden layers, training algorithms and training functions was run to achieve the best ANN model with lowest error. The ANN was trained and validated using real site data acquired from a coal fired power plant in Malaysia. The results showed that the Neural Network (NN with one hidden layers performed better than two hidden layer using feed-forward back-propagation network. The outcome from this study give us the best ANN model which eventually allows for early detection of boiler tube leakages, and forecast of a trip before the real shutdown. This will eventually reduce shutdowns in power plants.

Early Validation of Automation Plant Control Software using Simulation Based on Assumption Modeling and Validation Use Cases

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Veronika Brandstetter

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In automation plants, technical processes must be conducted in a way that products, substances, or services are produced reliably, with sufficient quality and with minimal strain on resources. A key driver in conducting these processes is the automation plant’s control software, which controls the technical plant components and thereby affects the physical, chemical, and mechanical processes that take place in automation plants. To this end, the control software of an automation plant must adhere to strict process requirements arising from the technical processes, and from the physical plant design. Currently, the validation of the control software often starts late in the engineering process in many cases – once the automation plant is almost completely constructed. However, as widely acknowledged, the later the control software of the automation plant is validated, the higher the effort for correcting revealed defects is, which can lead to serious budget overruns and project delays. In this article we propose an approach that allows the early validation of automation control software against the technical plant processes and assumptions about the physical plant design by means of simulation. We demonstrate the application of our approach on the example of an actual plant project from the automation industry and present it’s technical implementation

Sea water pumping-up power plant system combined with nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichiki, Tadaharu; Tanaka, Masayuki.

1991-01-01

It is difficult to find a site suitable to construction for a sea water pumping-up power plant at a place relatively near the electric power consumption area. Then, a nuclear power plant is set at the sea bottom or the land portion of a sea shore near the power consumption area. A cavity is excavated underground or at the bottom of the sea in the vicinity of the power plant to form a lower pond, and the bottom of the sea, as an upper pond and the lower pond are connected by a water pressure pipe and a water discharge pipe. A pump water turbine is disposed therebetween, to which electric power generator is connected. In addition, an ordinary or emergency cooling facility in the nuclear power plant is constituted such that sea water in the cavity is supplied by a sea water pump. Accordingly, the sea water pumping-up plant system in combination with the nuclear power plant is constituted with no injuring from salts to animals and plants on land in the suburbs of a large city. The cost for facilities for supplying power from a remote power plant to large city areas and power loss are decreased and stable electric power can be supplied. (N.H.)

US army land condition-trend analysis (LCTA) program

Science.gov (United States)

Diersing, Victor E.; Shaw, Robert B.; Tazik, David J.

1992-05-01

The US Army Land Condition-Trend Analysis (LCTA) program is a standardized method of data collection, analysis, and reporting designed to meet multiple goals and objectives. The method utilizes vascular plant inventories, permanent field plot data, and wildlife inventories. Vascular plant inventories are used for environmental documentation, training of personnel, species identification during LCTA implementation, and as a survey for state and federal endangered or threatened species. The permanent field plot data documents the vegetational, edaphic, topographic, and disturbance characteristics of the installation. Inventory plots are allocated in a stratified random fashion across the installation utilizing a geographic information system that integrates satellite imagery and soil survey information. Ground cover, canopy cover, woody plant density, slope length, slope gradient, soil information, and disturbance data are collected at each plot. Plot data are used to: (1) describe plant communities, (2) characterize wildlife and threatened and endangered species habitat, (3) document amount and kind of military and nonmilitary disturbance, (4) determine the impact of military training on vegetation and soil resources, (5) estimate soil erosion potential, (6) classify land as to the kind and amount of use it can support, (7) determine allowable use estimates for tracked vehicle training, (8) document concealment resources, (9) identify lands that require restoration and evaluate the effectiveness of restorative techniques, and (10) evaluate potential acquisition property. Wildlife inventories survey small and midsize mammals, birds, bats, amphibians, and reptiles. Data from these surveys can be used for environmental documentation, to identify state and federal endangered and threatened species, and to evaluate the impact of military activities on wildlife populations. Short- and long-term monitoring of permanent field plots is used to evaluate and adjust land

Coupled C, N and P controls on photosynthesis, primary production and decomposition across a land use intensification gradient and implications for land atmosphere C exchange

Science.gov (United States)

Reinsch, Sabine; Glanville, Helen; Smart, Simon; Jones, Davey; Mercado, Lina; Blanes-Alberola, Mamen; Cosby, Jack; Emmett, Bridget

2016-04-01

The coupling of C, N and P cycles has rarely been studied through the air- land-water continuum. This is essential if we are to enhance land-atmosphere models to account for N and P limitations. It is also important for developing integrated catchment management solutions to deliver improved water quality combined with a wide range of other ecosystem functions and services. We present results from a project which is part of the interdisciplinary pan-UK NERC Macronutrient Cycles Programme (macronutrient-cycles.ouce.ox.ac.uk/). Our aim is to quantify how coupled C, N & P cycles change across a land use intensification gradient from arable to grass, woodland and bog ecosystems and identify the implications for land-atmosphere C exchange. We focus on three key processes; photosynthesis, annual net primary productivity and decomposition and explore their consequences for biodiversity. Other aspects of the project track delivery to, and transformations within, the freshwater and coastal systems. When we explore relationships between C, N and P, results indicate all habitat types fall on a single land use intensification gradient. Stoichiometry suggests plant productivity is primarily N limited. P limitation occurs rarely but at all levels of intensification. Soil priming shows our soils are primarily C limited and, surprisingly, soil acidity provides one of the most powerful single predictors of processes and ecosystem services perhaps as it is a good integrator of many soil properties. Incorporating this knowledge into the UK land-atmosphere model JULES will improve aNPP projections. These are then being used as inputs into a plant species model called MULTIMOVE to enable future scenarios of climate change, land use and air pollution on habitat suitability for > 1400 plant species to be explored. The enhanced Jules model will ensure both N and P limitations on C fluxes from above and below-ground are incorporated into future UK scenario applications.

Carbon balances during land conversion in early bioenergy systems

Science.gov (United States)

Zenone, T.; Chen, J.; Gelfand, I.; Robertson, G. P.; Hamilton, S. K.

2012-12-01

In this study, we established a field experiment and deployed seven eddy-covariance towers to quantify the roles of land use change and the subsequent carbon (C) balances of three different bioenergy systems (corn, switchgrass, and mixed prairie species) that were developed from two historical land use types: monocultural grasslands dominated by smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss) and lands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Three CRP fields and three cropland fields were converted to soybean in 2009 (conversion year) before establishing the cellulosic biofuel cropping systems in 2010 (establishment year). A CRP perennial grassland site was kept undisturbed as a reference. Conversion of CRP to soybean induced net C emissions during the conversion year (134 -262 g C m-2 yr-1), while in the same year the net C balance at the CRP grassland reference was -35 g C m-2 yr-1 (i.e., net C sequestration). The establishment of switchgrass and mixed prairie induced a cumulative C balance of -113 g C m-2 (switchgrass from CRP), 250 g C m-2 (switchgrass from cropland), 706 g C m-2 (mixed prairie from CRP), and 59 g C m-2 (mixed prairie from cropland) over the three-year study period. The cumulative three-year C balance of corn converted from CRP and from cropland was -151 g C m-2 and -183 g C m-2, respectively. Eddy flux measurements during cellulosic biofuel crop establishment reveal annual changes in C balance that cannot be detected using conventional mass balance approaches. When end-use of harvested biomass was considered, the C balances for all studied systems, except the reference site, exhibited large C emissions ranging from 150 to 990 g C m-2 over the three-year conversion phase.

RECYCLING OF WATER TREATMENT PLANT SLUDGE VIA LAND APPLICATION: ASSESSMENT OF RISK

Science.gov (United States)

Water treatment sludges (WTS) offer potential benefits when applied to soil and recycling of the waste stream via land application has been proposed as a management option. Recycling of WTS to the land helps conserve landfill disposal capacity and natural resources, but potential...

Plant macroremains from an early Neolithic site in eastern Kuyavia, central Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mueller-Bieniek Aldona

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The study examined plant remains from the Smólsk 2/10 site, situated on the border of two different landscapes and preserving traces of Neolithic occupation from several cultures: Early Linear Pottery culture (LBK, ca 5300-5200 cal. BC to ca 5000 cal. BC. Stroke Band Pottery culture (SBP, ca 4700-4400 cal. BC, the Brześć Kujawski group of Lengyel culture (BKG, ca 4500-4000/3900 cal. BC, Funnel Beaker culture (TRB, ca 3950-3380 BC, and also some features of the Lusatian culture (Hallstatt C, ca 970-790 cal. BC.

Land use compounds habitat losses under projected climate change in a threatened California ecosystem.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erin Coulter Riordan

Full Text Available Given the rapidly growing human population in mediterranean-climate systems, land use may pose a more immediate threat to biodiversity than climate change this century, yet few studies address the relative future impacts of both drivers. We assess spatial and temporal patterns of projected 21(st century land use and climate change on California sage scrub (CSS, a plant association of considerable diversity and threatened status in the mediterranean-climate California Floristic Province. Using a species distribution modeling approach combined with spatially-explicit land use projections, we model habitat loss for 20 dominant shrub species under unlimited and no dispersal scenarios at two time intervals (early and late century in two ecoregions in California (Central Coast and South Coast. Overall, projected climate change impacts were highly variable across CSS species and heavily dependent on dispersal assumptions. Projected anthropogenic land use drove greater relative habitat losses compared to projected climate change in many species. This pattern was only significant under assumptions of unlimited dispersal, however, where considerable climate-driven habitat gains offset some concurrent climate-driven habitat losses. Additionally, some of the habitat gained with projected climate change overlapped with projected land use. Most species showed potential northern habitat expansion and southern habitat contraction due to projected climate change, resulting in sharply contrasting patterns of impact between Central and South Coast Ecoregions. In the Central Coast, dispersal could play an important role moderating losses from both climate change and land use. In contrast, high geographic overlap in habitat losses driven by projected climate change and projected land use in the South Coast underscores the potential for compounding negative impacts of both drivers. Limiting habitat conversion may be a broadly beneficial strategy under climate change

Land degradation causes and sustainable land management practices in southern Jordan

Science.gov (United States)

Khresat, Saeb

2014-05-01

Jordan is one of the world's most water-deficit countries with only about 4% of the total land area considered arable. As a consequence agricultural production is greatly constrained by limited natural resources. Therefore, a major challenge for the country is to promote the sustainable use of natural resources for agricultural purposes. This challenge is being made harder by the ongoing processes of degradation due to increased population pressure, which undermine any social and economic development gains. In the southern plains of Jordan, sustainability of farming practices has worsened in the past three decades, exacerbating pressure on land and increasing land degradation processes. Non-sustainable land use practices include improper ploughing, inappropriate rotations, inadequate or inexistent management of plant residues, overgrazing of natural vegetation, random urbanization, land fragmentation and over-pumping of groundwater. The root cause is the high population growth which exerts excessive pressure on the natural resources to meet increased food and income demand. The poorest farmers who are increasingly growing cereals on marginal areas. Wheat and barley are now grown with little to no rotation, with no nutrient replenishment, and at places avoiding even fallow. Small landholding sizes and topographic features of the area tend to oblige longitudinal mechanized tillage operations along the slopes. Overall, the constraints facing the deprived land users such as, poor access to technology, capital and organization are the factors that lead into unsustainable practices. The main bottlenecks and barriers that hinder mainstreaming of sustainable land management in Jordan can be grouped into three main categories: (i) Knowledge, (ii) Institutional and Governance, and (iii) Economic and Financial. In this case study, the key challenge was to create a knowledge base among local stakeholders - including planners, extension officers, NGO/community leaders, teachers

Tennessee's forest land area was stable 1999-2005 but early successional forest area declined

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher M. Oswalt

2008-01-01

A new analysis of the most recent (2005) annualized moving average data for Tennessee indicates that the area of forest land in the State remained stable between 1999 and 2005. Although trends in forest land area vary from region to region within the State, Tennessee neither lost nor gained forest land between 1999 and 2005. However, Tennessee had more than 2.5 times...

Land Husbandry: Biochar application to reduce land degradation and erosion on cassava production

Science.gov (United States)

Yuniwati, E. D.

2017-12-01

This field experiment was carried out to examine the effect of increasing crop yield on land degradation and erosion in cassava-based cropping systems. The experiment was also aimed at showing that with proper crop management, the planting of cassava does not result in land degradation, and therefore, a sustainable production system can be obtained. The experiment was done in a farmer's fields in Batu, about 15 km south east of Malang, East Java, Indonesia. The soils are Alfisols with a surface slope of about 8%. There were 8 experimental treatments with two replications. The experiment results show that biochar applications reduce of soil erosion rate of the cassava field were not necessarily higher than those of maize in terms of crop yield and crop management. At low-to-medium yield, also observed the nutrient uptake of cassava was lower than that of maize. At high yield, only the K uptake of cassava was higher than that of maize, whereas the N and P uptake was more or less similar. Soil erosion on the cassava field was significantly higher than that on the maize field; however, this only occurred when there was no suitable crop management. Simple crop managements, such as ridging, biochar application, or manure application could significantly reduce soil erosion. The results also revealed that proper management could prevent land degradation and increase crop yield. In turn, the increase in crop yield could decrease soil erosion and plant nutrient depletion.

Cadastral valuation of land contaminated with radionuclides

Science.gov (United States)

Ratnikov, A. N.; Sapozhnikov, P. M.; Sanzharova, N. I.; Sviridenko, D. G.; Zhigareva, T. L.; Popova, G. I.; Panov, A. V.; Kozlova, I. Yu.

2016-01-01

The methodology and procedure for cadastral valuation of land in the areas contaminated with radionuclides are presented. The efficiency of rehabilitation measures applied to decrease crop contamination to the levels satisfying sanitary-hygienic norms is discussed. The differentiation of cadastral value of radioactively contaminated agricultural lands for the particular farms and land plots is suggested. An example of cadastral valuation of agricultural land contaminated during the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident is given. It is shown that the use of sandy and loamy sandy soddy-podzolic soils with the 137Cs contamination of 37-185 and >185 kBq/m2 for crop growing is unfeasible. The growing of grain crops and potatoes on clay loamy soddy-podzolic soils with the 137Cs contamination of 555-740 kBq/m2 is unprofitable. The maximum cadastral value of radioactively contaminated lands is typical of leached chernozems.

