Seasonal Changes of Soil Organic Carbon and Microbial Biomass Carbon in Different Forest Ecosystems

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) are important components of soil organic matter (SOM). SOC and MBC have generally recognized key parameters of soil quality and health, and also they have been linked to forest ecosystem productivity, using as a sensitive indicator for ecosystem monitoring programs. Both of them play a crucial role in the carbon cycle and influence many environmental, biological, and chemical factors. Soil organic matter decomposition by soil microorganisms contributes to the nutrient availability and release in an ecosystem. This interaction between SOM and MBC is managed in soil aggregation, soil porosity, moisture content, and aeration. Forest soils can store more carbon than other land uses because they contain a wide variety of soil microorganisms. Enhancing these two important components of soil can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. In this chapter, an overview of the understanding of the most important soil quality and health factors managed soil C in forest soils and provided how seasonal changes affect soil organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon

Asymmetric catalytic arylation of ethyl glyoxylate using organoboron reagents and Rh(I)-phosphane and phosphane-phosphite catalysts

Herein we report the first application of Rh(I)-phosphane and phosphane-phosphite catalysts in the enantioselective catalytic arylation of ethyl glyoxylate with organoboron reagents, providing access to ethyl mandelate derivatives in high yield (up to 99%) and moderate to very good enantioselectivities (up to 75% ee). Commercial phosphane ligands, such as (R)-MonoPhos and (R)-Phanephos were tested, as well as non-commercial (R, R)-TADDOL-derived phosphane-phosphite ligands. Those ligands containing bulky substituents in the ortho-and para-positions of the chiral phosphite moiety were found to be the most selective

Cattle manure compost and biochar supplementation improve growth of Onobrychis viciifolia in coal - mined spoils under water stress conditions

Surface mining is a critical anthropogenic activity that significantly alters the ecosystem, while the use of appropriate revegetation techniques can be considered an important and feasible strategy in the way to improve the ecosystem services of degraded land. In the present study, we carried out a pot experiment to investigate the effects of three different variables on morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters of Onobrychis viciifolia to assess the capability of this species to be used for restoration purposes. Specifically, the variables studied were: (a) water (W) regime, working at five values as regards field capacity (FC) (i.e., 80% FC = highest, 72% FC = high, 60% FC = moderate, 48% FC = low, and 40% FC = very-low dose); and (b) rates of cattle manure compost (CMC) and wood biochar (BC) (weight/weight ratio), working at five rates (i.e., 4.0% = highest, 3.2% = high, 2.0% = moderate, 0.8% = low, and 0% = either no-CMC or no-BC dose). In addition, soil physical-chemical properties and enzyme activities were also investigated at the end of the experimental period. It was found that morphological growth attributes such as plant height, maximum root length, and dry biomass significantly increased with W, CMC and BC applications. Compared to control, moderate-to-high W, CMC and BC doses (W80CMC2BC2) increased net photosynthesis rate (by 42%), stomatal conductance (by 50%), transpiration rate (by 29%), water use efficiency (by 10%), chlorophyll contents (by 73%), carotenoid content (by 81%), leaf relative water content (by 33%) and leaf membrane stability index (by 30%). Under low-W content, the application of CMC and BC enhanced osmotic adjustments by increasing the content of soluble sugar and the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase, decreasing the oxidative stress, as verified by low levels of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, malondialdehyde and proline contents in leaf tissues. Moreover, application of W, CMC and BC significantly improved soil water holding capacity, available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, urease and catalase activities, which facilitate plant growth. These results would aid in designing an appropriate strategy for achieving a successful revegetation of O. viciifolia, providing optimum doses of W (64% field capacity), CMC (2.4%) and BC (1.7%), with the final aim of reaching ecological restoration in arid degraded lands

Tillage versus no-tillage. soil properties and hydrology in an organic persimmon farm in eastern Iberian Peninsula

