Soil organic matter is a complex mixture of material with heterogeneous biological, physical, and chemical properties. Decomposition models represent this heterogeneity either as a set of discrete pools with different residence times or as a continuum of qualities. It is unclear though, whether these two different approaches yield comparable predictions of organic matter dynamics. Here, we comp...

The construction of linear transport infrastructure has severe effects on ecosystem functions and properties, and the restoration of the associated roadslopes contributes to reduce its impact. This restoration is usually approached from the perspective of plant cover regeneration, ignoring plant-soil interactions and the consequences for plant growth. The addition of a 30 cm layer of topsoil is...

Survival of the sclerotial parasite Coniothyrium minitans in soil, when applied as spore suspension or colonised solid substrate (maizemeal-perlite) inocula, and ability to infect Sclerotinia sclerotiorum sclerotia incorporated into the soil after different times was assessed over 6 months. Unambiguous detection of the C. minitans isolate from the indigenous C. minitans soil population was achi...

Ectomycorrhizal fungi are mutualistic symbionts of many forest trees and play a major role in nutrient uptake. They form diverse communities in boreal forest soils but functional differences within this group of fungi remain largely unknown. We study ectomycorrhzal fungi in mineral soil to determine how abiotic preferences influence their spatial distribution in stratified soil profiles. This i...

This paper reviews the current knowledge of microbial processes affecting C sequestration in agroecosystems. The microbial contribution to soil C storage is directly related to microbial community dynamics and the balance between formation and degradation of microbial byproducts. Soil microbes also indirectly influence C cycling by improving soil aggregation, which physically protects soil orga...

Results from chronosequences from the arctic to the tropics show that phosphorus (P) availability, total P, and the fraction of bedrockderived P remaining in soil diminishes as soils age. Thus we predict that ecosystems mantling old substrates are likely to have low available P. Yet there are myriad examples in the biogeochemical literature where the results from chronosequences are used to arg...

Phytoextraction of soil Cd and Zn may require reduction in soil pH in order to achieve high metal uptake. Reducing the pH of high metal soil, however, could negatively affect soil ecosystem function and health. The objectives of this study were to characterize the quantitative causal relationship between pH and soil biological activities in two Zn and Cd contaminated soils and to investigate th...

Organic materials, such as biochar and organic compost, can reduce P sorption mechanisms improve soil fertility, benefiting the reclamation of areas impacted by mining. This study evaluated how chemical properties Fe mining soil, adsorption onto this substrate, growth native plant Dioclea apurensis, were affected application açaí (BC), compost (OC), different doses. Substrate collected from pil...

The mineralization of phenanthrene in pure cultures of a Pseudomonas fluorescens strain, isolated from soil, was measured in the presence of soil humic fractions and montmorillonite. Humic acid and clay, either separately or in combination, shortened the acclimation phase. A higher mineralization rate was measured in treatments with humic acid at 100 microg/ml. Humic acid at 10 microg/ml stimul...