Seeds Priming with Melatonin Improves Root Hydraulic Conductivity of Wheat Varieties under Drought, Salinity, and Combined Stress.

Drought and salinity stress reduce root hydraulic conductivity of plant seedlings, and melatonin application positively mitigates stress-induced damage. However, the underlying effect of melatonin priming on root hydraulic conductivity of seedlings under drought-salinity combined remains greatly unclear. In the current report, we investigated the influence of seeds of three wheat lines' 12 h priming with 100 µM of melatonin on root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr) and relevant physiological indicators of seedlings under PEG, NaCl, and PEG + NaCl combined stress. A previous study found that the combined PEG and NaCl stress remarkably reduced the Lpr of three wheat varieties, and its value could not be detected. Melatonin priming mitigated the adverse effects of combined PEG + NaCl stress on Lpr of H4399, Y1212, and X19 to 0.0071 mL·h-1·MPa-1, 0.2477 mL·h-1·MPa-1, and 0.4444 mL·h-1·MPa-1, respectively, by modulating translation levels of aquaporin genes and contributed root elongation and seedlings growth. The root length of H4399, Y1212, and X19 was increased by 129.07%, 141.64%, and 497.58%, respectively, after seeds pre-treatment with melatonin under PEG + NaCl combined stress. Melatonin -priming appreciably regulated antioxidant enzyme activities, reduced accumulation of osmotic regulators, decreased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), and increased K+ content in stems and root of H4399, Y1212, and X19 under PEG + NaCl stress. The path investigation displayed that seeds primed with melatonin altered the modification of the path relationship between Lpr and leaf area under stress. The present study suggested that melatonin priming was a strategy as regards the enhancement of root hydraulic conductivity under PEG, NaCl, and PEG + NaCl stress, which efficiently enhanced wheat resistant to drought-salinity stress.

The Role of Attention in Category Representation.

Numerous studies have found that selective attention affects category learning. However, previous research did not distinguish between the contribution of focusing and filtering components of selective attention. This study addresses this issue by examining how components of selective attention affect category representation. Participants first learned a rule-plus-similarity category structure, and then were presented with category priming followed by categorization and recognition tests. Additionally, to evaluate the involvement of focusing and filtering, we fit models with different attentional mechanisms to the data. In Experiment 1, participants received rule-based category training, with specific emphasis on a single deterministic feature (D feature). Experiment 2 added a recognition test to examine participants' memory for features. Both experiments indicated that participants categorized items based solely on the D feature, showed greater memory for the D feature, were primed exclusively by the D feature without interference from probabilistic features (P features), and were better fit by models with focusing and at least one type of filtering mechanism. The results indicated that selective attention distorted category representation by highlighting the D feature and attenuating P features. To examine whether the distorted representation was specific to rule-based training, Experiment 3 introduced training, emphasizing all features. Under such training, participants were no longer primed by the D feature, they remembered all features well, and they were better fit by the model assuming only focusing but no filtering process. The results coupled with modeling provide novel evidence that while both focusing and filtering contribute to category representation, filtering can also result in representational distortion.

Effects of nitrogen addition on rhizosphere priming: The role of stoichiometric imbalance.

Nitrogen (N) input has a significant impact on the availability of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in the rhizosphere, leading to an imbalanced stoichiometry in microbial demands. This imbalance can result in energy or nutrient limitations, which, in turn, affect C dynamics during plant growth. However, the precise influence of N addition on the C:N:P imbalance ratio and its subsequent effects on rhizosphere priming effects (RPEs) remain unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a 75-day microcosm experiment, varying N addition rates (0, 150, 300 kg N ha-1), to examine how microbes regulate RPE by adapting to stoichiometry and maintaining homeostasis in response to N addition, using the 13C natural method. Our result showed that N input induced a stoichiometric imbalance in C:N:P, leading to P or C limitation for microbes during plant growth. Microbes responded by adjusting enzymatic stoichiometry and functional taxa to preserve homeostasis, thereby modifying the threshold element ratios (TERs) to cope with the C:N:P imbalance. Microbes adapted to the stoichiometric imbalance by reducing TER, which was attributed to a reduction in carbon use efficiency. Consequently, we observed higher RPE under P limitation, whereas the opposite trend was observed under C or N limitation. These results offer novel insights into the microbial regulation of RPE variation under different soil nutrient conditions and contribute to a better understanding of soil C dynamics.

