Matrix-based color measurement corrections of tristimulus colorimeters.

For colorimetric imaging the tristimulus technique is still the best practical method to keep the measurement time within reasonable limits. However, the achievable color measurement uncertainties for special sources can be large. It is described how the systematic errors can be significantly reduced by using matrix-based color corrections and how the matrix elements can be optimized to obtain the smallest spectral mismatch errors for different light-source distributions. An approach for decreasing the systematic errors is to increase the number of the colorimeter channels (or filters) used for a measurement. Using five channels in a colorimeter is an optimum choice. Determination of the optimum matrices for the five channels is discussed. The correction matrices are designed such that the spectral mismatch errors of the realized functions are minimized relative to the CIE standard color matching functions for several selected test-source distributions. The optimum matrix depends on the (test) light source to be measured. Adaptive matrix values are determined by using the channel outputs and the spectral power distribution of color LEDs approximated with a simple approximation function. The systematic errors are evaluated for a number of colored and white LEDs. The noise propagation with the applied matrix corrections is investigated.

Plant growth, phosphorus nutrition, and root morphological responses to arbuscular mycorrhizas, phosphorus fertilization, and intraspecific density.

We examined the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM), phosphorus fertilization, intraspecific density, and their interaction, on the growth, phosphorus uptake, and root morphology of three facultative mycotrophic crops (Capsicum annuum, Zea mays, and Cucurbita pepo). Plants were grown in pots with or without AM at three densities and four phosphorus availabilities for 10 weeks. AM colonization, plant weight, and shoot phosphorus concentration were measured at harvest. Root morphology was assessed for C. annuum and Z. mays. Phosphorus fertilization reduced but did not eliminate AM colonization of all species. AM, phosphorus, and density interacted significantly to modify growth of C. annuum and C. pepo such that increased density and phosphorus diminished beneficial effects of AM. Increased density reduced positive effects of AM on C. annuum and C. pepo shoot phosphorus concentrations. AM altered both Z. mays and C. annuum root morphology in ways that complemented potential phosphorus uptake by mycorrhizas, but increased density and phosphorus diminished these effects. We infer that increased density predominantly influenced plant responses by affecting whether or not carbon (photosynthate) or phosphorus limited plant growth. By exacerbating carbon limitation, high density reduced the benefit/cost ratio of mycorrhizas and minimized their effects.

Earthquake-caused landslides: a major disturbance to tropical forests.

Earthquakes occasionally denude large areas of tropical forest: for example, 54 square kilometers in Panama in 1976 and 130 square kilometers in New Guinea in 1935. Earthquake rates in New Guinea, but not in Panama, are sufficiently high so that substantial areas of disturbed, nonclimax forest may accumulate. In New Guinea, earthquake-caused landslides are as important as tree falls in the disturbance regime.