There is an urgent need to implement environmentally friendly agriculture management practices to achieve the Sustainable Goals for Development (SDGs) of the United Nations by 2030. Mediterranean agriculture is characterized by intense and millennia-old tillage management and as a consequence degraded soil. No-Tillage has been widely examined as a solution for soil degradation but No-Tillage relies more on the application of herbicides that reduce plant cover, which in turn enhances soil erosion. However, No-Tillage with weed cover should be researched to promote organic farming and sustainable agriculture. Therefore, we compare Tillage against No-Tillage using weed cover as an alternative strategy to reduce soil losses in persimmon plantations, both of them under organic farming management. To achieve these goals, two plots were established at "La Canyadeta" experimental station on 25-years old Persimmon plantations, which are managed with Tillage and No-Tillage for 3 years. A survey of the soil cover, soil properties, runoff generation and initial soil losses using rainfall simulation experiments at 55 mm h-1 in 0.25 m2 plot was carried out. Soils under Tillage are bare (96.7%) in comparison to the No-Tillage (16.17% bare soil), with similar organic matter (1.71 vs. 1.88%) and with lower bulk densities (1.23 vs. 1.37 g cm3). Tillage induces faster ponding (60 vs. 92 s), runoff (90 vs. 320 s) and runoff outlet (200 vs. 70 s). The runoff discharge was 5.57 times higher in the Tillage plots, 8.64 for sediment concentration and 48.4 for soil losses. We conclude that No-tillage shifted the fate of the tilled field after 3 years with the use of weeds as a soil cover conservation strategy. This immediate effect of No-Tillage under organic farming conditions is very promising to achieve the SDGs

Objectively Measuring Observer Attention in Severe Thyroid‐Associated Orbitopathy: A 3D Study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149276/1/lary27447.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149276/2/lary27447_am.pd

Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe : A Synthesis of National Perspectives

Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009-2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action "Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society" funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence.Peer reviewe

Current Wildland Fire Patterns and Challenges in Europe: A Synthesis of National Perspectives

Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009–2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action “Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society” funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence

Puma mark II robotunun harici bir bilgisayar kullanılarak kontrol edilmesi

In this research, software and hardware system is developed in order to control the PUMA 760 robot via a supervisory computer. In order to develop such a system, the characteristics of the PUMA robot are first studied in detail and then the capacity to integrate the available system with a supervisory computer, and all possible methods for this integration areinvestigated. Among these methods, the appropriate ones are chosen and they are integrated to the software by means of constructing the required protocols. Now, with the aid of the coded software, it is possible to command the robot with the recent programming languages and hence to develop further practical application software for the robot. In order to demonstrate the functional capability of the control software which supervises the motion of the robot, a control algorithm is designed on the network structure constituted. An infrared transmitter-receiver system is designed and integrated on the PUMA robot as a sample model demonstrating the integrability capacity of the developed system to the external instruments. Using the information received from this sensor system, the supervisory computer performs the target tracking operation by controlling the robot via the network formed.Bu çalışmada Puma 760 robotunun bir bilgisayar yardımıyla kontrolü için bir yazılım ve donanım sistemi geliştirilmiştir. Bu sistem geliştirilirken Puma robotunun özellikleri incelenmiş ve mevcut sistemin bir başka bilgisayar ile hangi yöntemlerle entegre olabileceği araştırılmıştır. Bu Vyöntemler arasından uygun olanları gerekli protokoller oluşturularak yazılıma entegre edilmiştir. Hazırlanan yazılım sayesinde robotun güncel programlama dilleri ile kumanda edilmesi sağlanmış ve böylece robot ile ilgili uygulama yazılımları gerçekleştirilmesi mümkün hale getirilmiştir. Oluşturulan network yapısı üzerinde robotun hareketlerini denetleyen kontrol yazılımının işlevselliğini gösterebilmek için bir kontol algoritması tasarlanmıştır. Meydana getirilen sistemin harici cihazlar ile entegre olabilme özelliğine örnek oluşturması bakımından, bir kızılötesi alıcı-verici sistemi yapılmış ve puma robotuna entegre edilmiştir. Harici kontrol bilgisayarının bu düzenekten aldığı bilgi ile, oluşturulan ağ üzerinden robotu kontrol etmesi sağlanmıştır.M.S. - Master of Scienc