We’ve got your number: Tracing the source of invasive Japanese beetles March 9, 2016 Sonya Daw news.nau.edu Like a Southern drawl popping up on the West Coast, our accents mark us as newcomers. With time they fade, leaving only traces of our past in the occasional slip of a word. […]
One of the primary challenges of our time is to feed a growing and more demanding world population with reduced external inputs and minimal environmental impacts, all under more variable and extreme climate conditions in the future1, 2, 3, 4. Conservation agriculture represents a set of three crop management principles […]
Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a crucial index for developing sustainable bioenergy cropping systems. The objective of this study was to examine switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) NUE by using a low-cost organic amendment under different harvest frequencies. Aerobically digested biosolids were applied at 0, 153, 306, and 459 kg N ha−1 in […]
Leaf retention is important in transferring energy from riparian trees to stream food webs. Retention increases with geomorphic complexity such as substrate coarseness, sinuosity, and the presence of debris dams. High discharge can reduce retention, particularly when streams lack physical trapping features. Travertine formations, caused by calcium carbonate deposition, can […]
The linkages between fluvial geomorphology and aquatic ecosystems are commonly conceptualized as a one-way causal chain inwhich geomorphic processes create the physical template for ecological dynamics. In streams with a travertine step-pool morphology, however, biotic processes strongly influence the formation and growth of travertinedams, creating the potential fornumerous feedbacks.Herewetakeadvantage of […]
Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations may alter the nitrogen (N) content of ecosystems by changing N inputs and N losses, but responses vary in field experiments, possibly because multiple mechanisms are at play. We measured N fixation and N losses in a subtropical oak woodland exposed to 11 years of elevated […]
Early morning at the Carbon in Permafrost Experimental Heating Project (CiPEHR) in Alaska
Global change affects plants and soil in ecosystems across the globe. By doing so, it can alter the composition of ecosystems and the functions they provide. For instance, even small changes in plant growth and soil properties can have a large impact on the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. At Ecoss, we use field experiments to manipulate the temperature, rainfall and other environmental factors in various ecosystems. This allows us to mimic future conditions, and helps us understand how future ecosystems will differ from the ones today. (more…)
Ecoss researcher Michelle Mack is leading a $1 million NASA-funded project to measure the extreme fire activity in boreal forests and its effects on arctic tundra. Based on the number of acres burned, 2015 is shaping up to be the second most extreme fire year during the past decade in North […]
Soil is a complex ecosystem with diverse microenvironments ranging from bulk soil with low quality substrates and no or very limited microbial growth, to high quality C-rich environments near decomposing litter and rhizosphere where microbial growth and death rates are high. Soil contains different microbial communities, supports varying microbial activities […]
We study antibiotic resistance in human pathogens, genetic sampling of meat for antibiotic resistance, methods to develop a molecular database for strains of E. coli in urinary tract infections, and food safety of kosher vs non-kosher chicken.