Urban soil may be a source of occupational exposure to various pollutants in gardening and land cultivation. This paper presents data of a one-year follow-up of lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, and vanadium in the environment of the city of Bologna. Samples of soil and leaves were collected at three locations; gardens from the inner-city high-traffic area, parks in moderate-traffic area, and pa...

The vast majority of antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) acquired by human pathogens have originated from the natural environment. Therefore, understanding factors that influence intrinsic levels of ARG in the environment could be epidemiologically significant. The selection for metal resistance often promotes AR in exposed organisms; however, the relationship between metal levels in nature and th...

Since the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 research and environment institutions have investigated the impact of war on the environment of Kuwait. The information acquired on the environment and soil has been large in magnitude and comprises of many components relating to soil characteristics; terrestrial, marine and coastal environments; public health; and ground water. Most of the research studie...

Root system architecture (RSA) impacts plant fitness and crop yield by facilitating efficient nutrient and water uptake from the soil. A better understanding of the effects of soil on RSA could improve crop productivity by matching roots to their soil environment. We used x-ray computed tomography to perform a detailed three-dimensional quantification of changes in rice (Oryza sativa) RSA in re...

Pedology was born in the 18th and 19th centuries, when soil was first conceived as a natural body worthy of its own scientific investigation. For well over a century, pedology explored soil as a system developed from a complex of natural processes. By the mid-20th century, however, human activities began to affect substantial global soil changes with influence on the dynamics of the Earth’s env...

Earthworms being the most efficient soil organism to improve soil fertility by burrowing deeply into subsoil surfaces and then releasing it out in the form of nutrient enriched cast (Lavelle, 2011). As they are abundant in number and highly productive species, so they are keystone species in the food web of soil environment (Thakuria et al., 2010). Earthworm burrows and drilosphere act as micro...