Nitrate leaching and spring wheat bread making quality following cultivation of grasslands of different composition, age and management

The influence of sward botanical composition and ley age on grassland residual effects, quality of spring wheat and subsequent nitrate leaching was investigated. Grazed grasslands of different age (1, 2 and 8 production years) and composition (unfertilised grass-clover and fertilised perennial ryegrass) were ploughed and followed by spring wheat and spring barley. For reference, an adjacent field without grassland history but with the same crop sequence in 2002-2003 was treated with increasing quantities of N fertiliser. Yields and N uptake of spring wheat following grasslands always exceeded those of the reference plots with a history of cereal production. The nitrogen fertiliser replacement values of grass-clover and ryegrass were 59-100 and 72-121 kg ha-1, respectively, with the highest values representing the 8-year-old leys. Grain yield and N uptake increased while those for straw decreased with increasing ley age. There were no effects of previous grassland type (grass-clover/ryegrass) on content of protein, starch and gluten, but grassland age significantly influenced protein (P<0.05) and gluten (P<0.01) contents. It is suggested that N mineralisation following the ploughing of older grass leys occurred later than when following the 1st year ley. The protein and gluten contents of wheat following unfertilised grass-clover corresponded to those following cereals given 125-150 kg N ha-1, but the rheological properties of the gluten were different to what could be achieved using equivalent quantities of mineral fertiliser. Probably, the slow release of N from decomposition of old grassland gave a better synchrony between N release and plant demand. Nitrate leaching in year 1 after ploughing was significantly influenced by type of grassland (P<0.001) with 10 and 29 kg N ha-1 leached from grass-clover and ryegrass, respectively. Nitrate leaching following ploughing of 1-year-old leys averaged 11 kg N ha-1 which was significantly lower than the 24 kg N ha-1 following 2 or 8-year-old leys. The flow-weighted mean nitrate concentration decreased from 8.5 mg N l-1 in year 1 after grassland cultivation to 4.5 mg N l-1 in year 2. More N was released following ploughing of ryegrass swards and from grasslands of increasing age, but differences were moderate compared to the estimated N-surplus. This indicates that when organic matter in grasslands is partially decomposed and readily mineralisable N used, the remaining organic N is released only very slowly

Ecology of Thioploca spp.: Nitrate and sulfur storage in relation to chemical microgradients and influence of Thioploca spp. on the sedimentary nitrogen cycle

Microsensors, including a recently developed NO3 − biosensor, were applied to measure O2 and NO3 − profiles in marine sediments from the upwelling area off central Chile and to investigate the influence of Thioploca spp. on the sedimentary nitrogen metabolism. The studies were performed in undisturbed sediment cores incubated in a small laboratory flume to simulate the environmental conditions of low O2, high NO3 −, and bottom water current. On addition of NO3 −and NO2 −, Thioploca spp. exhibited positive chemotaxis and stretched out of the sediment into the flume water. In a core densely populated with Thioploca, the penetration depth of NO3 − was only 0.5 mm and a sharp maximum of NO3 − uptake was observed 0.5 mm above the sediment surface. In sediments with only fewThioploca spp., NO3 − was detectable down to a depth of 2 mm and the maximum consumption rates were observed within the sediment. No chemotaxis toward nitrous oxide (N2O) was observed, which is consistent with the observation that Thioploca does not denitrify but reduces intracellular NO3 − to NH4 +. Measurements of the intracellular NO3 − and S0 pools inThioploca filaments from various depths in the sediment gave insights into possible differences in the migration behavior between the different species. Living filaments containing significant amounts of intracellular NO3 − were found to a depth of at least 13 cm, providing final proof for the vertical shuttling of Thioploca spp. and nitrate transport into the sediment

Arcsecond resolution images of the chemical structure of the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422