Controls and significance of priming effects in lake sediments.

Warming and eutrophication influence carbon (C) processing in sediments, with implications for the global greenhouse-gas budget. Temperature effects on sedimentary C loss are well understood, but the mechanism of change in turnover through priming with labile organic matter (OM) is not. Evaluating changes in the magnitude of priming as a function of warming, eutrophication, and OM stoichiometry, we incubated sediments with 13 C-labeled fresh organic matter (FOM, algal/cyanobacterial) and simulated future climate scenarios (+4°C and +8°C). We investigated FOM-induced production of CH4 and microbial community changes. C loss was primed by up to 17% in dominantly allochthonous sediments (ranging from 5% to 17%), compared to up to 6% in autochthonous sediments (-9% to 6%), suggesting that refractory OM is more susceptible to priming. The magnitude of priming was dependent on sediment OM stoichiometry (C/N ratio), the ratio of fresh labile OM to microbial biomass (FOM/MB), and temperature. Priming was strongest at 4°C when FOM/MB was below 50%. Addition of FOM was associated with activation and growth of bacterial decomposers, including for example, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, or Fibrobacteres, known for their potential to degrade insoluble and complex structural biopolymers. Using sedimentary C/N > 15 as a threshold, we show that in up to 35% of global lakes, sedimentation is dominated by allochthonous rather than autochthonous material. We then provide first-order estimates showing that, upon increase in phytoplankton biomass in these lakes, priming-enabled degradation of recalcitrant OM will release up to 2.1 Tg C annually, which would otherwise be buried for geological times.

Implicature priming, salience, and context adaptation.

Recent experimental research has observed two kinds of priming effects on quantity implicatures. One is the Strong-Weak contrast, where more quantity implicatures are observed after prime trials forcing interpretations with quantity implicatures ('Strong primes') than after prime trials forcing interpretations without quantity implicatures ('Weak primes'). The other effect is the Alternative-Weak contrast, where prime trials mentioning alternative expressions ('Alternative primes') similarly lead to more quantity implicatures. It has been claimed that both of these effects should be understood in terms of increased salience of alternative expressions used to compute quantity implicatures. We present experimental evidence that speaks against this hypothesis. With the help of novel baseline conditions, which were absent in previous studies on implicature priming, we observe that the results in the priming paradigm commonly used in the literature are inverse preference effects in the sense that robust priming effects are observed towards interpretations that are normally unexpected, and depending on the baseline expectation, each of the three prime types mentioned above may have priming effects. We furthermore investigated different types of alternative priming for so-called ad hoc implicatures and found that for these implicatures, presenting an alternative expression in a simple sentence does not have a priming effect on the implicature of a similarly simple sentence, but presenting it in a more complex conjunctive construction does. Our results also show that conjunctions of similar but irrelevant expressions have a similarly robust priming effect and that conjunctive sentences with two conjuncts do not give rise to priming effects on the interpretation of sentences of the same syntactic complexity, but those with three conjuncts do. To make sense of these observations, we propose that what crucially matters for priming implicatures is incremental change in one's probabilistic expectations about the current conversational context brought about by a process we call context adaptation.

Assessment of heavy metals mobilization in road-deposited sediments induced by COVID-19 disinfection.

Road-deposited sediments (RDS) on urban impervious surfaces are important carriers of heavy metals (HMs), and can contribute to urban runoff pollution. With the outbreak of COVID-19, chlorinated disinfectants (CDs) have been extensively sprayed on these surfaces. This practice may have a superposed or priming effect on HMs contaminants in RDS, yet this remains unknown. This study examined the effects of seven CDs concentration gradients (0, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 60,000 mg/L) on the leaching and chemical forms of HMs (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in seven particle size fractions (<44, 44-63, 63-105, 105-149, 149-250, 250-450, 450-1000 µm). The results showed that CDs can promote the leaching of HMs in RDS, at the recommended CDs dose (2000 mg/L), except for Pb, the leaching amounts increased by 21.8%-237.2% compared with the untreated RDS. The alteration in the leaching were primarily attributed to the redistribution of chemical forms of HMs in RDS, specifically, the acid-extractable fractions percentage increased by 0.23%-24.39%, and the reducible fractions percentages decreased by 3.21%-38.35%. The lower oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and alkalinity of CDs as strong oxidants were responsible for the redistribution of forms. The leaching and chemical forms of HMs vary among different particle sizes, but in any case, finer particle sizes (< 105 µm) still dominate their contribution. The current control measure of street sweeping is ineffective in removing these particles. These findings will facilitate the development of strategies for controlling urban diffuse pollution from RDS during the pandemic. Finally, this study suggests potential directions for future research.

