About: Cycling is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1235 publications have been published within this topic receiving 31624 citations. The topic is also known as: bicycling & biking.
TL;DR: Variations in mineral cycling nonetheless follow coherent, explicable patterns in tropical forests, and the cycling of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium are the best-studied soil-derived nutrients, and they are the nutrients most likely to limit primary production and other ecosystem functions.
Abstract: Early studies of nutrient cycling in moist tropical forests described productive forests rich in nutrients (98, 114, 176) in which rates of primary production and the amounts of nutrients cycled clearly exceeded those in temperate zone forests. Reviews of global-scale patterns in biomass, production, and nutrient cycling reported these results as representative of tropical forests (130, 175). At the same time, tropical forest soils were described as acid, infertile clays that harden irreversibly to "laterite" when cleared (106), or as bleached quartz sands low in mineral nutrients (88). This apparent paradox was crystallized by Whittaker (174) in the statement "The tropical rain forest thus has a relatively rich nutrient economy perched on a nutrient-poor substrate" (p. 271). Reviews of more recent research on overall patterns of mineral cycling in the tropics (78, 124), and of important components such as biomass (20, 21), litterfall nutrients (123, 164), and decomposition (5), clearly show that patterns of nutrient cycling in tropical forests are diverse. It makes no more sense to describe a 'typical' tropical forest than a 'typical' temperate forest (33, 151). Variations in mineral cycling nonetheless follow coherent, explicable patterns in tropical forests. Our purposes in undertaking this review are: (a) to illustrate the patterns of nutrient cycling in moist tropical forests; (b) to identify the mechanisms which regulate those patterns; and (c) to show how those patterns affect the productivity, physiology, and population biology of tropical forests and their large-scale linkages with aquatic ecosystems and the atmosphere. We emphasize the cycling of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium; these are the best-studied soil-derived nutrients, and they are the nutrients most likely to limit primary production and other ecosystem functions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed trends in cycling levels, safety, and policies in Canada and the USA over the past two decades, analyzing aggregate data for the two countries as well as city-specific case study data for nine large cities (Chicago, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington).
Abstract: This paper reviews trends in cycling levels, safety, and policies in Canada and the USA over the past two decades. We analyze aggregate data for the two countries as well as city-specific case study data for nine large cities (Chicago, Minneapolis, Montreal, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington). Cycling levels have increased in both the USA and Canada, while cyclist fatalities have fallen. There is much spatial variation and socioeconomic inequality in cycling rates. The bike share of work commuters is more than twice as high in Canada as in the USA, and is higher in the western parts of both countries. Cycling is concentrated in central cities, especially near universities and in gentrified neighborhoods near the city center. Almost all the growth in cycling in the USA has been among men between 25-64 years old, while cycling rates have remained steady among women and fallen sharply for children. Cycling rates have risen much faster in the nine case study cities than in their countries as a whole, at least doubling in all the cities since 1990. They have implemented a wide range of infrastructure and programs to promote cycling and increase cycling safety: expanded and improved bike lanes and paths, traffic calming, parking, bike-transit integration, bike sharing, training programs, and promotional events. We describe the specific accomplishments of the nine case study cities, focusing on each city's innovations and lessons for other cities trying to increase cycling. Portland's comprehensive package of cycling policies has succeeded in raising cycling levels 6-fold and provides an example that other North American cities can follow.
TL;DR: Improved cycling infrastructure in the form of bicycle paths and lanes that provide a high degree of separation from motor traffic is likely to be important for increasing transportation cycling amongst under-represented population groups such as women.
TL;DR: There was a positive relationship between species richness and C cycling in 77-100% of low-diversity experiments, even when the richness of just one biotic group was manipulated, whereas positive relationships occurred less frequently in studies with greater richness, which indicated functional redundancy at low extents of diversity.
Abstract: Biodiversity and carbon (C) cycling have been the focus of much research in recent decades, partly because both change as a result of anthropogenic activities that are likely to continue. Soils are extremely species-rich and store approximately 80% of global terrestrial C. Soil organisms play a key role in C dynamics and a loss of species through global changes could influence global C dynamics. Here, we synthesize findings from published studies that have manipulated soil species richness and measured the response in terms of ecosystem functions related to C cycling (such as decomposition, respiration and the abundance or biomass of decomposer biota) to evaluate the impact of biodiversity loss on C dynamics. We grouped studies where one or more biotic groups had been manipulated to include a richness of 10 species in order to reflect 'low' and 'high' extents of diversity manipulations. There was a positive relationship between species richness and C cycling in 77-100% of low-diversity experiments, even when the richness of just one biotic group was manipulated, whereas positive relationships occurred less frequently in studies with greater richness (35-64%). Moreover, when positive relationships were observed, these often indicated functional redundancy at low extents of diversity or that community composition had a stronger influence on C cycling than did species richness. Initial reductions in soil species richness resulting from global changes are unlikely to alter C dynamics significantly unless particularly influential species are lost. However, changes in community composition, and the loss of species with an ability to facilitate specialized soil processes related to C cycling, as a result of global changes, may have larger impacts on C dynamics.