To understand effects of soil microbes on soil biochemistry in alpine grassland ecosystems under environmental changes, we explored relationships between soil microbial diversity and soil total nitrogen, organic carbon, available nitrogen and phosphorus, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities in alpine meadow, alpine steppe and cultivated grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau unde...

This study investigated the effects of organic and inorganic nutrients on the microbial degradation of the common soil contaminant pyrene. The material used in this investigation was collected from potted trees that had been growing for over a year in a soil artificially contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Soil was removed from the nonroot (bulk) and root (rhizosphere) zones of ...

Numbers of greenroofs in urban areas continue to grow internationally; so designing greenroof soil to reduce the amount of nutrients in the stormwater runoff from these roofs is becoming essential. This study evaluated changes in extensive greenroof water discharge quality and quantity after adding biochar, a soil amendment promoted for its ability to retain nutrients in soils and increase soil...

Use of sewage sludge in agriculture is the most convenient practices of sludge disposal. Agriculture can use large and increasing quantities of sludge because it improve soil fertility by increasing the soil organic matter, microbial activity and plant nutrients and by improving the soil physical properties (Stamatiadis et al., 1999). The waste waters are suitable for crop production provided t...

Aim This first global quantification of the relationship between leaf traits and soil nutrient fertility reflects the trade-off between growth and nutrient conservation. The power of soils versus climate in predicting leaf trait values is assessed in bivariate and multivariate analyses and is compared with the distribution of growth forms (as a discrete classification of vegetation) across grad...

During forest succession, litterfall nutrient fluxes increase significantly. The higher inputs of organic matter and nutrients through litterfall affects positively soil fertility and the species composition, which are essential components in forest restoration and management programs. In the present study, the input of nutrients to the forest soil via litterfall components was estimated for tw...

It is unclear whether exogenous nutrients and carbon (C) additions alter substrate immobilization to deposited nitrogen (N) during decomposition. In this study, we used laboratory microcosm experiments and (15)N isotope tracer techniques with five different treatments including N addition, N+non-N nutrients addition, N+C addition, N+non-N nutrients+C addition and control, to investigate the cou...

Agroforestry has been widely practiced in the Loess Plateau region of China because of its prominent effects in reducing soil and water losses, improving land-use efficiency and increasing economic returns. However, the agroforestry practices may lead to competition between crops and trees for underground soil moisture and nutrients, and the trees on the canopy layer may also lead to shortage o...

Nutrients are elements or compounds that are essential for the growth and survival of plants. Plants require large amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), but only small amounts of others such as boron (B), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and chlorine (Cl) (micronutrients)...