Grazing and climate effects on soil organic carbon concentration and particle-size association in northern grasslands.

Grasslands cover more than 40% of the terrestrial surface of Earth and provide a range of ecological goods and services, including serving as one of the largest reservoirs for terrestrial carbon. An understanding of how livestock grazing, influences grassland soil organic carbon (SOC), including its concentration, vertical distribution and association among soil-particle sizes is unclear. We quantified SOC concentrations in the upper 30 cm of mineral soil, together with SOC particle-size association, within 108 pairs of long-term grazed and non-grazed grassland study sites spanning six distinct climate subregions across a 5.7 M ha area of Alberta, Canada. Moderate grazing enhanced SOC concentration by 12% in the upper 15 cm of soil. Moreover, SOC concentrations in mineral layers were associated with regional climate, such that SOC increased from dry to mesic subregions. Our results also indicate that C concentrations in each of 2000-250, 250-53, < 53 µm soil particle-size fractions were consistent with total SOC concentrations, increasing from semi-arid to more mesic subregions. We conclude that long-term livestock grazing may enhance SOC concentrations in shallow mineral soil and affirm that climate rather than grazing is the key modulator of soil C storage across northern grasslands.

Stress induction in the bacteria Shewanella oneidensis and Deinococcus radiodurans in response to below-background ionizing radiation.

PURPOSE: The 'Linear no-threshold' (LNT) model predicts that any amount of radiation increases the risk of organisms to accumulate negative effects. Several studies at below background radiation levels (4.5-11.4 nGy h(-1)) show decreased growth rates and an increased susceptibility to oxidative stress. The purpose of our study is to obtain molecular evidence of a stress response in Shewanella oneidensis and Deinococcus radiodurans grown at a gamma dose rate of 0.16 nGy h(-1), about 400 times less than normal background radiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bacteria cultures were grown at a dose rate of 0.16 or 71.3 nGy h(-1) gamma irradiation. Total RNA was extracted from samples at early-exponential and stationary phases for the rt-PCR relative quantification (radiation-deprived treatment/background radiation control) of the stress-related genes katB (catalase), recA (recombinase), oxyR (oxidative stress transcriptional regulator), lexA (SOS regulon transcriptional repressor), dnaK (heat shock protein 70) and SOA0154 (putative heavy metal efflux pump). RESULTS: Deprivation of normal levels of radiation caused a reduction in growth of both bacterial species, accompanied by the upregulation of katB, recA, SOA0154 genes in S. oneidensis and the upregulation of dnaK in D. radiodurans. When cells were returned to background radiation levels, growth rates recovered and the stress response dissipated. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that below-background levels of radiation inhibited growth and elicited a stress response in two species of bacteria, contrary to the LNT model prediction.