Background: Land-use change and forest management may alter soil organic matter(SOM) and nutrient dynamics,due in part to alterations in litter input and quality. Acacia was introduced in eucalypt plantations establis...Background: Land-use change and forest management may alter soil organic matter(SOM) and nutrient dynamics,due in part to alterations in litter input and quality. Acacia was introduced in eucalypt plantations established in the Congolese coastal plains to improve soil fertility and tree growth. Eucalypt trees were expected to benefit from N2 fixed by acacia. However, some indicators suggest a perturbation in SOM and P dynamics might affect the sustainability of the system in the medium and long term. In tropical environments, most of the nutrient processes are determined by the high rates of organic matter(OM) mineralization. Therefore, SOM stability might play a crucial role in regulating soil-plant processes. In spite of this, the relationship between SOM quality, C and other nutrient dynamics are not well understood. In the present study, OM quality and P forms in forest floor and soil were investigated to get more insight on the C and P dynamics useful to sustainable management of forest plantations.Methods: Thermal analysis(differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and thermogravimetry(TGA)) and nuclear magnetic resonance(solid state13 C CPMASS and NMR and31 P-NMR) spectroscopy have been applied to partially decomposed forest floor and soils of pure acacia and eucalypt, and mixed-species acacia-eucalypt stands.Results: Thermal analysis and13 C NMR analysis revealed a more advanced stage of humification in forest floor of acacia-eucalypt stands, suggesting a greater microbial activity in its litter. SOM were related to the OM recalcitrance of the forest floor, indicating this higher microbial activity of the forest floor in this stand might be favouring the incorporation of C into the mineral soil.Conclusions: In relation with the fast mineralization in this environment, highly soluble orthophosphate was the dominant P form in both forest floor and soils. However, the mixed-species forest stands immobilized greater P in organic forms, preventing the P losses by leaching and contributing to sustain the P demand in the medium term.This shows that interactions between plants, microorganisms and soil can sustain the demand of this ecosystem.For this, the forest floor plays a key role in tightening the P cycle, minimizing the P losses.展开更多
The purpose of this paper is to introduce to you, the Western people, nowadays a “widely unknown” Japanese thermodynamicist by the name of Motoyosi Sugita and his study on the thermodynamics of transient phenomena a...The purpose of this paper is to introduce to you, the Western people, nowadays a “widely unknown” Japanese thermodynamicist by the name of Motoyosi Sugita and his study on the thermodynamics of transient phenomena and his theory of life. This is because although he was one of the top theoretical physicists in Japan before, during and after WWII and after WWII he promoted the establishment of the biophysical society of Japan as one of the founding members, he himself and his studies themselves have seemed to be totally forgotten nowadays in spite that his study was absolutely important for the study of life. Therefore, in this paper I would like to present what kind of person he was and what he studied in physics as a review on the physics work of Motoyosi Sugita for the first time. I will follow his past studies to introduce his ideas in theoretical physics as well as in biophysics as follows: He proposed the bright ideas such as the quasi-static change in the broad sense, the virtual heat, and the field of chemical potential etc. in order to establish his own theory of thermodynamics of transient phenomena, as the generalization of the Onsager-Prigogine’s theory of the irreversible processes. By the concept of the field of chemical potential that acquired the nonlinear transport, he was seemingly successful to exceed and go beyond the scope of Onsager and Prigogine. Once he established his thermodynamics, he explored the existence of the 4th law of thermodynamics for the foundation of theory of life. He applied it to broad categories of transient phenomena including life and life being such as the theory of metabolism. He regarded the 4th law of thermodynamics as the maximum principle in transient phenomena. He tried to prove it all life long. Since I have recently found that his maximum principle can be included in more general maximum principle, which was known as the Pontryagin’s maximum principle in the theory of optimal control, I would like to explain such theories produced by Motoyosi Sugita as detailed as possible. And also I have put short history of Motoyosi Sugita’s personal life in order for you to know him well. I hope that this article helps you to know this wonderful man and understand what he did in the past, which was totally forgotten in the world and even in Japan.展开更多
基金supported by a TWAS-ENEA Research Training Fellowship Programme in Italy。
文摘Background: Land-use change and forest management may alter soil organic matter(SOM) and nutrient dynamics,due in part to alterations in litter input and quality. Acacia was introduced in eucalypt plantations established in the Congolese coastal plains to improve soil fertility and tree growth. Eucalypt trees were expected to benefit from N2 fixed by acacia. However, some indicators suggest a perturbation in SOM and P dynamics might affect the sustainability of the system in the medium and long term. In tropical environments, most of the nutrient processes are determined by the high rates of organic matter(OM) mineralization. Therefore, SOM stability might play a crucial role in regulating soil-plant processes. In spite of this, the relationship between SOM quality, C and other nutrient dynamics are not well understood. In the present study, OM quality and P forms in forest floor and soil were investigated to get more insight on the C and P dynamics useful to sustainable management of forest plantations.Methods: Thermal analysis(differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and thermogravimetry(TGA)) and nuclear magnetic resonance(solid state13 C CPMASS and NMR and31 P-NMR) spectroscopy have been applied to partially decomposed forest floor and soils of pure acacia and eucalypt, and mixed-species acacia-eucalypt stands.Results: Thermal analysis and13 C NMR analysis revealed a more advanced stage of humification in forest floor of acacia-eucalypt stands, suggesting a greater microbial activity in its litter. SOM were related to the OM recalcitrance of the forest floor, indicating this higher microbial activity of the forest floor in this stand might be favouring the incorporation of C into the mineral soil.Conclusions: In relation with the fast mineralization in this environment, highly soluble orthophosphate was the dominant P form in both forest floor and soils. However, the mixed-species forest stands immobilized greater P in organic forms, preventing the P losses by leaching and contributing to sustain the P demand in the medium term.This shows that interactions between plants, microorganisms and soil can sustain the demand of this ecosystem.For this, the forest floor plays a key role in tightening the P cycle, minimizing the P losses.
文摘The purpose of this paper is to introduce to you, the Western people, nowadays a “widely unknown” Japanese thermodynamicist by the name of Motoyosi Sugita and his study on the thermodynamics of transient phenomena and his theory of life. This is because although he was one of the top theoretical physicists in Japan before, during and after WWII and after WWII he promoted the establishment of the biophysical society of Japan as one of the founding members, he himself and his studies themselves have seemed to be totally forgotten nowadays in spite that his study was absolutely important for the study of life. Therefore, in this paper I would like to present what kind of person he was and what he studied in physics as a review on the physics work of Motoyosi Sugita for the first time. I will follow his past studies to introduce his ideas in theoretical physics as well as in biophysics as follows: He proposed the bright ideas such as the quasi-static change in the broad sense, the virtual heat, and the field of chemical potential etc. in order to establish his own theory of thermodynamics of transient phenomena, as the generalization of the Onsager-Prigogine’s theory of the irreversible processes. By the concept of the field of chemical potential that acquired the nonlinear transport, he was seemingly successful to exceed and go beyond the scope of Onsager and Prigogine. Once he established his thermodynamics, he explored the existence of the 4th law of thermodynamics for the foundation of theory of life. He applied it to broad categories of transient phenomena including life and life being such as the theory of metabolism. He regarded the 4th law of thermodynamics as the maximum principle in transient phenomena. He tried to prove it all life long. Since I have recently found that his maximum principle can be included in more general maximum principle, which was known as the Pontryagin’s maximum principle in the theory of optimal control, I would like to explain such theories produced by Motoyosi Sugita as detailed as possible. And also I have put short history of Motoyosi Sugita’s personal life in order for you to know him well. I hope that this article helps you to know this wonderful man and understand what he did in the past, which was totally forgotten in the world and even in Japan.