Concentrations and chiral signatures of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in outdoor air (using polyurethane foam (PUF)--disk passive samplers) and surface soil samples taken at approximately monthly intervals over 1 year at 10 locations on a rural-urban transect across the West Midlands of the U.K. In both air and soil, concentrations clearly decrease with increasing distance from...

Soil quality appears to be an ideal indicator of sustainable land management. Soil is the foundation for nearly all land uses. Soil quality, by definition, reflects the capacity to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health. By reflecting the basic capacity of the soil to function, it integrates across many potential use...

The effect of soil warming on CO2 and CH4 flux from a spruce–fir forest soil was evaluated at the Howland Integrated Forest Study site in Maine, USA from 1993 to 1995. Elevated soil temperatures (~5 °C) were maintained during the snow-free season (May – November) in replicated 15 3 15-m plots using electric cables buried 1–2 cm below the soil surface; replicated unheated plots served as the con...

Environmental pollution consists of different types of pollutants in air, soil, and water. Due to the fact that plants can respond to environmental pollution, they can be used as bio-indicators for environmental monitoring. Air pollution in areas with oil and gas refineries nearby is an important problem. This study aims to survey the effects of gas refinery air pollutants on Conocarpus erectus...

Our previous study indicated that the current level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Shenzhen soil is in the low-end of world soil PAH pollution. In this study, the fate of PAHs in the soil of Shenzhen was investigated. The mass inventories of Σ(27)PAHs and Σ(15)PAHs (defined as the sum of the 27 or 15 PAH compounds sought) in topsoil of Shenzhen were ∼204 and ∼152 metric tons, res...

Soil temperature controls plant growth and many related processes in the soil. A mulch or crop residue covering the soil may alter soil temperatures significantly. Available simulation models often lack experimental data for the mulch thermal conductivity and its dependence on air velocity. The apparent thermal conductivity (k) of wheat straw, pine straw, tire chips, dry sandy soil, and the the...

Fungal acquisition of resources is difficult to assess in the field. To determine whether fungi received carbon from recent plant photosynthate, litter or soil-derived organic (C:N bonded) nitrogen, we examined differences in δ13C among bulk tissue, structural carbon, and protein extracts of sporocarps of three fungal types: saprotrophic fungi, fungi with hydrophobic ectomycorrhizae, or fungi w...

environmental pollution consists of different types of pollutants in air, soil, and water. due to the fact that plants can respond to environmental pollution, they can be used as bio-indicators for environmental monitoring. air pollution in areas with oil and gas refineries nearby is an important problem. this study aims to survey the effects of gas refinery air pollutants on conocarpus erectus...

Crop rotations that include tap-rooted species of cover crops may help alleviate the deleterious effects of soil compaction on plant growth by modifying soil physical properties. We studied the effects of compaction and cover crops on the least limiting water range (LLWR) and air permeability in the surface layers of a loamy (Exp. 1) and a sandy soil (Exp. 2). There were three compaction treatm...