Quantifying the contribution of free-living nematodes to nitrogen mineralization

Soil fauna are estimated to contribute to approximately 30 % of nitrogen mineralization (Verhoef ∧ Brussaard, 1990). Soil nematodes are important contributors to this process through their key trophic positions as microbial grazers. Quantification of this contribution has mostly relied on theoretical food web analyses (Hunt et al., 1987) or laboratory incubations with simplified and artificially constructed ecosystems (Ferris et al., 1998). Incubations are often performed on homogenized soil, though soil biota is known to be responsive to physical disturbance. Furthermore, sterilization typically relies on methods disruptive of soil structure (e.g. autoclaving, freezing). The aim of this experiment was to quantify the contribution of nematodes to nitrogen mineralization during incubation. Intact cores with a representative pore structure and entire nematode populations instead of single species were used. Gamma irradiation was selected as a sterilization method to remove only soil fauna, leaving the microflora and soil structure largely intact (McNamara et al., 2003)

An fMRI Compatible Touchscreen to Measure Hand Kinematics During a Complex Drawing Task

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was funded by the Northwood Trust and the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, University of Aberdeen. GDW is part of the SINASPE collaboration (Scottish Imaging Network - A Platform for Scientific Excellence www.SINAPSE.ac.uk). The authors thank Baljit Jagpal, Nichola Crouch, Beverly Maclennan and Katrina Klaasen for their help with running the experiment and Dawn Younie and Teresa Morris for their help with recruitment and scheduling. We also thank the participants for their generous participation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Expedition into the interior of Newfoundland; Journal of an expedition into the interior of Newfoundland

Extract Appendix no. 1 from Barrow's Chronological history of voyages into the Arctic region

Nematodes enhance plant growth and nutrient uptake under C and N-rich conditions

The role of soil fauna in crucial ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling remains poorly quantified, mainly because of the overly reductionistic approach adopted in most experimental studies. Given that increasing nitrogen inputs in various ecosystems influence the structure and functioning of soil microbes and the activity of fauna, we aimed to quantify the role of the entire soil nematode community in nutrient mineralization in an experimental set-up emulating nutrient-rich field conditions and accounting for crucial interactions amongst the soil microbial communities and plants. To this end, we reconstructed a complex soil foodweb in mesocosms that comprised largely undisturbed native microflora and the entire nematode community added into defaunated soil, planted with Lolium perenne as a model plant, and amended with fresh grass-clover residues. We determined N and P availability and plant uptake, plant biomass and abundance and structure of the microbial and nematode communities during a three-month incubation. The presence of nematodes significantly increased plant biomass production (+9%), net N (+25%) and net P (+23%) availability compared to their absence, demonstrating that nematodes link below- and above-ground processes, primarily through increasing nutrient availability. The experimental set-up presented allows to realistically quantify the crucial ecosystem services provided by the soil biota

Research Objects: Towards Exchange and Reuse of Digital Knowledge

What will researchers be publishing in the future? Whilst there is little question that the Web will be the publication platform, as scholars move away from paper towards digital content, there is a need for mechanisms that support the production of self-contained units of knowledge and facilitate the publication, sharing and reuse of such entities.

 In this paper we discuss the notion of _research objects_, semantically rich aggregations of resources, that can possess some scientific intent or support some research objective. We present a number of principles that we expect such objects and their associated services to follow

Research Objects: Towards Exchange and Reuse of Digital Knowledge

What will researchers be publishing in the future? Whilst there is little question that the Web will be the publication platform, as scholars move away from paper towards digital content, there is a need for mechanisms that support the production of self-contained units of knowledge and facilitate the publication, sharing and reuse of such entities. In this paper we discuss the notion of research objects, semantically rich aggregations of resources, that possess some scientifi?c intent or support some research objective. We present a number of principles that we expect such objects and their associated services to follow

Reflections on the Death Scene

An introduction to the Death Scene issue of Cultural Studies Review, with reflections on the nature of the death scene in general and on the specific issues covered by contributors