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Soil hydraulic parameters used in estimating soil water and energy fluxes are included in a lookup table in the Noah Land Surface Model (LSM). The purpose of the study was to examine the Noah default soil hydraulic parameters and compare them to soil measurements across Texas, USA. These default soil parameters were compared to measured soil properties from a soil database including 6749 soil samples...
Parent material can deeply influence soil organic matter (SOM) stocks. In this study we tested the hypotheses that parent material had an effect on SOM concentrations and stocks and that this effect may be explained by the influence of soil parent material on basic soil parameters. However, as the factors known to influence SOM stocks such as land use and climate frequently co-vary with geology, testing...
Charcoals have long been used to adsorb organics from water and other substrates; we hypothesise that biochar may act in a similar way when mixed with soil, removing hydrophobic organic compounds from the soil surfaces. To test this hypothesis, we developed quantitative methods for addition of two hydrophobic organic compounds (octadecane and octadecanoic acid, commonly found in naturally hydrophobic...
Soil properties and terrain characteristics influence spatiotemporal patterns of soil moisture across a watershed. To improve the predictive power of landscape hydrologic models, it is essential to consider both soil and terrain attributes when stratifying a catchment into similar hydrologic functional units. In this study, we developed and validated a new catchment-scale stratification scheme for...
Every year in December to February the dust laden Harmattan blows from Sahara towards southwest to the countries along the east west going coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Only few investigations have quantified external dust deposition in forests and plantations in that region and hereby the nutrient input by dust. This paper investigates three different methods for sampling and quantifying dust deposition...
Foliar litter is the main input of organic carbon to many soils, and thus litter decomposition processes are integral to our understanding of carbon dynamics in soil systems. Despite the short duration of the leaching phase of decomposition, a considerable amount of mass loss can occur providing a valuable energy source for microbes, and influencing leaf litter chemistry for subsequent microbial decomposition...
Urea-N is ubiquitous in soils, having both natural and anthropogenic sources. The enzyme urease catalyzes its hydrolysis to NH3 and is produced by plants and many soil microorganisms, but there are growing concerns related to possible urea-induced eutrophication of surface waters proximate to agricultural fields. Agronomic research has focused on the relationship between urea hydrolysis and soil physical...
This study was designed to compare soil bacterial communities under ambient (aCO2) and elevated (eCO2) carbon dioxide after 12years of enrichment using Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) in a grazed grassland. Grazing animals can have profound effects on nutrient cycling through the return of nutrient in excreta and by their influence on plant community composition through diet selection. The...
In this study, we conduct a spatial analysis of soil total phosphorus (TP), acid extractable phosphate (PO4) and the stable oxygen (O) isotope ratio within the PO4 molecule (δ18OPO4) from an intensively managed agricultural grassland site. Total P in the soil was found to range from 736 to 1952mgPkg−1, of which between 12 and 48% was extractable using a 1M HCl (HClPO4) solution with the two variables...
Tropical forests with highly-weathered soils are considered to be high sensitive to nitrogen (N) deposition and subsequent soil acidification. Phosphorus (P) shortage in tropical forest ecosystems is suggested to be one important factor that makes the ecosystems more vulnerable to N-derived acidification. However, it remains poorly understood on how changes in soil P availability affect soil acidification...
Demand for agricultural products is increasing, but there remains considerable uncertainty regarding many of the impacts of long-term cropping systems on soil properties. Using six soils from low input cropping systems of subtropical Australia, the effects of long-term cultivation (≤70y) on three macronutrient cations (Ca, Mg, and K) and three micronutrient cations (Cu, Zn, and Mn) was examined. For...
Earthworms are known to have a major impact on organic matter dynamics in soils. The precise dynamics of carbon incorporation and/or decomposition in soil under the influence of earthworms still need to be investigated. In a mesocosm experiment, the fate of Ryegrass root and shoot litter was monitored in the soil, in the presence and absence of anecic earthworms Lumbricus terrestris L. Residues were...
The extensive use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer and medical products leads inevitably to release of such particles into environment and soil resources. This study was conducted to provide evidences for biological effects of AgNPs in two calcareous soils with different textures and salinity levels. Basal respiration (BR) and substrate-induced respiration (SIR), as indicators of soil microbial...
Raman spectra of charcoal fragments in cumulative soils in central Japan, where grasslands have been sustained using intentional burning for ~1000years, were obtained and compared to those of fresh charcoal fragments after modern grass burning to clarify their disappearance and alteration process in the soils. Although the values of each Raman-spectrum parameter of the soil charcoal and fresh charcoal...
Land use intensity in the Cameroon plateaus, where Ferralsols and the associated highly weathered soils are dominant, has been steadily increasing, so that soil fertility status and its controlling factors on these plateaus should be elucidated to establish long-term land management strategies. Although it is known that Ferralsols have small, but variable CEC values, it has not been fully determined...
Forests play an extremely important role in the formation of water circulation in a catchment. Despite numerous studies concerning the relations between forest and water, many problems still remain unexplained. Among them is the influence of the species composition in a stand on the water storage capacity of forest soils, especially of their surface horizons, whose physico-chemical properties are...
Waterlogged soils can act as a major constraint on agriculture by imposing limits on the use of machinery and stocking levels. Inappropriate use of waterlogged soils can cause serious damage to soil and water resources. Limitations are particularly pronounced in locations with wetter climates and on soils which have inherent drainage problems. Constraints may also vary temporally due to climate variability...
Dispersive clays are prone to erosion and could cause significant problems in geotechnical and geo-environmental projects. In this research, a new additive - the ZELIAC – was investigated for treating a Malaysian dispersive clay soil where an appreciable decrease in dispersivity was achieved due to treatment with 8% ZELIAC. The curing time was found to be significant that after 28days, the initially...
Lithology is a principle state factor of soil formation, interacting with climate, organisms, topography and time to define pedogenesis. A lithosequence of extrusive igneous lithologies (rhyolite obsidian, dacite, andesite and basalt) was identified in the Clear Lake Volcanic Field in the Coast Range of northern California to determine the effects of lithology on pedogenesis, clay mineralogy and soil...
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