The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
Conversion of natural forests to agriculture in the humid tropics leads to a reduction in ecosystem carbon storage due to the immediate removal of aboveground biomass and a gradual subsequent reduction in soil organic carbon. A considerable part of soil carbon is protected from microbial attack by a range of physical and chemical mechanisms and is not sensitive to landuse change. We analyzed the soils...
This study appraises the effects of land use on soil properties in a typical watershed in the northwestern highland of Ethiopia. Soil samples were collected from major land use types in the watershed: natural forests, cultivated lands, grazing lands and Eucalyptus plantations. The natural forests served as a control against which to assess changes in soil properties resulting from the establishment...
Soil carbon (C) and total N stocks and turnovers were investigated in five vegetation types and following deforestation and conversion of each vegetation types into arable lands along a 37-km elevation transect in southern highlands of Ethiopia. The elevation transect spanned five different eco-climatic zones from semiarid to cool sub-Afroalpine range, each with different vegetation type. Soil C and...
Land use change can lead to changes in a range of soil properties, including soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content, bulk density and pH. Previous investigations on the effects of land use change have been biased towards the impact of forest clearing and afforestation in tropical environments. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the impact of a conversion from cropland to grassland...
The application of fractal geometry to describe soil structure, soil dynamics, and physical processes within soil is becoming an increasingly useful tool that allows for a better understanding of the performance of soil systems. The fractal dimension of particle-size distributions (PSDs) is often used to estimate several properties in soils, such as texture and moisture characteristics. Land use patterns...
The impacts of human land use in the highlands of Madagascar are often equated with land degradation and decreasing soil fertility. The practice most often focused on is deforestation through slash-and-burn cultivation (tavy), and shifting cultivators are often portrayed as being ignorant, poverty-stricken peasants felling trees for fields and food. However, there is uncertainty whether soil degradation...
There is some debate about the likelihood that soil organic carbon (SOC) contents of agricultural land decreases because of global warming and governmental restrictions on animal manure application rates in some countries.Here, we report on changes in the mean SOC contents of the top soils (0–5 cm) of grassland and the top soil (0–25 cm) of arable land in the Netherlands during the period 1984–2004,...
Tillage management practices that improve soil quality are needed to maintain agricultural productivity. Soil quality can be improved through increases in microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and the nitrogen (N) contents in different pools of soil organic matter (SOM). The objective of our experiment was to study the dynamics of MBC and N cycling in soils collected from the Palouse area of eastern Washington...
Three soil labile organic carbon indicators, i.e., particulate organic carbon (POC) by size fractionation, light fraction organic carbon (LFOC) by density fractionation and permanganate-oxidizable carbon (MnoxC) oxidized by 333mM KMnO 4 , were employed to identify the soil organic carbon (SOM) pools of a Chinese fir plantation (CF) and a regenerated forest (RF) that were converted originally...
The association between soil particles and their spatial arrangement plays a key role in soil organic matter (OM) dynamics. Density fractionation combined with ultrasonic dispersion enables separation and study of soil OM fractions, considered on the basis of the mechanisms of physical protection: non-physically protected OM (FF), OM occluded into aggregates (OF), and OM stabilized in organo-mineral...
In agro-ecosystems, land use change and the associated management practices exert a strong impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock variation. SOC dynamics are generally not linear and several years are required to reach a new equilibrium. Consequently, short-term assessments may be inadequate to represent these dynamics while long-term datasets are often scarce to derive rates of change. In this...
Worldwide concerns with global change and its effects on our future environment require an improved understanding of the impact of land cover changes on the global C cycle. Overgrazing causes a reduction in plant cover with accepted consequences on soil infiltration and soil erosion, yet the impact on the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its associated processes remain unaccounted for. In this...
To evaluate the effect of land use change on soil organic carbon, the carbon contents and stocks of primary forest, degraded pasture, and four improved pasture systems in Colombian Amazonia were compared in a flat and a sloping landscape. The improved pastures were Brachiaria humidicola, and Brachiaria decumbens, either in monoculture or in combination with native legumes. The age of the treatments...
Prolonged arable cropping of subtropical sandy grassland soils resulted in substantial losses of water-stable aggregates. The objective of this study was to evaluate how rapidly and to which degree soil aggregates may be restored when degraded cropland soils are converted to secondary pasture lands. Hence, chronosequences of degraded cropland soils (more than 20years of arable cropping) were sampled...
Although a large number of papers deal with effects of land-use change on soil properties, less attention is directed to the long-term effects of different land-use types on soil physical properties and organic matter in the lowland ecosystems.The objective of this study is to assess the long-term cumulative effects of change in land-use type on some soil properties in the continental lowland ecosystems...
Tropical forests are intimately linked to atmospheric CO 2 levels through their significant capacity for uptake and storage of carbon (C) in biomass and soils. Increasing pressure of deforestation and forest degradation is begging the question as to what extent land use changes will affect C storage and release in tropical areas. Hitherto, many research efforts focused on aboveground C stocks...
The conversion of native vegetation (NV) into agricultural land by clearing and tillage disrupts the soil structure, and depletes soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. The data on changes in SOC pools are needed to enhance scientific knowledge regarding the effects of land use and no-till (NT) systems on soil fertility, agronomic productivity, and soil C sink capacity. Thus, the objective of this study...
Urban landscapes often have altered soil–atmosphere fluxes of major greenhouse gases (GHGs) including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) when compared to their rural counterparts. It is unclear to what degree soil disturbance during urbanization contributes to these altered emissions. In addition, rehabilitation of degraded urban soils through deep tillage and organic amendment...
Forest soils store large amounts of carbon (C), and stock changes in this C pool may significantly increase the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. However, estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and stock changes following land use transition to forestry is subject to large uncertainty. Many currently used geochemical modelling approaches, such as YASSO, are used to estimate regional changes...
Land use change may escalate the process of splash erosion as the primary mechanism causing water erosion. The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of different management practices and land uses on splash erosion in a semiarid region in Iran. The major land uses in the area were pasture, degraded pasture, dry land farming, and irrigated farming. For the purposes of this study, soil...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.