Short-term phosphorus addition augments the effects of nitrogen addition on soil respiration in a typical steppe.

Soil respiration is one of the largest carbon (C) sources in terrestrial ecosystems and is sensitive to soil nutrient variation. Although nitrogen (N) availability affects soil respiration, other nutrients, such as phosphorous (P), which play pivotal roles in plant growth and microbial activity, may also affect soil respiration. In addition, N and P have been widely reported to interactively affect plant growth; however, their interactive effects on soil respiration have rarely been studied. Therefore, we conducted a short-term, two-factor experiment (from 2013 to 2015) to determine whether N and P addition can interactively affect soil respiration in a northern Chinese steppe. Nitrogen addition elevated soil respiration by 9.5%, whereas P addition did not affect soil respiration in the studied steppe across all treatments. However, neither N nor P addition significantly affected soil respiration alone in the experiment. Furthermore, N and P interactively affected soil respiration. Nitrogen addition did not affect soil respiration in the ambient P plots, but significantly elevated soil respiration (by 17.7%) in P addition plots across the three growing seasons. The effects of N addition on soil respiration were primarily correlated with the responses of vegetation cover and litter biomass to N addition in the experiment. Our results demonstrate that P addition augments the effects of N addition on soil respiration. Soil nutrient contents should be incorporated into predictive models for terrestrial C cycle response to N addition.

Dual-stimuli-responsive micelle of an ABC triblock copolymer bearing a redox-cleavable unit and a photocleavable unit at two block junctions.

The design, synthesis, and study of a new dual-stimuli-responsible ABC-type triblock copolymer are reported. Using ATRP and click coupling reaction, the prepared copolymer is composed of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), polystyrene (PS), and poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethylmethacrylate] (PDMAEMA) and features a redox-cleavable disulfide junction between the PEO and PS blocks as well as a photocleavable o-nitrobenzyl linkage between the PS and PDMAEMA blocks. This design allows the triblock copolymer to respond to both a reducing agent like dithiothreitol (DTT) and UV light, while having the minimum number of stimuli-reactive moieties in the copolymer structure (two per chain). The disruption of the triblock copolymer micelles in aqueous solution was examined under the action of either UV light or DTT alone or combined use of the two stimuli. It was found that the removal of one type of hydrophilic polymer chains from the water-soluble corona of the micelles with a hydrophobic PS core, that is, either redox-cleaved PEO or photocleaved PDMAEMA, could only result in a limited destabilization effect on the dispersion of the micelles. Severe aggregation of the polymer was observed only by applying the two stimuli converting the triblock copolymer onto three homopolymers. By monitoring the quenching by aqueous medium of the fluorescence of a hydrophobic dye (Nile Red) loaded in the triblock copolymer micelles, the effect on the payload release was also investigated of the different ways in which the micelles can be disrupted by the stimuli.

Ultrasound-responsive block copolymer micelles based on a new amplification mechanism.

A new approach for amplifying the effect of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in disassembling amphiphilic block copolymer (BCP) micelles in aqueous solution was investigated. The diblock copolymer is comprised of a water-soluble poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) block and a block of poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (PMEO(2)MA) that is hydrophobic at temperatures above its lower critical solution temperature (LCST). We show that by introducing a small amount of HIFU-labile 2-tetrahydropyranyl methacrylate (THPMA) comonomer units into the PMEO(2)MA that forms the micelle core at T > LCST, an ultrasound irradiation of a micellar solution could induce the hydrolysis of THPMA groups. As a result, the LCST of the thermosensitive polymer increases due to the conversion of hydrophobic THPMA comonomer units onto hydrophilic methacrylic acid. Consequently, the BCP micelles disassemble without actually changing the solution temperature. In addition to the characterization results of transmittance measurements, variable-temperature (1)H NMR, SEM, and DLS, a (13)C NMR spectral analysis provided critical evidence for the hydrolysis reaction of THPMA groups under HIFU irradiation.

High intensity focused ultrasound and redox dual responsive polymer micelles.

A novel class of HIFU and redox dual responsive polymer with a disulfide bond weak linkage is developed. The novel modality of HIFU and redox triggered release allows for the fine-tuning of the release kinetics of the encapsulants from the micelles in a remote and controlled way.