Review of Humanism in East Asian Confucian Contexts, by Chun-chieh Huang. Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag, 2010. 25.80 euros. Pp. 168.

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The Uptake of Amino Acids by Microbes and Trees in Three Cold-Temperate Forests

Amino acids are emerging as a critical component of the terrestrial N cycle, yet there is little understanding of amino acid cycling in temperate forests. This research studied the uptake and turnover of amino acid N by soil microbes and the capacity of forest trees to take up the amino acid glycine in comparison to NH4+ and NO3−. This research was conducted in three temperate forests located in northwest Connecticut, USA. The three forests differed in soil parent material and canopy tree species composition. At all three sites, amino acids were released from soil organic matter through the activity of proteolytic enzymes resulting in a pool of free amino acids in soil. Free amino acids were rapidly immobilized by soil microbes. A 15N-enriched-glycine-addition experiment also showed that a significant fraction of the amino acid N taken up by soil microbes was mineralized to NH4+ with substantial nitrification at one site. Tree species from all three sites had the physiological capacity to absorb the amino acid glycine but took up amino acid N, NH4+, and NO3− in proportion to their availability in the soil. At the site with the highest gross fluxes of N, nearly all the N in amino acids was mineralized, and fine roots assimilated inorganic N much more rapidly than amino acid N. At the two sites with slower rates of gross amino acid production, the pool of free amino acids was larger, and fine roots assimilated amino acid N almost as fast as inorganic N. This study demonstrates that amino acids are an important component of the N cycle in temperate forests

A global meta-analysis of soil exchangeable cations, pH, carbon, and nitrogen with afforestation

Afforestation, the conversion of non-forested lands to forest plantations, can sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the rapid growth and harvesting of biomass may deplete nutrients and degrade soils if managed improperly. The goal of this study is to evaluate how afforestation affects mineral soil quality, including pH, sodium, exchangeable cations, organic carbon, and nitrogen, and to examine the magnitude of these changes regionally where afforestation rates are high. We also examine potential mechanisms to reduce the impacts of afforestation on soils and to maintain long-term productivity. Across diverse plantation types (153 sites) to a depth of 30 cm of mineral soil, we observed significant decreases in nutrient cations (Ca, K, Mg), increases in sodium (Na), or both with afforestation. Across the data set, afforestation reduced soil concentrations of the macronutrient Ca by 29% on average (P \u3c 0.05). Afforestation by Pinus alone decreased soil K by 23% (P \u3c 0.05). Overall, plantations of all genera also led to a mean 71% increase of soil Na (P \u3c 0.05). Mean pH decreased 0.3 units (P \u3c 0.05) with afforestation. Afforestation caused a 6.7% and 15% (P \u3c 0.05) decrease in soil C and N content respectively, though the effect was driven principally by Pinus plantations (15% and 20% decrease, P \u3c 0.05). Carbon to nitrogen ratios in soils under plantations were 5.7–11.6% higher (P \u3c 0.05). In several regions with high rates of afforestation, cumulative losses of N, Ca, and Mg are likely in the range of tens of millions of metric tons. The decreases indicate that trees take up considerable amounts of nutrients from soils; harvesting this biomass repeatedly could impair long-term soil fertility and productivity in some locations. Based on this study and a review of other literature, we suggest that proper site preparation and sustainable harvest practices, such as avoiding the removal or burning of harvest residue, could minimize the impact of afforestation on soils. These sustainable practices would in turn slow soil compaction, erosion, and organic matter loss, maintaining soil fertility to the greatest extent possible

Agricultural Management and Labile Carbon Additions Affect Soil Microbial Community Structure and Interact with Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling

We investigated how conversion from conventional agriculture to organic management affected the structure and biogeochemical function of soil microbial communities. We hypothesized the following. (1) Changing agricultural management practices will alter soil microbial community structure driven by increasing microbial diversity in organic management. (2) Organically managed soil microbial communities will mineralize more N and will also mineralize more N in response to substrate addition than conventionally managed soil communities. (3) Microbial communities under organic management will be more efficient and respire less added C. Soils from organically and conventionally managed agroecosystems were incubated with and without glucose (13C) additions at constant soil moisture. We extracted soil genomic DNA before and after incubation for TRFLP community fingerprinting of soil bacteria and fungi. We measured soil C and N pools before and after incubation, and we tracked total C respired and N mineralized at several points during the incubation. Twenty years of organic management altered soil bacterial and fungal community structure compared to continuous conventional management with the bacterial differences caused primarily by a large increase in diversity. Organically managed soils mineralized twice as much NO3 − as conventionally managed ones (44 vs. 23 μg N/g soil, respectively) and increased mineralization when labile C was added. There was no difference in respiration, but organically managed soils had larger pools of C suggesting greater efficiency in terms of respiration per unit soil C. These results indicate that the organic management induced a change in community composition resulting in a more diverse community with enhanced activity towards labile substrates and greater capacity to mineralize N