The contribution of wetland plant litter to soil carbon pool: Decomposition rates and priming effects.

Plant litter input is an important driver of soil/sediment organic carbon (SOC) turnover. A large number of studies have targeted litter-derived C input tracing at a global level. However, little is known about how litter carbon (C) input via various plant tissues affects SOC accumulation and mineralization. Here, we conducted laboratory incubation to investigate the effects of leaf litter and stem litter input on SOC dynamics using the natural 13C isotope technique. A 122-day laboratory incubation period showed that litter input facilitated SOC accumulation. Leaf and stem litter inputs increased soil total organic carbon content by 37.6% and 15.5%, respectively. Leaf litter input had a higher contribution to SOC accumulation than stem litter input. Throughout the incubation period, the δ13C values of stem litter and leaf litter increased by 1.5‰ and 3.3‰, respectively, while δ13CO2 derived from stem litter and δ13CO2 derived from leaf litter decreased by 4.2‰ and 6.1‰, respectively, suggesting that the magnitude of δ13C in litter and δ13CO2 shifts varied, depending on litter tissues. The cumulative CO2-C emissions of leaf litter input treatments were 27.56%-42.47% higher than those of the stem litter input treatments, and thus leaf litter input promoted SOC mineralization more than stem litter input. Moreover, the proportion of increased CO2-C emissions to cumulative CO2-C emissions (57.18%-92.12%) was greater than the proportion of litter C input to total C (18.7%-36.8%), indicating that litter input could stimulate native SOC mineralization, which offsets litter-derived C in the soil. Overall, litter input caused a net increase in SOC accumulation, but it also accelerated the loss of native SOC. These findings provide a reliable basis for assessing SOC stability and net C sink capacity in wetlands.

How processing emotion affects language control in bilinguals.

Research has shown that several variables affect language control among bilingual speakers but the effect of affective processing remains unexplored. Chinese-English bilinguals participated in a novel prime-target language switching experiment in which they first judged the affective valence (i.e., positive or negative) of auditorily presented words and then named pictures with neutral emotional valence in either the same (non-switch trial) or different language (switch trial). Brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The behavioral performance showed that the typical switch cost (i.e., the calculated difference between switch and non-switch trials) emerged after processing positive words but not after negative words. Brain imaging demonstrated that processing negative words immediately before non-switch picturing naming trials (but not for switch trials) increased activation in brain areas associated with domain-general cognitive control. The opposite patterns were found after processing positive words. These findings suggest that an (emotional) negative priming effect is induced by spontaneous exposure to negative words and that these priming effects may be triggered by reactive emotional processing and that they may interact with higher level cognitive functions.

Soil microbial community structure dynamics shape the rhizosphere priming effect patterns in the paddy soil.

Microbial community structure plays a crucial part in soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition and variation of rhizosphere priming effects (RPEs) during plant growth. However, it is still uncertain how bacterial community structure regulates RPEs in soil and how RPE patterns respond to plant growth. Therefore, we conducted an experiment to examine the RPE response to plant growth and nitrogen (N) addition (0 (N0), 150 (N150), and 300 (N300) kg N ha-1) using the 13C natural abundance method in a C3 soil (paddy soil) - C4 plant (maize, Zea mays L.) system; we then explored the underlying biotic mechanisms using 16S rRNA sequencing techniques. Networks were constructed to identify keystone taxa and to analyze the correlations between network functional modules of bacterial community and C decomposition. The results indicated that negative and positive RPEs occurred on Day 30 and Day 75 after maize planting, respectively. Bacterial community structure significantly changed and tended to shift from r-strategists toward K-strategists with changing labile C: N stoichiometry and soil pH during plant growth stages. The different network modules of bacterial community were aggregated in response to RPE pattern variation. Caulobacteraceae, Bacillus, and Chitinophagaceae were keystone taxa on Day 30, while Gemmatimonas, Candidatus Koribacter, and Xanthobacteraceae were keystone taxa on Day 75. Moreover, keystone taxa with different C utilization strategies were significantly different between the two growth stages and related closely to different RPE patterns. This study provides deeper insights into the network structure of bacterial communities corresponding to RPE patterns and emphasizes the significance of keystone taxa in RPE variation.

