earthworms are an important part of food chain in soil ecosystem. in polluted soils, heavy metals are consumed by earthworms and transferred to other organisms through food chain, resulting in many adverse health impacts. due to the benefits of earthworms for soil fertility, it is important to assess the effects of soil pollution on population, biomass and functions of earthworms. to determine ...

Developing spectral models of soil properties is an important frontier in remote sensing and soil science. Several studies have focused on modeling soil properties such as total pools of soil organic matter and carbon in bare soils. We extended this effort to model soil parameters in areas densely covered with coastal vegetation. Moreover, we investigated soil properties indicative of soil func...

Low-cost, practicable techniques are required to limit the release of volatile organic compound-containing fumigants such as 1,3-D to the atmosphere. In this study, we aimed to quantify 1,3-D diffusion and emission from laboratory soil columns maintained under realistic conditions and thereby assess the efficacy of soil irrigation as a technique for reducing emissions. In two soils (one relativ...

Organic matter removal and soil compaction are two types of soil disturbance that occur during forest harvesting activities. Both of these types of disturbance have the potential to reduce the long-term productivity of all vegetation which grows on the site. Quantifying the effects of different levels or organic matter removal and soil compaction is one of the objectives of the LongTerm Soil Pr...

For modeling the sorption of organic compounds in soils it is typically assumed that the organic carbon/water partitioning coefficient (Koc) of neutral organic chemicals can be treated as a constant property that remains unaffected by the type of soil organic matter as well as pH in the soil solution. Here the validity of these assumptions is evaluated with a large and diverse experimental data...

The extremely cold and arid Antarctic dry valleys are one of the most environmentally harsh terrestrial ecosystems supporting organisms in which the biogeochemical transformations of carbon are exclusively driven by microorganisms. The natural abundance of (13)C and (15)N in source organic materials and soils have been examined to obtain evidence for the provenance of the soil organic matter an...

OBJECTIVE To study the impacts of abundance of woodlice, termites, and mites on some functional aspects of soil in order to elucidate the specific role of soil fauna in improving soil fertility in desert. METHODS Fauna-rich sites were selected as experimental sites and adjacent areas were taken as control. Soil samples were collected from both sites. Soil respiration was measured at both site...

Despite weeds are a serious threat to promotion of organic farming, relatively less attention is given to research on weed management. This article explores a scope of integration of conservation agriculture for weed control and soil protection under organic farming. Limitation in the use of agro-chemicals under OF promotes intensive tillage for weed control. Mostly, tillage leads to depletion ...

Cryogenic Curie-point pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry has been applied to investigate the chemical composition of organic matter present in soils. Two soil fulvic acid fractions, a so-called soil polysaccharide fraction and polymaleic acid were analyzed. The soil polysaccharide fraction contains almost exclusively polysaccharides with major building blocks glucose, mannose and ga...