Measurement of water content in expansive soil using a neutron moisture meter is strongly influenced by the moisture reactive property of this type of soil. It is particularly difficult to calibrate a neutron moisture meter when the dry density changes and the soil cracks during drying. This numerical study models the neutron probe measurement of soil moisture, based on a 7-group diffusion theo...

Global change is challenging plant and animal populations with novel environmental conditions, including increased atmospheric CO(2) concentrations, warmer temperatures, and altered precipitation regimes. In some cases, contemporary or "rapid" evolution can ameliorate the effects of global change. However, the direction and magnitude of evolutionary responses may be contingent upon interactions...

The application of Pb inhibited the development of mycelia of the saprobe fungi Fusarium concolor and Trichoderma koningii and the hyphal length of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) Glomus mosseae and G. deserticola in vitro. The application to soil of 1500mg kg−1 of Pb decreases the dry weight, total N, P, Mg and Fe concentration and chlorophyll content of the shoot of E. globulus no inocu...

Neonicotinoid insecticides have come under increasing scrutiny for their impact on non-target organisms, especially pollinators. The current scientific literature is mainly focused on the impact of these insecticides on pollinators and some aquatic insects, leaving a knowledge gap concerning soil invertebrates. This study aimed at filling this gap, by determining the toxicity of imidacloprid an...

A previously developed reflectance-based crop coeJficient (Kcr) for corn, estimated from the normalized difference vegetation index (ND VI), has been shown to overestimate the basal crop coe~cient (KeQ for corn by 24% or more when used with a dark-colored soil. This overestimation occurs because the NDVI produces larger index values for the same vegetation amount over dark backgrounds. Thus, th...

This study, through an incubation experiment, evaluates the effect that different biomass ashes exert on the extractability of nutrients and some chemical parameters and dehydrogenase activity of a slightly acid soil. Three types of as were selected: two new ashes generated by the dry combustion of olive cake or by gasification of greenhouse vegetable wastes, and a third produced by wood combus...

The factors a!ecting the uptake of 131I in Chinese white cabbage (Brassica Chinensis Linn) were studied. The time required for the ratio between the activity in the vegetable (Bq kg~1 dry mass) and the activity in the soil (Bq kg~1 dry mass) to reach equilibrium was around 72 h derived from an investigation period of 145 h. The ratio was also dependent on the mass of the vegetable (increased by...

Daily transpiration rate was decreased by low soil moisture, phenylmercuric acetate (PMA) in combination with kaolinite, Mobileaf (a filmforming wax emulsion manufactured by the Mobil Oil Co.), PMA alone, and kaolinite alone in this order. At high soil moisture, dry matter was decreased by PMA but was increased by Mobileaf and by PMA + kaolinite combination. At low soil moisture, dry matter was...