Proximate grassland and shrub-encroached sites show dramatic restructuring of soil bacterial communities.

Background: Changes in aboveground community composition and diversity following shrub encroachment have been studied extensively. Recently, shrub encroachment was associated with differences in belowground bacterial communities relative to non-encroached grassland sites hundreds of meters away. This spatial distance between grassland and shrub sites left open the question of how soil bacterial communities associated with different vegetation types might differ within the same plot location. Methods: We examined soil bacterial communities between shrub-encroached and adjacent (one m apart) grassland soils in Chinese Inner Mongolian, using high-throughput sequencing method (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). Results: Shrub-encroached sites were associated with dramatic restructuring of soil bacterial community composition and predicted metabolic function, with significant increase in bacterial alpha-diversity. Moreover, bacterial phylogenic structures showed clustering in both shrub-encroached and grassland soils, suggesting that each vegetation type was associated with a unique and defined bacterial community by niche filtering. Finally, soil organic carbon (SOC) was the primary driver varied with shifts in soil bacterial community composition. The encroachment was associated with elevated SOC, suggesting that shrub-mediated shifts in SOC might be responsible for changes in belowground bacterial community. Discussion: This study demonstrated that shrub-encroached soils were associated with dramatic restructuring of bacterial communities, suggesting that belowground bacterial communities appear to be sensitive indicators of vegetation type. Our study indicates that the increased shrub-encroached intensity in Inner Mongolia will likely trigger large-scale disruptions in both aboveground plant and belowground bacterial communities across the region

Directorium divini cultus ad Cathedralis Ecclesiae Minoriccensis : eiusque Dioecesis usum

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Flexoelectric Effect on Vibration of Piezoelectric Microbeams Based on a Modified Couple Stress Theory

A novel electric Gibbs function was proposed for the piezoelectric microbeams (PMBs) by employing a modified couple stress theory. Based on the new Gibbs function and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the governing equations which incorporate the effects of couple stress, flexoelectricity, and piezoelectricity were derived for the mechanics of PMBs. The analysis of the effective bending rigidity shows the effects of size and flexoelectricity can greaten the stiffness of PMBs so that the natural frequency increases significantly compared with the Euler-Bernoulli beam, and then the mechanical and electrical properties of PMBs are enhanced compared to the classical beam. This study can guide the design of microscale piezoelectric/flexoelectric structures which may find potential applications in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)

Responses of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms to Intercropping Systems in Different Seasons

Intercropping plays an essential role in agricultural production, impacting the soil’s physical and chemical properties and microbial communities. However, the responses of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in the continuous-cropping soil to different intercropping systems in different growing seasons are still insufficiently studied. Here, we investigated the effects of seven intercropping systems (alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)/cucumber, trifolium (Trifolium repens L.)/cucumber, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/cucumber, rye (Secale cereale L.)/cucumber, chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum coronrium L.)/cucumber, rape (Brassica campestris L.)/cucumber, mustard (Brassica juncea L.)/cucumber) on soil physical and chemical properties, potential nitrification rate (PNR), soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) communities in the greenhouse in spring and autumn. The results showed that, compared with cucumber monoculture, intercropping increased the soil NH4+-N and NO3−-N. The chrysanthemum–cucumber, rape–cucumber, and mustard–cucumber treatments increased soil PNR. Intercropping increased the AOA and AOB abundances in two seasons, especially in rape–cucumber, wheat–cucumber, chrysanthemum–cucumber, and trifolium–cucumber treatments. The ratio of AOA and AOB decreased with seasonal variation. The wheat–cucumber and rape–cucumber treatments increased soil AOA community diversity. Seasonal variation had a significant effect on the relative abundance of the AOB community. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the AOA and AOB community structures were obviously different from spring to autumn. Redundancy analysis showed that the AOA community was significantly regulated by moisture, NO3−–N, and available potassium (AK), while the AOB community was significantly regulated by moisture, available phosphorus (AP), AK, NO3−-N, and pH. Network analysis showed that the co-occurrence relationship and complexity of AOA and AOB communities were different in two growing seasons. The AOB community may play a critical role in ammonia oxidation in autumn. Taken together, intercropping improved soil physicochemical state, increased soil PNR and significantly altered soil AOA and AOB communities. Seasonal variation significantly altered the AOA and AOB communities’ structure and interaction between them. The effect of seasonal variation on AOA and AOB communities was greater than intercropping

Responses of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms to Intercropping Systems in Different Seasons

Intercropping plays an essential role in agricultural production, impacting the soil’s physical and chemical properties and microbial communities. However, the responses of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in the continuous-cropping soil to different intercropping systems in different growing seasons are still insufficiently studied. Here, we investigated the effects of seven intercropping systems (alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)/cucumber, trifolium (Trifolium repens L.)/cucumber, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/cucumber, rye (Secale cereale L.)/cucumber, chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum coronrium L.)/cucumber, rape (Brassica campestris L.)/cucumber, mustard (Brassica juncea L.)/cucumber) on soil physical and chemical properties, potential nitrification rate (PNR), soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) communities in the greenhouse in spring and autumn. The results showed that, compared with cucumber monoculture, intercropping increased the soil NH4+-N and NO3−-N. The chrysanthemum–cucumber, rape–cucumber, and mustard–cucumber treatments increased soil PNR. Intercropping increased the AOA and AOB abundances in two seasons, especially in rape–cucumber, wheat–cucumber, chrysanthemum–cucumber, and trifolium–cucumber treatments. The ratio of AOA and AOB decreased with seasonal variation. The wheat–cucumber and rape–cucumber treatments increased soil AOA community diversity. Seasonal variation had a significant effect on the relative abundance of the AOB community. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the AOA and AOB community structures were obviously different from spring to autumn. Redundancy analysis showed that the AOA community was significantly regulated by moisture, NO3−–N, and available potassium (AK), while the AOB community was significantly regulated by moisture, available phosphorus (AP), AK, NO3−-N, and pH. Network analysis showed that the co-occurrence relationship and complexity of AOA and AOB communities were different in two growing seasons. The AOB community may play a critical role in ammonia oxidation in autumn. Taken together, intercropping improved soil physicochemical state, increased soil PNR and significantly altered soil AOA and AOB communities. Seasonal variation significantly altered the AOA and AOB communities’ structure and interaction between them. The effect of seasonal variation on AOA and AOB communities was greater than intercropping

Analysis of the Status Quo of the Sericultural Standard System in China and Its Future

This paper summarizes and analyses the status quo of the sericultural standards in China, and points out the characteristics and existed problems of sericultural standards in China. In addition, the future of the sericultural standards system is discussed

Aggregate-associated soil organic carbon dynamics as affected by erosion and deposition along contrasting hillslopes in the Chinese Corn Belt

Soil erosion and deposition processes act as key drivers of soil organic carbon (SOC) translocation and transformation, resulting in a spatially heterogenous distribution of SOC in terms of its quantity and composition. Soil aggregation and its interactions with geomorphic processes exert significant control over SOC dynamics, particularly in landscapes that are undergoing accelerated soil erosion. Here, we investigated the combined effects of erosion-induced soil redistribution and pedogenesis on aggregate-associated SOC dynamics in the sloping croplands of the seriously eroded, yet under-studied, Chinese Corn Belt, by conducting aggregate size fractionation and size-specific stable C isotope analyses. Soil samples from three depth intervals were taken at Summit, Mid-slope and Bottom-slope positions of two contrasting hillslopes, one located in Jiutai (JT) characterized by SOC-rich Chernozems and the other in Helong (HL) with poorly-structured sandy Luvisols. Results show that erosion-induced preferential redistribution of fine particles was found consistently in JT and HL, resulting in an elevated percentage of clay + silt sized particles and concurrent enrichment in SOC content at the Bottom-slope locations. As revealed by the δ13C signature, the loss of SOC at Mid-slope was accompanied by a higher degree of 12C depletion in soil organic matter, particularly in the micro- and macroaggregate fractions, indicating that young and labile SOC previously associated with these fractions was released during the breakdown of soil aggregates by erosive forces and subsequently redistributed to the Bottom-slope position. Comparing the two soil types, the JT site had a hierarchical aggregate structure and increasing SOC concentration with aggregate size, while the opposite pattern was found at the HL site due to the high percentage of primary sand particles in the coarser fractions. This highlights the important control of pedogenesis over soil aggregation and that its interactions with erosion processes greatly affect SOC storage in eroding landscapes, requiring targeted conservation practices to prevent excessive SOC loss

Reduced Degrees of Freedom in Space-Time Adaptive Processing for Space-based Early Warning Radar

The clutter of space-based early warning radar exhibits tight coupling in the azimuth-elevation-Doppler domain due to the high speed of satellites and the Earth’s rotation. As a result, conventional Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) suffers significant performance degradation when detecting slow moving targets. The azimuth-elevation-Doppler three-dimensional STAP method provides the ability to decouple clutter and thus can achieve sub-optimal performance for clutter suppression. However, in contrast to the situation in non-sidelooking airborne early warning radar, this method requires large system degrees of freedom when applied to space-based early warning radar. Therefore, in practice, both the computational load and the sample requirement are too large to meet. In this study, the space-time signal model of the planar array for space-based early warning radar is first constructed. Then, the tight coupling characteristic of clutter in the azimuth-elevation-Doppler domain is analyzed in detail. On this basis, a novel three-dimensional STAP method with reduced degrees of freedom with factored structure is proposed. The sidelobe clutter is first suppressed via amplitude taper in azimuth, and the mainlobe clutter responding to each ambiguous range is further canceled by adaptive processing in the elevation-Doppler domain. The simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve sub-optimal performance under low computational load and limited sample conditions. Therefore, the proposed method is suitable for practical application in space-based early warning radar