Embedding of biochar in soil mineral fractions: Evidence from benzene polycarboxylic acids molecular biomarkers.

Investigators are debating on the positive and negative priming effects of biochar on native soil organic carbon (SOC), which is largely attributed to the technical barrier of identifying biochar contribution to the apparently measured SOC or mineralized CO2. We combined benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCAs) molecular biomarkers and soil particle density fractionation to identify biochar contributions to the carbon content in three representative allitic soils in Yunnan. The soil-biochar mixture was incubated for one-month to avoid significant biodegradation of biochar. The results showed that BPCAs were mainly distributed in free light fractions (fLF) up to 87 % of the total BPCAs contents after one month incubation. Recognition of BPCAs in occluded light fractions (oLF) and heavy fractions (HF) suggested a significant interaction between biochar and soil mineral particles. In addition, the percentage of B6CA is comparable or even higher in HF than in fLF or oLF. Thus, biochar-mineral interactions may be an additional stabilization mechanism besides the condensed aromatic structures in biochar. The apparently measured carbon contents increased after biochar application, and both positive and negative priming effects to native SOC were observed after deducting biochar contents based an accurate calculation from BPCAs. The most native SOC depletion (positive priming effects) was noted for the soil with the most favored biochar embedding in soil mineral compositions. This study emphasized that combining BPCAs molecular biomarkers and soil particle density fractionation could accurately quantify different carbon pools, and thus facilitate a comprehensive understanding on the stabilization and turnover of biochar in soils.

Contrasting effects of maize litter and litter-derived biochar on the temperature sensitivity of paddy soil organic matter decomposition.

Organic matter input regulates the rate and temperature sensitivity (expressed as Q 10) of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition by changing microbial composition and activities. It remains unclear how the incorporation of litter-made biochar instead of litter affects the Q 10 of SOM decomposition. Using a unique combination of two-and three-source partitioning methods (isotopic discrimination between C3/C4 pathways and 14C labeling), we investigated: (1) how maize litter versus litter-made biochar (of C4 origin) addition influenced the Q 10 of SOM (C3 origin) under 10°C warming, and (2) how the litter or biochar amendments affected the Q 10 of 14C-labeled fresh organic matter (FOM) after long-term incubation. Compared with biochar addition, litter increased the rates and Q 10 of mass-specific respiration, SOM and FOM decomposition, as well as the contents of SOM-derived dissolved organic C (DOC) and total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA). Litter-amended soils have much higher activities (V max) of ß-glucosidase, N-acetyl-ß-glucosaminidase, and leucine aminopeptidase, suggesting larger enzyme pools than in soils with biochar. The Q 10 of enzyme V max (1.6-2.0) and K m (1.2-1.4) were similar between litter-and biochar-amended soils, and remained stable with warming. However, warming reduced microbial biomass (PLFA) and enzyme activity (V max), suggesting decreased enzyme production associated with smaller microbial biomass or faster enzyme turnover at higher temperatures. Reductions in PLFA content and enzyme V max due to warming were larger in litter-amended soils (by 31%) than in the control and biochar-amended soils (by 4-11%), implying the active litter-feeding microorganisms have a smaller degree of heat tolerance than the inactive microorganisms under biochar amendments. The reduction in enzyme activity (V max) by warming was lower in soils with biochar than in the control soil. Our modeling suggested that the higher Q 10 in litter-amended soils was mainly caused by faster C loss under warming, linked to reductions in microbial biomass and growth efficiency, rather than the slightly increased SOM-originated substrate availability (DOC). Overall, using straw-made biochar instead of straw per se as a soil amendment lowers the Q 10 of SOM and FOM by making microbial communities and enzyme pools more temperature-tolerant, and consequently reduces SOM losses under warming.

Mechanisms of soil organic carbon stability and its response to no-till: A global synthesis and perspective.

Mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization have been widely studied due to their relevance in the global carbon cycle. No-till (NT) has been frequently adopted to sequester SOC; however, limited information is available regarding whether sequestered SOC will be stabilized for long term. Thus, we reviewed the mechanisms affecting SOC stability in NT systems, including the priming effects (PE), molecular structure of SOC, aggregate protection, association with soil minerals, microbial properties, and environmental effects. Although a more steady-state molecular structure of SOC is observed in NT compared with conventional tillage (CT), SOC stability may depend more on physical and chemical protection. On average, NT improves macro-aggregation by 32.7%, and lowers SOC mineralization in macro-aggregates compared with CT. Chemical protection is also important due to the direct adsorption of organic molecules and the enhancement of aggregation by soil minerals. Higher microbial activity in NT could also produce binding agents to promote aggregation and the formation of metal-oxidant organic complexes. Thus, microbial residues could be stabilized in soils over the long term through their attachment to mineral surfaces and entrapment of aggregates under NT. On average, NT reduces SOC mineralization by 18.8% and PE intensities after fresh carbon inputs by 21.0% compared with CT (p < .05). Although higher temperature sensitivity (Q10 ) is observed in NT due to greater Q10 in macro-aggregates, an increase of soil moisture regime in NT could potentially constrain the improvement of Q10 . This review improves process-based understanding of the physical and chemical mechanism of protection that can act, independently or interactively, to enhance SOC preservation. It is concluded that SOC sequestered in NT systems is likely to be stabilized over the long term.

Root exudate chemistry affects soil carbon mobilization via microbial community reassembly.

Plant roots are one of the major mediators that allocate carbon captured from the atmosphere to soils as rhizodeposits, including root exudates. Although rhizodeposition regulates both microbial activity and the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, the effects of particular exudate species on soil carbon fluxes and key rhizosphere microorganisms remain unclear. By combining high-throughput sequencing, q-PCR, and NanoSIMS analyses, we characterized the bacterial community structure, quantified total bacteria depending on root exudate chemistry, and analyzed the consequences on the mobility of mineral-protected carbon. Using well-controlled incubation experiments, we showed that the three most abundant groups of root exudates (amino acids, carboxylic acids, and sugars) have contrasting effects on the release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and bioavailable Fe in an Ultisol through the disruption of organo-mineral associations and the alteration of bacterial communities, thus priming organic matter decomposition in the rhizosphere. High resolution (down to 50 nm) NanoSIMS images of mineral particles indicated that iron and silicon co-localized significantly more organic carbon following amino acid inputs than treatments without exudates or with carboxylic acids. The application of sugar strongly reduced microbial diversity without impacting soil carbon mobilization. Carboxylic acids increased the prevalence of Actinobacteria and facilitated carbon mobilization, whereas amino acid addition increased the abundances of Proteobacteria that prevented DOC release. In summary, root exudate functions are defined by their chemical composition that regulates bacterial community composition and, consequently, the biogeochemical cycling of carbon in the rhizosphere.

Working memory capacity modulates expectancy-based strategic processing: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.

The present research measured participants' event-related brain activity while they performed a Stroop-priming task that induced the implementation of expectancy-based strategic processes. Participants identified a colored (red vs. green) target patch preceded by a prime word (GREEN or RED), with incongruent prime-target pairings being more frequent (75 %) than congruent pairs (25 %). The prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was manipulated at two levels: 300 vs. 700 ms. Participants also performed a change localization task to assess their working memory capacity (WMC). At the 300 ms SOA, all participants presented a Stroop-priming congruency effect (slower responses on incongruent than on congruent trials) and an increased N2 amplitude in incongruent trials, irrespective of their WMC. At the 700-ms SOA, the lower-WMC group showed again a larger negative-going waveform to incongruent targets, whereas the higher-WMC group exhibited a reversed Stroop-priming congruency effect (faster responses to incongruent targets) and the N2 component was absent.

Gain in carbon: Deciphering the abiotic and biotic mechanisms of biochar-induced negative priming effects in contrasting soils.

