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Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) enrichment in boreal forests has been shown to enhance aboveground net primary production and downregulate soil respiration, but it is not well understood if these effects are driven by reduced belowground C allocation or shifts between biomass production and respiration in fine-roots and ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF). We utilized an experiment in a Pinus sylvestris (L.) f
When you think of fungi, you’ll probably picture a huddle of chubby brown mushrooms, or the large, red-capped toadstools you stumble across in the woods. In doing so, you’re reducing fungi to their reproductive organs – tasty or striking as they may often be.
The interactions between dissolved organic matter (DOM) and mineral particles are critical for the stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM) in terrestrial ecosystems. The processing of DOM by ectomycorrhizal fungi contributes to the formation of mineral-stabilized SOM by two contrasting pathways: the extracellular transformation of DOM (ex vivo pathway) and the secretion of mineral-surface-react
Organic farming can benefit plants and butterflies in terms of species richness and abundance, in particular in homogeneous landscapes. Nevertheless, whether organic farming can benefit functional diversity of these two organism groups is not well understood. Organic farming could benefit functional diversity by counteracting simplification and homogenisation of biotic communities caused by earlie
There is evidence that anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition enhances carbon (C) sequestration in boreal forest soils. However, it is unclear how free-living saprotrophs (bacteria and fungi, SAP) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi responses to N addition impact soil C dynamics. Our aim was to investigate how SAP and EM communities are impacted by N enrichment and to estimate whether these changes infl
While many bumblebee species decline due to climate and land-use changes, others cope well with contemporary conditions. One example is Bombus terrestris, which is common in intensively managed agricultural landscapes. During the 20th century its subgenus, which includes the B. lucorum complex (B. lucorum, B. cryptarum and B. magnus) came to dominate Scandinavian bumblebee communities, but the spe
The loss of long-tongued pollinator species and dominance of a few short-tongued generalist species, related to agricultural intensification in recent decades, may have consequences for the quality, quantity, and stability of yields in insect-pollinated crops. Interestingly, the changes in pollinator community coincide with an increase in poor and variable seed yield in red clover, an important cr
The science of decision making is studied in many areas of science and engineering, for example within, computer science, automatic control theory, mathematics and neurophysiology. The aim of this text is to provide a very brief overview of some of the models and tools used within mathematical decision making. These models can be studied in terms of an agent that observes the world and takes decis
Dig a teaspoon into your nearest clump of soil, and what you’ll emerge with will contain more microorganisms than there are people on Earth. We know this from lab studies that analyse samples of earth scooped from the microbial wild to determine which forms of microscopic life exist in the world beneath our feet.
BACKGROUND: Before this study started, the standard postoperative chemotherapy regimen for stage II-III Wilms' tumour pretreated with chemotherapy was to include doxorubicin. However, avoidance of doxorubicin-related cardiotoxicity effects is important to improve long-term outcomes for childhood cancers that have excellent prognosis. We aimed to assess whether doxorubicin can be omitted safely fro
Many trees form ectomycorrhizal symbiosis with fungi. During symbiosis, the tree roots supply sugar to the fungi in exchange for nitrogen, and this process is critical for the nitrogen and carbon cycles in forest ecosystems. However, the extents to which ectomycorrhizal fungi can liberate nitrogen and modify the soil organic matter and the mechanisms by which they do so remain unclear since they h
Incorporating both ecosystem services and disservices into land-use decisions is essential for meeting conservation and livelihood goals. We discuss the merits and challenges of this concept, termed net effects, for birds in agroecosystems. Although birds have widely documented impacts on agriculture (e.g., pest control, crop damage), the net effects of such activities are rarely quantified. This
Through geological time, cyanobacterial picoplankton have impacted the global carbon cycle by sequestrating CO 2 and forming authigenic carbonate minerals. Various studies have emphasized the cyanobacterial cell envelopes as nu
Phosphorous (P) cycling is often closely coupled to iron (Fe), particularly following mineral weathering or in hydromorphic soils where Fe redox reactions can control the equilibrium between P retention and release. While surface adsorption of P on Fe (hydr)oxides is a well-known and widely studied process, less attention has been devoted to the understanding of P (especially organic P) coprecipit
A major fraction of nitrogen (N) in boreal forest soils is found in organic forms associated with soil organic matter (SOM) and mineral particles. The capacity of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal symbionts to access this N is debated, considering that these fungi have lost many of the genes for decomposing organic matter that were present in their saprotrophic ancestors. To gain a molecular-level unde
The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, paved the way for a new hybrid global climate governance architecture with both bottom-up and top-down elements. While governments can choose individual climate goals and actions, a global stocktake and a ratcheting-up mechanism have been put in place with the overall aim to ensure that collective efforts will prevent increasing adverse impacts of climate chan
Neonicotinoid insecticides applied to flowering crops can have negative impacts on bees, with implications for crop pollination. To assess if exposure to the neonicotinoid clothianidin via a treated crop (rapeseed) affected bee behaviour, pollination performance (to strawberry), and bee reproduction, we provided each of 12 outdoor cages with rapeseed (autumn-sown plants complemented with a few spr
The need for sustainable agricultural systems, which for example enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) content, has increased the interest for management with reduced tillage. In this study we used a Swedish long-term (20 yrs.) systems experiment, including reduced tillage (harrowing 10 cm) and plowing (moldboard plow 0–20 cm) combined with three levels of nitrogen (N) fertilization. With this setup w
Background and aims: Decomposition and transformation of organic matter (OM) in forest soils are conducted by the concomitant action of saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi. Here, we examine chemical changes in OM after fungal colonization in nitrogen fertilized and unfertilized soils from a Norway spruce forest. Methods: Sand-filled bags amended with composted maize leaves were placed in the forest
Wetlands are integral components of our natural environment since they provide many critical ecosystem services to humanity, such as water purification, climate change mitigation, flood control, and biodiversity. Although wetlands can convey resilience to some degree of changes, they might be vulnerable to climate change. Altered hydrology and rising temperatures can turn the wetland services into
