a r t i c l e i n f o The use of high spatial resolution, on-the-go proximal soil sensing of apparent electrical conductivity (EC a) through electromagnetic induction (EMI) is increasingly common, in concert with yield mapping, to assist in the delineation of management zones for Precision Agriculture (PA). Less common, but gaining in popularity, is the use of gamma-radiometric (γ) soil sensing...

some. Stermitz et al. (1999) found SSURGO data to be of little value in explaining yield variations. In more Managing soil variability is an integral aspect of precision agriculgeneral terms, the National Research Council (1997) ture (PA). Existing soil databases, however, are found to match few of the requirements for PA. The nature of these requirements and concluded that “current soil survey...

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...

General fertilizer practice recognizes in a vague way that there are reactions between soils and phosphatic fertilizers which affect the efficiency of the fertilizers. Bone meal, for instance, is recommended for use on open soils which are not too dry (39, p. 169), and for light soils not too deficient in phosphoric acid (3%, p. 320). Floats are recommended by Wheeler (39, p. 173) for acid soil...