Co-inoculations of bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi often drive additive plant growth responses.

Controlled greenhouse studies have shown the numerous ways that soil microbes can impact plant growth and development. However, natural soil communities are highly complex, and plants interact with many bacterial and fungal taxa simultaneously. Due to logistical challenges associated with manipulating more complex microbiome communities, how microbial communities impact emergent patterns of plant growth therefore remains poorly understood. For instance, do the interactions between bacteria and fungi generally yield additive (i.e. sum of their parts) or nonadditive, higher order plant growth responses? Without this information, our ability to accurately predict plant responses to microbial inoculants is weakened. To address these issues, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the type (additive or higher-order, nonadditive interactions), frequency, direction (positive or negative), and strength that bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi (arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal) have on six phenotypic plant growth responses. Our results demonstrate that co-inoculations of bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi tend to have positive additive effects on many commonly reported plant responses. However, ectomycorrhizal plant shoot height responds positively and nonadditively to co-inoculations of bacteria and ectomycorrhizal fungi, and the strength of additive effects also differs between mycorrhizae type. These findings suggest that inferences from greenhouse studies likely scale to more complex field settings and that inoculating plants with diverse, beneficial microbes is a sound strategy to support plant growth.

Exploring Teacher Job Satisfaction in Rural China: Prevalence and Correlates.

Extant research continues to establish the importance of teacher job satisfaction to student performance, yet teacher job satisfaction remains under-investigated in rural China. In this paper, we examine the prevalence and correlates of teacher job satisfaction. Using data from 634 teachers across 120 schools in rural China, we find an alarmingly high prevalence of teacher job dissatisfaction: roughly 21% of rural teachers were less than satisfied with their jobs. In addition, we find that several individual- and school-level characteristics, including being a male teacher, being a homeroom teacher, not having a management role in school, being a middle-aged teacher, and a school's boarding status, are correlated with teacher job dissatisfaction. In sum, the results demonstrate a need for further research and policy interventions to improve teacher job satisfaction in rural schools.

The prevalence and correlates of vision impairment and glasses ownership among ethnic minority and Han schoolchildren in rural China.

PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of visual impairment and glasses ownership among Han Chinese and Hui minority junior high school children in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. METHODS: Vision screening was conducted on 20,376 children (age 12-15 years) in all 124 rural junior high schools in Ningxia. Personal and family characteristics, glasses ownership, and academic performance were assessed through a survey questionnaire and standardized mathematics test, respectively. RESULTS: The prevalence of visual acuity (VA) ≤6/12 in either eye was significantly higher among Han (54.5%) than Hui (45.2%) children (P<0.001), and was significantly positively associated with age, female sex, Han ethnicity, parental outmigration for work, shorter time spent outside during recess, shorter time spent watching television and higher time spent studying. Among children with VA≤6/12 in both eyes, only 56.8% of Han and 41.5% of Hui children had glasses (P<0.001). Glasses ownership was significantly associated with worse vision, greater family wealth, female sex, higher test scores, age, parental outmigration for work, understanding of myopia and glasses, higher time spent studying and Han ethnicity. CONCLUSION: One of the first of its kind, this report on Han and Hui ethnic schoolchildren confirms a high prevalence of visual impairment among both populations, but slightly higher among the Han. Both groups, especially the Hui, have low rates of glasses ownership. Future interventions and policies designed to improve glasses usage should focus on populations with lower incomes and seek to correct erroneous beliefs about the safety of glasses and efficacy of traditional eye exercises.