Land-use change and management effects on carbon sequestration in soils of Russia's South Taiga zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larionova, A.A.; Rozanova, L.N.; Yevdokimov, I.V.; Yermolayev, A.M.; Kurganova, I.N.; Blagodatsky, S.A.

2003-01-01

The impact of land use change and management on soil C sequestration was investigated during the 1980s-1990s on gray forest soils in Pushchino, and on the soddy-podzolic soil in Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve, Moscow Region, Russia (54 deg 50 min N, 37 deg 35 min E). Mean annual rates of C sequestration after establishment of perennials (layer 0-60 cm) were 63-182 g C/m 2 and 22-43 g C/m 2 for gray forest and soddy-podzolic soils, respectively. Grassing resulted in higher soil C accumulation than afforestation. Cutting and application of NPK fertilisers increased soil C accumulation, but newly formed soil organic matter was less resistant to decomposition than in unfertilised soil. Preliminary calculations of C sequestration due to abandonment of arable land in Russia since the early 1990s suggest that total C accumulation in soil and the plant biomass could represent about one tenth of industrial CO 2 emissions

Step-wise and lineage-specific diversification of plant RNA polymerase genes and origin of the largest plant-specific subunits.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yaqiong; Ma, Hong

2015-09-01

Proteins often function as complexes, yet little is known about the evolution of dissimilar subunits of complexes. DNA-directed RNA polymerases (RNAPs) are multisubunit complexes, with distinct eukaryotic types for different classes of transcripts. In addition to Pol I-III, common in eukaryotes, plants have Pol IV and V for epigenetic regulation. Some RNAP subunits are specific to one type, whereas other subunits are shared by multiple types. We have conducted extensive phylogenetic and sequence analyses, and have placed RNAP gene duplication events in land plant history, thereby reconstructing the subunit compositions of the novel RNAPs during land plant evolution. We found that Pol IV/V have experienced step-wise duplication and diversification of various subunits, with increasingly distinctive subunit compositions. Also, lineage-specific duplications have further increased RNAP complexity with distinct copies in different plant families and varying divergence for subunits of different RNAPs. Further, the largest subunits of Pol IV/V probably originated from a gene fusion in the ancestral land plants. We propose a framework of plant RNAP evolution, providing an excellent model for protein complex evolution. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Using Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probes to Monitor Landscape Scale Soil Water Content in Mixed Land Use Agricultural Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franz, Trenton E.; Wahbi, Ammar; Weltin, Georg; Heng, Lee; Dercon, Gerd; Vreugdenhi, Mariette; Oismueller, Markus; Strauss, Peter; Desilets, Darin

2016-01-01

With an ever-increasing demand for natural resources and the societal need to understand and predict natural disasters such as flood, soil water content (SWC) observations remain a critical variable to monitor in order to optimally allocate resources, establish early warning systems, and improve weather forecasts. However, routine agricultural production practices of soil cultivation, planting, and harvest make the operation and maintenance of direct contact point sensors for long-term monitoring a challenging task. In this work, we used Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) to monitor landscape average SWC in a mixed agricultural land use system in northeast Austria since December 2013.

Field Sampling Plan for Closure of the Central Facilities Area Sewage Treatment Plant Lagoon 3 and Land Application Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, Michael George

2016-01-01

This field sampling plan describes sampling of the soil/liner of Lagoon 3 at the Central Facilities Area Sewage Treatment Plant. The lagoon is to be closed, and samples obtained from the soil/liner will provide information to determine if Lagoon 3 and the land application area can be closed in a manner that renders it safe to human health and the environment. Samples collected under this field sampling plan will be compared to Idaho National Laboratory background soil concentrations. If the concentrations of constituents of concern exceed the background level, they will be compared to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act preliminary remediation goals and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act levels. If the concentrations of constituents of concern are lower than the background levels, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act levels, or the preliminary remediation goals, then Lagoon 3 and the land application area will be closed. If the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act levels and/or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act preliminary remediation goals are exceeded, additional sampling and action may be required.

Field Sampling Plan for Closure of the Central Facilities Area Sewage Treatment Plant Lagoon 3 and Land Application Area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lewis, Michael George [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2016-10-01

This field sampling plan describes sampling of the soil/liner of Lagoon 3 at the Central Facilities Area Sewage Treatment Plant. The lagoon is to be closed, and samples obtained from the soil/liner will provide information to determine if Lagoon 3 and the land application area can be closed in a manner that renders it safe to human health and the environment. Samples collected under this field sampling plan will be compared to Idaho National Laboratory background soil concentrations. If the concentrations of constituents of concern exceed the background level, they will be compared to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act preliminary remediation goals and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act levels. If the concentrations of constituents of concern are lower than the background levels, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act levels, or the preliminary remediation goals, then Lagoon 3 and the land application area will be closed. If the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act levels and/or the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act preliminary remediation goals are exceeded, additional sampling and action may be required.

An Experimental Investigation On Minimum Compressive Strength Of Early Age Concrete To Prevent Frost Damage For Nuclear Power Plant Structures In Cold Climates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koh, Kyungtaek; Kim, Dogyeum; Park, Chunjin; Ryu, Gumsung; Park, Jungjun; Lee, Janghwa

2013-01-01

Concrete undergoing early frost damage in cold weather will experience significant loss of not only strength, but also of permeability and durability. Accordingly, concrete codes like ACI-306R prescribe a minimum compressive strength and duration of curing to prevent frost damage at an early age and secure the quality of concrete. Such minimum compressive strength and duration of curing are mostly defined based on the strength development of concrete. However, concrete subjected to frost damage at early age may not show a consistent relationship between its strength and durability. Especially, since durability of concrete is of utmost importance in nuclear power plant structures, this relationship should be imperatively clarified. Therefore, this study verifies the feasibility of the minimum compressive strength specified in the codes like ACI-306R by evaluating the strength development and the durability preventing the frost damage of early age concrete for nuclear power plant. The results indicate that the value of 5 MPa specified by the concrete standards like ACI-306R as the minimum compressive strength to prevent the early frost damage is reasonable in terms of the strength development, but seems to be inappropriate in the viewpoint of the resistance to chloride ion penetration and freeze-thaw. Consequently, it is recommended to propose a minimum compressive strength preventing early frost damage in terms of not only the strength development, but also in terms of the durability to secure the quality of concrete for nuclear power plants in cold climates

An Experimental Investigation On Minimum Compressive Strength Of Early Age Concrete To Prevent Frost Damage For Nuclear Power Plant Structures In Cold Climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koh, Kyungtaek; Kim, Dogyeum; Park, Chunjin; Ryu, Gumsung; Park, Jungjun; Lee, Janghwa [Korea Institute Construction Technology, Goyang (Korea, Republic of)

2013-06-15

Concrete undergoing early frost damage in cold weather will experience significant loss of not only strength, but also of permeability and durability. Accordingly, concrete codes like ACI-306R prescribe a minimum compressive strength and duration of curing to prevent frost damage at an early age and secure the quality of concrete. Such minimum compressive strength and duration of curing are mostly defined based on the strength development of concrete. However, concrete subjected to frost damage at early age may not show a consistent relationship between its strength and durability. Especially, since durability of concrete is of utmost importance in nuclear power plant structures, this relationship should be imperatively clarified. Therefore, this study verifies the feasibility of the minimum compressive strength specified in the codes like ACI-306R by evaluating the strength development and the durability preventing the frost damage of early age concrete for nuclear power plant. The results indicate that the value of 5 MPa specified by the concrete standards like ACI-306R as the minimum compressive strength to prevent the early frost damage is reasonable in terms of the strength development, but seems to be inappropriate in the viewpoint of the resistance to chloride ion penetration and freeze-thaw. Consequently, it is recommended to propose a minimum compressive strength preventing early frost damage in terms of not only the strength development, but also in terms of the durability to secure the quality of concrete for nuclear power plants in cold climates.

Remote sensing of land surface phenology

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, G.A.; Brown, Jesslyn F.

2014-01-01

Remote sensing of land-surface phenology is an important method for studying the patterns of plant and animal growth cycles. Phenological events are sensitive to climate variation; therefore phenology data provide important baseline information documenting trends in ecology and detecting the impacts of climate change on multiple scales. The USGS Remote sensing of land surface phenology program produces annually, nine phenology indicator variables at 250 m and 1,000 m resolution for the contiguous U.S. The 12 year archive is available at http://phenology.cr.usgs.gov/index.php.

Integrated Weed Control for Land Stewardship at Legacy Management's Rocky Flats Site in Colorado - 13086

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, Jody K.

2013-01-01

Land stewardship is one of nine sustainability programs in the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management System. Land stewardship includes maintaining and improving ecosystem health. At the Rocky Flats Site near Westminster, Colorado, land stewardship is an integral component of the Office of Legacy Management's post-closure monitoring and management at the site. Nearly 263 hectares (650 acres) were disturbed and re-vegetated during site cleanup and closure operations. Proactive management of revegetation areas is critical to the successful reestablishment of native grasslands, wetlands, and riparian communities. The undisturbed native plant communities that occur at the site also require active management to maintain the high-quality wetlands and other habitats that are home to numerous species of birds and other wildlife such as elk and deer, rare plant communities, and the federally listed threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Over the past several decades, an increase of Noxious weeds has impacted much of Colorado's Front Range. As a result, weed control is a key component of the land stewardship program at Rocky Flats. Thirty-three species of state-listed Noxious weeds are known to occur in the Central and Peripheral Operable Units at Rocky Flats, along with another five species that are considered invasive at the site. Early detection and rapid response to control new invasive species is crucial to the program. An integrated weed control/vegetation management approach is key to maintaining healthy, sustainable plant communities that are able to resist Noxious weed invasions. Weed mapping, field surveys, and field-staff training sessions (to learn how to identify new potential problem species) are conducted to help detect and prevent new weed problems. The integrated approach at Rocky Flats includes administrative and cultural techniques (prevention), mechanical controls, biological controls, and chemical controls. Several species of biocontrol

Planting and care of fine hardwood seedlings: Planting hardwood seedlings in the Central Hardwood Region.

Science.gov (United States)

Paula M. Pijut

2003-01-01

Forest tree planting in the United States on public and private land exceeded 2.6 million acres in 1999. Of that total, approximately 1.3 million acres (48 percent) were planted by private individuals (AF & PA 2001). In the Central Hardwood Region forest tree planting by private landowners exceeded 100,000 acres in 1999. Trees are planted for various reasons...

Rapid atmospheric transport and large-scale deposition of recently synthesized plant waxes

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Daniel B.; Ladd, S. Nemiah; Schubert, Carsten J.; Kahmen, Ansgar

2018-02-01

Sedimentary plant wax 2H/1H ratios are important tools for understanding hydroclimate and environmental changes, but large spatial and temporal uncertainties exist about transport mechanisms from ecosystem to sediments. To assess atmospheric pathways, we collected aerosol samples for two years at four locations within a ∼60 km radius in northern Switzerland. We measured n-alkane distributions and 2H/1H ratios in these samples, and from local plants, leaf litter, and soil, as well as surface sediment from six nearby lakes. Increased concentrations and 2H depletion of long odd chain n-alkanes in early summer aerosols indicate that most wax aerosol production occurred shortly after leaf unfolding, when plants synthesize waxes in large quantities. During autumn and winter, aerosols were characterized by degraded n-alkanes lacking chain length preferences diagnostic of recent biosynthesis, and 2H/1H values that were in some cases more than 100‰ higher than growing season values. Despite these seasonal shifts, modeled deposition-weighted average 2H/1H values of long odd chain n-alkanes primarily reflected summer values. This was corroborated by n-alkane 2H/1H values in lake sediments, which were similar to deposition-weighted aerosol values at five of six sites. Atmospheric deposition rates for plant n-alkanes on land were ∼20% of accumulation rates in lakes, suggesting a role for direct deposition to lakes or coastal oceans near similar production sources, and likely a larger role for deposition on land and transport in river systems. This mechanism allows mobilization and transport of large quantities of recently produced waxes as fine-grained material to low energy sedimentation sites over short timescales, even in areas with limited topography. Widespread atmospheric transfer well before leaf senescence also highlights the importance of the isotopic composition of early season source water used to synthesize waxes for the geologic record.

Hydrologic Regulation of Plant Rooting Depth and Vice Versa

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Y.; Miguez-Macho, G.

2017-12-01

How deep plant roots go and why may hold the answer to several questions regarding the co-evolution of terrestrial life and its environment. In this talk we explore how plant rooting depth responds to the hydrologic plumbing system in the soil/regolith/bedrocks, and vice versa. Through analyzing 2200 root observations of >1000 species along biotic (life form, genus) and abiotic (precipitation, soil, drainage) gradients, we found strong sensitivities of rooting depth to local soil water profiles determined by precipitation infiltration depth from the top (reflecting climate and soil), and groundwater table depth from below (reflecting topography-driven land drainage). In well-drained uplands, rooting depth follows infiltration depth; in waterlogged lowlands, roots stay shallow avoiding oxygen stress below the water table; in between, high productivity and drought can send roots many meters down to groundwater capillary fringe. We explore the global significance of this framework using an inverse model, and the implications to the coevolution of deep roots and the CZ in the Early-Mid Devonian when plants colonized the upland environments.

150 years of land degradation and development: loss of habitats, natural resources due to quarrying and industrialization followed by land reclamation in the heart of Budapest city

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Török, Ákos

2017-04-01

The urban development and land degradation is an accelerated process in the 21st century; however several examples are known when this happened in the past. A historic case study is discussed in this research when clump of three former small towns (named: Buda, Pest and Óbuda) became a million population city more than hundred years ago invoking significant land degradation, drastic and surprising changes in land use. Budapest which is now the capital of Hungary has seen rapid land use changes in the past 150 years especially from 1850'ies to early 20th century. The population of the city rapidly grown from the end of 19th century to early 20th century; i.e. it is tripled from 1880 to 1920 and reached nearly 1 million in 40 years. This population boom induced significant land degradation, changes in land use and loss of habitats. The paper presents examples how the land use has changed in the past 105 years with historic maps and interpreted cases suggesting different pathways leading to land degradation. The first one focuses on vineyards and grape cultivation and explains how these areas were first converted to limestone quarries to provide construction material to the city and then transformed to urban habitat in the early 20th century again. The cellars - former quarry galleries - than were used for housing (urban habitat) and later were used as storage facilities and mushroom cultivation sites. At present these subsurface openings cause high risk of land development (collapse) and limit the land use of the given area. The current paper also outlines the development of the city via the perspective of natural resources, since drinking water and industrial water need modified the land development and urbanization. Another example is also given how the brewery industry exploited natural resources and the surface water use was shifted to exploitation of karstic waters causing land degradation and drop of water table. Additional example demonstrates how the former

Cesium and potassium uptake by plants from soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaller, G.; Leising, C.; Krestel, R.; Wirth, E.

