The O content of atmospheric O2 is an important tracer for past changes in the biosphere and has been used to estimate changes in the balance between terrestrial and marine productivity. Its quantitative use depends on knowledge of the isotopic fractionations associated with the various O2 production and consumption processes. Here we monitored oxygen concentration and dO of O2 in sandy and cla...

The effects of the colonization of an abandoned grassland by forest trees and the associated microenvironmental changes on soil properties and the microbial activity of soil were studied along a 170 m transect established on a former pasture colonized by Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) in Central Slovakia. The transect with a 5×5 m grid of sampling points crosses all successional stages from...

wind is an important erosive force in deserts, where limited cover of vascular plant material offers little soil-surface protection. erosion and sediment from soil surfaces occurs when wind forces exceed soil threshold friction velocities. soils with physical or biological crusts usually resist wind erosion. this study was conducted by the aim of investigation the effect of trichoderma harzianu...

[1] Biological activity in arid grasslands is strongly dependent on moisture. We examined gas exchange of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), the underlying soil biotic community, and the belowground respiratory activity of C3 and C4 grasses over 2 years in southeast Utah, USA. We used soil surface CO2 flux and the amount and carbon isotope composition (dC) of soil CO2 as indicators of belowgro...

Climate change is generally predicted to increase net primary production, which could lead to additional C input to soil. In arid central Asia, precipitation has increased and is predicted to increase further. To assess the combined effects of these changes on soil CO2 efflux in arid land, a two factorial manipulation experiment in the shrubland of an arid region in northwest China was conducte...

The contamination of agricultural soils by heavy metals is a global problem. Soil texture as a biotic factor represents one of the most important factors that influences the distribution of organic matter and ultimately play decisive role in retention of heavy metals in soil ecosystem. The effects of heavy metals on soil microbial processes were investigated. Analytical grade sulphate and chlor...

Many tropical rain forest regions are at risk of increased future drought. The net effects of drought on forest ecosystem functioning will be substantial if important ecological thresholds are passed. However, understanding and predicting these effects is challenging using observational studies alone. Field-based rainfall exclusion (canopy throughfall exclusion; TFE) experiments can offer mecha...

Respiration consumes a large portion of annual gross primary productivity in forest ecosystems and is dominated by belowground metabolism. Here, we present evidence of a previously unaccounted for internal CO(2) flux of large magnitude from tree roots through stems. If this pattern is shown to persist over time and in other forests, it suggests that belowground respiration has been grossly unde...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Root cortical aerenchyma (RCA) increases water and nutrient acquisition by reducing the metabolic costs of soil exploration. In this study the hypothesis was tested that living cortical area (LCA; transversal root cortical area minus aerenchyma area and intercellular air space) is a better predictor of root respiration, soil exploration and, therefore, drought tolerance than...

Soil tillage systems can be able to influence soil compaction, water dynamics, soil temperature and crop yield. These processes can be expressed as changes of soil microbiological activity, soil respiration and sustainability of agriculture. Objectives of this study were: 1 to assess the effects of tillage systems (Conventional System (CS), Minimum Tillage (MT), No-Tillage (NT)) on soil compact...