Legumes and forage species sole or intercropped with corn in soybean-corn succession in midwestern Brazil

The feasibility of no-tillage in the Cerrado (Savanna-like vegetation of Brazil) depends on the production of sufficient above-ground crop residue, which can be increased by corn-forage intercropping. This study evaluated how above-ground crop residue production and yields of soybean and late-season corn in a soybean-corn rotation were influenced by the following crops in the year before soybean: corn (Zea mays L.) intercropped with Brachiaria (Urochloa) brizantha cv. Marandu, B. decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. ruziziensis, cv. comum., Panicummaximum cv. Tanzânia, sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.), pigeon pea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp]; sole corn, forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (cv. Santa Elisa)], and ruzi grass. In March 2005, corn and forage species were planted in alternate rows spaced 0.90 m apart, and sole forage species were planted in rows spaced 0.45 m apart. In October 2005, the forages were killed with glyphosate and soybean was planted. After the soybean harvest in March 2006, sole late-season corn was planted in the entire experimental area. Corn grain and stover yields were unaffected by intercropping. Above-ground crop residue was greater when corn was intercropped with Tanzania grass (10.7 Mg ha-1), Marandu (10.1 Mg ha-1), and Ruzi Grass (9.8 Mg ha-1) than when corn was not intercropped (4.0 Mg ha-1). The intercropped treatments increased the percentage of soil surface covered with crop residue. Soybean and corn grain yields were higher after sole ruzi grass and intercropped ruzi grass than after other crops. The intercropping corn with Brachiaria spp. and corn with Panicum spp. increases above-ground crop residue production and maintains nutrients in the soil without reducing late-season corn yield and the viability of no-till in the midwestern region of Brazil.

Vegetation succession and diversity on Teuravuoma experimental drainage area in northern Finland

Tiivistelmä: Kasvillisuuden sukkessio ja monimuotoisuus Teuravuoman koeojitusalueella Pohjois-Suomessa

Catalogue de tableaux anciens et modernes de diverses écoles provenant de la succession de M. André Leroux... / [expert] Ch. Rouillard

[Vente. Art. 1859-05-14. Paris]

Notice des objets d'art... dépendant de la succession de M. Odiot... / [expert] Mannheim

[Vente. Art. 1860-01-16 - 1860-01-19. Paris]

(Consultation du 6 mars 1660, en faveur de Georges de Pellisson, au sujet de la succession de Jacques de Cavagnes.)

[Factum. Pellisson, Georges de. 1660?]

Temporal changes of an alfalfa succession and related soil physical properties on the Loess Plateau, China

The objective of this work was to investigate the relationship between changes in the plant community and changes in soil physical properties and water availability, during a succession from alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) to natural vegetation on the Loess Plateau, China. Data from a succession sere spanning 32 years were collated, and vegetative indexes were compared to changes related to soil bulk density and soil water storage. The alfalfa yield increased for approximately 7 years, then it declined and the alfalfa was replaced by a natural community dominated by Stipa bungeana that began to thrive about 10 years after alfalfa seeding. Soil bulk density increased over time, but the deterioration of the alfalfa was mainly ascribed to a severe reduction in soil water storage, which was lowest around the time when degradation commenced. The results indicated that water consumption by alfalfa could be reduced by reducing plant density. The analysis of the data also suggested that soil water recharge could be facilitated by rotating the alfalfa with other crops, natural vegetation, or bare soil.

Deep incision in an Aptian carbonate succession indicates major sea-level fall in the Cretaceous

Long-term relative sea-level cycles (0 5 to 6 Myr) have yet to be fully understood for the Cretaceous. During the Aptian, in the northern Maestrat Basin (Eastern Iberian Peninsula), fault-controlled subsidence created depositional space, but eustasy governed changes in depositional trends. Relative sea-level history was reconstructed by sequence stratigraphic analysis. Two forced regressive stages of relative sea-level were recognized within three depositional sequences. The first stage is late Early Aptian age (intra Dufrenoyia furcata Zone) and is characterized by foreshore to upper shoreface sedimentary wedges, which occur detached from a highstand carbonate platform, and were deposited above basin marls. The amplitude of relative sea-level drop was in the order of tens of metres, with a duration of <1 Myr. The second stage of relative sea-level fall occurred within the Late Aptian and is recorded by an incised valley that, when restored to its pre-contractional attitude, was >2 km wide and cut 115 m down into the underlying Aptian succession. With the subsequent transgression, the incision was back-filled with peritidal to shallow subtidal deposits. The changes in depositional trends, lithofacies evolution and geometric relation of the stratigraphic units characterized are similar to those observed in coeval rocks within the Maestrat Basin, as well as in other correlative basins elsewhere. The pace and magnitude of the two relative sea-level drops identified fall within the glacio-eustatic domain. In the Maestrat Basin, terrestrial palynological studies provide evidence that the late Early and Late Aptian climate was cooler than the earliest part of the Early Aptian and the Albian Stage, which were characterized by warmer environmental conditions. The outcrops documented here are significant because they preserve the results of Aptian long-term sea-level trends that are often only recognizable on larger scales (i.e. seismic) such as for the Arabian Plate.

Deep incision in an Aptian carbonate succession indicates major sea-level fall in the Cretaceous

Long-term relative sea-level cycles (0 5 to 6 Myr) have yet to be fully understood for the Cretaceous. During the Aptian, in the northern Maestrat Basin (Eastern Iberian Peninsula), fault-controlled subsidence created depositional space, but eustasy governed changes in depositional trends. Relative sea-level history was reconstructed by sequence stratigraphic analysis. Two forced regressive stages of relative sea-level were recognized within three depositional sequences. The first stage is late Early Aptian age (intra Dufrenoyia furcata Zone) and is characterized by foreshore to upper shoreface sedimentary wedges, which occur detached from a highstand carbonate platform, and were deposited above basin marls. The amplitude of relative sea-level drop was in the order of tens of metres, with a duration of <1 Myr. The second stage of relative sea-level fall occurred within the Late Aptian and is recorded by an incised valley that, when restored to its pre-contractional attitude, was >2 km wide and cut 115 m down into the underlying Aptian succession. With the subsequent transgression, the incision was back-filled with peritidal to shallow subtidal deposits. The changes in depositional trends, lithofacies evolution and geometric relation of the stratigraphic units characterized are similar to those observed in coeval rocks within the Maestrat Basin, as well as in other correlative basins elsewhere. The pace and magnitude of the two relative sea-level drops identified fall within the glacio-eustatic domain. In the Maestrat Basin, terrestrial palynological studies provide evidence that the late Early and Late Aptian climate was cooler than the earliest part of the Early Aptian and the Albian Stage, which were characterized by warmer environmental conditions. The outcrops documented here are significant because they preserve the results of Aptian long-term sea-level trends that are often only recognizable on larger scales (i.e. seismic) such as for the Arabian Plate.