It remains a key challenge to establish the molecular content of different components of low-mass protostars, like their envelopes and disks, and how this depends on the evolutionary stage and/or environment of the young stars. Observations at submillimeter wavelengths provide a direct possibility to study the chemical composition of low-mass protostars through transitions probing temperatures up to a few hundred K in the gas surrounding these sources. This paper presents a large molecular line survey of the deeply embedded protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 from the Submillimeter Array (SMA) - including images of individual lines down to approximately 1.5-3" (190-380 AU) resolution. More than 500 individual transitions are identified related to 54 molecular species (including isotopologues) probing temperatures up to about 550 K. Strong chemical differences are found between the two components in the protostellar system with a separation between, in particular, the sulfur- and nitrogen-bearing species and oxygen-bearing complex organics. The action of protostellar outflow on the ambient envelope material is seen in images of CO and SiO and appear to influence a number of other species, including (deuterated) water, HDO. The effects of cold gas-phase chemistry is directly imaged through maps of CO, N2D+ and DCO+, showing enhancements of first DCO+ and subsequently N2D+ in the outer envelope where CO freezes-out on dust grains.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 30 pages, 22 figure

On the origin of H_2CO abundance enhancements in low-mass protostars

High angular resolution H_2CO 218 GHz line observations have been carried out toward the low-mass protostars IRAS 16293-2422 and L1448-C using the Owens Valley Millimeter Array at ~2" resolution. Simultaneous 1.37 mm continuum data reveal extended emission which is compared with that predicted by model envelopes constrained from single-dish data. For L1448-C the model density structure works well down to the 400 AU scale to which the interferometer is sensitive. For IRAS 16293-2422 , a known proto-binary object, the interferometer observations indicate that the binary has cleared much of the material in the inner part of the envelope, out to the binary separation of ~800 AU. For both sources there is excess unresolved compact emission centered on the sources, most likely due to accretion disks ≾200 AU in size with masses of ≳0.02 M_☉ (L1448-C) and ≳0.1 M_☉ (IRAS 16293-2422). The H_2CO data for both sources are dominated by emission from gas close to the positions of the continuum peaks. The morphology and velocity structure of the H_2CO array data have been used to investigate whether the abundance enhancements inferred from single-dish modelling are due to thermal evaporation of ices or due to liberation of the ice mantles by shocks in the inner envelope. For IRAS 16293-2422 the H_2CO interferometer observations indicate the presence of rotation roughly perpendicular to the large scale CO outflow. The H_2CO distribution differs from that of C^(18)O, with C^(18)O emission peaking near MM1 and H_2CO stronger near MM2. For L1448-C, the region of enhanced H_2CO emission extends over a much larger scale >1" than the radius of 50-100 K (0."6-0".15) where thermal evaporation can occur. The red-blue asymmetry of the emission is consistent with the outflow; however the velocities are significantly lower. The H_2CO 3_(22)-2_(21)/3_(03)-2_(02) flux ratio derived from the interferometer data is significantly higher than that found from single-dish observations for both objects, suggesting that the compact emission arises from warmer gas. Detailed radiative transfer modeling shows, however, that the ratio is affected by abundance gradients and optical depth in the 3_(03)-2_(02) line. It is concluded that a constant H_2CO abundance throughout the envelope cannot fit the interferometer data of the two H_2CO lines simultaneously on the longest and shortest baselines. A scenario in which the H_2CO abundance drops in the cold dense part of the envelope where CO is frozen out but is undepleted in the outermost region provides good fits to the single-dish and interferometer data on short baselines for both sources. Emission on the longer baselines is best reproduced if the H_2CO abundance is increased by about an order of magnitude from ~ 10^(-10) to ~ 10^(-9) in the inner parts of the envelope due to thermal evaporation when the temperature exceeds ~50 K. The presence of additional H_2CO abundance jumps in the innermost hot core region or in the disk cannot be firmly established, however, with the present sensitivity and resolution. Other scenarios, including weak outflow-envelope interactions and photon heating of the envelope, are discussed and predictions for future generation interferometers are presented, illustrating their potential in distinguishing these competing scenarios

The Faber-Jackson relation for early-type galaxies: Dependence on the magnitude range

