Project description:Both atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and soil microbial legacy (SML) can affect plant performance, the activity of soil N-cycling functional microbes and the relative abundance of N-cycling functional genes (NCFGs). In the grassland vegetation successional process, how the interaction of SML and N deposition affects the performance of dominant grass and NCFGs remains unclear. Therefore, we planted Leymus chinensis, a dominant grass in the Songnen grassland, in the soil taken from the early, medium, late, and stable successional stages. We subjected the plants to soil sterilization and N addition treatments and measured the plant traits and NCFG abundances (i.e., nifH, AOB amoA, nirS, and nirK). Our results showed the biomass and ramet number of L. chinensis in sterilized soil were significantly higher than those in non-sterilized soil, indicating that SML negatively affects the growth of L. chinensis. However, N addition increased the plant biomass and the AOB amoA gene abundance only in sterilized soils, implying that SML overrode the N addition effects because SML buffered the effects of increasing soil N availability on NCFGs. Therefore, we emphasize the potential role of SML in assessing the effects of N deposition on dominant plant performance and NCFGs in the grassland vegetation succession.
Project description:A ship encounters a higher drag in a stratified fluid compared to a homogeneous one. Grouped under the same "dead-water" vocabulary, two wave-making resistance phenomena have been historically reported. The first, the Nansen wave-making drag, generates a stationary internal wake which produces a kinematic drag with a noticeable hysteresis. The second, the Ekman wave-making drag, is characterized by velocity oscillations caused by a dynamical resistance whose origin is still unclear. The latter has been justified previously by a periodic emission of nonlinear internal waves. Here we show that these speed variations are due to the generation of an internal dispersive undulating depression produced during the initial acceleration of the ship within a linear regime. The dispersive undulating depression front and its subsequent whelps act as a bumpy treadmill on which the ship would move back and forth. We provide an analytical description of the coupled dynamics of the ship and the wave, which demonstrates the unsteady motion of the ship. Thanks to dynamic calculations substantiated by laboratory experiments, we prove that this oscillating regime is only temporary: the ship will escape the transient Ekman regime while maintaining its propulsion force, reaching the asymptotic Nansen limit. In addition, we show that the lateral confinement, often imposed by experimental setups or in harbors and locks, exacerbates oscillations and modifies the asymptotic speed.
