A field study was conducted in the Taihu Lake region, China in 2004 to reveal the organochlorine pesticide concentrations in soils after the ban of these substances in the year 1983. Thirteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were analyzed in soils from paddy field, tree land and fallow land. Total organochlorine pesticide residues were higher in agricultural soils than in uncultivated fallow la...

A potential nitrification rate test (PNR) was used to identify metal toxicity in field-contaminated soils. The test was applied to metal salt-spiked soils, to 27 uncontaminated soils, and to 15 soils that are contaminated by former metal smelting activities. Four agricultural soils (pH 4.5-6.6) were spiked with various rates of CdCl2 (0-200 mg Cd/kg dry wt) or ZnCl2 (0-3,000 mg Cd/kg dry wt) an...

Carbon-fixation is a critical process in severely oligotrophic Antarctic Dry Valley (DV) soils and may represent the major source of carbon in these arid environments. However, rates of C-fixation in DVs are currently unknown and the microorganisms responsible for these activities unidentified. In this study, C-fixation rates measured in the bulk arid soils (<5% moisture) ranged from below dete...

Amendments are frequently added to agricultural soils to increase organic matter content. In this study, we examined the influence of alperujo, an olive oil mill waste, on the availability of two triazine herbicides, terbuthylazine and atrazine, in two different sandy soils, one from Sevilla, Spain, and the other from Minnesota. The effect of aging on herbicide sorption and bioavailability was ...

The use of fast growing trees could be an alternative in trace element contaminated soils to stabilize these elements and improve soil quality. In this study we investigate the effect of Paulownia fortunei growth on trace element contaminated soils amended with two organic composts under semi-field conditions for a period of 18 months. The experiment was carried out in containers filled with tr...

Within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, soils were collected from 116 sites in areas of primarily virgin forest with fire-origin stand years (year of last recognizable stand-killing wildfire) that range from the 1759 to 1976. Median concentrations for total mercury in soils for this span of 217 years range from 0.28 +/- 0.088 ppm (1759) to 0.09 +/- 0.047 ppm ...

We tested the hypothesis that ant species, which occupy the same nest for a decade or longer, would modify nest soils by increasing soil nutrients and microorganisms resulting in increased biomass, density, cover and species richness of annual plants. We measured soil properties and annual plants on nest soils of three species of Chihuahuan Desert ants (Pogonomyrmex rugosus—seed harvester, Apha...

Nests of the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus typically contain higher concentrations of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus than surrounding soils. The difference between nest soils and surrounding soils is due, at least in part, to ant foraging behavior. Ants retrieve seeds from the environment and concentrate seed nutrients in the vicinity of the nest. But elevated nutrient concentrat...

Explosives are a common soil contaminant at a range of sites, including explosives manufacturing plants and areas associated with landmine detonations. As many explosives are toxic and may cause adverse environmental effects, a large body of research has targeted the remediation of explosives residues in soil. Studies in this area have largely involved spiking 'pristine' soils using explosives ...

Studies of populations of the multimammate rat Mastomys natalensis in Morogoro, Tanzania, show that soil texture appears to influence the population abundance and distribution of these rats in agricultural fields. The lowest rodent population abundance was found on sandy clay soils (F((2, 5)) = 8.42; P= 0.025). The population abundances of M. natalensis on sandy clay loam and sandy loam soils d...