Evaluation of Sediment and Nutrient Loss during the Revegetation of Mississippi Roadsides

Runoff during the revegetation of roadsides can transport sediment and nutrients offsite, leading to surface water quality reductions. Two field experiments were conducted near Starkville, MS in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the influence of N and P sources and rates, fertilization timing, and mulch type on vegetative establishment and nutrient and sediment runoff losses. Stainless steel runoff frames (0.75 x 2.0 m) were installed on 10% and 15% slopes for Experiment I and Experiment II, respectively. A bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge), tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort., nom. cons.], sericea lespedeza [Lespedeza cuneata (Dum. Cours.) G. Don], and common bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] mixture was seeded within each frame during Experiment I. Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) was added for Experiment II. Experiment I treatments consisted of 73.5 or 147 kg N ha-1 as 13-13-13, poultry litter, ammonium nitrate, stabilized urea, polymer coated urea, or diammonium phosphate. Experiment II treatments consisted of wheat straw and six hydromulches; paper fiber, wood fiber, wood/paper fiber blend, flexible growth medium (FGM), extended term-FGM (ET-FGM), bonded fiber matrix (BFM). Runoff from natural and simulated rainfall was analyzed for PO43--P, total P (TP), NH4+-N, NO3- -N, total N (TN), and total solids (TS). Experiment I results suggest the greatest N and P runoff losses occurred during the first runoff event following fertilization. Splitting 147 kg N ha-1 into two equal applications increased nutrient losses compared to one application. Application of organic plus inorganic P increased PO43--P in runoff compared to inorganic P alone. Experiment II results indicate straw was the most effective mulch for increasing vegetative establishment and limiting solids and nutrients in runoff. However, lack of fertilizer prill dissolution may have influenced nutrient runoff losses during dry conditions. The FGM, ET-FGM, and BFM mulch treatments were more effective than the paper, wood, and paper/wood fiber treatments in reducing solids and nutrients in runoff. It was apparent during both experiments that timing, intensity, and duration of rainfall events following fertilization have an influence on runoff losses. However, further research is needed to quantify the influence of those rainfall parameters

Overcoming Nanoscale Inhomogeneities in Thin-Film Perovskites via Exceptional Post-annealing Grain Growth for Enhanced Photodetection.

Antisolvent-assisted spin coating has been widely used for fabricating metal halide perovskite films with smooth and compact morphology. However, localized nanoscale inhomogeneities exist in these films owing to rapid crystallization, undermining their overall optoelectronic performance. Here, we show that by relaxing the requirement for film smoothness, outstanding film quality can be obtained simply through a post-annealing grain growth process without passivation agents. The morphological changes, driven by a vaporized methylammonium chloride (MACl)-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution, lead to comprehensive defect elimination. Our nanoscale characterization visualizes the local defective clusters in the as-deposited film and their elimination following treatment, which couples with the observation of emissive grain boundaries and excellent inter- and intragrain optoelectronic uniformity in the polycrystalline film. Overcoming these performance-limiting inhomogeneities results in the enhancement of the photoresponse to low-light (<0.1 mW cm-2) illumination by up to 40-fold, yielding high-performance photodiodes with superior low-light detection.The authors thank the EPSRC Plastic Electronics CDT (EP/ L016702/1) for financial support and provision of equipment resources. J.B. and T.D. acknowledge the QMUL-EPSRC Impact Accelerator Account for financial support. T.D. gratefully acknowledges the Stephen and Anna Hui Scholar- ship (Imperial College London) for financially supporting his doctoral studies. F.R., F.A.C., and S.W. acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and Innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 721874 (SPM2.0) and from the UK National Measurement System via the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. K.F. acknowledges a George and Lilian Schiff Studentship, Winton Studentship, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) studentship, Cambridge Trust Scholarship, and Robert Gardiner Scholarship. S.D.S. acknowledges the Royal Society and Tata Group (UF150033). The work has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and Innovation programme (HYPERION, grant agreement no. 756962). S.D.S. acknowledges EPSRC (EP/R023980/1) for funding

Molecular detection of hybridization between sympatric kangaroo species in south-eastern Australia

Introgressive hybridization has traditionally been regarded as rare in many vertebrate groups, including mammals. Despite a propensity to hybridize in captivity, introgression has rarely been reported between wild sympatric macropodid marsupials. Here we investigate sympatric populations of western (Macropus fuliginosus) and eastern (Macropus giganteus) grey kangaroos through 12 autosomal microsatellite loci and 626 bp of the hypervariable mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region. M. fuliginosus and M. giganteus within the region of sympatry corresponded, both genetically and morphologically, to their respective species elsewhere in their distributions. Of the 223 grey kangaroos examined, 7.6% displayed evidence of introgression, although no F1 hybrids were detected. In contrast to captive studies, there was no evidence for unidirectional hybridization in sympatric grey kangaroos. However, a higher portion of M. giganteus backcrosses existed within the sample compared with M. fuliginosus. Hybridization in grey kangaroos is reflective of occasional breakdowns in species boundaries, occurring throughout the region and potentially associated with variable conditions and dramatic reductions in densities. Such rare hybridization events allow populations to incorporate novel diversity while still retaining species integrity

Multifaceted biological insights from a draft genome sequence of the tobacco hornworm moth, <i>Manduca sexta</i>

Manduca sexta, known as the tobacco hornworm or Carolina sphinx moth, is a lepidopteran insect that is used extensively as a model system for research in insect biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, development, and immunity. One important benefit of this species as an experimental model is its extremely large size, reaching more than 10 g in the larval stage. M. sexta larvae feed on solanaceous plants and thus must tolerate a substantial challenge from plant allelochemicals, including nicotine. We report the sequence and annotation of the M. sexta genome, and a survey of gene expression in various tissues and developmental stages. The Msex_1.0 genome assembly resulted in a total genome size of 419.4 Mbp. Repetitive sequences accounted for 25.8% of the assembled genome. The official gene set is comprised of 15,451 protein-coding genes, of which 2498 were manually curated. Extensive RNA-seq data from many tissues and developmental stages were used to improve gene models and for insights into gene expression patterns. Genome wide synteny analysis indicated a high level of macrosynteny in the Lepidoptera. Annotation and analyses were carried out for gene families involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes, including apoptosis, vacuole sorting, growth and development, structures of exoskeleton, egg shells, and muscle, vision, chemosensation, ion channels, signal transduction, neuropeptide signaling, neurotransmitter synthesis and transport, nicotine tolerance, lipid metabolism, and immunity. This genome sequence, annotation, and analysis provide an important new resource from a well-studied model insect species and will facilitate further biochemical and mechanistic experimental studies of many biological systems in insects