Soil C and N Changes with Afforestation of Grasslands Across Gradients of Precipitation and Plantation Age

Afforestation, the conversion of unforested lands to forests, is a tool for sequestering anthropogenic carbon dioxide into plant biomass. However, in addition to altering biomass, afforestation can have substantial effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) pools, some of which have much longer turnover times than plant biomass. An increasing body of evidence suggests that the effect of afforestation on SOC may depend on mean annual precipitation (MAP). The goal of this study was to test how labile and bulk pools of SOC and total soil nitrogen (TN) change with afforestation across a rainfall gradient of 600–1500 mm in the Rio de la Plata grasslands of Argentina and Uruguay. The sites were all former grasslands planted with Eucalyptus spp. Overall, we found that afforestation increased (up to 1012 kg C·ha−1·yr−1) or decreased (as much as 1294 kg C·ha−1·yr−1) SOC pools in this region and that these changes were significantly related to MAP. Drier sites gained, and wetter sites lost, SOC and TN (r2 = 0.59, P = 0.003; and r2 = 0.57, P = 0.004, respectively). Labile C and N in microbial biomass and extractable soil pools followed similar patterns to bulk SOC and TN. Interestingly, drier sites gained more SOC and TN as plantations aged, while losses reversed as plantations aged in wet sites, suggesting that plantation age in addition to precipitation is a critical driver of changes in soil organic matter with afforestation. This new evidence implies that longer intervals between harvests for plantations could improve SOC storage, ameliorating the negative trends found in humid sites. Our results suggest that the value of afforestation as a carbon sequestration tool should be considered in the context of precipitation and age of the forest stand

Nitrogen Fertilization Has a Stronger Effect on Soil Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterial Communities than Elevated Atmospheric CO2

Biological nitrogen fixation is the primary supply of N to most ecosystems, yet there is considerable uncertainty about how N-fixing bacteria will respond to global change factors such as increasing atmospheric CO2 and N deposition. Using the nifH gene as a molecular marker, we studied how the community structure of N-fixing soil bacteria from temperate pine, aspen, and sweet gum stands and a brackish tidal marsh responded to multiyear elevated CO2 conditions. We also examined how N availability, specifically, N fertilization, interacted with elevated CO2 to affect these communities in the temperate pine forest. Based on data from Sanger sequencing and quantitative PCR, the soil nifH composition in the three forest systems was dominated by species in the Geobacteraceae and, to a lesser extent, Alphaproteobacteria. The N-fixing-bacterial-community structure was subtly altered after 10 or more years of elevated atmospheric CO2, and the observed shifts differed in each biome. In the pine forest, N fertilization had a stronger effect on nifH community structure than elevated CO2 and suppressed the diversity and abundance of N-fixing bacteria under elevated atmospheric CO2 conditions. These results indicate that N-fixing bacteria have complex, interacting responses that will be important for understanding ecosystem productivity in a changing climate

Hold, Hold, My Heart

This thesis consists of a traditional introduction followed by a first-person, fictional story told in seven chapters. The story begins with the protagonist in his apartment preparing to write, a brief account of his stalling, and then his beginning to write. Those chapters taking place in the vicinity of the apartment are in the present tense and those relating past adventures are written in third person, one chapter for each adventure: Africa, sailing, and Navajo Mountain. After each adventure, the narration returns to the apartment. This piece is the embodiment of both the vigorous internal work in search of understanding and the story of that work, told as a fictional account. The structure, therefore, mimics the journey: the dialogue between his present, cloistered searching and his past, external searching. Therefore, the combination of his solitary internal life and his failed adventures point to an urge to be involved and the awareness of his separateness, of the great solitude of human existence, to be both connected and isolated

Computer Assisted Literacy for Non-English Speakers

This publication is a level 1 guide to the basics of using a computer for non-English speakers

Globalizing Confucianism: The Rudao (儒道)

Globalization is a complex concept.1 Moreover, it is a controversial idea, and like all contested and intricate concepts, simply trying to define the term is difficult. Along with the obvious spatial metaphor of encompassing the whole world, literally globalization, we also need to consider the temporal dimensions of the term. For instance, W. C. Smith (1981) begins his study of world/global theology by telling a fascinating story of globalization, a particular process that took more than two thousand years work its way around the world. There was certainly a great deal of interaction among cultures prior to the modern world, though admittedly the speed and intensity of the contact has increased dramatically. One of the interesting questions is: does the increase in the velocity and quantity of transmission of everything collated by the idea of globalization really mean a complete change from the past? Is globalization a completely new event in the history of the world?Berthrong, J. H. (2014). Globalizing Confucianism: The Rudao (儒道). Journal of East-West Thought, 3(4),39-86