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Research Project:
Soil Carbon in Urban Environments
Location: Crop Systems & Global Change
2006 Annual Report
4d.Progress report.
This report serves to document research progress under a Specific Cooperative agreement between ARS and the University of Maryland, College Park. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the parent project, 1275-11210-001-00D, Crop and Weed Responses to Rising Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. Beginning in March of 2006, we initiated a new set of experiments to determine the onset and development rate of microrhizal populations along an urban-rural transect. Previous work has shown that urbanization effects, particularly increases in air and soil temperature, as well as changes in growing season length and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, may serve as an approximate surrogate for short-term climatic change on a global level. In addition to quantifying microrhizal populations along this transect, we have also begun work to examine the role microrhizae may play in enhancing the establishment and persistence of common agricultural weeds such as lambsquarters. Understanding these links, particularly in relation to climatic change, will be essential in predicting which weed species may proliferate, a key component in determining potential changes in weed management strategies for the future.
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Last Modified: 05/08/2009
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