1990-11-01

The aim of the investigation was the reliable estimation of the Cs-137 root uptake by agricultural crops using the 'observed ratio model' (OR model) for the determination of transfer factors: Cs (plant)/K (plant) = OR x Cs (soil)/K (soil). For model validation representative soil (arable land, grass land, organic substrates from forests and peat) and plant samples from Bavaria were taken. These 4 parameters varied within a sufficiently wide range. In addition some samples from forest sites were taken. Soil and plant samples were taken at the same locations within 1 m 2 . (orig./HP) [de

Early selection of elite plants in Asparagus

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COINTRY ENRIQUE LUIS

2000-01-01

Full Text Available In order to establish an efficient selection criterion the variability in three asparagus populations was evaluated defining the most important yield components and analysing its evolution along three growing seasons. The yield components, coefficient of variation (CV and the proportion of plants contributing to 80% of the total yield were estimated. The elite plants were selected by mean of total yield and clusters techniques. Multiple regression showed that spear number (SN and spear weight (SW were the most important yield components. In every population, total yield (TY and SN showed the highest values of CV, independently of sex. 69% of the plants contributed to the 80% of the total yield in the first year while in the second and third year the contribution was 57%. At the end of the third year, 17 plants were selected by the average of the total yield and 43 by clusters. It is suggested to select for SW in the first year, reducing in 68% the experimental material. In the second year, the selection for SN would reduce to 5% the plants to evaluate for total yield in the third year. In this way the selected plants are the same but the number of plants to evaluate is dramatically reduced along the years, therefore facilitating the breeders work.

Effects of land use on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in Estonia.

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Sepp, Siim-Kaarel; Jairus, Teele; Vasar, Martti; Zobel, Martin; Öpik, Maarja

2018-04-01

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities vary across habitat types, as well as across different land use types. Most relevant research, however, has focused on agricultural or other severely human-impacted ecosystems. Here, we compared AM fungal communities across six habitat types: calcareous grassland, overgrown ungrazed calcareous grassland, wooded meadow, farmyard lawn, boreonemoral forest, and boreonemoral forest clear-cut, exhibiting contrasting modes of land use. AM fungi in the roots of a single host plant species, Prunella vulgaris, and in its rhizosphere soil were identified using 454-sequencing from a total of 103 samples from 12 sites in Estonia. Mean AM fungal taxon richness per sample did not differ among habitats. AM fungal community composition, however, was significantly different among habitat types. Both abandonment and land use intensification (clearcutting; trampling combined with frequent mowing) changed AM fungal community composition. The AM fungal communities in different habitat types were most similar in the roots of the single host plant species and most distinct in soil samples, suggesting a non-random pattern in host-fungal taxon interactions. The results show that AM fungal taxon composition is driven by habitat type and land use intensity, while the plant host may act as an additional filter between the available and realized AM fungal species pool.

[Effects of planting system on soil and water conservation and crop output value in a sloping land of Southwest China].

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, Da-Bing; Yong, Tai-Wen; Yang, Wen-Yu; Yu, Xiao-Bo; Guo, Kai

2010-06-01

A three-year experiment was conducted to study the effects of wheat/maize/soybean with total no-tillage and mulching (NTM), wheat/maize/soybean with part no-tillage and part mulching (PTM), wheat/maize/soybean with total tillage without mulching (TWM), and wheat/maize/ sweet potato with total tillage without mulching (TWMS) on the soil and water conservation, soil fertility, and crop output value in a sloping land of Southwest China. The average soil erosion amount and surface runoff of NTM were significantly lower than those of the other three planting systems, being 1189 kg x hm(-2) and 215 m3 x hm(-2), and 10.6% and 84.7% lower than those of TWMS, respectively. The soil organic matter, total N, available K and available N contents of NTM were increased by 15.7%, 18.2%, 55.2%, and 25.9%, respectively, being the highest among the test planting systems. PTM and TWM took the second place, and TWMS pattern had the least. NTM had the highest annual crop output value (18809 yuan x hm(-2)) and net income (12619 yuan x hm(-2)) in three years, being 2.2% -20.6% and 3.8% -32.9% higher than other three planting systems, respectively. In a word, the planting system wheat/maize/soybean was more beneficial to the water and soil conservation and the improvement of soil fertility and crop output value, compared with the traditional planting system wheat/maize/sweet potato.

Late Oligocene-Early Miocene compressional tectosedimentary episode and associated land-mammal faunas in the Andes of central Chile and adjacent Argentina (32 37°s)

Science.gov (United States)

Semper, Thierry; Marshall, Larry G.; Rivano, Sergio; Godoy, Estanislao

1994-01-01

A reassessment of the geologic and land-mammal fossil evidence used in attribution of a tectosedimentary episode in the Andes between 32 and 37°S to the Middle Eocene "Incaic tectonic phase" of Peru indicates that the episode occurred during Late Oligocene-Early Miocene times(~ 27-20 Ma). From west to east, three structural domains are recognized for this time span in the study area: a volcanic arc (Chile); a thin-skinned, E-verging fold-thrust belt (Cordillera Principal, Chile-Argentina border strip); and a foreland basin (Argentina). Initiation of thrusting in the Cordillera Principal fold-thrust belt produced the coeval initiation of sedimentation in the foreland basin of adjacent Argentina. This onset of foreland deposition postdates strata bearing a Divisaderan Land Mammal Age fauna (i.e. ~ 35-30 Ma) and is marked at ~ 36°30'S by the base of the "Rodados Lustrosos" conglomerates, which are conformably overlain by sedimentary rocks containing a Deseadan Land Mammal Age fauna (i.e. ~ 29-21 Ma). Geologic relationships between the thick volcanic Abanico (Coya-Machalí) and Farellones formations also demonstrate that this tectosedimentary episode practically ended at ~ 20 Ma at least in the volcanic arc, and was therefore roughly coeval with the major tectonic crisis (~ 27-19 Ma) known in northwestern Andean Bolivia some 1500 km to the north. This strongly suggests that a long, outstanding tectonic upheaval affected at least an extended 12-37°S segment of the Andean margin of South America during Late Oligocene and Early Miocene times.

Computational Identification Raises a Riddle for Distribution of Putative NACHT NTPases in the Genome of Early Green Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Arya, Preeti; Acharya, Vishal

2016-01-01

NACHT NTPases and AP-ATPases belongs to STAND (signal transduction ATPases with numerous domain) P-loop NTPase class, which are known to be involved in defense signaling pathways and apoptosis regulation. The AP-ATPases (also known as NB-ARC) and NACHT NTPases are widely spread throughout all kingdoms of life except in plants, where only AP-ATPases have been extensively studied in the scenario of plant defense response against pathogen invasion and in hypersensitive response (HR). In the present study, we have employed a genome-wide survey (using stringent computational analysis) of 67 diverse organisms viz., archaebacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, animalia and plantae to revisit the evolutionary history of these two STAND P-loop NTPases. This analysis divulged the presence of NACHT NTPases in the early green plants (green algae and the lycophyte) which had not been previously reported. These NACHT NTPases were known to be involved in diverse functional activities such as transcription regulation in addition to the defense signaling cascades depending on the domain association. In Chalmydomonas reinhardtii, a green algae, WD40 repeats found to be at the carboxyl-terminus of NACHT NTPases suggest probable role in apoptosis regulation. Moreover, the genome of Selaginella moellendorffii, an extant lycophyte, intriguingly shows the considerable number of both AP-ATPases and NACHT NTPases in contrast to a large repertoire of AP-ATPases in plants and emerge as an important node in the evolutionary tree of life. The large complement of AP-ATPases overtakes the function of NACHT NTPases and plausible reason behind the absence of the later in the plant lineages. The presence of NACHT NTPases in the early green plants and phyletic patterns results from this study raises a quandary for the distribution of this STAND P-loop NTPase with the apparent horizontal gene transfer from cyanobacteria.

CARBON SEQUESTRATION ON SURFACE MINE LANDS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Donald H. Graves; Christopher Barton; Richard Sweigard; Richard Warner

2005-06-22

An area planted in 2004 on Bent Mountain in Pike County was shifted to the Department of Energy project to centralize an area to become a demonstration site. An additional 98.3 acres were planted on Peabody lands in western Kentucky and Bent Mountain to bring the total area under study by this project to 556.5 acres as indicated in Table 2. Major efforts this quarter include the implementation of new plots that will examine the influence of differing geologic material on tree growth and survival, water quality and quantity and carbon sequestration. Normal monitoring and maintenance was conducted and additional instrumentation was installed to monitor the new areas planted.

National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive

Science.gov (United States)

Faundeen, John L.; Kelly, Francis P.; Holm, Thomas M.; Nolt, Jenna E.

2013-01-01

The National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA) resides at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Through the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. Congress directed the Department of the Interior (DOI) to establish a permanent Government archive containing satellite remote sensing data of the Earth's land surface and to make this data easily accessible and readily available. This unique DOI/USGS archive provides a comprehensive, permanent, and impartial observational record of the planet's land surface obtained throughout more than five decades of satellite remote sensing. Satellite-derived data and information products are primary sources used to detect and understand changes such as deforestation, desertification, agricultural crop vigor, water quality, invasive plant species, and certain natural hazards such as flood extent and wildfire scars.

Biofuel crops with CAM photosynthesis: Economic potential on moisture-limited lands

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, Mark; Hartzell, Samantha; Porporato, Amilcare

2017-04-01

As the demand for food and renewable energy increases, the intelligent utilization of marginal lands is becoming increasingly critical. In marginal lands classified by limited rainfall or soil salinity, the cultivation of traditional C3 and C4 photosynthesis crops often is economically infeasible. However, in such lands, nontraditional crops with crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis show great economic potential for cultivation. CAM crops including Opuntia (prickly pear) and Ananas (pineapple) achieve a water use efficiency which is three fold higher than C4 crops such as corn and 6-fold higher than C3 crops such as wheat, leading to a comparable annual productivity with only 20% of the water demand. This feature, combined with a shallow rooting depth and a high water storage capacity, allows CAM plants to take advantage of small, infrequent rainfall amounts in shallow, quickly draining soils. Furthermore, CAM plants typically have properties (e.g., high content of non-structural carbohydrates) that are favorable for biofuel production. Here, for marginal lands characterized by low soil moisture availability and/or high salinity, we assess the potential productivity and economic benefits of CAM plants. CAM productivity is estimated using a recently developed model which simulates CAM photosynthesis under a range of soil and climate conditions. From these results, we compare the energy and water resource inputs required by CAM plants to those required by more traditional C3 and C4 crops (corn, wheat, sorghum), and we evaluate the economic potential of CAM crops as sources of food, fodder, or biofuel in marginal soils. As precipitation events become more intense and infrequent, we show that even though marginal land area may increase, CAM crop cultivation shows great promise for maintaining high productivity with minimal water inputs. Our analysis indicates that on marginal lands, widespread cultivation of CAM crops as biofuel feedstock may help

Savannah River Plant environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dukes, E.K.

1984-03-01

On June 20, 1972, the Atomic Energy Commission designated 192,323 acres of land near Aiken, SC, as the nation's first National Environmental Research Park. The designated land surrounds the Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant production complex. The site, which borders the Savannah River for 17 miles, includes swampland, pine forests, abandoned town sites, a large man-made lake for cooling water impoundment, fields, streams, and watersheds. This report is a description of the geological, hydrological, meteorological, and biological characteristics of the Savannah River Plant site and is intended as a source of information for those interested in environmental research at the site. 165 references, 68 figures, 52 tables

Evaluating forest land development effects on private forestry in eastern Oregon.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffrey D. Kline; David L. Azuma

2007-01-01

Research suggests that forest land development can reduce the productivity of remaining forest land because private forest owners reduce their investments in forest management. We developed empirical models describing forest stocking, thinning, harvest, and postharvest tree planting in eastern Oregon, as functions of stand and site characteristics, ownership, and...

Establishing Artemisia tridentata ssp wyomingensis on mined lands: Science and economics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schuman, G.E.; Vicklund, L.E.; Belden, S.E. [ARS, Cheyenne, WY (United States). High Plains Grasslands Research Station

2005-12-01

In 1996, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality enacted regulations governing the reestablishment of woody shrubs on mined lands. The regulation required that an average density of one shrub m{sup -2} be reestablished on at least 20% of the disturbed land area and that the shrub composition must include dominant premine species. In Wyoming, and much of the Northern Great Plains, that meant that Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis (Beetle and Young) (Wyoming big sagebrush) had to be reestablished on mined lands. Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis had proven difficult to reestablish on mined lands because of poor quality seed, seed dormancy and a poor understanding of the seedbed ecology of this species. Research in the last two decades has produced significant knowledge in the area of direct-seed establishment of Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis on mined lands. Our research has shown that reducing grass seeding rates will reduce competition and result in larger sagebrush plants that are more likely to survive and provide greater structural diversity to the plant community. Economic analyses demonstrated that big sagebrush can be established at a cost of $0.01-0.05 per seedling using direct seeding methods compared to transplanting nursery grown seedlings, estimated to cost $0.72-$1.65 per seedling (depending on size) to grow and from $1.30-$2.40 to plant (flat land to 2:1 slopes). An adequate level of precipitation will be necessary to ensure successful establishment of this species no matter what method of propagation is selected and direct seeding gives greater opportunity for success because of the demonstrated longevity of the seed to germinate 3-5 years after the initial seeding.

Insights into the Evolution of Hydroxyproline-Rich Glycoproteins from 1000 Plant Transcriptomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Kim L; Cassin, Andrew M; Lonsdale, Andrew; Wong, Gane Ka-Shu; Soltis, Douglas E; Miles, Nicholas W; Melkonian, Michael; Melkonian, Barbara; Deyholos, Michael K; Leebens-Mack, James; Rothfels, Carl J; Stevenson, Dennis W; Graham, Sean W; Wang, Xumin; Wu, Shuangxiu; Pires, J Chris; Edger, Patrick P; Carpenter, Eric J; Bacic, Antony; Doblin, Monika S; Schultz, Carolyn J

2017-06-01

The carbohydrate-rich cell walls of land plants and algae have been the focus of much interest given the value of cell wall-based products to our current and future economies. Hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs), a major group of wall glycoproteins, play important roles in plant growth and development, yet little is known about how they have evolved in parallel with the polysaccharide components of walls. We investigate the origins and evolution of the HRGP superfamily, which is commonly divided into three major multigene families: the arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs), extensins (EXTs), and proline-rich proteins. Using motif and amino acid bias, a newly developed bioinformatics pipeline, we identified HRGPs in sequences from the 1000 Plants transcriptome project (www.onekp.com). Our analyses provide new insights into the evolution of HRGPs across major evolutionary milestones, including the transition to land and the early radiation of angiosperms. Significantly, data mining reveals the origin of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored AGPs in green algae and a 3- to 4-fold increase in GPI-AGPs in liverworts and mosses. The first detection of cross-linking (CL)-EXTs is observed in bryophytes, which suggests that CL-EXTs arose though the juxtaposition of preexisting SP n EXT glycomotifs with refined Y-based motifs. We also detected the loss of CL-EXT in a few lineages, including the grass family (Poaceae), that have a cell wall composition distinct from other monocots and eudicots. A key challenge in HRGP research is tracking individual HRGPs throughout evolution. Using the 1000 Plants output, we were able to find putative orthologs of Arabidopsis pollen-specific GPI-AGPs in basal eudicots. © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Multi-Functional Lands Facing Oil Palm Monocultures: A Case Study of a Land Conflict in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosanne E. de Vos

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an ethnographic case study of a palm oil land conflict in a Malay community in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The conflict occurred in the preparatory phase of a large-scale plantation, before any oil palms were planted. After protest from local communities, the project was abolished. This case enables an empirical enquiry of land tenure as well as the meaning of land and associated resources for people’s livelihoods in a pre-plantation situation. The article aims to understand how people’s responses to the oil palm plantation project are rooted in the way they give meaning to the land that is targeted for conversion. Using a functional analysis of property relations, the article shows that people value multiple functions of land, including food security, income security over generations, flexibility to respond to crises and opportunity, and the ability to retain autonomy and identity as farmers. One of the factors that contributed to the conflict was the expectation that a conversion of diversified agricultural land and forest into a monoculture plantation, run by a company, would change the functionality of land and associated resources in a way that would negatively impact livelihood opportunities, lifestyles, and identity.

Impact of dynamic vegetation phenology on the simulated pan-Arctic land surface state

Science.gov (United States)

Teufel, Bernardo; Sushama, Laxmi; Arora, Vivek K.; Verseghy, Diana

2018-03-01

The pan-Arctic land surface is undergoing rapid changes in a warming climate, with near-surface permafrost projected to degrade significantly during the twenty-first century. Vegetation-related feedbacks have the potential to influence the rate of degradation of permafrost. In this study, the impact of dynamic phenology on the pan-Arctic land surface state, particularly near-surface permafrost, for the 1961-2100 period, is assessed by comparing two simulations of the Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS)—one with dynamic phenology, modelled using the Canadian Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (CTEM), and the other with prescribed phenology. These simulations are forced by atmospheric data from a transient climate change simulation of the 5th generation Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM5) for the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5). Comparison of the CLASS coupled to CTEM simulation to available observational estimates of plant area index, spatial distribution of permafrost and active layer thickness suggests that the model captures reasonably well the overall distribution of vegetation and permafrost. It is shown that the most important impact of dynamic phenology on the land surface occurs through albedo and it is demonstrated for the first time that vegetation control on albedo during late spring and early summer has the highest potential to impact the degradation of permafrost. While both simulations show extensive near-surface permafrost degradation by the end of the twenty-first century, the strong projected response of vegetation to climate warming and increasing CO2 concentrations in the coupled simulation results in accelerated permafrost degradation in the northernmost continuous permafrost regions.

The role of plant-microbiome interactions in weed establishment and control.

Science.gov (United States)

Trognitz, Friederike; Hackl, Evelyn; Widhalm, Siegrid; Sessitsch, Angela

2016-10-01

The soil microbiome plays an important role in the establishment of weeds and invasive plants. They associate with microorganisms supporting their growth and health. Weed management strategies, like tillage and herbicide treatments, to control weeds generally alter soil structure going alongside with changes in the microbial community. Once a weed population establishes in the field, the plants build up a close relationship with the available microorganisms. Seeds or vegetative organs overwinter in soil and select early in the season their own microbiome before crop plants start to vegetate. Weed and crop plants compete for light, nutrition and water, but may differently interact with soil microorganisms. The development of new sequencing technologies for analyzing soil microbiomes has opened up the possibility for in depth analysis of the interaction between 'undesired' plants and crop plants under different management systems. These findings will help us to understand the functions of microorganisms involved in crop productivity and plant health, weed establishment and weed prevention. Exploitation of the knowledge offers the possibility to search for new biocontrol methods against weeds based on soil and plant-associated microorganisms. This review discusses the recent advances in understanding the functions of microbial communities for weed/invasive plant establishment and shows new ways to use plant-associated microorganisms to control weeds and invasive plants in different land management systems. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Afforestation of Boreal Open Woodlands: Early Performance and Ecophysiology of Planted Black Spruce Seedlings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Lord

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Open lichen woodlands (LWs are degraded stands that lack the ability to regenerate naturally due to a succession of natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances. As they represent both interesting forest restoration and carbon sequestration opportunities, we tested disc scarification and planting of two sizes of containerized black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. (BSP seedlings for their afforestation. We compared treatment of unproductive LWs to reforestation of harvested, closed-crown black spruce-feathermoss (BSFM stands. After one year, seedling survival and nutritional status were equivalent among stand types but despite higher root elongation index (REI, planted seedlings in LWs had lower relative growth rate, smaller total biomass and stem diameter than those in BSFM stands. Soil fertility variables, soil temperature, nor seedling water potential, helped at explaining this early growth response. Disc scarification significantly improved seedling first-year survival, biomass and foliar nutrient concentrations of P, Ca, and Mg. Smaller planting stock showed higher REI, higher shoot water potential, and higher foliar nutrient concentration of all but one of the measured nutrients (N, P, K and Mg. Hence, preliminary results suggest that planting of smaller containerized black spruce stock, combined with disc scarification, shows potential for afforestation of unproductive LWs. The impact of the lichen mat and other potential growth limiting factors on afforestation of these sites requires further investigation.

Survey of Revegetated Areas on the Fitzner/Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve: Status and Initial Monitoring Results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Downs, Janelle L.; Link, Steven O.; Rozeboom, Latricia L.; Durham, Robin E.; Cruz, Rico O.; Mckee, Sadie A.

2011-09-01

During 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Richland Operations Office removed a number of facilities and debris from the Fitzner/Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve (ALE), which is part of the Hanford Reach National Monument (HRNM). Revegetation of disturbed sites is necessary to stabilize the soil, reduce invasion of these areas by exotic weeds, and to accelerate re-establishment of native plant communities. Seven revegetation units were identified on ALE based on soils and potential native plant communities at the site. Native seed mixes and plant material were identified for each area based on the desired plant community. Revegetation of locations affected by decommissioning of buildings and debris removal was undertaken during the winter and early spring of 2010 and 2011, respectively. This report describes both the details of planting and seeding for each of the units, describes the sampling design for monitoring, and summarizes the data collected during the first year of monitoring. In general, the revegetation efforts were successful in establishing native bunchgrasses and shrubs on most of the sites within the 7 revegetation units. Invasion of the revegetation areas by exotic annual species was minimal for most sites, but was above initial criteria in 3 areas: the Hodges Well subunit of Unit 2, and Units 6 and 7.

Early incorporation and distribution of 14C-photosynthates after 14C-feeding for a brief period in tea plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hakamata, Katsuhiro

1981-01-01

In order to clarify the early incorporation and distribution of 14 C-photosynthetic products in tea plants after 14 C-feeding for a brief period, 14 C-tracer experiments were performed, using the winter leaves, first crop shoots and young tea plants of a cultivar, Yabukita. As the results of the experiment on leaf disks by 14 C-Feeding for one minute, the 14 C-activity in the ethanol soluble fraction distributed in the anionic, cationic and neutral fractions in this order. When the time of feeding was extended to 10 min, the distribution in the cationic fraction decreased, and that in the neutral fraction increased. In the experiment on shoots, after the end of 10 min assimulation, the 14 C-activity in the ethanol soluble fraction distributed in the neutral, cationic and anionic fractions in this order. In course of time, the distribution in the cationic and anionic fractions decreased, and that in the neutral fraction increased. As the results of 14 C-feeding to young tea plants for 2.5 hours, 70 - 95% of the 14 C-activity in the ethanol soluble fraction distributed in the neutral fraction. Sucrose seemed to be the primary and early product of photosynthesis, and might be the principal carbohydrate form of translocation and reserve in tea plants. Raffinose and stachyose played almost the same role as sucrose. (Kako, I.)

Soil organic phosphorus in soils under different land use systems in northeast Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Slazak, Anna; Freese, Dirk; Hüttl, Reinhard F.

2010-05-01

Phosphorus (P) is commonly known as a major plant nutrient, which can act as a limiting factor for plant growth in many ecosystems, including different land use systems. Organic P (Po), transformations in soil are important in determining the overall biological availability of P and additionally Po depletion is caused by land cultivation. It is expected that changes of land use modifies the distribution of soil P among the various P-pools (Ptotal, Plabile, Po), where the Plabile forms are considered to be readily available to plants and Po plays an important role with P nutrition supply for plants. The aim of the study was to measure the different soil P pools under different land use systems. The study was carried out in northeast of Brandenburg in Germany. Different land use systems were studied: i) different in age pine-oak mixed forest stands, ii) silvopastoral land, iii) arable lands. Samples were taken from two mineral soil layers: 0-10 and 10-20 cm. Recently, a variety of analytical methods are available to determine specific Po compounds in soils. The different P forms in the soil were obtained by a sequential P fractionation by using acid and alkaline extractants, which mean that single samples were subjected to increasingly stronger extractants, consequently separating the soil P into fractions based on P solubility. The soil Ptotal for the forest stands ranged from 100 to 183 mg kg -1 whereas Po from 77 to 148 mg kg -1. The Po and Plabile in both soil layers increased significantly with increase of age-old oak trees. The most available-P fraction was Plabile predominate in the oldest pine-oak forest stand, accounting for 29% of soil Ptotal. For the silvopasture and arable study sites the Ptotal content was comparable. However, the highest value of Ptotal was measured in the 30 years old silvopastoral system with 685 mg kg-1 and 728 mg kg-1 at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depth, respectively than in arable lands. The results have shown that the 30 years old

Global scale analysis and evaluation of an improved mechanistic representation of plant nitrogen and carbon dynamics in the Community Land Model (CLM)

Science.gov (United States)

Ghimire, B.; Riley, W. J.; Koven, C. D.; Randerson, J. T.; Mu, M.; Kattge, J.; Rogers, A.; Reich, P. B.

2014-12-01

In many ecosystems, nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient for plant growth and productivity. However mechanistic representation of nitrogen uptake linked to root traits, and functional nitrogen allocation among different leaf enzymes involved in respiration and photosynthesis is currently lacking in Earth System models. The linkage between nitrogen availability and plant productivity is simplistically represented by potential photosynthesis rates, and is subsequently downregulated depending on nitrogen supply and other nitrogen consumers in the model (e.g., nitrification). This type of potential photosynthesis rate calculation is problematic for several reasons. Firstly, plants do not photosynthesize at potential rates and then downregulate. Secondly, there is considerable subjectivity on the meaning of potential photosynthesis rates. Thirdly, there exists lack of understanding on modeling these potential photosynthesis rates in a changing climate. In addition to model structural issues in representing photosynthesis rates, the role of plant roots in nutrient acquisition have been largely ignored in Earth System models. For example, in CLM4.5, nitrogen uptake is linked to leaf level processes (e.g., primarily productivity) rather than root scale process involved in nitrogen uptake. We present a new plant model for CLM with an improved mechanistic presentation of plant nitrogen uptake based on root scale Michaelis Menten kinetics, and stronger linkages between leaf nitrogen and plant productivity by inferring relationships observed in global databases of plant traits (including the TRY database and several individual studies). We also incorporate improved representation of plant nitrogen leaf allocation, especially in tropical regions where significant over-prediction of plant growth and productivity in CLM4.5 simulations exist. We evaluate our improved global model simulations using the International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) framework. We conclude that

7 CFR 1415.5 - Land eligibility.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... values, and— (i) Could provide habitat for animal or plant populations of significant ecological value if... protected. (e) Land on which gas, oil, earth, or other mineral rights exploration has been leased or is... third party rights may have upon the grassland resources. USDA reserves the right to deny funding for...

Mapping paddy rice planting areas through time series analysis of MODIS land surface temperature and vegetation index data.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Geli; Xiao, Xiangming; Dong, Jinwei; Kou, Weili; Jin, Cui; Qin, Yuanwei; Zhou, Yuting; Wang, Jie; Menarguez, Michael Angelo; Biradar, Chandrashekhar

2015-08-01

Knowledge of the area and spatial distribution of paddy rice is important for assessment of food security, management of water resources, and estimation of greenhouse gas (methane) emissions. Paddy rice agriculture has expanded rapidly in northeastern China in the last decade, but there are no updated maps of paddy rice fields in the region. Existing algorithms for identifying paddy rice fields are based on the unique physical features of paddy rice during the flooding and transplanting phases and use vegetation indices that are sensitive to the dynamics of the canopy and surface water content. However, the flooding phenomena in high latitude area could also be from spring snowmelt flooding. We used land surface temperature (LST) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor to determine the temporal window of flooding and rice transplantation over a year to improve the existing phenology-based approach. Other land cover types (e.g., evergreen vegetation, permanent water bodies, and sparse vegetation) with potential influences on paddy rice identification were removed (masked out) due to their different temporal profiles. The accuracy assessment using high-resolution images showed that the resultant MODIS-derived paddy rice map of northeastern China in 2010 had a high accuracy (producer and user accuracies of 92% and 96%, respectively). The MODIS-based map also had a comparable accuracy to the 2010 Landsat-based National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) of China in terms of both area and spatial pattern. This study demonstrated that our improved algorithm by using both thermal and optical MODIS data, provides a robust, simple and automated approach to identify and map paddy rice fields in temperate and cold temperate zones, the northern frontier of rice planting.

