The availability and accessibility of water and nutrients to plants, and the interactions of roots with soil, continue to be subjects of active research. Hiltner's insight that there was a volume of soil, the rhizosphere, over which the roots had influence, and in which a range of processes occurred, was a major advance in thinking. Soil science, though, took some time to incorporate this notio...

Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) fungi commonly infect plant roots, forming beneficial symbiotic relationships. The primary benefits of VAM plants are the enhanced acquisition and recycling of nutrients, particularly P, as well as soil moisture. This study compared the relationship between soil and leaf chemical elements of sugarcane variety N12 with low and high % mycorrhization (%myc). ...

The Streptomyces populations inhabiting five acidic forest soils were examined. It was found that lowering the pH of a medium selective for streptomycetes (starch-casein agar) to the pH of the particular soil horizon being plated influenced both the total numbers and types of streptomycetes that were isolated from the soils examined in this study. On the acidified medium both the numbers of str...

Soil degradation, including rocky desertification, of the karst regions in China is severe. Karst landscapes are especially sensitive to soil degradation as carbonate rocks are nutrient-poor and easily eroded. Understanding the balance between soil formation and soil erosion is critical for long-term soil sustainability, yet little is known about the initial soil forming processes on karst terr...

In dryland cropping systems, optimal yields require that nutrient supply matches the soil’s yield potential supported by available moisture. Conservation tillage systems that leave at least 30 percent of the soil surface covered by residue dramatically increase moisture retained in the soil compared to crop-fallow systems. This enables producers to plant two, three, or four consecutive crops, o...

The relative importance of facilitation and competition between pairwise plants across abiotic stress gradients as predicted by the stress-gradient hypothesis has been confirmed in arid and temperate ecosystems, but the hypothesis has rarely been tested in tropical systems, particularly across nutrient gradients. The current research examines the interactions between a pioneer shrub Rhodomyrtus...

Fine root production is the largest component of belowground production and plays substantial roles in the biogeochemical cycles of terrestrial ecosystems. The increasing availability of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) due to human activities is expected to increase aboveground net primary production (ANNP), but the response of fine root production to N and P remains unclear. If roots respond t...

Improved understanding of soil fertility factors limiting crop productivity is important to develop appropriate soil and nutrient management recommendations in sub-Saharan Africa. Diagnostic trials were implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania, as part of the African Soils Information Service (AfSIS) project, to identify soil fertility constraints to crop production across vario...

The paper presents an assessment of vegetation (composition and cover-abundance), nutrient supply, and especially sulfur accumulation in the trees foliage (birch and pine) used in reforestation and wood small-reed (Calamagrostis epigejos (L.) Roth) appearing in succession on reclaimed areas of the former Jeziórko sulfur mine (southern Poland, Tarnobrzeg region). In researched area, three catego...

Decomposition of plant litter is a fundamental process in ecosystem function, carbon and nutrient cycling and, by extension, climate change. This study aimed to investigate the role of temperature on the decomposition of water soluble phenolics (WSP), carbon and soil nutrients in conjunction with the phytotoxicity dynamics of Chrysanthemoides monilifera subsp. monilifera (boneseed) litter. Trea...