Effect of a tree tonic on pine tree vitalities (1)

A tree tonic, which was the powder composed of seven kinds of herb medicines, rice brain, soybean, rice, pearl barley and etc., was exploited and its effectiveness on recovering or maintaining the vitality of trees was examined by the field treatment at seven pine (Pinus densiflora and P. thunbergii) stands in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi Prefectures. The tonic solution was injected into the soil at 6-90 points just around each trunk of about 3,700 pine trees (treatment trees). One year later their vitality, which was evaluated by the leaf longevity and divided into eleven grades, was measured again as same as just before the treatment. The average mortality of the treatment trees was only 0.8(nil)er year, while 17.10f non-treatment, i. e., control 4,700 trees, which were adjacent to the treatment trees, died during the year. The vitality of treatment trees became up on an average rather more than before treatment. The facts suggest remarkable effects of the tonic on the vitality of trees

Effect of feeding by Monochamus alternatus on pine tree vitality : (1) A case of Japanese black pine seedlings in the pots

Two, four and six individuals of the vector (Monochamus alternatus) of pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus were placed into their own respective frames for four weeks (July 11 to August 6,1996), and covered with sheets of white nylon netting in order to prevent escape at the experimental farm of Hiroshima University in Higashi-Hiroshima, west Japan. The feeding effect of the vectors on 40 Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) seedlings in pots placed in each frame was then traced during four months (August to November, 1996). The area and numbers of feeding scars on the seedlings increased with the increase of the individual numbers of vectors in the frame. Sixty-Seven of 120 seedlings in the three frames were fed on by the vectors. However, none of these 67 died even though the vectors had about 3,000 nemotoda on average. This suggests that the damage killing pine seedlings is not caused by the feeding of vectors even in a population density of 2∿6 individuals/21.6m^2 employed in the study, which may be higher than that in the field

Decomposition and ergosterol content of the moss Hylocomium splendens litter under various climatic conditions

We examined the differences in the decomposition rate and fungal biomass in the litter of Hylocomium splendens among forests under different climatic conditions. The samples were collected from one boreal forest in Canada, three subalpine forests on Mt. Fuji and one cool temperate forest on Mt. Tsurugi, Shikoku in Japan. The decomposition rate in the cool temperate forest was much faster than those in the boreal and subalpine forests. Ergosterol, which is a component of fungal cell membranes, was used as an indicator of fungal biomass. Ergosterol was detected not only from brown moss litter but also from green shoots of the moss. In spite of the faster decomposition rate, ergosterol content of the moss litter of the cool temperate forest was about one half of those of the boreal and subalpine forests. The results suggest that the relationship between fungal biomass and decomposition rate differs significantly among forest types

トウテイイ キフク ヲ トモナウ ロボット シエン シュジュツ ニ オケル ミャクハ デンパン ジカン ヲ モチイタ ヒシンシュウテキ シンハクシュツリョウケイ ノ シヨウ ケイケン

Background: Estimated continuous cardiac output（esCCO）is a non-invasive technique for monitoring continuous cardiac output（CCO）that is based on pulse-wave transit time. In this study, we report the use of CCO monitoring for patients undergoing robot-assisted surgery with pneumoperitoneum in a head-down position. Method: Thirteen patients undergoing radical robot-assisted prostatectomy under general anesthesia were enrolled. Intraoperatively, esCCO and arterial pressure-based cardiac output（APCO）were simultaneously recorded. The association between esCCO and APCO was then evaluated using correlation analysis and Bland-Altman analysis. The trending ability of esCCO was evaluated by 4-quadrant plot analysis. Results: The correlation coefficient between esCCO and APCO was 0.54（P < 0.0001）. According to the Bland-Altman plot, the bias and precision values were 1.38 and 0.79 L/min, respectively. The concordance analysis showed the concordance rate of 92.3%. Conclusion: These results indicate that esCCO is capable of tracking hemodynamic changes associated with pneumoperitoneum in the head-down position

Effect of feeding by Monochumus alternatus on pine tree vitality : (2) A case of natural young Japanese red pine stands under different air pollution levels

Six and nine individuals of the vector (Moncochamus alternatus) of pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus were placed into their own respective frames, which were covered with sheets of white nylon netting in order to prevent escape, for one month (June 24 to July 23,1998) at both natural young Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) stands located at Hachihonmatsu in Higashi-Hiroshima and Fukutomi-cho in Hiroshima Pref., where the air pollution levels were different from each other. The feeding effect of the vectors on was then traced in the field during 10 months (June 1998 to March 1999). Sixty-four of 67 trees in the four frames at the both stands, into which six or nine vectors were placed, were fed on by the vectors. However, only one of these 64 died in the frame of nine vectors at Hachihonmatsu site under heavy air pollution, even though the vectors has about 4,000 nemotode on average. No nematode could be found out in the most hardly fed pine tree in each frame, including dead pine tree. This suggests that the damage killing young pine trees is not caused by the feeding of vectors even in a population density of 6-9 individuals/25m^2 employed in the study, which may be extremely higher than that in the field

Effect of a tree tonic on pine tree vitalities (2) Evaluation for pine seedlings in pots

Effect of a tree tonic, which was the powder composed of several kinds of herbal medicines and rice bran etc., on the vitality, biomass increment and relative growth rate of sixty seedlings of Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) grown in pots was examined at the experimental farm of Hiroshima University from March to November in 1994.0,1,000 and 3,000 individuals of pinewood nematode were injected into each ten seedlings both treated with and without the tree tonic, respectively. The vitality of seedlings with the tree tonic became up while that without it changed little, regardless of the number of nematoda injected. Biomass increment was significantly larger in seedlings with the tree tonic than in those without it. Mean weight of individuals of seedlings with the tree tonic were evaluated to grow up about twice as large as those without it one year after planting seedlings in pots, based on the data of relative growth rate obtained in both seedlings with and without tree tonic treatments. There was a little difference in the mean relative growth rate over the experimental period between seedlings injected with 0 and 1000-3000 nematoda. However, in the case of seedlings without tree tonic, the relative growth rate of seedlings injected with 1000 or 3000 nematoda became down significantly more than those without nematode at two or three months after nematode injection. The facts suggest that the tree tonic significantly increases the vitality and biomass increment of black pine seedlings, and suppresses the negative effect of nematode invasion

Model simulation of soil carbon dynamics with stand development in Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) plantations

Soil carbon cycling in Japanese cedar plantations after clear-cutting, and in chronological order, was calculated with and without the consideration of forest management (pruning and thinning) by a mathematical model. The model employed a daily time step, used daily air temperature and observed precipitation near the plantations. The result of the calculations was compared with field observations. There were few differences in the changes of aboveground biomass, carbon flow and carbon accumulation with the forest regeneration between the calculations with or without consideration of management and field observation (p>0.05, by a one-way analysis of variance), as suggested by the small standard error between them. For example, the carbon accumulation and total soil respiration rate calculated with the consideration of management for a 60-year-old stand were 104 tC ha-1 and 4.8 tC ha-1y-1 with a field observation of 110 tC ha-1 and 4.5 tC ha-1y-1, respectively. The effect of forest management on the soil carbon cycling was also examined, suggesting that the soil respiration rates and carbon accumulations changed little by the management except for the clear-cutting. Consequently, it was suggested that the dynamics of carbon cycling following the clear-cutting of a Japanese cedar plantation could be simulated exactly by the model even if forest management was considered or not. That is, it indicates that the model can simulate the chronological change in carbon cycling at cedar plantations easily and correctly even if the history of management in the plantations is unknown