The long-term soil productivity (LTSP) study was initiated to examine the effect of soil porosity and organic matter (OM) levels on net primary productivity (NPP). The study design calls for three levels of OM removal (bole, whole tree and whole tree plus forest floor) and three levels of compaction (none, moderate and severe) being imposed on harvested sites prior to planting. Additionally, th...

The dynamics and persistence of proteinaceous compounds during pedogenesis are major mechanisms of soil formation and determinants of organic matter (OM) turnover. We investigated the accumulation patterns of proteinogenic amino acids associated with minerals dominated by permanently negative charges (primary silica minerals) and related these to vegetative and belowground microbial succession ...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have focused on linking soil community structure, diversity, or specific taxa to disturbances. Relatively little attention has been directed to crop monoculture soils, particularly potato monoculture. Information about microbial community changes over time between monoculture and non-monoculture treatments is lacking. Furthermore, few studies have examined microbial ...

A major thrust of terrestrial microbial ecology is focused on understanding when and how the composition of the microbial community affects the functioning of biogeochemical processes at the ecosystem scale (meters-to-kilometers and days-to-years). While research has demonstrated these linkages for physiologically and phylogenetically "narrow" processes such as trace gas emissions and nitrifica...

Rangeland degradation is one of the global concerns affecting the pastoralists and those who suffer from its negative environmental consequences. Grazing exclosure has been extensively used among the techniques implemented by the government to protect the fertility of threatened rangelands. The impact of exclosure has been a controversial issue; therefore, it is important to understand its effe...

Nitrate sorption potentials of three surface soils (soils-1-3) were evaluated under different solute concentrations, i.e. 1-100 mg L(-1). Batch and diffusion-cell adsorption experiments were conducted to delineate the diffusion property and maximum specific nitrate adsorption capacity (MSNAC) of the soils. Ho's pseudo-second order model well fitted the batch adsorption kinetics data (R(2)>0.99)...

There has been increasing concern in recent years regarding lead (Pb) transfer in the soil-plant system. In this study the transfer of Pb (exogenous salts) was investigated from a wide range of Chinese soils to corn grain (Zhengdan 958). Prediction models were developed with combination of the Pb bioconcentration factor (BCF) of Zhengdan 958, and soil pH, organic matter (OM) content, and cation...

A study was carried out to investigate the effects of municipal wastewater treatments on physical and chemical properties of saline soil. Recently, the amounts of wastewater are sharply increasing and the kinds of pollutants are also varied as the world wide industry is being developed incessantly. Soil samplings of 0-20 cm depth were from Segzi plain in Isfahan province (the center of Iran). T...

livestock grazing is one of the most important kinds of land usage that has a high potential to decrease or increase carbon storage in rangeland ecosystem. this research was investigated the effects of enclosure on soil carbon storage in a rangeland with dominant plants of artemisia aucheri. hence, two rangelands of enclosure (shahtappeh-chah mahmood) and no enclosure (chiro) were chosen in sem...