Phosphorus cycling in a northern hardwood forest: biological and chemical control.

Phosphorus is tightly conserved within the northern hardwood forest ecosystems at Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire. Detailed analyses of the soil system indicate that biological and geochemical processes, stratified within the profile, regulate phosphorus retention.

Barrier island forest ecosystem: role of meteorologic nutrient inputs.

The Sunken Forest, located on Fire Island, a barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island, New York, is an ecosystem in which most of the basic cation input is in the form of salt spray. This meteorologic input is sufficient to compensate for the lack of certain nutrients in the highly weathered sandy soils. In other ecosystems these nutrients are generally supplied by weathering of soil particles. The compensatory effect of meteorologic input allows for primary production rates in the Sunken Forest similar to those of inland temperate forests.

Biotite flakes: alteration by chemical and biological treatment.

Biotite alteration under acid conditions proceeds differently from the generally accepted pathway of transformation to vermiculite in which hydrated cations cause interlayer expansion, resulting in a dark-colored peripheral band on mica particles. Acid solutions of synthetic or biologic origin remove octahedral ions, leaving a fragile matrix of amorphous material.