In a decade-long soil warming experiment in a mid-latitude hardwood forest, we documented changes in soil carbon and nitrogen cycling in order to investigate the consequences of these changes for the climate system. Here we show that whereas soil warming accelerates soil organic matter decay and carbon dioxide fluxes to the atmosphere, this response is small and short-lived for a mid-latitude forest, because of the limited size of the labile soil carbon pool. We also show that warming increases the availability of mineral nitrogen to plants. Because plant growth in many mid-latitude forests is nitrogen-limited, warming has the potential to indirectly stimulate enough carbon storage in plants to at least compensate for the carbon losses from soils. Our results challenge assumptions made in some climate models that lead to projections of large long-term releases of soil carbon in response to warming of forest ecosystems.

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Two algal feedstocks were prepared for direct comparison of their properties when converted to liquid hydrocarbon fuel. The first feedstock was prepared by growing an algal strain phototrophically using a bio-film based approach. The second feedstock employed the same algal strain but was stressed heterotrophically to significantly increase the lipid concentration. The algal feedstocks were converted to liquid hydrocarbon fuels. First, the whole algae (i.e. not defatted or lipid extracted) were converted to an intermediate biocrude using continuous hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) at 350°C and 3000 psig. The biocrudes were subsequently upgraded via catalytic hydrotreating (HT) at 400°C and 1500 psig to remove oxygen and nitrogen as well as increase the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio. The yield and composition of the products from HTL and HT processing of the feedstocks are compared. A techno-economic analysis of the process for converting each feedstock to liquid fuels was also conducted. The capital and operating costs associated with converting the feedstocks to finished transportation fuels are reported. A fuel minimum selling price is presented as a function of the cost of the algal feedstock delivered to the HTL conversion plant. Heterotrophic stressing of the algae significantly increased the concentration of lipids compared to the phototrophically grown algae. The high lipid concentration resulted in a doubling of the yield to biocrude, and hence diesel fuel blendstock. Although heterotrophic stressing of algae is costly, results presented in this study suggest that the significant increase in fuel yield over phototrophic growth could more than offset increased feedstock production costs. Water for recycle 6,560 kg/h Steam 11,400 kg/h Water for recycle 12,490 kg/h Water for offgas NH 3 scrubbing 9,810 kg/h Natural gas 740 kg/h To Process heating Key modeled performance results are shown in Table 7. The assumed scale is metric tons per day of algae on a dry and ash free basis, consistent with Jones et al.[12] Thus the algae slurry feed water flow rates differ for the two cases, reflecting the difference in the whole algae ash content.

1] Intensification of agricultural systems represents one of the most significant land use changes of the last century. High fertilizer inputs have been a key component of intensification and have contributed to increases in crop yield in most areas, but they can also cause profound alterations in the biogeochemical functioning of the soil, water, and air resources of these systems, particularly with regard to the nutrient nitrogen (N). Comprehensive studies linking field-scale fertilization with regional N fates and consequences for water resources are surprisingly sparse, particularly in the rapidly developing tropics and subtropics. Here we synthesize 15 years of research in wheat fields, drainage canals, estuaries, and coastal waters of the Yaqui Valley region of Sonora, Mexico. Although a relatively low proportion (<4%) of total N inputs are exported via surface water to the coast, the episodic nature of these losses can have significant ecological consequences. For instance, gaseous and dissolved N fluxes from agricultural fields are among the highest observed, and N-rich runoff from the Yaqui Valley fuels phytoplankton blooms in coastal waters. Reductions in N losses with improved timing of fertilizer application relative to crop demand are possible without negatively affecting crop yield or quality and may help to move this and similar regions closer to sustainability.

Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in the major cereals is critical for more sustainable nitrogen use in high-input agriculture, but our understanding of the potential for NUE improvement is limited by a paucity of reliable on-farm measurements. Limited on-farm data suggest that agronomic NUE (AE(N)) is lower and more variable than data from trials conducted at research stations, on which much of our understanding of AE(N) has been built. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude and causes of variability in AE(N) across an agricultural region, which we refer to as the achievement distribution of AE(N). The distribution of simulated AE(N) in 80 farmers' fields in an irrigated wheat system in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico, was compared with trials at a local research center (International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center; CIMMYT). An agroecosystem simulation model WNMM was used to understand factors controlling yield, AE(N), gaseous N emissions, and nitrate leaching in the region. Simulated AE(N) in the Yaqui Valley was highly variable, and mean on-farm AE(N) was 44% lower than trials with similar fertilization rates at CIMMYT. Variability in residual N supply was the most important factor determining simulated AE(N). Better split applications of N fertilizer led to almost a doubling of AE(N), increased profit, and reduced N pollution, and even larger improvements were possible with technologies that allow for direct measurement of soil N supply and plant N demand, such as site-specific nitrogen management.