The biochar-induced priming effects (PEs) were investigated by applying maize straw (C4) derived biochar to eight C3 soils, with a gradient of pH and a sub-gradient of soil organic carbon (SOC). To decipher the physicochemical and microbial mechanisms, we adopted C-isotopic analysis, high-throughput sequencing and multivariate statistical analyses such as random forest (RF) and structure equation modeling (SEM). Negative and neutral PEs were observed up to -48.5% of relative PEs during 28 days of incubation. All the acidic soils exhibited negative PEs, so as the neutral Alfisol and alkaline Aridisol, which had a suppression effect on SOC mineralization accounted for -29.4 and -32.0% of relative PEs. Among all abiotic factors, soil silt-clay fraction and the initial pH values play the most important roles in PEs determination through directly inhibiting PEs by protection SOC and indirectly shaping bacterial communities respectively. On the whole community level, biochar treatments defined much less microbiome (0.6% and 1.2% for variance of bacterial and fungal community) than soil types (93.5% and 83.3% respectively) across soils. Thus, the initial community (i.e., bacteria alpha-diversity and copiotrophic bacteria as revealed by SEM) of different soils might be more critical for PE prediction. Furthermore, co-occurrence network analysis indicated out-competition of fungi by bacteria with increase of mutual exclusion and decrease of fungal occupancy. This could exacerbate negative PEs in soils with lower bacterial alpha-diversity and dominance by copiotrophys due to less functional complementary for recalcitrant SOC decomposition.

Effects of different stoichiometric ratios on mineralisation of root exudates and its priming effect in paddy soil.

In paddy soil, the root exudates strongly influence the microbial activity and soil organic matter (SOM) mineralisation. However, the stoichiometric regulation of the mineralisation of root exudates and their priming effect on paddy soil remains unclear. Thus, we used manipulative laboratory incubations to measure the mineralisation of root exudates and the subsequent priming effect in paddy soil under different stoichiometric conditions. In this study, root exudates (simulated by 13C-labelled glucose, alanine, and oxalic acid) were added to the paddy soil along with four different amounts of N and P. The addition of simulated root exudates (SREs) enhanced the total CO2 and CH4 emissions. The mineralisation of SREs decreased by 20-45% after the addition of N and P when compared with exclusive SREs application. The addition of N and P inhibited the SREs-derived CH4 emissions when compared with SREs application alone. The mineralisation of soil organic matter (SOM) increased with SREs application, thereby generating a positive priming effect for CO2 and CH4 emissions. However, the priming effect for CO2 and CH4 emissions was reduced with increased amounts of N and P. Furthermore, the addition of SREs with increasing N and P significantly enhanced the microbial SREs-derived C-use efficiency. Structural equation models indicated that NH4+-N and Olsen P negatively influenced the priming effect, whereas the microbial biomass and enzyme stoichiometry positively influenced the priming effect. In conclusion, our data suggest that SREs combined with increasing amounts of N and P could meet microbial stoichiometric demands and regulate microbial activity, which finally inhibited the mineralisation of SREs-C and the priming effect on paddy soil and positively affected C sequestration.

Combined application of biochar and N increased temperature sensitivity of soil respiration but still decreased the soil CO2 emissions in moso bamboo plantations.

Biochar addition to soil is increasing worldwide, the effect of combined application of biochar and nitrogen (N) fertilizer on soil respiration is still unknown. Understanding of the interactive effects of biochar and N fertilizer addition on temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and temporal dynamics of soil CO2 emissions in forest ecosystems remains limited. We conducted a full factorial experiment with biochar (B0, B1 and B2 with 0, 5 and 20 t·ha-1, respectively) and N fertilizer addition (N0 and N1 with 0 and 50 kg·ha-1 NH4NO3, respectively) as factors, to study their effects on soil respiration rate, temperature sensitivity (Q10), soil available nutrients, and their relations in moso bamboo plantations in subtropical China from April 2014 to April 2016. We found that, irrespective of biochar addition rate, N fertilization increased Q10 on the one hand, and irrespective of N fertilization rate, lower application rate of biochar resulted in a higher Q10, on the other hand. In spite of increased Q10, combined application of biochar and N decreased soil respiration rate in both growing season and non-growing season, as well as the annual cumulative soil CO2 emissions. Annual cumulative soil CO2 emissions were found to be significantly positively correlated with soil total nitrogen (STN) (p = 0.028) in 0-10 cm soil layer, and with soil ammonium (NH4+) (p = 0.000) and soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) (p = 0.000) in both 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil layer. The present study suggests that the combined application of biochar and N fertilizer can be widely used in subtropical forest ecosystems where soil N is limited, because it increases soil fertility and, at the same time, decreases soil CO2 emissions.

