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Quantification of total cell abundance is one of the most fundamental parameters in the exploration of subsurface life. Despite all recent advances in molecular techniques, this parameter is usually determined by fluorescence microscopy. In order to obtain reliable and reproducible results, it is important not just to focus on the actual cell enumeration but also to consider the entire chain of processing. Starting with the retrieval of the sample, over subsampling and sample processing to the final step of fluorescence microscopy, there are many potential sources of contamination that have to be assessed and, if possible, avoided. Because some degree of sample contamination will always occur, it is necessary to employ some form of contamination control. Different tracers are available, each one with its specific advantages and drawbacks. In many cases, the problems arise not after the sample has arrived in a well-equipped laboratory with highly trained personnel, but much earlier at the drill site or in a field camp. In this review, I discuss the different aspects of cell enumeration in subsurface sediment, evaluating every step in the long process chain.
1. New patterns and trends in land use are becoming increasingly evident in Europe's heavily modified landscape and else whereas sustainable agriculture and nature restoration are developed as viable long-term alternatives to intensively farmed arable land. The success of these changes depends on how soil biodiversity and processes respond to changes in management. To improve our understanding of the community structure and ecosystem functioning of the soil biota, we analyzed abiotic variables across 200 sites, and biological variables across 170 sites in The Netherlands, one of the most intensively farmed countries. The data were derived from the Dutch Soil Quality Network (DSQN), a long-term monitoring framework designed to obtain ecological insight into soil types (STs) and ecosystem types (ETs).
2. At the outset we describe STs and biota, and we estimate the contribution of various groups to the provision of ecosystem services. We focused on interactive effects of soil properties on community patterns and ecosystem functioning using food web models. Ecologists analyze soil food webs by means of mechanistic and statistical modelling, linking network structure to energy flow and elemental dynamics commonly based on allometric scaling.
3. We also explored how predatory and metabolic processes are constrained by body size, diet and metabolic type, and how these constraints govern the interactions within and between trophic groups. In particular, we focused on how elemental fluxes determine the strengths of ecological interactions, and the resulting ecosystem services, in terms of sustenance of soil fertility.
4. We discuss data mining, food web visualizations, and an appropriate categorical way to capture subtle interrelationships within the DSQN dataset. Sampled metazoans were used to provide an overview of below-ground processes and influences of land use. Unlike most studies to date we used data from the entire size spectrum, across 15 orders of magnitude, using body size as a continuous trait crucial for understanding ecological services.
5. Multimodality in the frequency distributions of body size represents a performance filter that acts as a buffer to environmental change. Large differences in the body-size distributions across ETs and STs were evident. Most observed trends support the hypothesis that the direct influence of ecological stoichiometry on the soil biota as an independent predictor (e.g. in the form of nutrient to carbon ratios), and consequently on the allometric scaling, is more dominant than either ET or ST. This provides opportunities to develop a mechanistic and physiologically oriented model for the distribution of species' body sizes, where responses of invertebrates can be predicted.
6. Our results highlight the different roles that organisms play in a number of key ecosystem services. Such a trait-based research has unique strengths in its rigorous formulation of fundamental scaling rules, as well as in its verifiability by empirical data. Nonetheless, it still has weaknesses that remain to be addressed, like the consequences of intraspecific size variation, the high degree of omnivory, and a possibly inaccurate assignment to trophic groups.
7. Studying the extent to which nutrient levels influence multitrophic interactions and how different land-use regimes affect soil biodiversity is clearly a fruitful area for future research to develop predictive models for soil ecosystem services under different management regimes. No similar efforts have been attempted previously for soil food webs, and our dataset has the potential to test and further verify its usefulness at an unprecedented space scale.
Self-assembly phenomena in block copolymer systems are attracting considerable interest from the scientific community and industry alike. Particularly interesting is the behavior of amphiphilic copolymers, which can self-organize into nanoscale-sized objects such as micelles, vesicles, or tubes in solution, and which form well-defined assemblies at interfaces such as air-liquid, air-solid, or liquid-solid. Depending on the polymer chemistry and architecture, various types of organization at interfaces can be expected, and further exploited for applications in nanotechnology, electronics, and biomedical sciences.
In this article, we discuss the formation and characterization of Langmuir monolayers from various amphiphilic block copolymers, including chargeable and thus pH-responsivematerials. Solid-supported polymer films are reviewed in the context of alteration of surface properties by ultrathin polymer layers and the possibilities for application in tissue engineering, sensors and biomaterials. Finally, we focus on how organic and polymer monolayers influence the growth of inorganic materials. This is a truly biomimetic approach since Nature uses soft interfaces to control the nucleation, growth, and morphology of biominerals such as calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, and silica.
Background In angiosperm evolution, autogamously selfing lineages have been derived from outbreeding ancestors multiple times, and this transition is regarded as one of the most common evolutionary tendencies in flowering plants. In most cases, it is accompanied by a characteristic set of morphological and functional changes to the flowers, together termed the selfing syndrome. Two major areas that have changed during evolution of the selfing syndrome are sex allocation to male vs. female function and flower morphology, in particular flower (mainly petal) size and the distance between anthers and stigma.
Scope A rich body of theoretical, taxonomic, ecological and genetic studies have addressed the evolutionary modification of these two trait complexes during or after the transition to selfing. Here, we review our current knowledge about the genetics and evolution of the selfing syndrome.
Conclusions We argue that because of its frequent parallel evolution, the selfing syndrome represents an ideal model for addressing basic questions about morphological evolution and adaptation in flowering plants, but that realizing this potential will require the molecular identification of more of the causal genes underlying relevant trait variation.
The growth of plant organs is under genetic control. Work in model species has identified a considerable number of genes that regulate different aspects of organ growth. This has led to an increasingly detailed knowledge about how the basic cellular processes underlying organ growth are controlled, and which factors determine when proliferation gives way to expansion, with this transition emerging as a critical decision point during primordium growth. Progress has been made in elucidating the genetic basis of allometric growth and the role of tissue polarity in shaping organs. We are also beginning to understand how the mechanisms that determine organ identity influence local growth behaviour to generate organs with characteristic sizes and shapes. Lastly, growth needs to be coordinated at several levels, for example between different cell layers and different regions within one organ, and the genetic basis for such coordination is being elucidated. However, despite these impressive advances, a number of basic questions are still not fully answered, for example, whether and how a growing primordium keeps track of its size. Answering these questions will likely depend on including additional approaches that are gaining in power and popularity, such as combined live imaging and modelling.