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The impact of rice husk ash (RHA) as a stabilizer to reduce soil loss and surface runoff rates on sub-base materials of forest roads has been studied using a portable rainfall simulator at an intensity of 52mmh−1. Thirty rainfall simulations were carried out on different combinations of materials: on the natural sub-base soils (5), on the materials stabilized with pure lime (5), and on the materials...
Bamboo is an important forest type in Southern China, covering an area of 6.16 million ha, >70% of which is Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla (Carr.) Mitford cv. Pubescens) forest. Moso bamboo forests are characterized by fast growth and high nutrient dynamics due to the annual timber harvest, and thus a high nutrient input is required compared with other forest types. Soil nitrogen (N), phosphorus...
Measurements of magnetic susceptibility (MS) of topsoil are used as an indicator of air derived pollutants containing magnetic particles and heavy metals. Here, we focused on the role of a single tree in the distribution of dust pollutants to topsoil under-crown area. Novelty is a dense grid (1m×1m) for magnetic susceptibility measurements, performed in under two pairs of individual Norway spruce...
Uncertainties remain as to the potential for tree plantations to affect soil microbial biomass. Our aim was to determine the factors accountable for the maintenance and the increase of soil microbial biomass following tree plantation. Based on mixed effect models, we conducted a meta-analysis with three fixed and two random factors to test the impact of tree plantation on soil microbial biomass. Previous...
In this study, we analyze the changes of indicators of ecosystem services and functions, in order to understand the main cause of grassland degradation due to climatic variation or land use changes in the middle-south Inner Mongolia. The soil nutrient and the water supply of supporting service got recovery during 1988–2008. The loss of net primary production declined, and the quality of the retained...
Detailed digital soil maps showing the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties consistent with the landscape are required for site-specific management of plant nutrients, land use planning and process-based environmental modeling. We characterized the short-scale spatial heterogeneity of soil properties in an Alfisol catena in a tropical landscape of Sri Lanka. The impact of different land-uses (paddy,...
Carbon sequestration increases soil fertility and reduces global warming by storing atmospheric carbon in soils. This study aimed to quantify and compare soil organic C fractions and C stocks in 4 different rice based cropping systems and investigate their variation as affected by crop rotation with upland crops. Soil nutrient availability and their relationship with chemical C fractions were also...
Monitoring of soils used for agriculture at frequent intervals is crucial to support decision making and refining soil policies especially in the context of climate change. Along with rainfall erosivity, soil coverage by vegetation or crop residues is the most dynamic factor affecting soil erosion. Parcel-specific soil coverage information can be derived by satellite imagery with high geometric resolution...
Stoichiometry is an important indicator of the elemental balance in ecological interaction and process. However, the effect of land-use on stoichiometry of soil nutrient along soil profile remains uncertain. In this study, soil samples (0–20cm, 20–40cm, 40–60cm, 60–80cm and 80–100cm) were collected from six different land-uses including maize field (MZ), wheat field (WT), paddy field (PD), apple orchard...
The ridge planting (RP) system has been widely used in agricultural production and demonstrated as an effective agronomic practice. However, it is not known if it can be used to reclaim saline soil for landscape construction. Our objective was to analyze the soil characteristics and Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis) performance at five irrigation water salinity levels of 0.8, 3.1, 4.7, 6.3 and 7.8dS/m...
To determine soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration and storage mechanisms following the afforestation of arable land, soil samples were collected from a depth of 0–100cm from cropland as well as six hippophae (Hippophae rhamnoides) and robinia (Robinia pseudoacacia) stands, which represented two afforestation chronosequences that were converted from arable land 13 and 39yrs ago, respectively, in...
Trees growing in the Beijing mountain area are often located on rocky outcrops. As water sources for these trees are poorly understood, we investigated seasonal water sources of four typical tree species (Platycladus orientalis, Pinus tabuliformis, Robinia pseudoacacia and Quercus variabilis) using stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope methods in this area. Results indicate that P. orientalis predominantly...
Selected heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, and As) in 47 river sediment samples collected in the Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) catchment were evaluated to assess their spatial distributions and the potential ecological risks. The heavy metal concentrations in the sediments ranged from 4.5–178.7mgkg−1 for Cu, 8.2–65.8mgkg−1 for Pb, 8.2–325.7mgkg−1 for Zn, 12.2–185.5mgkg−1 for Cr, 0.013–1.486mgkg−1 for Cd, and...
The pressure to increase biomass production worldwide has pushed the boundaries of agricultural lands towards fragile soils. This process is particularly intense in Pernambuco State, NE Brazil. Pernambuco features a moisture gradient, with soils developed from similar gneisses. Resistant structures within the rock influenced the internal movement and distribution of water, consequently influencing...
Granitic gruses are usually considered as a product of deep weathering, but the influence of hydrothermal fluids was also noticed. In this work, a wide range of mineralogical and chemical methods performed on 43 samples from three representative outcrops and a reference site is used to determine the influence of hydrothermal and weathering fluids on the development of granitic gruses from the coarse...
Clay lamellae have been observed in the sand putting green soils of a golf course in Mississippi, USA. These lamellae result in reduced water infiltration, saturated soils, and a decline in turfgrass density. The soils featured an A horizon of 4 to 5cm, mixed A/C horizons of approximately 10cm, and C horizons of about 30cm over gravel. The soils were constructed in 2005 with 90% (quartz) sand and...
Loess slopes are widely distributed throughout the northwestern region of China and are prone to slope failure in response to heavy rainfall. We undertook three groups of flume experiments in the laboratory to study loess slope dynamics under artificial rainfall conditions. Additionally, a laser scanner was used to observe loess landslide deformation characteristics and failure development. A numerical...
Very little is known about how individual soil particles move over a soil surface as a result of rainfall. Specifically there is virtually no information about the pathway a particle takes, the speed at which it travels and when it is in motion. Here we present a novel technique that can give insight into the movement of individual soil particles. By combining novel fluorescent videography techniques...
Splash erosion, which results from the bombardment of raindrops on soil, is the initial stage of soil erosion by water and is mainly responsible for the detachment and transport of soil aggregates. The objective of this study was to estimate the difference between the breakdown and dispersion of soil aggregates for two typical soils (Lou soil and Drab soil) of the Loess Plateau by raindrop action...
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