Equipment for Research on Biological Controls of Soil Processes

该奖项为一群植物学家提供资金， 对控制土壤养分的过程感兴趣 在温带和热带地区可用。 调查人员 研究农业和森林土壤， 微型动物的作用，氮-碳-磷的相互作用， 根系动力学、固氮作用、有机物的腐烂， 营养物质生产或循环中的水动力学。 的 需要所要求的设备来提供准确的测量 碳、氮、磷和硫的含量 的研究，并用于测量和分析根系生长和 土壤中的微型动物 土壤养分特性及其与生态系统的关系 直接或间接地依赖于它来维持生计是一个话题 其基本重要性近年来已得到广泛承认， 年 现在人们普遍担心， 将林地转为农业用途，现在主要是 发生在热带地区， 保护现有森林所需的管理技术， 最大限度地从土地中获得的利益， 已经发生了。 后者的关键是基本了解 自然（森林）中养分的形成、利用和再循环 人工（农业）生态系统。 使用 通过该奖项资助的设备类型对这一点至关重要 认识

This award provides funds to a group of botanists who are interested in the processes that control soil nutrient availability in temperate and tropical regions. The investigators study both agricultural and forest soils in efforts to understand the role of microfauna, nitrogen-carbon-phosphorus interactions, root dynamics, nitrogen fixation, decay of organic matter, and water dynamics in the production or cycling of nutrients. The requested equipment is needed to provide the accurate measurements of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur needed for these types of studies, and for measurement and analysis of root growth and of the microfauna in the soil. The nutrient properties of soil and its relation to the ecosystem directly or indirectly dependant on it for sustenance is a topic whose fundamental importance has been widely recognized in recent years. There is now widespread concern about the continued conversion of forest lands to agricultural purposes, now largely occurring in tropical areas, and about the kinds of land management techniques needed to preserve existing forest and to maximize the benefits gained from land where conversion has already occurred. Key to the latter is a basic understanding of the formation, use and recycling of nutrients in natural (forest) and artificial (agricultural) ecosystems. The use of equipment of the types funded through this award is crucial to this understanding.