Introduction to Molecular Analysis of Ectomycorrhizal Communities

A number of methods are available for those researchers considering the addition of molecular analyses of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi to their research projects and weighing the various approaches they might take. Analyzing natural EcM fungal communities has traditionally been a highly skilled, time-consuming process relying heavily on exacting morphological characterization of EcM root tips. Increasingly powerful molecular methods for analyzing EcM communities make this area of research available to a much wider range of researchers. Ecologists can gain from the body of work characterizing EcM while avoiding the requirement for exceptional expertise by carefully combining elements of traditional methods with the more recent molecular approaches. A cursory morphological analysis can yield a traditional quantification of EcM fungi based on tip numbers, a unit with functional and historical significance. Ectomycorrhizal root DNA extracts may then be analyzed with molecular methods widely used for characterizing microbiota. These range from methods applicable only to the simple mixes resulting from careful morphotyping, to community-oriented methods that identify many types in mixed samples as well as provide an estimate of their relative abundances. Extramatrical hyphae in bulk soil can also be more effectively studied, extending characterization of EcM fungal communities beyond the rhizoplane. The trend toward techniques permitting larger sample sets without prohibitive labor and time requirements will also permit us to more frequently address the issues of spatial and temporal variability and better characterize the roles of EcM fungi at multiple scales.

Stable Isotope Probing:Linking Functional Activity to Specific Members of Microbial Communities

Linking organisms or groups of organisms to specific functions within natural environments is a fundamental challenge in microbial ecology. Advances in technology for manipulating and analyzing nucleic acids have made it possible to characterize the members of microbial communities without the intervention of laboratory culturing. Results from such studies have shown that the vast majority of soil organisms have never been cultured, highlighting the risks of culture-based approaches in community analysis. The development of culture-independent techniques for following the flow of substrates through microbial communities therefore represents an important advance. These techniques, collectively known as stable isotope probing (SIP), involve introducing a stable isotope-labeled substrate into a microbial community and following the fate of the substrate by extracting diagnostic molecular species such as fatty acids and nucleic acids from the community and determining which specific molecules have incorporated the isotope. The molecules in which the isotope label appears provide identifying information about the organism that incorporated the substrate. Stable isotope probing allows direct observations of substrate assimilation in minimally disturbed communities, and thus represents an exciting new tool for linking microbial identity and function. The use of lipids or nucleic acids as the diagnostic molecule brings different strengths and weaknesses to the experimental approach, and necessitates the use of significantly different instrumentation and analytical techniques. This short review provides an overview of the lipid and nucleic acid approaches, discusses their strengths and weaknesses, gives examples of applications in various settings, and looks at prospects for the future of SIP technology.

Specific Adsorption of Trace Amounts of Calcium and Strontium by Hydrous Oxides of Iron and Aluminum1

Freshly prepared Fe and Al hydrous oxide gels and the amorphous product of heating gibbsite selectively adsorbed traces of Ca and Sr from solutions containing a large excess (∼1M) of NaNO3. The fraction of the added Ca (Sr) adsorbed depended principally on the suspension pH, the amount of solid present, and to a lesser extent on the NaNO3 concentration. Significant Ca and Sr adsorption occurred on the Fe and Al gels, and heated gibbsite, at pH values below the points of zero charge (8.1, 9.4, and 8.3±0.1, respectively), indicating specific adsorption. The pH (± 0.10) at which 50% of the Ca was adsorbed (pH50) occurred at pH 7.15 for the Fe gel (0.093M Fe), 8.35 for the Al gel (0.093M Al), and 6.70 for the heated gibbsite (0.181M Al); for Sr, the pH50 values were 7.10, 9.00, and 6.45, respectively. For the Fe gel and heated gibbsite, an empirical model based on the law of mass action described the pH dependence of adsorption reasonably well and suggested that for each Ca or Sr fraction adsorbed, approximately one proton was released. Failure of the Al gel to fit this model may have resulted from its rapid aging.

水土保持专家介绍——我国著名土壤物理和水土保持专家邵明安研究员

邵明安 ,男 ,出生于 195 6年 ,湖南省常德县人。 1982年毕业于湖南师范大学物理系 ,获理学学士学位 ,1985年在中国科学院水利部水土保持研究所获理学硕士学位 (土壤学 ) ,1992起在美国留学 ,于 1996年在衣阿华州立大学获哲学博士学位(土壤学 )。现任中国科学院水利部水土保持研究所研究员 ,博士生导师 ,副所长 ,黄土高原土壤侵蚀与旱地农业国家重点实验室主任 ,中国土壤学会常务理事、土壤物理专业委员会主任 ,陕西省土壤学会理事长。兼任中国农业大学教授、湖南师范大学教授、西安理工大学教授 ,中国科学院水问题联合研究中心常委 ,陕西省决策咨询委员 ,中国农业专家咨询团首批专家。曾获首届中国科协青年科技奖、中国科学院方树泉青年科学家奖 ,陕西省有突出贡献的中青年专家 ,陕西省优秀留学回国人员等多项荣誉称号。邵明安研究员主持过中国科学院青年奖励基金项目 ,国家自然科学基金项目 ,中国科学院重大项目 ,国家“86 3”计划项目 ,国家“八五”科技攻关等国家和部委项目。在《Soil Science》、《Soil Sci.Soc.Am.J.》及《中国科学》、《科学通报》等国内外著名刊物发表论文 10 ...

Using the RBFN model and GIS technique to assess wind erosion hazard of inner Mongolia, China

Soil wind erosion is the primary process and the main driving force for land desertification and sand-dust storms in and and semi-arid areas of Northern China. While many researchers have studied this issue, this study quantified the various indicators of soil wind erosion, using the GIS technology to extract the spatial data and to construct a RBFN (Radial Basis Function Network) model for Inner Mongolia. By calibrating sample data of the different levels of wind erosion hazard, the model parameters were established, and then the assessment of wind erosion hazard. Results show that in the southern parts of Inner Mongolia wind erosion hazards are very severe, counties in the middle regions of Inner Mongolia vary from moderate to severe, and in eastern are slight. Comparison of the results with other research shows conformity with actual conditions, proving the reasonability and applicability of the RBFN model. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.