Responses of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to long-term inorganic and organic nutrient addition in a lowland tropical forest

Improved understanding of the nutritional ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is important in understanding how tropical forests maintain high productivity on low-fertility soils. Relatively little is known about how AM fungi will respond to changes in nutrient inputs in tropical forests, which hampers our ability to assess how forest productivity will be influenced by anthropogenic change. Here we assessed the influence of long-term inorganic and organic nutrient additions and nutrient depletion on AM fungi, using two adjacent experiments in a lowland tropical forest in Panama. We characterised AM fungal communities in soil and roots using 454-pyrosequencing, and quantified AM fungal abundance using microscopy and a lipid biomarker. Phosphorus and nitrogen addition reduced the abundance of AM fungi to a similar extent, but affected community composition in different ways. Nutrient depletion (removal of leaf litter) had a pronounced effect on AM fungal community composition, affecting nearly as many OTUs as phosphorus addition. The addition of nutrients in organic form (leaf litter) had little effect on any AM fungal parameter. Soil AM fungal communities responded more strongly to changes in nutrient availability than communities in roots. This suggests that the 'dual niches' of AM fungi in soil versus roots are structured to different degrees by abiotic environmental filters, and biotic filters imposed by the plant host. Our findings indicate that AM fungal communities are fine-tuned to nutrient regimes, and support future studies aiming to link AM fungal community dynamics with ecosystem function

Allelic relationships of flowering time genes in chickpea

Flowering time and crop duration are the most important traits for adaptation of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to different agro-climatic conditions. Early flowering and early maturity enhance adaptation of chickpea to short season environments. This study was conducted to establish allelic relationships of the early flowering genes of ICC 16641, ICC 16644 and ICCV 96029 with three known early flowering genes, efl-1 (ICCV 2), ppd or efl-2 (ICC 5810), and efl-3 (BGD 132). In all cases, late flowering was dominant to early-flowering. The results indicated that the efl-1 gene identified from ICCV 2 was also present in ICCV 96029, which has ICCV 2 as one of the parents in its pedigree. ICC 16641 and ICC 16644 had a common early flowering gene which was not allelic to other reported early flowering genes. The new early flowering gene was designated efl-4. In most of the crosses, days to flowering was positively correlated with days to maturity, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant and seed yield per plant and negatively correlated or had no correlation with 100-seed weight. The double-pod trait improved grain yield per plant in the crosses where it delayed maturity. The information on allelic relationships of early flowering genes and their effects on yield and yield components will be useful in chickpea breeding for desired phenology

Placing the Animal in the Dialogue between Law and Ecology

This paper explores the growing dialogue between law and ecology, and asks if there is a promising space for the development of animal law in this growing dialogue. Specifically it sets up two meetings and dialogues between ecology and law, one with law prevailing, and one with ecology prevailing, The article pursues the later meeting of ecology and law through introducing and then compiling four prominent groupings in the ecology prevailing dialogue between ecology and law (Ecosystemic law; Earth jurisprudence; Resilience Theory; approaches embracing philosophical complexity theory). The article argues that in this dialogue that ecologically informed approaches develop a fundamental critique of orthodox legality, and that ecologically informed approaches consequently assume the problematic of legality, and that in so doing ecology and legality are each transformed. What emerges from these transformations is an ecological jurisprudence, and ideas of Emergent Law, Adaptive Law, and Ecolaw. In the final two sections the article turns directly to the place of the animal in the ecology prevailing dialogue between ecology and law. The article argues that in this dialogue affective assemblage theory has developed as a pre-prepared place for the animal as an affective body in complex social-ecological affective assemblages. The conclusion briefly draws out some of the implications for animal law and animal lawyers in taking up the conclusions from the ecology prevailing dialogue between law and ecology. The article suggests it may well be an exciting dialogue for animal law to find a place for exploration