Methanogens typically occur in reduced anoxic environments. However, in recent studies it has been shown that many aerated upland soils, including desert soils also host active methanogens. Here we show that soil samples from high-altitude cold deserts in the western Himalayas (Ladakh, India) produce CH4 after incubation as slurry under anoxic conditions at rates comparable to those of hot dese...

To investigate the effect of sheep dung on soil carbon (C) sequestration, a 152 days incubation experiment was conducted with soils from two different Inner Mongolian grasslands, i.e. a Leymus chinensis dominated grassland representing the climax community (2.1% organic matter content) and a heavily degraded Artemisia frigida dominated community (1.3% organic matter content). Dung was collected...

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 ...

In Canterbury land-use intensification, particularly irrigated dairy expansion, is occurring on stony soils. Concerns exist about the ability of these soils to sustain intensified land-use, while maintaining nutrient leaching within discharge limits. Environmental models consistently predict stony soils as having a high vulnerability to leaching under intensive land use, but there is little exp...

Aerial deposition of Ni from a refinery in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada has resulted in the enrichment of 29 km of land with Ni concentrations exceeding the Canadian Ministry of the Environment’s remedial action level of 200 mg kg . Several studies on these soils have shown that making the soils calcareous was effective at reducing chemically extractable Ni, as well as alleviating Ni phytotox...

Volume 2 consists of 11 chapters in which the distribution, land-use and management of red and lateritic soils of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, The Philippines, Vietnam, Kenya, Argentina and Bulgaria are described. There is some overlap with information on the Indian soils presented in volume 1, but the soil information on the other countries is stimulating reading. The internaŽ . tional...

27 Based on lipid analyses, 16S rRNA/rRNA gene single strand conformation polymorphism 28 fingerprints and methane flux measurements, influences of the fertilisation regime on 29 abundance and diversity of archaeal communities were investigated in soil samples from the 30 long-term (103 years) field trial in Bad Lauchstädt, Germany. The investigated plots followed 31 a gradient of increasing fe...

There is lack of adequate information on the fertility situations of the soils of Abakaliki urban flood plains. Farming activities have therefore been carried out on the surrounding uplands only. This study was therefore conducted in 2009 raining seasons, to evaluate the fertility status of the flood plains and compare it with the fertility of the uplands with a view to making recommendations f...

While bitter manioc has been one of the most important staple crops in the central Amazon for thousands of years, there have been few studies of its cultivation in the fertile whitewater landscapes of this region. Anthropological research on bitter manioc cultivation in the Amazon has focused almost exclusively on long-fallow shifting cultivation in marginal upland areas of low soil fertility. ...

Agronomic use of biosolids has raised concern that plant availability of biosolids-Cd will increase with time after cessation of biosolids application. It has been demonstrated that chemical extractability of Cd is persistently decreased in biosolids-amended soils. This study was conducted to determine if Cd phytoavailability in long-term biosolids-amended soils was also persistently decreased....