Aboveground and belowground legacies of native Sami land use on boreal forest in northern Sweden 100 years after abandonment.

Science.gov (United States)

Freschet, Grégoire T; Ostlund, Lars; Kichenin, Emilie; Wardle, David A

2014-04-01

Human activities that involve land-use change often cause major transformations to community and ecosystem properties both aboveground and belowground, and when land use is abandoned, these modifications can persist for extended periods. However, the mechanisms responsible for rapid recovery vs. long-term maintenance of ecosystem changes following abandonment remain poorly understood. Here, we examined the long-term ecological effects of two remote former settlements, regularly visited for -300 years by reindeer-herding Sami and abandoned -100 years ago, within an old-growth boreal forest that is considered one of the most pristine regions in northern Scandinavia. These human legacies were assessed through measurements of abiotic and biotic soil properties and vegetation characteristics at the settlement sites and at varying distances from them. Low-intensity land use by Sami is characterized by the transfer of organic matter towards the settlements by humans and reindeer herds, compaction of soil through trampling, disappearance of understory vegetation, and selective cutting of pine trees for fuel and construction. As a consequence, we found a shift towards early successional plant species and a threefold increase in soil microbial activity and nutrient availability close to the settlements relative to away from them. These changes in soil fertility and vegetation contributed to 83% greater total vegetation productivity, 35% greater plant biomass, and 23% and 16% greater concentrations of foliar N and P nearer the settlements, leading to a greater quantity and quality of litter inputs. Because decomposer activity was also 40% greater towards the settlements, soil organic matter cycling and nutrient availability were further increased, leading to likely positive feedbacks between the aboveground and belowground components resulting from historic land use. Although not all of the activities typical of Sami have left visible residual traces on the ecosystem after

Economic Potential of Biomass from Unused Agriculture Land for Energy Use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeifer, A.; Dominkovic, Dominik Franjo; Ćosić, B.

2015-01-01

In this paper the energy potential of biomass from growing short rotation coppice (SRC) on unused agricultural land in the Republic of Croatia was examined. At present, SRC is not completely recognized in Croatian legislative and considerations in energy strategy and action plans. The paper aspires...... to contribute to better understanding of the role SRC can take in national and local energy planning. The methodology is provided for regional analysis of biomass energy potential on unused agricultural land and for assessing the cost of the biomass at the power plant (PP) location considering transport...... plants and appropriate size of seasonal heat storage is discussed for each case study. Case studies have shown the potential for use of previously unused agricultural land to help achieve national targets for renewable energy sources as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions, help diversify...

The International Summer School on Land Cover Change and Hydroclimate of the La Plata Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Berbery, Ernesto Hugo; Herdies, Dirceu L.; Alcaraz-Segura, Domingo; de Goncalves, Luis G. G.; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.; Toll, David

2011-01-01

The La Plata Basin (LPB) in southern South America has been subject to land cover and land use changes (LCLUCs) since colonial times and with an accelerated rate in the last decades and over extensive areas. The work of Ameghino even suggested that there were relations between those land use changes and the frequency of droughts and floods in the region. Despite this early knowledge, not much is known of the potential impacts of LCLUC on the hydroclimate of the La Plata basin. Besides, over the last century much of the La Plata Basin has had a reported increase in precipitation and heavy rains, and these changes along with an increase in population growth - have resulted in more adverse effects from flooding. To draw attention to these issues, during two weeks in November 2009 the International Summer School on Land Cover Change and Hydroclimate of the La Plata Basin was organized at the grounds of the Itaip Hydropower Plant in Brazil. The school was the result of the combination of interests between the La Plata Basin Regional Hydroclimate Project, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), and the International Hydroinformatics Center (IHC) in Itaip . LPB is an umbrella project endorsed by the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) and the Climate Prediction and Variability (CLIVAR), both of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). LPB has made a priority to train young scientists and promote interdisciplinary collaborations in areas related to Climate, Hydrology, Ecology and Agriculture. The IAI, with a similar agenda, was a natural partner to develop this Summer School, which in turn benefited from Itaipu s interest in relating with the scientific community of neighboring countries. The choice of location (Itaip Technological Park) was made so that participants could relate research usually done at academic institutions to applications and operations at one of the largest hydropower plants in the world. The school was attended

Multi-Functional Lands Facing Oil Palm Monocultures: A Case Study of a Land Conflict in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, de R.E.

2016-01-01

This paper presents an ethnographic case study of a palm oil land conflict in a Malay community in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The conflict occurred in the preparatory phase of a large-scale plantation, before any oil palms were planted. After protest from local communities, the project was

Phylogenetic diversification of Early Cretaceous seed plants: The compound seed cone of Doylea tetrahedrasperma.

Science.gov (United States)

Rothwell, Gar W; Stockey, Ruth A

2016-05-01

Discovery of cupulate ovules of Doylea tetrahedrasperma within a compact, compound seed cone highlights the rich diversity of fructification morphologies, pollination biologies, postpollination enclosure of seeds, and systematic diversity of Early Cretaceous gymnosperms. Specimens were studied using the cellulose acetate peel technique, three-dimensional reconstructions (in AVIZO), and morphological phylogenetic analyses (in TNT). Doylea tetrahedrasperma has bract/fertile short shoot complexes helically arranged within a compact, compound seed cone. Complexes diverge from the axis as a single unit and separate distally into a free bract tip and two sporophylls. Each sporophyll bears a single, abaxial seed, recurved toward the cone axis, that is enveloped after pollinaton by sporophyll tissue, forming a closed cupule. Ovules are pollinated by bisaccate grains captured by micropylar pollination horns. The unique combination of characters shown by D. tetrahedrasperma includes the presence of cupulate seeds borne in conifer-like compound seed cones, an ovuliferous scale analogue structurally equivalent to the ovulate stalk of Ginkgo biloba, gymnospermous pollination, and nearly complete enclosure of mature seeds. These features characterize the Doyleales ord. nov., clearly distinguish it from the seed fern order Corystospermales, and allow for recognition of another recently described Early Cretaceous seed plant as a second species in genus Doylea. A morphological phylogenetic analysis highlights systematic relationships of the Doyleales ord. nov. and emphasizes the explosive phylogenetic diversification of gymnosperms that was underway at the time when flowering plants may have originated and/or first began to radiate. © 2016 Botanical Society of America.

The Early Modern Land Reclamation, Protomodern Migration and Economic Development of the Feudal Estate of Vrana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dubravka Mlinarić

2017-01-01

geostrategic relevance of this particular feudal estate's borderland position on the edges of various states, economic systems and cultures was of the utmost importance. On the other hand, its liminal position as the Venetian overseas territory minimized the central state support and care in various kinds of perils. Hence, colonized immigration did not have ecological character although new settlers changed the landscape of Kotari. New and intensive agricultural (farmer exploitation failed to upgrade economy since the prevailing sheep-breeding in highly fertile land represented the economic irrational land use. Demographic and economic development reflected the devastating results of anti-Ottoman early modern wars, followed by the environmental requirements and pressure of the Venetians. Getting in between the environmental interventions aiming to reach higher economic standards, the feudal estate happened to be radically changed by the reclamation. It was, for the first time since the Roman era, an extraordinary intervention into natural balance of the lowland ecosystem. The results of these early modern collisions of economic and environmental interests in Vrana in the short period significantly differed in quality and direction of its development in comparison to the long-term perspective. On the one hand, especially in the middle and long-term perspective, it showed elements of economic and demographic success, with a reasonable potential to fully reshape the demographic potential of the area. Quite contrary, the short time scale was, if not a complete failure, then at least an uncertain and adventurous experiment. In spite of that qualification, Francesco Borelli’s reclamation of marshlands was a hydro-technical step forward, totally in accordance to similar European intellectual (physiocratic movements and projects, reflecting the spread of comparable ideas to the eastern corners of eastern Adriatic territories under European rulers. However, the Borelli family also

Integrated Weed Control for Land Stewardship at Legacy Management's Rocky Flats Site in Colorado - 13086

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelson, Jody K. [Stoller LMS Team, Contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, 11025 Dover Street, Suite 1000, Westminster, Colorado 80021 (United States)

2013-07-01

Land stewardship is one of nine sustainability programs in the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management System. Land stewardship includes maintaining and improving ecosystem health. At the Rocky Flats Site near Westminster, Colorado, land stewardship is an integral component of the Office of Legacy Management's post-closure monitoring and management at the site. Nearly 263 hectares (650 acres) were disturbed and re-vegetated during site cleanup and closure operations. Proactive management of revegetation areas is critical to the successful reestablishment of native grasslands, wetlands, and riparian communities. The undisturbed native plant communities that occur at the site also require active management to maintain the high-quality wetlands and other habitats that are home to numerous species of birds and other wildlife such as elk and deer, rare plant communities, and the federally listed threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Over the past several decades, an increase of Noxious weeds has impacted much of Colorado's Front Range. As a result, weed control is a key component of the land stewardship program at Rocky Flats. Thirty-three species of state-listed Noxious weeds are known to occur in the Central and Peripheral Operable Units at Rocky Flats, along with another five species that are considered invasive at the site. Early detection and rapid response to control new invasive species is crucial to the program. An integrated weed control/vegetation management approach is key to maintaining healthy, sustainable plant communities that are able to resist Noxious weed invasions. Weed mapping, field surveys, and field-staff training sessions (to learn how to identify new potential problem species) are conducted to help detect and prevent new weed problems. The integrated approach at Rocky Flats includes administrative and cultural techniques (prevention), mechanical controls, biological controls, and chemical controls. Several

Effects of vegetation, corridor width and regional land use on early successional birds on powerline corridors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A Askins

Full Text Available Powerline rights-of-way (ROWs often provide habitat for early successional bird species that have suffered long-term population declines in eastern North America. To determine how the abundance of shrubland birds varies with habitat within ROW corridors and with land use patterns surrounding corridors, we ran Poisson regression models on data from 93 plots on ROWs and compared regression coefficients. We also determined nest success rates on a 1-km stretch of ROW. Seven species of shrubland birds were common in powerline corridors. However, the nest success rates for prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor and field sparrow (Spizella pusilla were <21%, which is too low to compensate for estimated annual mortality. Some shrubland bird species were more abundant on narrower ROWs or at sites with lower vegetation or particular types of vegetation, indicating that vegetation management could be refined to favor species of high conservation priority. Also, several species were more abundant in ROWs traversing unfragmented forest than those near residential areas or farmland, indicating that corridors in heavily forested regions may provide better habitat for these species. In the area where we monitored nests, brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater occurred more frequently close to a residential area. Although ROWs support dense populations of shrubland birds, those in more heavily developed landscapes may constitute sink habitat. ROWs in extensive forests may contribute more to sustaining populations of early successional birds, and thus may be the best targets for habitat management.

Land uses, fire, and invasion: Exotic annual Bromus and human dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Pyke, David A.; Chambers, Jeanne C.; Beck, Jeffrey L.; Brooks, Matthew L.; Mealor, Brian A.

2016-01-01

Human land uses are the primary cause of the introduction and spread of exotic annual Bromusspecies. Initial introductions were likely linked to contaminated seeds used by homesteading farmers in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Transportation routes aided their spread. Unrestricted livestock grazing from the 1800s through the mid-1900s reduced native plant competitors leaving large areas vulnerable to Bromus dominance. Ecosystems with cooler and moister soils tend to have greater potential to recover from disturbances (resilience) and to be more resistant to Bromusinvasion and dominance. Warmer and drier ecosystems are less resistant to Bromus and are threatened by altered fire regimes which can lead to Bromus dominance, impacts to wildlife, and alternative stable states. Native Americans used fire for manipulating plant communities and may have contributed to the early dominance of Bromus in portions of California. Fire as a tool is now limited to site preparation for revegetation in most ecosystems where Bromus is a significant problem. Once Bromus dominates, breaking annual grass/fire cycles requires restoring fire-tolerant perennial grasses and forbs, which can compete with Bromus and resist its dominance. Current weed management policies often lack regulations to prevent further expansion of Bromus. Research is needed on how and where livestock grazing might help increase perennial grass and forb cover and density to create ecosystems that are more resistant to Bromus. Also, studies are needed to ascertain the role, if any, of oil and gas development in contributing to the spread of Bromus.

The Mars Science Laboratory Mission: Early Results from Gale Crater Landing Site

Science.gov (United States)

Flatow, I.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Blake, D.; Crisp, J. A.; Edgett, K. S.; Gellert, R.; Gomez-Elvira, J.; Hassler, D. M.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Malin, M. C.; Meyer, M. A.; Mitrofanov, I.; Vasavada, A. R.; Wiens, R. C.

2012-12-01

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, landed at Gale Crater on August 5th (PDT) and initiated an investigation of modern and ancient environments. The 155-km diameter Gale Crater was chosen as Curiosity's field site based on several attributes: the interior Mount Sharp preserves a succession of flat-lying strata extending almost 5 km above the elevation of the landing site; the lower few hundred meters of the mound show a progression with relative age from clay-bearing to sulfate-bearing strata, separated by an unconformity from overlying likely anhydrous strata; the landing ellipse is characterized by a mixture of alluvial fan and high thermal inertia/high albedo stratified deposits; and a number of stratigraphically/geomorphically distinct fluvial features. Gale's regional context and strong evidence for a progression through multiple potentially habitable environments, represented by a stratigraphic record of extraordinary extent, ensure preservation of a rich record of the environmental history of early Mars. Curiosity has an expected lifetime of at least one Mars year (~23 months), and drive capability of at least 20 km. The MSL science payload was specifically assembled to assess habitability and includes a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer and gas analyzer that will search for organic carbon in rocks, regolith fines, and the atmosphere (SAM); an x-ray diffractometer that will determine mineralogical diversity (CheMin); focusable cameras that can image landscapes and rock/regolith textures in natural color (MAHLI, Mastcam); an alpha-particle x-ray spectrometer for in situ determination of rock and soil chemistry (APXS); a laser-induced breakdown spectrometer to remotely sense the chemical composition of rocks and minerals (ChemCam); an active/passive neutron spectrometer designed to search for water in rocks/regolith (DAN); a weather station to measure modern-day environmental variables (REMS); and a sensor designed for continuous monitoring of

Materials availability for fusion power plant construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartley, J.N.; Erickson, L.E.; Engel, R.L.; Foley, T.J.

