The spatial variability and distributions of soil physical and biological properties, and the relationships between them, are not well-characterized in agroecosystems that have been land-leveled. The objectives of this study were to characterize the short-term impacts of land leveling on the magnitudes, spatial variability, and spatial distributions of soil physical and biological properties in...

The Loess Plateau of China has the highest soil erosion rate in the world where billion tons of soil is annually washed into Yellow River. In recent decades this region has experienced significant climate change and policy-driven land conversion. However, it has not yet been well investigated how these changes in climate and land use have affected soil organic carbon (SOC) storage on the Loess ...

The potential sensitivity of ecological models to differences in soil temperature and soil water from land-surface models was evaluated by using model output from the PILPS land-surface model comparison. Simulated soil water and temperatures from the land-surface models were used to calculate the abiotic decomposition factor (ADF). ADF is used by ecosystem models to directly control microbial a...

The potential of the ERS-1/2 scatterometer global soil moisture product has been shown in several studies. The ASCAT sensor on-board the METOP satellite is extending the 16 year time series of the ERS-1/2 scatterometer as a source for extracting information for ocean and land applications. Calibrated ASCAT data will continue the scatterometer global soil moisture archive while improving both th...

This study aimed to develop a method for assessing changes in vegetation greenness and land cover over time at both landscape scales and for individual land parcels. It is hoped that an improved understanding of land cover history will increase understanding of soil condition, and linkages between soil health and productive capacity in Victorian agricultural landscapes. Gradual changes and diff...

Although the global partitioning of evapotranspiration (ET) into transpiration, soil evaporation, and canopy evaporation is not well known, most current land surface schemes and the few available observations indicate that transpiration is the dominant component on the global scale, followed by soil evaporation and canopy evaporation. The Community Land Model version 3 (CLM3), however, does not...

In order to evaluate the influence of ionic liquid 1butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl) on the soil micro-ecological system, the toxicity of [Bmim]Cl to soil microorganisms and its impact on soil physico-chemical properties were investigated. Three soil samples, which were taken from the rape land, nursery land and the broad bean land respectively, were used for this study. The toxici...

This paper presents a methodology based on multivariate data analysis for characterizing potential source contributions of emerging contaminants (ECs) detected in 26 river water samples across multi-scape regions during dry and wet seasons. Based on this methodology, we unveil an approach toward potential source contributions of ECs, a concept we refer to as the "Pharmaco-signature." Explorator...

It appears urgent to find solutions able to maintain the eco and the biodiversity of eco-regions, and contemporarily to assure a sustainable future to humanity. Ecology seems a good candidate to play the role of problem-solving science. But ecology looks young among the natural sciences, and despite the tremendous progresses of new knowledge obtained in the last time, a lot of elements remains ...