Periphytic algae decouple fungal activity from leaf litter decomposition via negative priming.

1. Well-documented in terrestrial settings, priming effects describe stimulated heterotrophic microbial activity and decomposition of recalcitrant carbon by additions of labile carbon. In aquatic settings, algae produce labile exudates which may elicit priming during organic matter decomposition, yet the directions and mechanisms of aquatic priming effects remain poorly tested. 2. We tested algal-induced priming during decomposition of two leaf species of contrasting recalcitrance, Liriodendron tulipifera and Quercus nigra, in experimental streams under light or dark conditions. We measured litter-associated algal, bacterial, and fungal biomass and activity, stoichiometry, and litter decomposition rates over 43 days. 3. Light increased algal biomass and production rates and increased bacterial abundance 141-733% and fungal production rates 20-157%. Incubations with a photosynthesis inhibitor established that algal activity directly stimulated fungal production rates in the short-term. 4. Algal-stimulated fungal production rates on both leaf species were not coupled to long-term increases in fungal biomass accrual or litter decomposition rates, which were 154-157% and 164-455% greater in the dark, respectively. The similar patterns on fast- vs. slow-decomposing L. tulipifera and Q. nigra, respectively, indicated that substrate recalcitrance may not mediate priming strength or direction. 5. In this example of negative priming, periphytic algae decoupled fungal activity from decomposition, likely by providing labile carbon invested toward greater fungal growth and reproduction instead of recalcitrant carbon degradation. If common, algal-induced negative priming could stimulate heterotrophy reliant on labile carbon yet suppress decomposition of recalcitrant carbon, modifying energy and nutrients available to upper trophic levels and enhancing organic carbon storage or export in well-lit aquatic habitats.

Masking procedures can influence priming effects besides their effects on conscious perception.

Masked priming has been employed to study the role of consciousness for different levels of visual processing. However, masking procedures differ systematically between studies. To examine these procedural differences we contrasted priming effects with metacontrast masking, which is often applied in the context of perceptual priming, and priming effects with sandwich pattern masking, frequently used in studies on semantic priming. Results indicate that the amount of masking neither affects perceptual nor semantic priming effects in a semantic categorization task when a metacontrast masking paradigm was used. However, perceptual and semantic priming effects increased with increasing prime visibility when a sandwich pattern masking paradigm was used. Findings suggest that different types of masking procedures affect the processing of the masked stimuli in substantially different ways even if the masking effect on conscious perception of these stimuli is comparable.

Expectancy-Based Strategic Processes Are Influenced by Spatial Working Memory Load and Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity.

The present research examined whether imposing a high (or low) working memory (WM) load in different types of non-verbal WM tasks could affect the implementation of expectancy-based strategic processes in a sequential verbal Stroop task. Participants had to identify a colored (green vs. red) target patch that was preceded by a prime word (GREEN or RED), which was either incongruent or congruent with the target color on 80% and 20% of the trials, respectively. Previous findings have shown that participants can strategically use this information to predict the upcoming target color, and avoid the standard Stroop interference effect. The Stroop task was combined with different types of non-verbal WM tasks. In Experiment 1, participants had to retain sets of four arrows that pointed either in the same (low WM load) or in different directions (high WM load). In Experiment 2, they had to remember the spatial locations of four dots which either formed a straight line (low load) or were randomly scattered in a square grid (high load). In addition, participants in the two experiments performed a change localization task to assess their WM capacity (WMC). The results in both experiments showed a reliable congruency by WM load interaction. When the Stroop task was performed under a high WM load, participants were unable to efficiently ignore the incongruence of the prime, as they consistently showed a standard Stroop effect, regardless of their WMC. Under a low WM load, however, a strategically dependent effect (reversed Stroop) emerged. This ability to ignore the incongruence of the prime was modulated by WMC, such that the reversed Stroop effect was mainly found in higher WMC participants. The findings that expectancy-based strategies on a verbal Stroop task are modulated by load on different types of spatial WM tasks point at a domain-general effect of WM on strategic processing. The present results also suggest that the impact of loading WM on expectancy-based strategies can be modulated by individual differences in WMC.