1976-09-01

A preliminary assessment was made of the estimated total U.S. material usage with and without fusion power plants as well as the U.S. and foreign reserves and resources, and U.S. production capacity. The potential environmental impacts of fusion power plant material procurement were also reviewed including land alteration and resultant chemical releases. To provide a general measure for the impact of material procurement for fusion reactors, land requirements were estimated for mining and disposing of waste from mining

EARLY ENTRANCE COPRODUCTION PLANT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fred D. Brent; Lalit Shah; Earl Berry; Charles H. Schrader; John Anderson; Ming He; James F. Stevens; Centha A. Davis; Michael Henley; Jerome Mayer; Harry Tsang; Jimell Erwin; Jennifer Adams; Michael Tillman; Chris Taylor; Marjan J. Roos; Robert F. Earhart

2004-01-27

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which uses petroleum coke to produce at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals using ChevronTexaco's proprietary gasification technology. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan to mitigate technical risks and barriers; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing and testing plan for an EECP located at a specific site. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information needed by industry to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation. The partners in this project are Texaco Energy Systems LLC or TES (a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco), General Electric (GE), Praxair, and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) in addition to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). TES is providing gasification technology and Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) technology developed by Rentech, GE is providing combustion turbine technology, Praxair is providing air separation technology, and KBR is providing engineering. Each of the EECP subsystems was assessed for technical risks and barriers. A plan was developed to mitigate the identified risks (Phase II RD&T Plan, October 2000). The potential technical and economic risks to the EECP from Task 2.5 can be mitigated by demonstrating that the end-use products derived from the upgrading of the F-T synthesis total liquid product can meet or exceed current specifications for the

Plant growth promoting bacteria as an alternative strategy for salt tolerance in plants: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Numan, Muhammad; Bashir, Samina; Khan, Yasmin; Mumtaz, Roqayya; Shinwari, Zabta Khan; Khan, Abdul Latif; Khan, Ajmal; Al-Harrasi, Ahmed

2018-04-01

Approximately 5.2 billion hectare agriculture land are affected by erosion, salinity and soil degradation. Salinity stress has significantly affecting the fertile lands, and therefore possesses a huge impact on the agriculture and economy of a country. Salt stress has severe effects on the growth and development of plants as well as reducing its yield. Plants are inherently equipped with stress tolerance ability to responds the specific type of stress. Plants retained specific mechanisms for salt stress mitigation, such as hormonal stimulation, ion exchange, antioxidant enzymes and activation of signaling cascades on their metabolic and genetic frontiers that sooth the stressed condition. Additional to the plant inherent mechanisms, certain plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) also have specialized mechanism that play key role for salt stress tolerance and plant growth promotion. These bacteria triggers plants to produce different plant growth hormones like auxin, cytokinine and gibberellin as well as volatile organic compounds. These bacteria also produces growth regulators like siderophore, which fix nitrogen, solubilize organic and inorganic phosphate. Considering the importance of PGPB in compensation of salt tolerance in plants, the present study has reviewed the different aspect and mechanism of bacteria that play key role in promoting plants growth and yield. It can be concluded that PGPB can be used as a cost effective and economical tool for salinity tolerance and growth promotion in plants. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

A genome-wide phylogenetic reconstruction of family 1 UDP-glycosyltransferases revealed the expansion of the family during the adaptation of plants to life on land.

Science.gov (United States)

Caputi, Lorenzo; Malnoy, Mickael; Goremykin, Vadim; Nikiforova, Svetlana; Martens, Stefan

2012-03-01

For almost a decade, our knowledge on the organisation of the family 1 UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) has been limited to the model plant A. thaliana. The availability of other plant genomes represents an opportunity to obtain a broader view of the family in terms of evolution and organisation. Family 1 UGTs are known to glycosylate several classes of plant secondary metabolites. A phylogeny reconstruction study was performed to get an insight into the evolution of this multigene family during the adaptation of plants to life on land. The organisation of the UGTs in the different organisms was also investigated. More than 1500 putative UGTs were identified in 12 fully sequenced and assembled plant genomes based on the highly conserved PSPG motif. Analyses by maximum likelihood (ML) method were performed to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships existing between the sequences. The results of this study clearly show that the UGT family expanded during the transition from algae to vascular plants and that in higher plants the clustering of UGTs into phylogenetic groups appears to be conserved, although gene loss and gene gain events seem to have occurred in certain lineages. Interestingly, two new phylogenetic groups, named O and P, that are not present in A. thaliana were discovered. © 2011 The Authors. The Plant Journal © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Alternative control of early blight of tomato using plant extracts from Acacia nilotica, Achillea fragrantissima and Calotropis procera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zakaria A.M. BAKA

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The in vitro and in vivo antifungal potential of extracts of three wild medicinal plants, (Acacia nilotica (L. Delile, Achillea fragrantissima (Forssk. Sch.Bip. and Calotropis procera (Aiton W. T. Aiton was examined against Alternaria solani, the causal agent of the early blight of tomato. Aqueous or ethanol extracts of all tested plants reduced the mycelial growth and conidium germination of A. solani in vitro. Ethanol extracts were more effective against the pathogen than the aqueous extracts. Extract of C. procera exhibited more antifungal potential against the pathogen than other plant extracts. Observations by scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed dramatic alterations in the morphology and ultrastructure of A. solani when treated with the ethanol extract of C. procera at a concentration of 20%. Phytochemical screening confirmed the presence of many bioactive constituents in the extracts which were in greater amounts in C. procera than the other two plants. In a plot experiment, both types of extracts from C. procera reduced disease severity. Tomato fruit yield was increased after the treatment with the plant extracts.

Evolution of plant senescence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Young Mike

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Senescence is integral to the flowering plant life-cycle. Senescence-like processes occur also in non-angiosperm land plants, algae and photosynthetic prokaryotes. Increasing numbers of genes have been assigned functions in the regulation and execution of angiosperm senescence. At the same time there has been a large expansion in the number and taxonomic spread of plant sequences in the genome databases. The present paper uses these resources to make a study of the evolutionary origins of angiosperm senescence based on a survey of the distribution, across plant and microbial taxa, and expression of senescence-related genes. Results Phylogeny analyses were carried out on protein sequences corresponding to genes with demonstrated functions in angiosperm senescence. They include proteins involved in chlorophyll catabolism and its control, homeoprotein transcription factors, metabolite transporters, enzymes and regulators of carotenoid metabolism and of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Evolutionary timelines for the origins and functions of particular genes were inferred from the taxonomic distribution of sequences homologous to those of angiosperm senescence-related proteins. Turnover of the light energy transduction apparatus is the most ancient element in the senescence syndrome. By contrast, the association of phenylpropanoid metabolism with senescence, and integration of senescence with development and adaptation mediated by transcription factors, are relatively recent innovations of land plants. An extended range of senescence-related genes of Arabidopsis was profiled for coexpression patterns and developmental relationships and revealed a clear carotenoid metabolism grouping, coordinated expression of genes for anthocyanin and flavonoid enzymes and regulators and a cluster pattern of genes for chlorophyll catabolism consistent with functional and evolutionary features of the pathway. Conclusion The expression and phylogenetic

Exploring the links between social metabolism and biodiversity distribution across landscape gradients: A regional-scale contribution to the land-sharing versus land-sparing debate

OpenAIRE

Marull López, Joan; Tello, Enric; Bagaria Morató, Guillem; Font i Castell, Xavier; Cattaneo, Claudio; Pino i Vilalta, Joan

2018-01-01

The debate about the relative merits of the 'land-sparing' and 'land-sharing' approaches to biodiversity conservation is usually addressed at local scale. Here, however, we undertake a regional-scale approach to this issue by exploring the association between the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) and biodiversity components (plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) across a gradient of human-transformed landscapes in Catalonia, Spain. We propose an Intermediate Dis...

Review of municipal sludge use as a soil amendment on disturbed lands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brandt, C.A.; Hendrickson, P.L.

1990-08-01

The US Department of Energy is examining options of improving soil conditions at Hanford reclamation sites. One promising technology is the incorporation of municipal sewage sludge into the soil profile. This report reviews the potential benefits and adverse consequences of sludge use in land reclamation. Land reclamation comprises those activities instigated to return a mechanically disturbed site to some later successional state. Besides the introduction of suitable plant species to disturbed lands, reclamation generally requires measures to enhance long-term soil nutrient content, moisture retention or drainage, and mitigation of toxic effects from metals and pH. One of the more effective means of remediating adverse soil characteristics is the application of complex organic manures such as municipal sewage sludge. Sewage sludges contain complete macro- and micronutrients necessary to sustain plant growth. The application of sewage sludge may reestablish microbial activity in sterile soils. Physical properties, such as water-holding capacity and percentage water-stable aggregates, also improve with the addition of sewage sludge. Sludge applications may also increase the rate of degradation of some hydrocarbon pollutants in soils. Potential adverse impacts associated with the application of sewage sludge to land include negative public perception of human waste products; concerns regarding pathogen buildup and spread in the soils, plants, and water; entrance and accumulation of heavy metals in the food chain; salt accumulation in the soil and ground water; leaching of nitrates into ground water; and accumulation of other potentially toxic substances, such as boron and synthetic hydrocarbons, in the soil, plants, and food chain. 56 refs., 10 tabs.

Role of Ethanol Plants in Dakotas’ Land Use Change: Analysis Using Remotely Sensed Data

OpenAIRE

Arora, Gaurav; Wolter, Peter T.; Feng, Hongli; Hennessy, David A.

2015-01-01

North and South Dakota have experienced rapid land-use changes in the past decade. Recent studies have shown that these land-use changes are mainly characterized by conversions of grasslands to crop production, especially corn and soybeans. Approximately 271,000 hectares of grasslands were lost to corn and soy production in 2006-2011 period, almost seven times the losses in 1989-2003. The implications of these changing land-uses range from reduced biodiversity and loss of habitat for waterfow...

Effects of deficit irrigation and partial root-zone drying on soil and plant water status, stomatal conductance, plant growth and water use efficiency in tomato during early fruiting stage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Fulai; Shahnazari, Ali; Jacobsen, S.-E.

2008-01-01

The effects of 'partial root-zone drying' (PRD), compared with full irrigation (FI) and deficit irrigation (DI), on soil and plant water status, plant growth and water use efficiency (WUE) were investigated in potted tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum L., var. Cedrico) at the early fruiting stage...... system, and the irrigated side of the plants was reversed when volumetric soil water content ( ) of the dry side had decreased to 6%. of FI was about 14%. of DI decreased during the first 4-5 days after the onset of treatment (DAT) and was about 7% and 6% thereafter for DI-70 and DI-50, respectively....... of the wet side in PRD-70 declined during 3-6 DAT and was lower than that of FI by 4-6% thereafter. in both wet and dry sides of PRD-50 was slightly lower than that for PRD-70. After 5 DAT, midday leaf water potential was significantly lower in DI and PRD than in FI plants. FI plants had the highest leaf...

Kinetic asymmetries between forward and drop jump landing tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morgana Alves de Britto

2015-12-01

Full Text Available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2015v17n6p661   Landing asymmetry is a risk factor for knee anterior cruciate ligament injury. The aim of this study was to identify kinetic asymmetries in healthy recreational athletes performing different jump-landing techniques. Twelve recreational athletes engaged in regular training underwent kinetic evaluation using two 3D force plates and were analyzed for: (a three-dimensional peak forces, (b time to peak vertical force, and (c initial phase asymmetries. All data were collected during performance of unilateral and bilateral trials of forward and drop jump tasks. Forward jump-landing tasks elicited greater kinetic asymmetry than drop-landing tasks. Regardless of jump-landing technique, the preferred leg experienced higher forces than the non-preferred leg. The initial landing phase showed more kinetic asymmetries than the later phase when peak vertical forces occur. It was concluded that when screening athletes for kinetic asymmetries that may predispose them to injury, forward jump-landing tasks and the early landing phase might show more kinetic asymmetries than drop jump-landing tasks and the late landing phase, respectively.

Land use and energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robeck, K.E.; Ballou, S.W.; South, D.W.; Davis, M.J.; Chiu, S.Y.; Baker, J.E.; Dauzvardis, P.A.; Garvey, D.B.; Torpy, M.F.

1980-07-01

This report provides estimates of the amount of land required by past and future energy development in the United States and examines major federal legislation that regulates the impact of energy facilities on land use. An example of one land use issue associated with energy development - the potential conflict between surface mining and agriculture - is illustrated by describing the actual and projected changes in land use caused by coal mining in western Indiana. Energy activities addressed in the report include extraction of coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, oil shale, and geothermal steam; uranium processing; preparation of synfuels from coal; oil refineries; fossil-fuel, nuclear, and hydro-electric power plants; biomass energy farms; and disposal of solid wastes generated during combustion of fossil fuels. Approximately 1.1 to 3.3 x 10/sup 6/ acres were devoted to these activities in the United States in 1975. As much as 1.8 to 2.0 x 10/sup 6/ additional acres could be required by 1990 for new, nonbiomass energy development. The production of grain for fuel ethanol could require an additional 16.9 to 55.7 x 10/sup 6/ acres by 1990. Federal laws that directly or indirectly regulate the land-use impacts of energy facilities include the National Environmental Protection Act, Clean Air Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act. The major provisions of these acts, other relevant federal regulations, and similar state and local regulatons are described in this report. Federal legislation relating to air quality, water quality, and the management of public lands has the greatest potential to influence the location and timing of future energy development in the United States.

Land use and energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robeck, K.E.; Ballou, S.W.; South, D.W.; Davis, M.J.; Chiu, S.Y.; Baker, J.E.; Dauzvardis, P.A.; Garvey, D.B.; Torpy, M.F.

1980-07-01

This report provides estimates of the amount of land required by past and future energy development in the United States and examines major federal legislation that regulates the impact of energy facilities on land use. An example of one land use issue associated with energy development - the potential conflict between surface mining and agriculture - is illustrated by describing the actual and projected changes in land use caused by coal mining in western Indiana. Energy activities addressed in the report include extraction of coal, oil, natural gas, uranium, oil shale, and geothermal steam; uranium processing; preparation of synfuels from coal; oil refineries; fossil-fuel, nuclear, and hydro-electric power plants; biomass energy farms; and disposal of solid wastes generated during combustion of fossil fuels. Approximately 1.1 to 3.3 x 10 6 acres were devoted to these activities in the United States in 1975. As much as 1.8 to 2.0 x 10 6 additional acres could be required by 1990 for new, nonbiomass energy development. The production of grain for fuel ethanol could require an additional 16.9 to 55.7 x 10 6 acres by 1990. Federal laws that directly or indirectly regulate the land-use impacts of energy facilities include the National Environmental Protection Act, Clean Air Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act. The major provisions of these acts, other relevant federal regulations, and similar state and local regulatons are described in this report. Federal legislation relating to air quality, water quality, and the management of public lands has the greatest potential to influence the location and timing of future energy development in the United States

Conservation planning on eroded land based of local wisdom in Kintamani sub-district, province of Bali

Science.gov (United States)

Sri Sumarniasih, Made; Antara, Made

2017-01-01

Location determination is based on the compilation of soil type’s map, land use map and slope map. Uniformity of soil type, slope and land use is classified into one unit of land, so that there are 48 units of land to be use as sample points. The purpose of this research are to identify patterns of land use, determine the amount of erosion, the amount of erosion that is tolerable and erosion control through a conservation plan based on local wisdom. The erosion prediction used USLE method, erosion of tolerated (Edp) using the formula Hammer. Results of laboratory and field observations having analyzed using USLE showed some level of erosion on land use in the Kintamani classified from very mild to very severe: 4.79 to 370.60 t ha-1yr-1, while Edp ranges from 30.00 to 48.00 t ha-1 yr-1. erosion Severe to very severe found on the use of mixed garden/citrus garden, dry land and shrubs/ reeds. The planned of use of land is intercropping annuals with horticultural crops (cabbage), citrus trees intercropped with flower of gumitir and bush land planting with elephant grass on a slope of less than 25% and planted of trees on land with a slope above 25%.

Response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lei; Wei, Wei; Chen, Liding; Mo, Baoru

2012-12-01

SummarySoil moisture is an effective water source for plant growth in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. Characterizing the response of deep soil moisture to land use and afforestation is important for the sustainability of vegetation restoration in this region. In this paper, the dynamics of soil moisture were quantified to evaluate the effect of land use on soil moisture at a depth of 2 m. Specifically, the gravimetric soil moisture content was measured in the soil layer between 0 and 8 m for five land use types in the Longtan catchment of the western Loess Plateau. The land use types included traditional farmland, native grassland, and lands converted from traditional farmland (pasture grassland, shrubland and forestland). Results indicate that the deep soil moisture content decreased more than 35% after land use conversion, and a soil moisture deficit appeared in all types of land with introduced vegetation. The introduced vegetation decreased the soil moisture content to levels lower than the reference value representing no human impact in the entire 0-8 m soil profile. No significant differences appeared between different land use types and introduced vegetation covers, especially in deeper soil layers, regardless of which plant species were introduced. High planting density was found to be the main reason for the severe deficit of soil moisture. Landscape management activities such as tillage activities, micro-topography reconstruction, and fallowed farmland affected soil moisture in both shallow and deep soil layers. Tillage and micro-topography reconstruction can be used as effective countermeasures to reduce the soil moisture deficit due to their ability to increase soil moisture content. For sustainable vegetation restoration in a vulnerable semi-arid region, the plant density should be optimized with local soil moisture conditions and appropriate landscape management practices.

Vertical distribution and temporal changes of 137Cs in soil profiles under various land uses after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Junko; Tamura, Kenji; Suda, Tomoya; Matsumura, Ryo; Onda, Yuichi

2015-01-01

We monitored the vertical distribution of 137 Cs in soil profiles under eight different land uses for the 2 y after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, and discussed the temporal changes in the early-stage of the migration and the determinants of the initial distribution. The soil samples were collected for four surveys using a scraper plate at each study site, which consisted of three forests (mixed forest, mature cedar, and young cedar), two grasslands (pasture and meadow) and three abandoned agricultural fields (farm land, tobacco field, and paddy field). The land use patterns have a large influence on some soil properties and the migration processes of 137 Cs above ground, resulting in different distribution of 137 Cs in those soil profiles. Specifically, the secondary deposition of 137 Cs from the coniferous canopy, retention of 137 Cs by litter layer, and the homogenization of 137 Cs concentrations in surface soil by natural soil mixing such as the disturbance by cattle grazing, roots growing and the formation of needle ice were important to cause redistribution of the deposited 137 Cs. Only in the paddy field, the 137 Cs inventory in subsurface soils (5–10 cm) gradually increased and comprised 26% of the total 137 Cs in 2 y, showing the downward migration of 137 Cs to subsurface soil. In the other sites, it was considered that 137 Cs were strongly adsorbed by soil particles and rarely migrated downward as soluble form. Vertical distributions during the first survey were able to be used as the initial distributions and were well fitted to the exponential equation. The distribution parameters α (relaxation depth) and β (relaxation mass depth), calculated by the exponential equation were correlated with RIP (r = −0.806, p < 0.05), macro pore (r = 0.651, p = 0.11), and dispersible fine particle content (r = 0.856, p < 0.05). It indicated that the initial distribution would be influenced by the Cs fixation ability of soil, and the

Close-range hyperspectral image analysis for the early detection of stress responses in individual plants in a high-throughput phenotyping platform

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Asaari, Mohd Shahrimie; Mishra, Puneet; Mertens, Stien; Dhondt, Stijn; Inzé, Dirk; Wuyts, Nathalie; Scheunders, Paul

2018-04-01

The potential of close-range hyperspectral imaging (HSI) as a tool for detecting early drought stress responses in plants grown in a high-throughput plant phenotyping platform (HTPPP) was explored. Reflectance spectra from leaves in close-range imaging are highly influenced by plant geometry and its specific alignment towards the imaging system. This induces high uninformative variability in the recorded signals, whereas the spectral signature informing on plant biological traits remains undisclosed. A linear reflectance model that describes the effect of the distance and orientation of each pixel of a plant with respect to the imaging system was applied. By solving this model for the linear coefficients, the spectra were corrected for the uninformative illumination effects. This approach, however, was constrained by the requirement of a reference spectrum, which was difficult to obtain. As an alternative, the standard normal variate (SNV) normalisation method was applied to reduce this uninformative variability. Once the envisioned illumination effects were eliminated, the remaining differences in plant spectra were assumed to be related to changes in plant traits. To distinguish the stress-related phenomena from regular growth dynamics, a spectral analysis procedure was developed based on clustering, a supervised band selection, and a direct calculation of a spectral similarity measure against a reference. To test the significance of the discrimination between healthy and stressed plants, a statistical test was conducted using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. The proposed analysis techniques was validated with HSI data of maize plants (Zea mays L.) acquired in a HTPPP for early detection of drought stress in maize plant. Results showed that the pre-processing of reflectance spectra with the SNV effectively reduces the variability due to the expected illumination effects. The proposed spectral analysis method on the normalized spectra successfully

E.M. Freeman: early research on cereal diseases and the rise of plant pathology at the University of Minnesota.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, P D

2001-01-01

E.M. Freeman's role in early cereal disease research and the beginning of plant pathology at the University of Minnesota has been overshadowed largely by the enormous prestige of his student, E.C. Stakman. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Freeman was responsible for the transferral from Europe to the United States and the subsequent nurturing of important conceptual and technical developments in the area of cereal disease pathology. Under Freeman's leadership, these ideas would come to shape the direction of plant pathology research at the University of Minnesota for decades to follow.

Plutonium in soil adjacent to Rocky Flats plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hume, M.W.; Illsley, C.T.

1979-01-01

In 1975, lawsuits were filed claiming contaminated lands adjacent to the plant. Five remote as well as 89 sites on lands under litigation were sampled using four sampling techniques at each site. An additional 71 sites were sampled using the Rockwell International technique. No results approached the EPA proposed guideline screening level of 200 mCi/km 2 , although numerous sites to the last of the plant exceed 2 d/m/g (10 mCi/km 2 )

Land crabs as key drivers in tropical coastal forest recruitment

Science.gov (United States)

Lindquist, E.S.; Krauss, K.W.; Green, P.T.; O'Dowd, D. J.; Sherman, P.M.; Smith, T. J.

2009-01-01

Plant populations are regulated by a diverse assortment of abiotic and biotic factors that influence seed dispersal and viability, and seedling establishment and growth at the microsite. Rarely does one animal guild exert as significant an influence on different plant assemblages as land crabs. We review three tropical coastal ecosystems-mangroves, island maritime forests, and mainland coastal terrestrial forests-where land crabs directly influence forest composition by limiting tree establishment and recruitment. Land crabs differentially prey on seeds, propagules and seedlings along nutrient, chemical and physical environmental gradients. In all of these ecosystems, but especially mangroves, abiotic gradients are well studied, strong and influence plant species distributions. However, we suggest that crab predation has primacy over many of these environmental factors by acting as the first limiting factor of tropical tree recruitment to drive the potential structural and compositional organisation of coastal forests. We show that the influence of crabs varies relative to tidal gradient, shoreline distance, canopy position, time, season, tree species and fruiting periodicity. Crabs also facilitate forest growth and development through such activities as excavation of burrows, creation of soil mounds, aeration of soils, removal of leaf litter into burrows and creation of carbon-rich soil microhabitats. For all three systems, land crabs influence the distribution, density and size-class structure of tree populations. Indeed, crabs are among the major drivers of tree recruitment in tropical coastal forest ecosystems, and their conservation should be included in management plans of these forests. ?? 2009 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Early detection and diagnosis of plant anomalies using parallel simulation and knowledge engineering techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ness, E.; Berg, Oe.; Soerenssen, A.

1990-01-01

A conventional alarm system in a nuclear power plant surveys pressures, temperatures and similar physical quantities and triggers if they get too high or too low. To avoid false alarms for a dynamic process, the alarm limits should be rather wide. This means that a disturbance may develop quite a bit before it is detected. In order to get warnings sufficiently early to avoid taking drastic countermeasures in restoring normal plant conditions, the alarm limits should be put close to the desired operating points. As a extension of several years' activity on alarm reduction methods, the OECD Halden Reactor Project started in 1985 to develop a fault detection system based on the application of reference models for process sections. The system looks at groups of variables rather than single variables. In this way each variable within the group may have a legal value, but the group as a whole may indicate that something is wrong. Therefore faults are detected earlier than by conventional alarm systems, even in dynamic situations. Reference models for the feedwater system of a PWR nuclear power plant have been successfully evaluated with real process data. A test installation is now running on the Loviisa NPP, Finland

Role of stress-related hormones in plant defence during early infection of the cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii in Arabidopsis

Science.gov (United States)

Kammerhofer, Nina; Radakovic, Zoran; Regis, Jully M A; Dobrev, Petre; Vankova, Radomira; Grundler, Florian M W; Siddique, Shahid; Hofmann, Julia; Wieczorek, Krzysztof

2015-01-01

Heterodera schachtii, a plant-parasitic cyst nematode, invades host roots and induces a specific syncytial feeding structure, from which it withdraws all required nutrients, causing severe yield losses. The system H. schachtii–Arabidopsis is an excellent research model for investigating plant defence mechanisms. Such responses are suppressed in well-established syncytia, whereas they are induced during early parasitism. However, the mechanisms by which the defence responses are modulated and the role of phytohormones are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of hormone-based defence responses at the onset of nematode infection. First, concentrations of main phytohormones were quantified and the expression of several hormone-related genes was analysed using quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR or GeneChip. Further, the effects of individual hormones were evaluated via nematode attraction and infection assays using plants with altered endogenous hormone concentrations. Our results suggest a pivotal and positive role for ethylene during nematode attraction, whereas jasmonic acid triggers early defence responses against H. schachtii. Salicylic acid seems to be a negative regulator during later syncytium and female development. We conclude that nematodes are able to impose specific changes in hormone pools, thus modulating hormone-based defence and signal transduction in strict dependence on their parasitism stage. PMID:25825039

Land use/land cover and land capability data for evaluating land utilization and official land use planning in Indramayu Regency, West Java, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Ambarwulan, W.; Widiatmaka; Nahib, I.

2018-05-01

Land utilization in Indonesia is regulated in an official spatial land use planning (OSLUP), stipulated by government regulations. However in fact, land utilizations are often develops inconsistent with regulations. OSLUP itself is also not usually compatible with sustainable land utilizations. This study aims to evaluate current land utilizations and OSLUP in Indramayu Regency, West Java. The methodology used is the integrated analysis using land use and land cover (LU/LC) data, land capability data and spatial pattern in OSLUP. Actual LU/LC are interpreted using SPOT-6 imagery of 2014. The spatial data of land capabilities are derived from land capability classification using field data and laboratory analysis. The confrontation between these spatial data is interpreted in terms of future direction for sustainable land use planning. The results shows that Indramayu regency consists of 8 types of LU/LC. Land capability in research area range from class II to VIII. Only a small portion of the land in Indramayu has been used in accordance with land capability, but most of the land is used exceeding its land capability.

Lake sediment multi-taxon DNA from North Greenland records early post-glacial appearance of vascular plants and accurately tracks environmental changes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Epp, L. S.; Gussarova, C.; Boessenkool, S.

2015-01-01

temperatures. Lake sediments contain DNA paleorecords of the surrounding ecosystems and can be used to retrieve a variety of organismal groups from a single sample. In this study, we analyzed vascular plant, bryophyte, algal (in particular diatom) and copepod DNA retrieved from a sediment core spanning...... phases, and distinct temporal changes in plant presence were recovered. The plant DNA was mostly in agreement with expected vegetation history, but very early occurrences of vascular plants, including the woody Empetrum nigrum, document terrestrial vegetation very shortly after glacial retreat. Our study...... core. Our DNA record was stratigraphically coherent, with no indication of leaching between layers, and our cross-taxon comparisons were in accordance with previously inferred local ecosystem changes. Authentic ancient plant DNA was retrieved from nearly all layers, both from the marine and the limnic...

Fitoremediation for the Rehabilitation of Agricultural Land Contaminated by Cadmium and Copper

OpenAIRE

SA'AD, N. SUTRISNO; ARTANTI, R; DEWI, T

2009-01-01

There are many agricultural land using irrigation water from polluted industrial waste of heavy metals. Improvement of agricultural land quality using fitoremediation is needed to overcome heavy metal pollution. The reasearch aims to make remedies for paddy field polluted by cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) using plants that have the ability to absorb heavy metals in order to increase the quality of the land. This research was conducted at the screen house of Indonesian Agricultural Enviroment Re...

