Conservation tillage in organic farming

Organic farmers are interested in adopting conservation tillage to preserve soil quality and fertility and to prevent soil erosion. Within the framework of a French national study, we compared conventional (ploughing) and conservation tillage systems in organic farming for arable and vegetable cropping systems. Field experiments and on-farm surveys were conducted in several regions of France in order to assess the effects of different tillage systems on soil fertility (physical, chemical, biological) and on weed and crop development. Conservation tillage techniques induced a more compact soil, an increase of carbon and microorganisms in the first soil layer, and an increase of earthworm biomass for very superficial tillage. Weed control was only a major problem for the very superficial tillage, which in turn generated lower crop yields than conventional tillage. The main issues raised by this programme deal with the long-term effects of these techniques on soil fertility, and the improvement of conservation tillage techniques in organic farming

Interspecific Hybridization and Mitochondrial Introgression in Invasive Carcinus Shore Crabs

Interspecific hybridization plays an important role in facilitating adaptive evolutionary change. More specifically, recent studies have demonstrated that hybridization may dramatically influence the establishment, spread, and impact of invasive populations. In Japan, previous genetic evidence for the presence of two non-native congeners, the European green crab Carcinus maenas and the Mediterranean green crab C. aestuarii, has raised questions regarding the possibility of hybridization between these sister species. Here I present analysis based on both nuclear microsatellites and the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) gene which unambiguously argues for a hybrid origin of Japanese Carcinus. Despite the presence of mitochondrial lineages derived from both C. maenas and C. aestuarii, the Japanese population is panmictic at nuclear loci and has achieved cytonuclear equilibrium throughout the sampled range in Japan. Furthermore, analysis of admixture at nuclear loci indicates dramatic introgression of the C. maenas mitochondrial genome into a predominantly C. aestuarii nuclear background. These patterns, along with inferences drawn from the observational record, argue for a hybridization event pre-dating the arrival of Carcinus in Japan. The clarification of both invasion history and evolutionary history afforded by genetic analysis provides information that may be critically important to future studies aimed at assessing risks posed by invasive Carcinus populations to Japan and the surrounding region

Reconciling Deep Calibration and Demographic History: Bayesian Inference of Post Glacial Colonization Patterns in Carcinus aestuarii (Nardo, 1847) and C. maenas (Linnaeus, 1758)

A precise inference of past demographic histories including dating of demographic events using Bayesian methods can only be achieved with the use of appropriate molecular rates and evolutionary models. Using a set of 596 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences of two sister species of European green crabs of the genus Carcinus (C. maenas and C. aestuarii), our study shows how chronologies of past evolutionary events change significantly with the application of revised molecular rates that incorporate biogeographic events for calibration and appropriate demographic priors. A clear signal of demographic expansion was found for both species, dated between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, which places the expansions events in a time frame following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). In the case of C. aestuarii, a population expansion was only inferred for the Adriatic-Ionian, suggestive of a colonization event following the flooding of the Adriatic Sea (18,000 years ago). For C. maenas, the demographic expansion inferred for the continental populations of West and North Europe might result from a northward recolonization from a southern refugium when the ice sheet retreated after the LGM. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of using adequate calibrations and demographic priors in order to avoid considerable overestimates of evolutionary time scales

Testing of Nano-Structured Gas Seperation Membranes in the Fuel Gas of a Post-Combustion Power Plant

Nanostructured gas separation membranes are promising candidates for the separation of CO2 from the flue gas of fossil power plants. Well-defined atomic structures in the range of a few Angstrom are required to separate CO2 from N2 in existing post-combustion power plants, and H2 from CO2 in prospective integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants. Today, CO2/N2 and H2/CO2 gas separation with membranes has been demonstrated mainly on a laboratory scale, while less is known about membrane performance and stability under real conditions. To extend the state of knowledge, a test bed was put into operation in the flue gas stream of a hard-coal-fired power plant (EnBW Rheinhafendampfkraftwerk, Karlsruhe), which enabled the long-term functional test of ceramic as well as polymer gas separation membranes for up to 1100 h. For the first time, a CO2 enrichment from 12 vol.% in the flue gas to 57 vol.% in the permeate of a polymer membrane was demonstrated. Due to operating this membrane in direct contact with flue gas, the flow rate was reduced from 0.86 to 0.07 m3/m2 h bar within the first 400 h. This reduction was mainly caused by the deposition of ash particles and gypsum suggesting the need of developing effective membrane protection strategies. In addition, ceramic supported Ti0.5Zr0.5O2 and metal supported Co–SiO2 membranes were tested under the same conditions. Even if demonstration of CO2 gas separation with ceramic membranes requires further modifications of the membrane materials, the long-term exposure in the power plant led to notable results regarding adherence of functional layers and chemical stability