and Overview: The likely direction of change in soil organic carbon (SOC) in the boreal forest biome, which harbors roughly 22% of the global soil carbon pool, is of marked concern because climate warming is projected to be greatest in high latitudes and temperature is the cardinal determinant of soil C mineralization. Moreover, the majority of boreal forest SOC is harbored in surficial organic...

Soil nitrogen (N) processes and inorganic N availability are closely coupled with ecosystem productivity and various ecological processes. Spatio-temporal variations and environmental effects on net N transformation rates and inorganic N concentrations in bulk soil and ion exchange resin were examined in an upland pine forest (UPF) and a bottomland alder forest (BAF), which were expected to hav...

From site-specific crop and soil information collected from a Missouri claypan soil field for over a decade (1993 to 2003), we implemented a precision agriculture system in 2004 with a goal of using site-specific management practices to improve farming profitability and conserve soil and water resources. The objectives of this study were to: 1) show how precision crop and soil information was u...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are considered both ecologically and physiologically important to many plant communities. As a result, any alteration in AMF community structure following soil nitrogen (N) enrichment may impact plant community function and contribute to widespread changes in grassland productivity. We evaluated the responses of AMF communities to N fertilization ( 100 kg N ha...

Livestock waste composts with minimum inorganic fertilizer as a soil amendment in low-input intensive farming are a feasible agricultural practice to improve soil fertility and productivity and to mitigate soil degradation. The key benefits of the practice rely on the activities of soil microorganisms. However, the role of different livestock composts [composted cattle manure (CCM) vs. composte...

These effects on tree growth, which may persist for several decades (Hatchell et al. 1970, Butt 1987, Miller et al. 1996), may lead to shortand long-term reductions in tree growth and forest productivity. The level of soil disturbance will vary with soil texture, forest floor thickness, and soil water content at time of harvest (Miller and Sirois 1986, Corns 1988). In addition, machine type, si...

These effects on tree growth, which may persist for several decades (Hatchell et al. 1970, Butt 1987, Miller et al. 1996), may lead to shortand long-term reductions in tree growth and forest productivity. The level of soil disturbance will vary with soil texture, forest floor thickness, and soil water content at time of harvest (Miller and Sirois 1986, Corns 1988). In addition, machine type, si...

1 The relationship of productivity to species diversity is usually positive at regional scales, but is often neutral, unimodal or negative at local spatial scales. Recent studies have pointed out that beta diversity, or among-locality and within-region variation in species composition, must therefore tend to increase with productivity. 2 We tested for a positive relationship of productivity to ...

A scheme for combining forest data (growth, foliar nutrition) and soil and site information in a predictive spatial system is proposed to address the following questions: Can geostatistics be used to produce maps of forest sustainability indicator variables such as tree growth or foliage and soil properties to show spatial and temporal trends? Can soil map units be used to stratify forests acco...