Temperate trees locally engineer decomposition and litter-bound microbiomes through differential litter deposits and species-specific soil conditioning.

Leaf decomposition varies widely across temperate forests, shaped by factors like litter quality, climate, soil properties, and decomposers, but forest heterogeneity may mask local tree influences on decomposition and litter-associated microbiomes. We used a 24-yr-old common garden forest to quantify local soil conditioning impacts on decomposition and litter microbiology. We introduced leaf litter bags from 10 tree species (5 arbuscular mycorrhizal; 5 ectomycorrhizal) to soil plots conditioned by all 10 species in a full-factorial design.

Leveraging aquatic-terrestrial interfaces to capture putative habitat generalists.

Habitat type is a strong determinant of microbial composition. Habitat interfaces, such as the boundary between aquatic and terrestrial systems, present unique combinations of abiotic factors for microorganisms to contend with. Aside from the spillover of certain harmful microorganisms from agricultural soils into water (e.

Leveraging microbiome rediversification for the ecological rescue of soil function.

Background: Global biodiversity losses threaten ecosystem services and can impact important functional insurance in a changing world. Microbial diversity and function can become depleted in agricultural systems and attempts to rediversify agricultural soils rely on either targeted microbial introductions or retaining natural lands as biodiversity reservoirs. As many soil functions are provided by a combination of microbial taxa, rather than outsized impacts by single taxa, such functions may benefit more from diverse microbiome additions than additions of individual commercial strains.

Farm-scale differentiation of active microbial colonizers.

Microbial movement is important for replenishing lost soil microbial biodiversity and driving plant root colonization, particularly in managed agricultural soils, where microbial diversity and composition can be disrupted. Despite abundant survey-type microbiome data in soils, which are obscured by legacy DNA and microbial dormancy, we do not know how active microbial pools are shaped by local soil properties, agricultural management, and at differing spatial scales. To determine how active microbial colonizers are shaped by spatial scale and environmental conditions, we deployed microbial traps (i.

A successful workplace program for voluntary counseling and testing and treatment of HIV/AIDS at Heineken, Rwanda.

Heineken Breweries launched a workplace HIV/AIDS program at its Rwanda subsidiary in September 2001. By January 25, 2005, 736/2,595 eligible individuals had reported for counseling and HIV testing: 380/521 employees (72.9%), 254/412 spouses (61.

Public-private partnerships to build human capacity in low income countries: findings from the Pfizer program.

Background: The ability of health organizations in developing countries to expand access to quality services depends in large part on organizational and human capacity. Capacity building includes professional development of staff, as well as efforts to create working environments conducive to high levels of performance. The current study evaluated an approach to public-private partnership where corporate volunteers give technical assistance to improve organizational and staff performance.

"Spoiling the womb": definitions, aetiologies and responses to infertility in north west province, Cameroon.

Only one generation ago, the Cameroonian national population policy was pro-natalist, with great attention paid to the problem of sterility. Now, family planning is promoted nationwide to reduce population growth, and infertility is not addressed by public health policy or services. In contrast to the biomedical definition used by planners, at the local level infertility is defined as the inability to have a child when desired, and it has many causes including contraception, abortion and witchcraft.