Article
Forestry
M. E. Gavito, H. Paz, F. Barragan, I Siddique, F. Arreola-Villa, F. Pineda-Garcia, P. Balvanera
Summary: The study focused on identifying vegetation traits that could best inform on the progress of integrative recovery during secondary succession, highlighting basal area, litterfall, plant richness, and litter mass as the most related vegetation properties to soil and microclimate recovery.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Kenta Iwasaki, Hiroyuki Torita, Marie Touze, Hideo Wada, Tomoyuki Abe
Summary: The net change in crop yield due to tree windbreaks is determined by the difference between gain in sheltered areas and loss in competition zones. Both positive and negative effects of windbreaks should be considered in determining the optimal structure. Our model showed that windbreaks can increase maize yield through growth rate promotion, but also lead to yield loss due to shading. The optimal windbreak design varies depending on height, orientation, and porosity to balance the positive and negative effects on crop yield.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Justa L. Heinen-Kay, John T. Rotenberry, Adam D. Kay, Marlene Zuk
Summary: The study found that after volcanic eruptions on Hawaii Island, certain insect species like Caconemobius fori and Caconemobius anahulu appear on barren lava. The distribution and persistence of these species in unvegetated lava flows are influenced by the vegetation successional state rather than true age.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Renaud Jaunatre, Elise Buisson, Elsa Leborgne, Thierry Dutoit
Summary: Semi-natural dry grasslands in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean Basin, are species-rich and diverse habitats. Their recovery after anthropogenic disturbance is slow and incomplete. This study found that dispersion, abiotic, and biotic filters play important roles in driving the recovery of dry grassland vegetation.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
I. Nyoman Candra, Martin H. Gerzabek, Franz Ottner, Karin Wriessnig, Johannes Tintner, Greta Schmidt, Nicola Rampazzo, Franz Zehetner
Summary: Climate and parent material type are important factors in soil formation. The study found that regardless of parent material type, pH and effective cation exchange capacity (CECeff) decreased, while potential cation exchange capacity (CECpot), phosphate retention, and certain mineral elements increased with increasing elevation. The topsoil bulk density (BD) and organic carbon (OC) content did not show a clear altitudinal pattern on lava, but decreased (BD) or increased (OC) on scoria with increasing elevation. Clay mineralogy changed with elevation, and short-range-order (SRO) minerals dominated at high elevation. Climate was found to be the overriding factor in controlling mineralogical and pedogenic changes, with scoria parent materials accelerating weathering compared to lava.
Article
Agronomy
Yandong Lv, Lingqi Xu, Xiaohong Guo, Jiajun Liu, Bing Zou, Yukun Guo, Yanfei Zhang, Hongyu Li, Guiping Zheng, Yongxia Guo, Minghui Zhao
Summary: The effects of biochar application on dry direct-seeded rice paddies were studied over 3 consecutive years. The results showed that biochar increased the stability of soil aggregates and improved the nutrient content in the soil. It also had a significant impact on the composition and richness of soil bacterial communities. Overall, applying biochar in dry direct-seeded rice cultivation can promote soil nutrient conversion, improve soil fertility, and contribute to low-carbon agriculture.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jose Ramon Quintana, Jose Antonio Molina, Ana Dieguez-Anton, Inmaculada Valverde-Asenjo
Summary: Recent studies in Mediterranean abandoned vineyards showed an increase in soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, enzyme activities, and plant species density over time, but they are also affected by interannual climate variability. Extreme drought events increased enzyme activity related to carbon and nitrogen cycles, resulting in increased TOC after favorable conditions. However, longer abandoned lands experienced a more negative impact from extreme drought events.
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Chengwei Duan, Xilai Li, Chengyi Li, Pengnian Yang, Yu Chai, Wenyin Xu
Summary: It is important to study the relationship between microbial diversity and multifunctionality. We investigated the alpha and beta diversity of bacteria and fungi, as well as soil multifunctionality, in different restoration succession stages. The results showed that soil pH and moisture were crucial limiting factors in the natural restoration succession stages, and soil moisture mediated the microbial diversity-multifunctionality relationships.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jie Ma, Fengyuan Chen, Zhen Zhang, Yanping Li, Jingli Liu, Ciara Chun Chen, Ke Pan
Summary: Wearing facemasks is an important strategy to combat COVID-19, but used masks are becoming widespread plastic wastes in the oceans, potentially impacting marine organisms. A study found that the eukaryotic community on discarded masks was significantly different from that in the surrounding seawater. The diversity of colonizing organisms peaked initially and decreased over time, with diatoms forming biofilms on masks followed by other species.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ruben Tenorio Berrio, Hilde Nelissen, Dirk Inze, Marieke Dubois
Summary: This passage discusses the impact of drought on global agriculture and how new strategies are being researched to enhance crop tolerance to drought. The focus has shifted from simply enhancing drought resistance to aiming to maintain plant growth and yield in drought conditions.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Peta Zivec, Stephen Balcombe, James McBroom, Fran Sheldon, Samantha J. Capon
Summary: The study found that naturally regenerating woody vegetation on old-fields exhibited similarities to remnant vegetation in terms of composition but varied substantially with respect to key structural attributes.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Xiangcheng Ma, Mengfan Lv, Fangyuan Huang, Peng Zhang, Tie Cai, Zhikuan Jia
Summary: The application of biochar in wheat fields under the RFRH planting mode can increase soil water content and temperature, improve grain yield and carbon emission efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions, and turn wheat fields into carbon sinks.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Hao Wang, Qing-wei Zhang, Jian Wang
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the spatial variation in soil water with different restoration modes in an ephemeral gully on the Loess Plateau of China. The results revealed that soil water increased significantly with depth and distance from the gully head. In the vertical direction, soil water content on the ephemeral gully floor was 1.1 to 1.2 times higher than the control, while on the restored banks, it decreased by 12.3% to 15.6% and 29.2% to 29.9% compared to the control. Along the longitudinal direction, soil water followed the pattern of floor > natural restoration > artificial planting. These findings are important for understanding spatial variation in soil water and selecting suitable vegetation restoration modes in semi-arid regions.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Haobo Ya, Bo Jiang, Yi Xing, Tian Zhang, Mingjie Lv, Xin Wang
Summary: This article comprehensively summarized the occurrence and sources of microplastics in terrestrial soil, as well as the eco-toxicological effects of microplastics in soil ecosystems. Future challenges of research on microplastics include developing new techniques and standards for analyzing microplastics, studying the contribution of microplastics to antibiotic resistance genes migration.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Xinhao Peng, Kenji Tamura, Maki Asano, Aya Takano, Minami Kawagoe, Takashi Kamijo
Summary: The study found that as vegetation succession progresses, the overall soil quality improves, with the most pronounced changes in the physicochemical properties of the surface layer. Forest land accumulated more organic matter, resulting in the highest soil quality index, while grassland and shrubland lagged behind in soil quality.