SummaryMuch of the macroecological information about microorganisms is confounded by the lack of standardized methodology, paucity of metadata and sampling effect of a particular substrate or interacting host taxa.This study aims to disentangle the relative effects of biological, geographical and edaphic variables on the distribution of Alnus-associated ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi at the global scale by using comparable sampling and analysis methods.Ribosomal DNA sequence analysis revealed 146 taxa of ECM fungi from 22 Alnus species across 96 sites worldwide. Use of spatial and phylogenetic eigenvectors along with environmental variables in model selection indicated that phylogenetic relations among host plants and geographical links explained 43 and 10%, respectively,in ECM fungal community composition, whereas soil calcium concentration positively influenced taxonomic richness.Intrageneric phylogenetic relations among host plants and regional processes largely account for the global biogeographic distribution of Alnus-associated ECM fungi. The biogeography of ECM fungi is consistent with ancient host migration patterns from Eurasia to North America and from southern Europe to northern Europe after the last glacial maximum, indicating codispersal of hosts and their mycobionts.

Time resolved photoluminescence and deep level transient spectroscopy have been used to monitor the effect of rapid thermal annealing on bulk GaInP and GaInP/AlGaInP quantum wells grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy similar to those used in 650 nm range lasers. Following rapid thermal annealing at temperatures up to 875 °C, reductions in the concentration of several deep level traps are observed. Correlation of these data with photoluminescent intensity and lifetime measurements indicate that the defect labeled N3, 0.83 eV below the conduction band, is the dominant recombination center. The combination of these two transient spectroscopy measurement techniques is therefore not only able to measure the change in deep level concentration, but also to correlate this change with improved carrier lifetimes and, ultimately, reduced threshold current densities in quantum well lasers. There is also evidence to suggest that this same defect, possibly a phosphorous vacancy or a related complex, plays an important role in other GaInP based devices.

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Thermal excitation effects of photoluminescence of annealed Ga In N As ∕ Ga As quantum-well laser structures grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy