Mycorrhizal fungi channel significant amounts of recently fixed plant carbon (C) through the soil, affecting a number of soil processes including the composition and activity of microbial communities and soil organic matter (SOM) mineralization. Some of the mycorrhizal fungi (particularly those establishing ecto-, ericoid and orchid mycorrhizas) can directly mineralize SOM, although often they ...

Along a long-term ecosystem development gradient, soil nutrient contents and mineralogical properties change, therefore probably altering soil microbial communities. However, knowledge about the dynamics of soil microbial communities during long-term ecosystem development including progressive and retrogressive stages is limited, especially in mineral soils. Therefore, microbial abundances (qua...

Temperate forest soils store globally significant amounts of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Understanding how soil pools of these two elements change in response to disturbance and management is critical to maintaining ecosystem services such as forest productivity, greenhouse gas mitigation, and water resource protection. Fire is one of the principal disturbances acting on forest soil C and N st...

We quantified soil acidity and exchangeable cations in the forest floor and upper 7.5 cm of mineral soil beneath the canopies of individual trees of six different species in a mixed-species forest in northwestern Connecticut. Soil pH decreased in a sequence starting with sugar maple (Acer saccharum) . white ash (Fraxinus americana) . red maple (Acer rubrum) . beech (Fagus grandifolia) . red oak...

Soil management is fundamental to all agricultural systems and fertilization practices have contributed substantially to the impressive increases in food production. Despite the pivotal role of soil microorganisms in agro-ecosystems, we still have a limited understanding of the complex response of the soil microbiota to organic and mineral fertilization in the very long-term. Here, we report th...

[1] We sought to determine the effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 on mineral weathering reactions in midlatitude carbonate-bearing forest soils of differing nutrient availability. Increased plant growth and soil respiration under elevated atmospheric CO2 suggest increased rates of carbon cycling, which may affect mineral weathering. A randomized complete block experiment was conducted, where as...

Citation: Preston CM, Simard M, Bergeron Y, Bernard GM and Wasylishen RE (2017) Charcoal in Organic Horizon and Surface Mineral Soil in a Boreal Forest Fire Chronosequence of Western Quebec: Stocks, Depth Distribution, Chemical Properties and a Synthesis of Related Studies. Front. Earth Sci. 5:98. doi: 10.3389/feart.2017.00098 Charcoal in Organic Horizon and Surface Mineral Soil in a Boreal For...

In low-nutrient ecosystems such as forests developed on acidic soil, the main limiting factor for plant growth is the availability of soil nutrients. The aim of this study was to investigate in a temperate forest: 1) the influence of the rhizosphere processes on the availability of nutrients and trace elements during one year period and 2) the seasonal evolution of this rhizosphere effect. Bulk...

The roles of substrate availability and quality in determining temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil carbon (C) decomposition are still unclear, which limits our ability to predict how soil C storage and cycling would respond to climate change. Here we determined Q10 in surface organic layer and subsurface mineral soil along an elevation gradient in a temperate forest ecosystem. Q10 was calcula...

introduction: nitrogen (n) is one of the most important growth-limiting nutrients for dryland wheat. mineral nitrogen or ammonium (nh4+) and nitrate (no3−) are two common forms of inorganic nitrogen that can serve as limiting factors for plant growth. nitrogen fertilization in dryland area can increase the use of soil moisture, and improve wheat yields to some extent. many researchers have been...