Soil respiration and plant growth across a chronosequence of tallgrass prairie reconstructions

An understanding of changes in soil respiration (Rs) and plant growth in tallgrass prairies planted into formerly cultivated land is critical if we are to predict the effects of grassland reconstructions on belowground carbon cycling. In addition, predicting changes in the ecosystem carbon balance in grassland reconstructions will require identifying the climatic and biological controls on Rs across a landscape of cultivated and reconstructed grassland ecosystems. This study used a 12 yr chronosequence of tallgrass prairie reconstructions in central Iowa, including a no-till soybean field (age 0), to quantify the relationship between tallgrass prairie age, R s, root biomass, root ingrowth, and aboveground production. We also assessed the strength and interaction of soil temperature and soil moisture in predictions of Rs across the chronosequence. Linear regressions showed a significant increase in standing root biomass carbon (R2 = 0.89) and growing season Rs (R2= 0.83) with prairie reconstruction age while changes in aboveground production and root ingrowth were less predictable. Growing season (gs) Rs represented the largest carbon flux among prairie ages, ranging from 624 g C m-2 gs -1 in the soybean cropping system to 939 g C m-2 gs -1 in the oldest reconstruction (age 12), and was positively correlated with changes in root biomass. Among all tallgrass prairie reconstructions there was a strong, positive relationship between soil temperature and R s (R2 = 0.80 to R2 = 0.91) while the effect of soil moisture was greatest for the youngest prairie (age 4). Soil temperature was less correlated with Rs in the no-till soybean field (R 2 = 0.40) and the inclusion of soil moisture added limited additional predictive power (R2 = 0.48). Our findings indicate that an increase in cumulative Rs with prairie reconstruction age was related to the interaction of soil temperature and the accumulation of root biomass with young grassland development

Addressing Unaddressed Needs: Helping Agencies Target Services to Children and Caregivers in Child Welfare

Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of children are reported to the child welfare system for abuse or neglect. In 2014, 702,000 children were deemed victims of child maltreatment, and 147,462 entered foster care.Despite contact with a child protection agency, many families struggle to obtain the right services to ensure a safe and nurturing environment for their children. It'a vital to understand these families' health care needs and how to meet them effectively and efficiently, especialyl given the limited resources for child welfare services. This brief presents current data on this topic and highlights areas for future research

The Relationship Between Equity Dependence and Environmental Performance

How does a corporation’s dependence on its shareholders affect the sustainability of its commitment to environmental performance? Although the literature has investigated how the financial markets respond to environmental and green initiatives, it has yet to examine the relationship between a firm’s commitment to the environment and its dependence on the equity markets. In this research, we explore the relationship between equity dependence and environmental performance and find equity dependence is significantly related to corporations’ environmental concerns but not their environmental strengths

Empirical Problems Using the Efficient Frontier to Find Optimal Weights in Asset Classes

This study documents the transitory nature of efficient weights in six commonly employed asset classes, going beyond a simple stock and bond classes and using a 30 year data window. We review the literature on asset class diversification, including its failures during the recent credit crisis. Results show that asset class diversification benefits are inconsistent and, contrary to common academic wisdom before recent times, historical asset class covariances (even estimated with decades of data) are poor estimates of future values

(E)-2,3-Bis[(E)-benzyl­idene­amino]­but-2-enedinitrile

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C18H12N4, consists of a half-mol­ecule, where the two halves of the mol­ecule are related by inversion symmetry. The mol­ecule is effectively planar, with the largest deviation from the 22-atom mean plane, measuring 0.024 (2) Å, exhibited by the ortho-C atom of the phenyl ring. The crystal structure exhibits π-stacking, with an inter­planar spacing of 3.431 (3) Å

Band width selection data from Near Infra-red Spectral (NIRS) quantitative modelling of energy storage components (protein, lipid, glycogen) for single and multi-bivalve species models

Data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled “Near Infra-red spectroscopy quantitative modelling of bivalve protein, lipid and glycogen composition using single-species versus multi-species calibration and validation sets” [1]. Band width selections were determined using a data-driven approach to modelling Near Infra-red Spectra (NIRS) of protein, lipid and glycogen content in bivalves. Models were produced for single species and combined species of Saccostrea glomerata, Ostrea angasi, Crassostrea gigas, Mytilus galloprovincialis and Anadara trapezia. Band width selection was undertaken using Fourier wavelet transformation coupled with a genetic algorithm (GA) to aggregate adjacent wavelet bands to select the minimum number of IR bands that were consistently identified in the majority of individual spectra