Despite the obvious importance of roots to agro-ecosystem functioning, few studies have attempted to examine the effects of warming on root biomass and distribution, especially under different tillage systems. In this study, we performed a field warming experiment using infrared heaters on winter wheat, in long-term conventional tillage and no-tillage plots, to determine the responses of root b...

The soils affected by the spill of a pyrite mine were analysed in 100 sampling points at three depths (0-10, 10-30, and 30-50 cm) in 1998 (after the tailings were removed), 1999 (after the cleaning of the highly contaminated areas), and 2004 (after the tilling of the upper 20-25 cm). The comparative study reveals that the removal of the tailings left a heterogeneous distribution pattern of the ...

A field experiment was performed in Southwest Germany to examine the effects of long-term reduced tillage (2000–2012). Tillage treatments were deep moldboard plow: DP, 25 cm; double-layer plow; DLP, 15 + 10 cm, shallow moldboard plow: SP, 15 cm and chisel plow: CP, 15 cm, each of them with or without preceding stubble tillage. The mean yields of a typical eight-year crop rotation were 22% lower...

[1] The Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database was developed in order to determine carbon pools in soils of the northern circumpolar permafrost region. The area of all soils in the northern permafrost region is approximately 18,782 10 km, or approximately 16% of the global soil area. In the northern permafrost region, organic soils (peatlands) and cryoturbated permafrost-affected mineral soi...

The results of field survey, germination and correspondence analysis showed that the soil seed banks density ranged from 900 to 6,467 seeds m at 0-5 cm depth and 117 to 2,467 seeds m at 5-10 cm depth, with species richness of 7-14. Early successional species dominated the soil seed bank, while later successional species occurred only at low density. The similarity between soil seed bank and sta...

The influence of growth stages of rice on soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), soil microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) and enzyme activities (amylase, dehydrogenase, alkaline and acid phosphatase) in a sub-tropical rice field has been screened. The above soil parameters were investigated at two soil depth (0-10 and 10-20 cm) and in five growth stages of rice crop, i.e. 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 day...

This study quantified honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) root growth and water use efficiency following chronic soil drought or wetness on a clay loam site in north Texas. Root systems of mature trees were containerized with barriers inserted into the soil. Soil moisture within containers was manipulated with irrigation (Irrigated) or rain sheltering (Rainout). Other treatments included conta...