Semi-arid soils cover a significant area of Earth's land surface and typically contain large amounts of inorganic C. Determining the effects of biochar additions on CO2 emissions from semi-arid soils is therefore essential for evaluating the potential of biochar as a climate change mitigation strategy. Here, we measured the CO2 that evolved from semi-arid calcareous soils amended with biochar a...

Intensive agricultural practices and use of pesticides, essential to achieve high crop yields, present particular risks to soil and water resources which sustain life. Degradation and sorption of pesticides in soils are both spatially variable and also among the most sensitive factors determining losses to surface water and groundwater. Currently, no general guidance is available on suitable ap...

An understanding of the influence of flooding on electrochemical and chemical properties of paddy soils provides insight needed in their management for rice production.When an aerobic soil is submerged, its redox potential decreases during the first few days and reaches a minimum; then it increases, attains a maximum, and decreases again asymptotically to a value characteristic of the soil, aft...

2Printed on paper that contains at least 20 percent postconsumer fiber. ach year agricultural effluents, industrial residues, and industrial accidents contaminate surface waters, soils, air, streams, and reservoirs. A new compost technology, known as compost bioremediation, is currently being used to restore contaminated soils, manage stormwater, control odors, and degrade volatile organic comp...

2Printed on paper that contains at least 20 percent postconsumer fiber. ach year agricultural effluents, industrial residues, and industrial accidents contaminate surface waters, soils, air, streams, and reservoirs. A new compost technology, known as compost bioremediation, is currently being used to restore contaminated soils, manage stormwater, control odors, and degrade volatile organic comp...

According to the IPCC, global temperatures are expected to increase between 1.1 and 6.4 °C during the 21st century and precipitation patterns will be altered. Soils are intricately linked to the atmospheric/climate system through the carbon, nitrogen, and hydrologic cycles. Because of this, altered climate will have an effect on soil processes and properties. Recent studies indicate at least so...

In Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park, the fossorial land crab, Gecarcinus quadratus (Gecarcinidae), densely populates (1 - 6 m(-2)) a region of forest extending from the Park's Pacific coastline inland to ca. 600 m. Throughout this coastal forest ('crabzone'), crabs selectively forage for fallen leaves and relocate them to subterranean burrow chambers. Comparisons between surface soils (0 - ...

Background Soil-background values of PCDD/F concentrations are usually conveniently displayed as toxic equivalent (TEq), being a bulk parameter of all relevant 7 PCDD- and 10 PCDF-congeneres, chloro-subsidized at the 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th carbon atom. Data here are ample, not so survey on congenere/homologue patterns occurring in soils. The sufficient number of samples taken within this analysi...

Decreased additions of sulfur to the atmosphere through low sulfur diesel fuel and reductions in industrial emissions have lead to a decrease in incidental deposition of sulfur for crops. This has left some to question if sulfur needs to be supplied to most crops as fertilizer. Current recommendations for sulfur fertilizer applications in Minnesota are limited to sandy soils with low organic ma...

Catchment science has long held that the chemistry of small streams reflects the landscapes they drain. However, understanding the contribution of different landscape units to stream chemistry remains a challenge which frequently limits our understanding of export dynamics. For limiting nutrients such as nitrogen (N), an implicit assumption is that themost spatially extensive landscape units (e...