Management of heavy metal contamination requires accurate information about the distribution of bioavailable fractions, and about exchange between the solid and solution phases. In this study, we employed diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) and traditional chemical extraction methods (soil solution, HOAc, EDTA, CaCl₂, and NaOAc) to determine the Cd bioavailability in Cd-contaminated soil wi...

The remediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soils is essential as heavy metals persist and do not degrade in the environment. Remediating heavy-metal-contaminated soils requires metals to be mobilized for extraction whilst, at the same time, employing strategies to avoid mobilized metals leaching into ground-water or aquatic systems. Phytoextraction is a bioremediation strategy that extracts he...

Heavy metal pollution is a serious global environmental problem as it adversely affects plant growth and genetic variation. It also alters the composition and activity of soil microbial communities. The objectives of this study were to determine the soil microbial diversity, bermudagrass genetic variation in Cd contaminated or uncontaminated soils from Hunan province of China, and to evaluate C...

Microtopography is a characteristic feature of many natural wetlands that is commonly lacking in restored wetlands (RWs). Consequently, it has been suggested that microtopography must be reestablished in RWs to accelerate the development of wetland function. The objective of this research was to examine responses of hydrology, soils, and vegetation to microtopographic reestablishment at a 3-yea...

Seed development culminates in programmed cell death (PCD) and hardening of organs enclosing the embryo (e.g., pericarp, seed coat) providing essentially a physical shield for protection during storage in the soil. We examined the proposal that dead organs enclosing embryos are unique entities that store and release upon hydration active proteins that might increase seed persistence in soil, ge...

Conversion of tropical rainforests into plantations fundamentally alters ecological niches of animal species. Generalist predators such as centipedes (Chilopoda) may be able to persist in converted ecosystems due to their ability to adapt and switch to alternative prey populations. We investigated variations in community composition and trophic niches of soil and litter living centipedes in a r...

Differential frost heave, alongwith the associated cryogenic disturbance that accompanies it, is an almost universal feature of arctic landscapes that potentially influences the fate of the soil carbon (C) stored in arctic soils. In this study, we quantify how gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP), soil respiration (Re) and the resulting net ecosystem exchange (NEE) vary in a patterned ground sy...

Multi temporal aerial photography and airborne hyper spectral imagery have been integrated for the detection and monitoring of coal mining subsidence hazards. Digital elevation models derived from successive epochs of aerial photography provide estimates of topographic change which may be indicative of the collapse of abandoned underground mine workings in the study area. Ground disturbed by su...

In soil mechanics, student's models are classified as simple models that teach us unexplained elements of behaviour; an example is the Cam clay constitutive models of critical state soil mechanics (CSSM). 'Engineer's models' are models that elaborate the theory to fit more behavioural trends; this is usually done by adding fitting parameters to the student's models. Can currently unexplained be...