Lakes at high altitude and latitude are typically unproductive ecosystems where external factors outweigh the relative importance of in-lake processes, making them ideal sentinels of climate change. Climate change is inducing upward vegetation shifts at high altitude and latitude regions that translate into changes in the pools of soil organic matter. Upon mobilization, this allochthonous organ...

Lack of sufficient information on conservation tillage systems leads to the dominating use of conventional tillage practice in most parts of Iran. Testing other management practices may help in decision making regarding the types of tillage systems that reduce soil deterioration. A three- years field experiment was conducted to study the effects of conventional (CT), reduced (RT) and no-till (N...

Traditionally, soil-testing laboratories have used a variety of methods to determine soil organic matter, yet they lack a practical method to predict potential N mineralization/immobilization from soil organic matter. Soils with high microbial activity may experience N immobilization (or reduced net N mineralization), and this issue remains unresolved in how to predict these conditions of net m...

soil biodiversity is the origin of considerable goods for maintenance and extension of above ground biodiversity and environmental soundness. this study was carried out in shirvan, mashhad and gonabad, three regions of razavi and northern khorasan provinces, to determine soil characteristics and biodiversity in natural systems of arid and semi-arid regions. in each studied system, 10 locations ...

high intensity evaporation from the soil surface due to low air humidity and poor soil structure and organic matter are constraints of agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions of iran. regionally, maintaining plant residue with tillage management is one method to improve these conditions. in this study, for a barley-corn rotation, four barley residue management methods for standing stubble (bu...

Soil microbial biomass plays an important role in nutrient transformation in terrestrial ecosystems. Microbial biomass is also an early indicator of changes in total soil organic carbon. Thus, the main objective of this study was to identify and quantify the present status of soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen with various management practices in Himalayan rangeland. To meet the aforeme...

Soil quality has been significantly degraded in the Loess Plateau of China by soil erosion. Our objectives were to (i) identify regional-scale soil quality factors (groupings), (ii) select soil attributes within these factors that can be used as indicators of soil quality, and (iii) determine the impact of land use on these soil quality factors and indicators for the Loess Plateau in China. Soi...

In a country like Iran, where soil organic matter is less than 1% and in most cases even less than 0.5 %, Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a permanent and inexpensive source of organic matter. Various experiments have indicated that applications of compost improve plant health, yield and nutritional quality. However, the quality of the compost determines the growth and the development of plants. ...