Additionally, heterotrophic respiration and its radiocarbon signature were determined by eliminating rhizosphere respiration in trenched subplots (only control). In the control plots, rhizosphere respiration determined by C-14

signatures contributed between 47 and 61% during the growing season, but was small (4 +/- 8%) immediately before budding. Trenching revealed a smaller rhizosphere contribution of 33 +/- 8% (2009) and 22 +/- 9% (2010) during growing seasons.\n\nFlooding reduced annual soil CO2 efflux of the fen by 42% in 2009 and by 30% in 2010. STA-9090 in vitro The reduction was smaller in 2010 mainly through naturally elevated water level in the control plots. A one-week interruption of irrigation caused a strong short-lived increase in soil CO2 efflux, demonstrating the sensitivity of the fen to water table drawdown near the peat surface. The reduction in soil CO2 efflux in the flooded plots diminished the relative proportion of rhizosphere

respiration from 56 to 46%, suggesting that rhizosphere respiration was slightly more sensitive to flooding than heterotrophic respiration.”
“In an inbred population, selection may reduce the frequency of deleterious recessive alleles through a process known as purging. Empirical studies suggest, however, that the efficacy of purging in natural populations is highly variable. This variation may be due, in part, to variation in the AZD1480 chemical structure expression of inbreeding depression available for selection to act on. This experiment investigates the roles of life stage and early-life environment in determining the expression of inbreeding depression in Agrostemma githago. Four population-level crosses (self’, within’, near’ and far’) were conducted on 20 maternal plants from a focal population. Siblings were planted into one of three early environmental treatments with varying stress

levels. Within the focal population, evidence ACY-241 for purging of deleterious recessive alleles, as well as for variation in the expression of inbreeding depression across the life cycle was examined. In addition, the effect of early environment on the expression of inbreeding depression and the interaction with cross-type was measured. We find that deleterious recessive alleles have not been effectively purged from our focal population, the expression of inbreeding depression decreases over the course of the life cycle, and a stressful early environment reduces the variance in inbreeding depression expressed later in life, but does not consistently influence the relative fitness of inbred versus outcrossed individuals.