Trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms associate with violence in inner city civilians.

Understanding whether a history of psychological trauma is associated with perpetrating aggressive and violent behavior is of critical importance to public health. This relationship is especially important to study within urban areas where violence is prevalent. In this paper we examined whether a history of trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in inner city civilians was associated with violent behavior.

Responses of soil fungi to logging and oil palm agriculture in Southeast Asian tropical forests.

Human land use alters soil microbial composition and function in a variety of systems, although few comparable studies have been done in tropical forests and tropical agricultural production areas. Logging and the expansion of oil palm agriculture are two of the most significant drivers of tropical deforestation, and the latter is most prevalent in Southeast Asia. The aim of this study was to compare soil fungal communities from three sites in Malaysia that represent three of the most dominant land-use types in the Southeast Asia tropics: a primary forest, a regenerating forest that had been selectively logged 50 years previously, and a 25-year-old oil palm plantation.

Digging the New York City Skyline: soil fungal communities in green roofs and city parks.

In urban environments, green roofs provide a number of benefits, including decreased urban heat island effects and reduced energy costs for buildings. However, little research has been done on the non-plant biota associated with green roofs, which likely affect their functionality. For the current study, we evaluated whether or not green roofs planted with two native plant communities in New York City functioned as habitats for soil fungal communities, and compared fungal communities in green roof growing media to soil microbial composition in five city parks, including Central Park and the High Line.