We take a sample of early-type galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR7, $\sim$ 90 000 galaxies) spanning a range of approximately 7 $mag$ in both $g$ and $r$ filters and analyse the behaviour of the Faber-Jackson relation parameters as functions of the magnitude range. We calculate the parameters in two ways: i) We consider the faintest (brightest) galaxies in each sample and we progressively increase the width of the magnitude interval by inclusion of the brighter (fainter) galaxies (increasing-magnitude-intervals), and ii) we consider narrow-magnitude intervals of the same width ($\Delta M = 1.0$ $mag$) over the whole magnitude range available (narrow-magnitude-intervals). Our main results are that: i) in both increasing and narrow-magnitude-intervals the Faber-Jackson relation parameters change systematically, ii) non-parametric tests show that the fluctuations in the values of the slope of the Faber-Jackson relation are not products of chance variations. We conclude that the values of the Faber-Jackson relation parameters depend on the width of the magnitude range and the luminosity of galaxies within the magnitude range. This dependence is caused, to a great extent by the selection effects and because the geometrical shape of the distribution of galaxies on the $M - \log (\sigma_{0})$ plane depends on luminosity. We therefore emphasize that if the luminosity of galaxies or the width of the magnitude range or both are not taken into consideration when comparing the structural relations of galaxy samples for different wavelengths, environments, redshifts and luminosities, any differences found may be misinterpreted.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. A&A. Accepte

C18O (3-2) observations of the Cometary Globule CG 12: a cold core and a C18O hot spot

The feasibility of observing the C18O (3-2) spectral line in cold clouds with the APEX telescope has been tested. As the line at 329.330 GHz lies in the wing of a strong atmospheric H2O absorption it can be observed only at high altitude observatories. Using the three lowest rotational levels instead of only two helps to narrow down the physical properties of dark clouds and globules. The centres of two C18O maxima in the high latitude low mass star forming region CG 12 were mapped in C18O (3-2) and the data were analyzed together with spectral line data from the SEST. The T_MB(3-2)/T_MB(2-1) ratio in the northern C18O maximum, CG 12 N, is 0.8, and in the southern maximum, CG 12 S, ~2. CG 12 N is modelled as a 120'' diameter (0.4pc) cold core with a mass of 27 Msun. A small size maximum with a narrow, 0.8 kms-1, C18O (3-2) spectral line with a peak temperature of T_MB ~11 K was detected in CG 12 S. This maximum is modelled as a 60'' to 80'' diameter (~0.2pc) hot (80 K < Tex < 200 K) ~1.6 Msun clump. The source lies on the axis of a highly collimated bipolar molecular outflow near its driving source. This is the first detection of such a compact, warm object in a low mass star forming region.Comment: APEX A&A special issue, accepte

The VISTA Orion mini-survey: star formation in the Lynds 1630 North cloud

The Orion cloud complex presents a variety of star formation mechanisms and properties and it is still one of the most intriguing targets for star formation studies. We present VISTA/VIRCAM near-infrared observations of the L1630N star forming region, including the stellar clusters NGC 2068 and NGC 2071, in the Orion molecular cloud B and discuss them in combination with Spitzer data. We select 186 young stellar object (YSO) candidates in the region on the basis of multi-colour criteria, confirm the YSO nature of the majority of them using published spectroscopy from the literature, and use this sample to investigate the overall star formation properties in L1630N. The K-band luminosity function of L1630N is remarkably similar to that of the Trapezium cluster, i.e., it presents a broad peak in the range 0.3-0.7 M$_\odot$ and a fraction of sub-stellar objects of $\sim$20%. The fraction of YSOs still surrounded by disk/envelopes is very high ($\sim$85%) compared to other star forming regions of similar age (1-2 Myr), but includes some uncertain corrections for diskless YSOs. Yet, a possibly high disk fraction together with the fact that 1/3 of the cloud mass has a gas surface density above the threshold for star formation ($\sim$129 M$_\odot$ pc$^{-2}$), points towards a still on-going star formation activity in L1630N. The star formation efficiency (SFE), star formation rate (SFR) and density of star formation of L1630N are within the ranges estimated for galactic star forming regions by the Spitzer "core to disk" and "Gould's Belt" surveys. However, the SFE and SFR are lower than the average value measured in the Orion A cloud and, in particular, lower than that in the southern regions of L1630. This might suggest different star formation mechanisms within the L1630 cloud complex.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure