Long-term Decomposition Process of the Leaf Litter, Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics under Different Forest Management in the Sierra de Francia, Salamanca, Spain

The dynamics of organic matter, carbon and nitrogen were studied during leaf decomposition over a three annual cycles period using the litterbag method at three permanently untilled and unfertilised plots. Our hypothesis is to determine if each litter type influences the decomposition and C and N releases from each other litter type （three plots and two species）. The main objective of this study is the comparison of decomposition dynamics in a climax forest with respect to that occurring in the chestnut managed plots on terrain suitable for oak to have further insight into the recycling of above ground organic matter and these two associated bioelements. As for the loss of dry matter, two-way analysis of variance, involving the treatment and year factors, revealed the existence of significant differences only for year, while no differences were observed for either treatment or interaction. At the end of the 2.4 years of the study, most of the treatment assays higher nitrogen concentrations than the initial ones were recorded. These three treatments the samplings prior to the last one revealed nitrogen concentrations higher than the initial ones, such that it may be concluded that the trend was towards an increase in concentration.

Organic Carbon Storage in Evergreen Oak Forest Ecosystems of the Middle and High Moroccan Atlas Areas

We report carbon stock in biomass, litter and soil estimated for six locations in natural Quercus ilex L. stands of the Middle and High Moroccan Atlas. Twenty trees at each location were selected according to their diameter classes and felled to measure the biomass of trunk, branches, twigs and leaves and determine allometric relationships. Soil was sampled in five depths (0 - 15, 15 - 30, 30 - 50, 50 - 70 and 70 - 100 cm) and litterfall production measured in all tree stands. The total carbon stock in above-ground biomass ranged between 17 Mg&#183ha&#451 in A&#239t Aamar stand (High Atlas) and 91 Mg&#183ha&#451 in Ksiba stand (Middle Atlas). Perennial organs (trunk, branches and twigs) stored over 95% of the tree carbon stock. Soil organic carbon concentrations ranged from 0.01% (in 70 - 100 cm in all stands) to 8.1% (in 0 - 15 cm in the Ajdir stand in Middle Atlas). The total organic carbon stock in the soil ranged between 141.4 t&#183ha&#451 in Ajdir and 24.6 t&#183ha&#451 in Asloul. The litter contained 0.2 Mg C ha&#451 in the clearing (C2) stand of High Atlas and 14.3 Mg C ha&#451 in (Ajdir) of carbon. The best fitted model for predicting carbon stock in tree biomass was obtained by applying the allometric equation Y = aXb for each biomass fraction and stand, where Y is the aboveground biomass (dry weight) and X is the DBH (Mean diameter at breast height, 1.30 m). These previous data obtained in the present study confirm the important function of these natural forests as longterm C sinks, in forest biomass, litter and soil. The potential long term C storage of these systems is moderately high, especially in less-intensively managed forests that include large trees. The established relationship between DBH and carbon stock in different tree organs can be used for forest carbon accounting, and also synthesize available information on oak forest as a sink for atmospheric CO2, and identify the management options that may enhance the capacity for C capture/ storage in forest soils.

A new oxidative pathway of nitric oxide production from oximes in plants

Nitric oxide(NO)is an essential reactive oxygen species and a signal molecule in plants.Although several studies have proposed the occurrence of oxidative NO production,only reductive routes for NO production,such as the nitrate(NO_(3)^(-))-upper-reductase pathway,have been evidenced to date in land plants.However,plants grown axenically with ammonium as the sole source of nitrogen exhibit contents of nitrite and NO3−,evidencing the existence of a metabolic pathway for oxidative production of NO.We hypothesized that oximes,such as indole-3-acetaldoxime(IAOx),a precursor to indole-3-acetic acid,are intermediate oxidation products in NO synthesis.We detected the production of NO from IAOx and other oximes catalyzed by peroxidase(POD)enzyme using both 4-amino-5-methylamino-2′,7′-difluorescein fluorescence and chemiluminescence.Flavins stimulated the reaction,while superoxide dismutase inhibited it.Interestingly,mouse NO synthase can also use IAOx to produce NO at a lower rate than POD.We provided a full mechanism for POD-dependent NO production from IAOx consistent with the experimental data and supported by density functional theory calculations.We showed that the addition of IAOx to extracts from Medicago truncatula increased the in vitro production of NO,while in vivo supplementation of IAOx and other oximes increased the number of lateral roots,as shown for NO donors,and a more than 10-fold increase in IAOx dehydratase expression.Furthermore,we found that in vivo supplementation of IAOx increased NO production in Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type plants,while prx33-34 mutant plants,defective in POD33-34,had reduced production.Our data show that the release of NO by IAOx,as well as its auxinic effect,explain the superroot phenotype.Collectively,our study reveals that plants produce NO utilizing diverse molecules such as oximes,POD,and flavins,which are widely distributed in the plant kingdom,thus introducing a long-awaited oxidative pathway to NO production in plants.This knowledge has essential implications for understanding signaling in biological systems.