Factors relevant to the decommissioning of land-based nuclear reactor plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

This document applies to all classes of land-based nuclear fission reactors, including those reactors used for the production of electricity or heat, for testing, for research, and for the production of radionuclides. The document covers the technical and administrative aspects related to the conduct of decommissioning, and to the associated radiation protection of man and his environment both during and after decommissioning. The document is intended to provide assistance to those responsible for planning or implementing the decommissioning of a land-based nuclear reactor. The user of this report is further encouraged to review past experience gained with nuclear facilities and the published technical data cited in the section entitled Bibliography

Effect of land management models on soil erosion in wet tropical cacao plantations in Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Suhardi

2017-01-01

Indonesia is one of the world???s largest cocoa exporters and is located in a tropical wet region. In tropical regions, surface run off is a major factor behind the occurrence of erosion-driven land degradation. Both land slope and land cover influence the magnitude of surface run off and soil erosion. Cocoa plants are generally cultivated on land that has a steep slope without regard to existing land cover conditions resulting in a susceptibility to soil erosion. The purpose of this resea...

7 CFR 1000.4 - Plant.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... transferring bulk milk from one tank truck to another or a separate building used only as a distribution point... § 1000.4 Plant. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, plant means the land, buildings, facilities, and equipment constituting a single operating unit or establishment at which milk or milk...

Land use history, ecosystem type and species composition drive water use efficiency in annual maize and perennial grasslands in a humid temperate climate

Science.gov (United States)

Gelfand, I.; Abraha, M.; Chen, J.; Shao, C.; Su, Y. J.; Hamilton, S. K.; Robertson, G. P.

2015-12-01

Water use efficiency (WUE), carbon gained per unit water lost, is a fundamental plant and ecosystem function that regulates plant productivity, global hydrology and carbon cycles. We examined ecosystem (E) and intrinsic (i) WUEs derived from eddy covariance (EC) measurements and plant carbon isotope discrimination, respectively, to study how WUE is affected by land-use history, ecosystem type, and plants community composition. We measured EWUE and iWUE of three perennial grasslands planted to mixed-prairie, switchgrass and brome grass as compared to a fields planted to corn. Each of studied ecosystems was replicated on two fields with contrasting land-use histories: one field was managed under the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP, planted to bromgrass) and another was in conventional agriculture (AGR) corn/soybean rotation for few decades before start of the experiment. In 2009, all but one CRP field were converted to no-till soybean. In 2010, the converted CRP and AGR fields were planted to mixed-prairie (C3 and C4 grasses), switchgrass (C4 grass), and no-till corn (C4 grass). During 2009-2013, we measured carbon and water exchange over each field using an EC technique and sampled plant tissue for 13C isotopes analysis. Land-use history, ecosystem type, and species composition had large effects on EWUEs. Intrinsic WUE of individual C3 grass species, however, was similar across the study period, despite drought in 2012. Corn and brome grass had the highest and lowest overall mean EWUE, 4.1 and 2.2 g C kg-1 H2O, respectively. Restored prairie on former AGR land had a mean EWUE of 3.0 g C kg-1 H2O, significantly greater than on former CRP land with a EWUE of 2.5 g C kg-1 H2O. Land use history had no effect on interannual variability of EWUE of corn. Prairie and switchgrass established on former CRP land exhibited no change of EWUE, as well. Same ecosystems established on former AGR land, oppositely, increased their WUEs over the study period from ~ 2.5 g C kg-1

VT Ecological Land Types - Green Mountain National Forest - lines

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) The EcologicOther_ELT (Ecological Land Type) data layer was developed by the Green Mountain National Forest in the early 1980's from aerial...

VT Ecological Land Types - Green Mountain National Forest - polygons

Data.gov (United States)

Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) The EcologicOther_ELT (Ecological Land Type) data layer was developed by the Green Mountain National Forest in the early 1980's from aerial...

Study on Remote Sensing Image Characteristics of Ecological Land: Case Study of Original Ecological Land in the Yellow River Delta

Science.gov (United States)

An, G. Q.

2018-04-01

Takes the Yellow River Delta as an example, this paper studies the characteristics of remote sensing imagery with dominant ecological functional land use types, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different image in interpreting ecological land use, and uses research results to analyse the changing trend of ecological land in the study area in the past 30 years. The main methods include multi-period, different sensor images and different seasonal spectral curves, vegetation index, GIS and data analysis methods. The results show that the main ecological land in the Yellow River Delta included coastal beaches, saline-alkaline lands, and water bodies. These lands have relatively distinct spectral and texture features. The spectral features along the beach show characteristics of absorption in the green band and reflection in the red band. This feature is less affected by the acquisition year, season, and sensor type. Saline-alkali land due to the influence of some saline-alkaline-tolerant plants such as alkali tent, Tamarix and other vegetation, the spectral characteristics have a certain seasonal changes, winter and spring NDVI index is less than the summer and autumn vegetation index. The spectral characteristics of a water body generally decrease rapidly with increasing wavelength, and the reflectance in the red band increases with increasing sediment concentration. In conclusion, according to the spectral characteristics and image texture features of the ecological land in the Yellow River Delta, the accuracy of image interpretation of such ecological land can be improved.

STUDY ON REMOTE SENSING IMAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF ECOLOGICAL LAND: CASE STUDY OF ORIGINAL ECOLOGICAL LAND IN THE YELLOW RIVER DELTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Q. An

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Takes the Yellow River Delta as an example, this paper studies the characteristics of remote sensing imagery with dominant ecological functional land use types, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different image in interpreting ecological land use, and uses research results to analyse the changing trend of ecological land in the study area in the past 30 years. The main methods include multi-period, different sensor images and different seasonal spectral curves, vegetation index, GIS and data analysis methods. The results show that the main ecological land in the Yellow River Delta included coastal beaches, saline-alkaline lands, and water bodies. These lands have relatively distinct spectral and texture features. The spectral features along the beach show characteristics of absorption in the green band and reflection in the red band. This feature is less affected by the acquisition year, season, and sensor type. Saline-alkali land due to the influence of some saline-alkaline-tolerant plants such as alkali tent, Tamarix and other vegetation, the spectral characteristics have a certain seasonal changes, winter and spring NDVI index is less than the summer and autumn vegetation index. The spectral characteristics of a water body generally decrease rapidly with increasing wavelength, and the reflectance in the red band increases with increasing sediment concentration. In conclusion, according to the spectral characteristics and image texture features of the ecological land in the Yellow River Delta, the accuracy of image interpretation of such ecological land can be improved.

Utilization of early soybeans for food and reproduction by the tarnished plant bug (Hemiptera: Miridae) in the delta of Mississippi.

Science.gov (United States)

Snodgrass, G L; Jackson, R E; Abel, C A; Perera, O P

2010-08-01

Commercially produced maturity group (MG) IV soybeans, Glycine max L., were sampled during bloom for tarnished plant bugs, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), during May and June 1999 (3 fields) and 2001 (18 fields). The adults and nymphs were found primarily in single population peaks in both years, indicating a single new generation was produced during each year. The peak mean numbers of nymphs were 0.61 and 0.84 per drop cloth sample in 1999 and 2001, respectively. Adults peaked at 3.96 (1999) and 3.76 (2001) per sweep net sample (25 sweeps). Tests using laboratory-reared and field-collected tarnished plant bugs resulted in very poor survival of nymphs on 16 different soybean varieties (MG III, one; IV, four; V, nine; VI, two). A large cage (0.06 ha) field test found that the number of nymphs produced on eight soybean varieties after mated adults were released into the cages was lower than could be expected on a suitable host. These results indicated that soybean was a marginal host for tarnished plant bugs. However, the numbers of adults and nymphs found in the commercially produced fields sampled in the study may have been high enough to cause feeding damage to the flowering soybeans. The nature of the damage and its possible economic importance were not determined. Reproduction of tarnished plant bugs in the commercially produced early soybean fields showed that the early soybeans provided tarnished plant bugs with a very abundant host at a time when only wild hosts were previously available.

Effects of farmers' practices of fertilizer application and land use types on subsequent maize yield and nutrient uptake in central Benin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saidou, A.; Kossou, D.; Acakpo, K.; Richards, P.; Kuyper, T.W.

2012-01-01

Four on-farm experiments in central Benin examined whether land-use succession and fertilizer treatments for prior cotton would sustain subsequent maize crop yields and achieve balanced plant nutrition. Treatments consisted of three prior land use successions, i.e. before planting maize (egusi

Plant responses, climate pivot points, and trade-offs in water-limited ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Munson, S. M.; Bunting, E.

2017-12-01

Ecosystem transitions and thresholds are conceptually well-defined and have become a framework to address vegetation response to climate change and land-use intensification, yet there are few approaches to define the environmental conditions which can lead to them. We demonstrate a novel climate pivot point approach using long-term monitoring data from a broad network of permanent plots, satellite imagery, and experimental treatments across the southwestern U.S. The climate pivot point identifies conditions that lead to decreased plant performance and serves as an early warning sign of increased vulnerability of crossing a threshold into an altered ecosystem state. Plant responses and climate pivot points aligned with the lifespan and structural characteristics of species, were modified by soil and landscape attributes of a site, and had non-linear dynamics in some cases. Species with strong increases in abundance when water was available were most susceptible to losses during water shortages, reinforcing plant energetic and physiological tradeoffs. Future research to uncover the heterogeneity of plant responses and climate pivot points at multiple scales can lead to greater understanding of shifts in ecosystem productivity and vulnerability to climate change.

The Effect Of Land Cover/Land Use On Groundwater Resources In Southern Egypt (Luxor Area): Remote Sensing And Field Studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faid, A.M.; Hinz, E.A.; Montgomery, H.

2003-01-01

The impact of land cover/land use on groundwater can be critical. Land cover / land use maps give an early warning for planners and developers to protect groundwater resources from depletion and preserve its sustain ability. These land cover / land use maps can be used for the planning of groundwater development to prevent the deterioration of the aquifer. The Research Institute for Groundwater of Egypt (RIGW) has carried out hydrogeological studies in 1990 to evaluate the potentiality of groundwater in Luxor area in southern Egypt close to the Nile valley. The region is characterized by a rapid and continuous increase in land reclamation and development on the fringes which surround the already heavily cultivated land within the Nile valley. This presented a need for continuous monitoring and information updating over a vast region in a short time and at a reasonable cost. This study illustrates how remote sensing techniques can be effectively used for monitoring changes in land cover / land use in an effort to aid groundwater management. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data collected in 1984 and 2000 were processed and analyzed over the study area to produce land cover/land use maps. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) technique is used for Landsat TM images of to quantify areas which are covered by vegetation. Results indicated significant increase in cultivated areas. Remote sensing results are compared with iso-piezo metric maps and iso-salinity maps that were produced in 1984 and 2000. Comparison of these maps indicates groundwater depletion and salinity increase from 1984 to 2000. We relate this to the increase of the area being cultivated

EARLY ENTRANCE COPRODUCTION PLANT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fred D. Brent; Lalit Shah; Earl Berry; Charles H. Schrader; John Anderson; J. Erwin; Matthew G. Banks; Terry L. Ullman

2004-01-12

The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which uses petroleum coke to produce at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals using ChevronTexaco's proprietary gasification technology. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan to mitigate technical risks and barriers; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing and testing plan for an EECP located at a specific site. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information needed by industry to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation. The partners in this project are Texaco Energy Systems LLC or TES (a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco), General Electric (GE), Praxair, and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) in addition to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). TES is providing gasification technology and Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) technology developed by Rentech, GE is providing combustion turbine technology, Praxair is providing air separation technology, and KBR is providing engineering. Each of the EECP subsystems was assessed for technical risks and barriers. A plan was developed to mitigate the identified risks (Phase II RD&T Plan, October 2000). Phase II RD&T Task 2.6 identified as potential technical risks to the EECP the fuel/engine performance and emissions of the F-T diesel fuel products. Hydrotreating the neat F-T diesel product reduces potentially reactive olefins, oxygenates, and acids

Phylogenetic analysis of the thylakoid ATP/ADP carrier reveals new insights into its function restricted to green plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cornelia eSpetea

2012-01-01

Full Text Available ATP is the common energy currency of cellular metabolism in all living organisms. Most of them synthesize ATP in the cytosol or on the mitochondrial inner membrane, whereas land plants, algae and cyanobacteria also produce it on the thylakoid membrane during the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. From the site of synthesis, ATP is transported to the site of utilization via intracellular membranes transporters. One major type of ATP transporter is represented by the mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier family. Here we review a recently characterized member, namely the thylakoid ATP/ADP carrier from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtTAAC. Thus far, no orthologues of this carrier have been characterized in other organisms, although similar sequences can be recognized in many sequenced genomes. Protein Sequence database searches and phylogenetic analyses indicate the absence of TAAC in cyanobacteria and its appearance early in the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes. The TAAC clade is composed of carriers found in land plants and some green algae, but no proteins from other photosynthetic taxa, such as red algae, brown algae and diatoms. This implies that TAAC-like sequences arose only once before the divergence of green algae and land plants. Based on these findings, it is proposed that TAAC may have evolved in response to the need of a new activity in higher photosynthetic eukaryotes. This activity may provide the energy to drive reactions during biogenesis and turnover of photosynthetic complexes, which are heterogenously distributed in a thylakoid membrane system composed of appressed and non-appressed regions.

Phylogenetic evidence for cladogenetic polyploidization in land plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Shing H; Drori, Michal; Goldberg, Emma E; Otto, Sarah P; Mayrose, Itay

2016-07-01

Polyploidization is a common and recurring phenomenon in plants and is often thought to be a mechanism of "instant speciation". Whether polyploidization is associated with the formation of new species (cladogenesis) or simply occurs over time within a lineage (anagenesis), however, has never been assessed systematically. We tested this hypothesis using phylogenetic and karyotypic information from 235 plant genera (mostly angiosperms). We first constructed a large database of combined sequence and chromosome number data sets using an automated procedure. We then applied likelihood models (ClaSSE) that estimate the degree of synchronization between polyploidization and speciation events in maximum likelihood and Bayesian frameworks. Our maximum likelihood analysis indicated that 35 genera supported a model that includes cladogenetic transitions over a model with only anagenetic transitions, whereas three genera supported a model that incorporates anagenetic transitions over one with only cladogenetic transitions. Furthermore, the Bayesian analysis supported a preponderance of cladogenetic change in four genera but did not support a preponderance of anagenetic change in any genus. Overall, these phylogenetic analyses provide the first broad confirmation that polyploidization is temporally associated with speciation events, suggesting that it is indeed a major speciation mechanism in plants, at least in some genera. © 2016 Botanical Society of America.