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Formation of soil organic matter via biochemical and physical pathways of litter mass loss
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Soil organic matter is the largest terrestrial carbon pool (1). The pool size depends on the balance between formation of soil organic matter from decomposition of plant litter and its mineralization to inorganic carbon. Knowledge of soil organic matter formation remains limited (2) and current C numerical models assume that stable soil organic matter is formed primarily from recalcitrant plant litter (3) . However, labile components of plant litter could also form mineral-stabilized soil organic matter (4). Here we followed the decomposition of isotopically labelled above-ground litter and its incorporation into soil organic matter over three years in a grassland in Kansas, USA, and used laboratory incubations to determine the decay rates and pool structure of litter-derived organic matter. Early in decomposition, soil organic matter formed when non-structural compounds were lost from litter. Soil organic matter also formed at the end of decomposition, when both non-structural and structural compounds were lost at similar rates. We conclude that two pathways yield soil organic matter efficiently. A dissolved organic matter–microbial path occurs early in decomposition when litter loses mostly non-structural compounds, which are incorporated into microbial biomass at high rates, resulting in efficient soil organic matter formation. An equally efficient physical-transfer path occurs when litter fragments move into soil.
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Front Row Seats to Climate Change
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Increasingly erratic rainfall patterns can lead to declines in southeastern frog and salamander populations, but protecting ponds can improve their plight.
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Full Proposal - A Web-Based Tool for Riparian Restoration Prioritization to Promote Climate Change Resilience (RPCCR) in Eastern U.S. Streams
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The RPCCR is a web-based tool currently under development which is designed to allow managers to rapidly identify high-priority riparian restoration targets. The objective of this project is to complete development of the RPCCR, link it with the Appalachian LCC website, and integrate it with ongoing stream temperature monitoring and modeling efforts within the Northeast Climate Science Center (NECSC) and participating Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.
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Riparian Restoration Team
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Background Project and Member Information
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Galbraith H_JPrice_2009 EPA VA framework cc end spc_climate change.pdf
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Galbraith habitat vulnerability assessment_draft.doc
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Gardali et al 2012_CCVA CA Birds_PLOSOne2012.pdf
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Geodiversity Key to Conserving Biodiversity Under Climate Change
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The physical factors that create diversity (landform, bedrock, soil and topography), collectively known as geodiversity, might be the key to conserving biodiversity under a changing climate.
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Glick et al. 2011_NWFScanningtheConservationHorizon_climate change_vulnerability assessment.pdf
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Global change and the groundwater management challenge
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With rivers in critical regions already exploited to capacity throughout the world and ground- water overdraft as well as large-scale contamination occurring in many areas, we have entered an era in which multiple simultaneous stresses will drive water management. Increasingly, groundwater resources are taking a more prominent role in providing freshwater supplies. We discuss the competing fresh ground- water needs for human consumption, food production, energy, and the environment, as well as physical hazards, and conflicts due to transboundary overexploitation. During the past 50 years, groundwater man- agement modeling has focused on combining simulation with optimization methods to inspect important problems ranging from contaminant remediation to agricultural irrigation management. The compound challenges now faced by water planners require a new generation of aquifer management models that address the broad impacts of global change on aquifer storage and depletion trajectory management, land subsidence, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, seawater intrusion, anthropogenic and geogenic contamination, supply vulnerability, and long-term sustainability. The scope of research efforts is only beginning to address complex interactions using multiagent system models that are not readily formulated as optimization problems and that consider a suite of human behavioral responses.
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Global Change Monitoring Portal Released
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A new Portal provides scientists and the general public with access to information about the existence and operation of programs that monitor the effects of global change processes, such as climate and land use change, on important air, land, and water resources.
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