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Soils contain the greatest reservoir of biodiversity on Earth, and the functionality of the soil ecosystem sustains the rest of the terrestrial biosphere. This functionality results from complex interactions between biological and physical processes that are strongly modulated by the soil physical structure. Using a novel combination of biochemical and biophysical indicators and synchrotron microtomography, we have discovered that soil microbes and plant roots microengineer their habitats by changing the porosity and clustering properties (i.e., spatial correlation) of the soil pores. Our results indicate that biota act to significantly alter their habitat toward a more porous, ordered, and aggregated structure that has important consequences for functional properties, including transport processes. These observations support the hypothesis that the soil-plant-microbe complex is self-organized.

We used differences in small subunit ribosomal RNA genes to identify groups of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that are active in the colonisation of plant roots growing in arable fields around North Yorkshire, UK. Root samples were collected from four arable fields and four crop species, fungal sequences were amplified from individual plants by the polymerase chain reaction using primers NS31 and AM1. The products were cloned and 303 clones were classified by their restriction pattern with HinfI or RsaI; 72 were subsequently sequenced. Colonisation was dominated by Glomus species with a preponderance of only two sequence types, which are closely related. There is evidence for seasonal variation in colonisation in terms of both level of colonisation and sequence types present. Fungal diversity was much lower than that previously reported for a nearby woodland.

Key species groups that affect major ecological processes are vital components of community diversity. Many such key groups are found in the soil, including the mycorrhizal fungi that may connect plants into a functional “wood-wide web” 1 . Arbuscular mycorrhizal associations are formed by fungi of the order Glomales with 90% of land plant families, and many arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are thought to have a broad host range 2 . Here we show that, despite this broad host range, the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is strikingly low in arable sites compared with a woodland.

We used differences in small subunit ribosomal RNA genes to identify groups of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that are active in the colonisation of plant roots growing in arable fields around North Yorkshire, UK. Root samples were collected from four arable fields and four crop species, fungal sequences were amplified from individual plants by the polymerase chain reaction using primers NS31 and AM1. The products were cloned and 303 clones were classified by their restriction pattern with HinfI or RsaI; 72 were subsequently sequenced. Colonisation was dominated by Glomus species with a preponderance of only two sequence types, which are closely related. There is evidence for seasonal variation in colonisation in terms of both level of colonisation and sequence types present. Fungal diversity was much lower than that previously reported for a nearby woodland.

Soils contain the greatest reservoir of biodiversity on Earth, and the functionality of the soil ecosystem sustains the rest of the terrestrial biosphere. This functionality results from complex interactions between biological and physical processes that are strongly modulated by the soil physical structure. Using a novel combination of biochemical and biophysical indicators and synchrotron microtomography, we have discovered that soil microbes and plant roots microengineer their habitats by changing the porosity and clustering properties (i.e., spatial correlation) of the soil pores. Our results indicate that biota act to significantly alter their habitat toward a more porous, ordered, and aggregated structure that has important consequences for functional properties, including transport processes. These observations support the hypothesis that the soil-plant-microbe complex is self-organized

This case study draws from a recent experience in which we critically reviewed our efforts of teaching technical writing within our undergraduate laboratories. We address the questions: “What do we want to accomplish?” and “So how might we do this effectively and efficiently?” As part of Clemson University's Writing-Across-The-Curriculum Program, English department consultants worked with Mechanical Engineering faculty and graduate assistants on technical writing pedagogy. We report on audience, genre, and conventions as important issues in lab reports and have recommended specific strategies across the program for improvements. Pedagogical questions continue about the content, feedback and methodology of the technical laboratory writing experience in engineering programs. In fact, there is no known prescription for success, and different programs try different approaches. Some programs delegate primary technical writing instruction to campus English departments, while others maintain such instruction within the engineering department, and hybrids in-between exist. But the approaches seem as much driven by financial necessity and numbers efficiency as they are by pedagogical effectiveness. While better-heeled departments can employ technically trained writing specialists to tutor students individually, the overwhelming majority of engineers are trained at quality institutions whose available resources require other methods. So how can we do this effectively and efficiently? At the heart of the matter is the question, “What do we want to accomplish?” We find ourselves trying to accomplish two instructional tasks that are often competing and we suspect that we are not alone. The first task deals with communicating effectively. This task focuses on articulating through format, structure, grammar and syntax. Writing specialists are best trained in teaching this practice. The other task deals with communicating technically. This task focuses on technical substance, technical analysis and interpretation, and the overall use of engineering principles and concepts to explain and to conclude an answer to a posed question. Technical “Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”