Plant attributes have direct and indirect effects on soil microbes via plant inputs and plant-mediated soil changes. However, whether plant taxonomic and functional diversities can explain the soil microbial diversity of restored forest ecosystems remains elusive. Here, we tested the linkage between plant attributes and soil microbial communities in four restored forests (Acacia species, Eucalyptus species, mixed coniferous species, mixed native species). The trait-based approaches were applied for plant properties and high-throughput Illumina sequencing was applied for fungal and bacterial diversity. The total number of soil microbial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) varied among the four forests. The highest richness of fungal OTUs was found in the Acacia forest. However, bacterial OTUs were highest in the Eucalyptus forest. Species richness was positively and significantly related to fungal and bacterial richness. Plant taxonomic diversity (species richness and species diversity) explained more of the soil microbial diversity than the functional diversity and soil properties. Prediction of fungal richness was better than that of bacterial richness. In addition, root traits explained more variation than the leaf traits. Overall, plant taxonomic diversity played a more important role than plant functional diversity and soil properties in shaping the soil microbial diversity of the four forests.

Restoration is essential for supporting key ecosystem functions such as aboveground biomass production. However, the relative importance of functional versus taxonomic diversity in predicting aboveground biomass during restoration is poorly studied. Here, we used a trait-based approach to test for the importance of multiple plant diversity attributes in regulating aboveground biomass in a 30-years-old restored subtropical forest in southern China. We show that both taxonomic and functional diversities are significant and positive regulators of aboveground biomass; however, functional diversity (FD) was more important than taxonomic diversity (species richness) in controlling aboveground biomass. FD had the strongest direct effect on aboveground biomass compared with species richness, soil nutrients, and community weighted mean (CWM) traits. Our results further indicate that leaf and root morphological traits and traits related to the nutrient content in plant tissues represent the existence of a leaf and root economic spectrum, and the acquisitive resource use strategy influenced aboveground biomass. Our results suggest that both taxonomic and FD play a role in shaping aboveground biomass, but FD is more important in supporting aboveground biomass in this type of environments. These results imply that enhancing FD is important to restoring and managing degraded forest landscapes.

Aims: To determine the effect of different micronutrients including zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and boron (B) on growth and yield of rice (BRRI dhan29). Study Design: The study was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was conducted at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the boro season of 2014-2015. Methodology: There were altogether five treatment combinations viz. T₁: Control (NPKS), T₂: NPKS+Zn, T₃: NPKS+Zn+Cu, T₄: NPKS+Zn+Cu+Mn and T₅: NPKS+Zn+Cu+Mn+B. The total number of unit plots was 15 and the size of unit plot was 5 m × 3 m. The doses of micronutrients were 1 kg Zn ha^-1, 2 kg Cu ha^-1, 3 kg Mn ha^-1 and 1 kg B ha^-1. Results: The grain and straw yield and the yield contributing characters like plant height, panicle length, number of effective tillers hill^-1, grains panicle^-1 and dry matter yield were significantly influenced by different treatments. The treatment T₃ produced the tallest plant (44.67 cm, 61.00 cm, 72.07 cm and 92.13 cm at 30, 45, 60 DAT and at harvest respectively), highest number of tillers (10.80, 20.90, 21.67 and 18.40 at 30, 45, 60 DAT and at harvest respectively) and dry matter yield (2.04 g, 3.70 g, 8.16 g and 8.44 g at 30, 45, 60 DAT and at harvest respectively) over the other treatments. The highest panicle length (25.00 cm), number of filled grains per panicle (105.50), grains per panicle (128.50) and thousand grain weight (22.10 g) were also observed in treatment T₃. The lowest values of all the parameters were obtained from control (T₁). Grain yield (6.13 t ha^-1) and straw yield (7.23 t ha^-1) of boro rice were also highest due to treatment T₃ followed by T₄, T₂ and T₅. Based on the overall results, treatment T₃ was found to be the best combination of micronutrients along with NPK for obtaining maximum yield and quality of boro rice. Conclusion: Application of Zn and Cu may be recommended for better performance of rice.

Length–weight relationships (LWRs) were determined for three Carangid fish, [Alepes vari (Cuvier, 1833), Uraspis uraspis (Günther, 1860) and Carangiodes oblongus (Cuvier, 1833)] inhabiting in the Bay of Bengal coast, Bangladesh. A total of 147 individuals of three species were sampled from four different sampling points of the Bay of Bengal coast, Bangladesh and examined from April 2017 to October 2017. Fishermen operated beach seine nets (mesh size BSN, 30 mm) and drift gillnet (10.5 cm) twice in each sampling campaign to catch the studied species. The calculated value for parameter “b” of LWRs were 3.003, 2.945 and 2.980 for A. vari, U.uraspis and C. oblongus, respectively.