Soil animals are considered as important contributors to soil fertility However, there is paucity of such information for harsh climatic conditions. Therefore, the below ground faunal density and frequency have been studied in relation to physicochemical properties of soil in Thar desert. The selected soil systems were Vigna radiata--Cuminum cyminum, grassland, flower garden and Zizyphus maurit...

Soil is one of the most important carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools and plays a crucial role in ecosystem C and N cycling. Climate change profoundly affects soil C and N storage via changing C and N inputs and outputs. However, the influences of climate warming and changing precipitation regime on labile and recalcitrant fractions of soil organic C and N remain unclear. Here, we investigated so...

The potential of grazing lands to sequester carbon must be understood to develop effective soil conservation measures and sustain livestock production. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of grazing on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in Typical steppe and Desert steppe ecosystems, which are both important grassland resources for animal grazin...

To investigate effects of different land use management practices on carbon fluxes at the regional scale we developed an integrated model by coupling an ecohydrological river basin model SWIM (Soil and Water Integrated Model) and a soil organic matter model SCN (Soil-Carbon-Nitrogen model). The latter is a submodel of the forest growth model 4C. The extended integrated model combines hydrologic...

A study was carried out to assess carbon emission and carbon loss caused from land use change (LUC) of converting a wasteland into a Jatropha curcas plantation. The study was conducted for 12 months at a newly established Jatropha curcas plantation in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Assessments of soil carbon dioxide (CO(2)) flux, changes of soil total carbon and plant biomass loss and growth were made...

Abbreviations: C, carbon; N, nitrogen; BD, soil bulk d mass; BGB, belowground biomass; SL, semi-decomposit carbon pool;Np, soil nitrogenpool; SOC, soil organic carbo content; FG, fenced grassland with grazing exclusion; GG index; H, Shannon–Wiener diversity index; E, Evenness in ⁎ Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Soil E the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservati Y...

Evidence is mounting to suggest that the transfer of carbon through roots of plants to the soil plays a primary role in regulating ecosystem responses to climate change and its mitigation. Future research is needed to improve understanding of the mechanisms involved in this phenomenon, its consequences for ecosystem carbon cycling, and the potential to exploit plant root traits and soil microbi...

Soils play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle; they represent a carbon reservoir larger than the atmosphere, they are the site of a number of key carbon transformations (e.g. mineralization and humification), and contain a number of unique carbon pools (e.g. plant litter, humic substances, dissolved organic matter, etc.). Land disturbance associated with surface coal mining results in co...

Soil carbon (C) storage is dependent upon the complex dynamics of fresh and native organic matter cycling, which are regulated by plant and soil-microbial activities. A fundamental challenge exists to link microbial biodiversity with plant-soil C cycling processes to elucidate the underlying mechanisms regulating soil carbon. To address this, we contrasted vegetated grassland soils with bare so...