Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Adam F. A. Pellegrini, Anthony C. Caprio, Katerina Georgiou, Colin Finnegan, Sarah E. Hobbie, Jeffery A. Hatten, Robert B. Jackson
Summary: The study examined the impact of 30 years of decadal prescribed burning on carbon and nitrogen in plants, detritus, and soils in coniferous forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains, USA. The results showed that fire reduced forest floor carbon and increased the resistance of remaining mineral soil organic matter to decomposition. Fire also led to lower microbial respiration rates and reduced enzyme activity, suggesting a decrease in decomposition and an increase in soil organic matter that is resistant to decay.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Ewa Blonska, Wojciech Piaszczyk, Karolina Staszel, Jaroslaw Lasota
Summary: This study investigated the role of nutrients, particularly C and N, released from litter decomposition of different tree species on enzymatic activity and soil organic matter stabilization. The study showed a strong correlation between enzymatic activity and the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released during litter decomposition. Different tree species also had an impact on the carbon and nitrogen content of soil organic matter.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Md Rumainul Islam, Balwant Singh, Feike A. Dijkstra
Summary: Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a crucial role in the global carbon balance and climate change mitigation. Understanding the decomposition and stabilization mechanisms of SOM is important. The physicochemical adsorption of organic matter onto soil minerals is a significant process for SOM stabilization. The new integrated framework emphasizes the interplay between substrate characteristics and the abundance of active clay surfaces.
Article
Forestry
Chaoqun Wang, Lin Xue, Ruzhen Jiao
Summary: The study found that the variations in SOC fractions, enzyme activities, and microbial activities show different trends with stand age, while the concentrations of DOC generally increase with stand age at depths of 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm. Additionally, the concentrations of SOC, MBC, EOC, DOC were positively correlated with the activities of three enzymes and microbial diversity.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Andrea Jilling, Marco Keiluweit, Jessica L. M. Gutknecht, A. Stuart Grandy
Summary: Root exudates influence the stability of mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) in soil, causing carbon and nitrogen release through direct and indirect pathways, which significantly impact nutrient availability for microbes and plants.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Siddhartha Shankar Bhattacharyya, Gerard H. Ros, Karolina Furtak, Hafiz M. N. Iqbal, Roberto Parra-Saldivar
Summary: Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) refers to the uptake of carbon from the atmosphere and its storage in soil, with soil microbial community (SMC) playing a crucial role. Agricultural practices that improve SCS can alter SMC, soil organic matter, and soil aggregates. However, more research is needed to fully understand their contribution to SCS.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Jiwei Li, Zhouping Shangguan, Lei Deng
Summary: Grazing exclusion is an effective strategy for recovering degraded grasslands and increasing carbon accumulation. This study investigated the response of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its components to grazing exclusion during long-term succession, revealing that grazing exclusion duration and soil depth significantly affected the contents of SOC, free particulate organic carbon (fPOC), occluded particulate organic carbon (oPOC), and mineral-associated organic carbon (MOC). The findings suggest that grazing exclusion can promote SOC accumulation and contribute to SOC formation in both topsoil and subsoil.
SOIL & TILLAGE RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Michael Asigbaase, Evans Dawoe, Barry H. Lomax, Sofie Sjogersten
Summary: The study in Ghana showed that organic cocoa agroforestry systems have a greater potential to accumulate carbon and benefit from carbon schemes compared to conventional systems. Organic farms had higher shade tree diversity, indicating the willingness of organic farmers to maintain/plant trees. Organic cocoa agroforestry systems can help retain important ecosystem services within cocoa production areas while providing additional income to smallholder farmers.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Leonardo Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Suarez, Wilson Rodriguez, Kelly Johana Artunduaga, Patrick Lavelle
Summary: The study found that in agroforestry systems and sylvopastoral systems, small and large faunal aggregates make up a substantial proportion of soil mass, and root biogenic aggregates have the highest organic carbon content. Sylvopastoral systems were identified as the most efficient option for carbon storage.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hannah R. Naughton, Marco Keiluweit, Malak M. Tfaily, James J. Dynes, Tom Regier, Scott Fendorf
Summary: The study suggests that oxygen limitation within upland soil aggregates may preserve SOC through energetic and enzymatic carbon protection mechanisms, which become vulnerable upon exposure to oxygen.
Article
Soil Science
Walter W. Wenzel, Frederik Nygaard Philipsen, Lauren Herold, Alya Kingsland-Mengi, Monika Laux, Alireza Golestanifard, Bjarne W. Strobel, Olivier Duboc
Summary: Hedgerows can act as a relevant carbon sink for climate change mitigation in agricultural landscapes. Our study in Eastern Austria investigated carbon sequestration in hedgerow soils after 1-70 years of planting. We found that total SOC stocks increased significantly beneath hedgerows, with carbon sequestration mainly occurring in the topsoil layer and declining with hedgerow age in both soil layers.
Article
Agronomy
Remi Cardinael, Herve Guibert, Soumaila T. Kouassi Bredoumy, Jacques Gigou, Kouadio Emmanuel N'Goran, Marc Corbeels
Summary: The study aimed to investigate the long-term sustainability of maize productivity and soil organic carbon (SOC) under permanent cropping with the sole and combined use of compost and mineral nitrogen fertilizer. Results showed that the addition of compost significantly increased maize grain yields and reduced annual yield variability, while also reducing SOC loss rates.
FIELD CROPS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Ying Wang, Decao Niu, Xiaobo Yuan, Ding Guo, Hua Fu, James J. Elser
Summary: Soil microbes are affected by stoichiometric imbalances, which are differences in elemental stoichiometry between microbial biomass and resources. Changes in dominant plant species coincide with inconsistent changes in the stoichiometry of soil microbial biomass and resources, resulting in stoichiometric imbalances. However, the response of soil microbes to stoichiometric imbalances induced by changes in dominant plant species and the implications for soil carbon cycling remain unknown.
Article
Plant Sciences
Moritz Laub, Samuel Schlichenmeier, Patma Vityakon, Georg Cadisch
Summary: N-rich litter from groundnut and tamarind led to significantly higher microbial biomass, bulk soil carbon, and aggregate carbon compared to dipterocarp, rice straw, and the control. Increasing microbial biomass nitrogen explained the increase in small macroaggregate carbon, with both microbial biomass carbon or nitrogen as important covariates explaining temporal variations of carbon stored in the microaggregates, in silt and clay. Microbial biomass also explained temporal variations of aggregate fraction weights, with small macroaggregate carbon only increasing in the N-rich groundnut and tamarind treatments over time.
JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE AND PLANT NUTRITION
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
Xing Liu, Yuan Zhao, Zaihua Liu, Qiusheng Wu, Heng Wang, Quan Yuan
Summary: CO2 fixation by soil autotrophic microbes can significantly contribute to soil organic matter. However, the effects of different land-use types on the activity and community of soil autotrophic microbes are still unclear. This study found that the autotrophic carbon fixation rate was highest in grassland soil, and nitrogen and soil organic carbon content were key factors influencing both the fixation rate and microbial community structure.
Article
Soil Science
Emily E. Oldfield, Mark A. Bradford, Abigail J. Augarten, Eric T. Cooley, Amber M. Radatz, Timothy Radatz, Matthew D. Ruark
Summary: The increase in soil organic matter (SOM) is positively related to crop yields, although the growth tends to stabilize when SOM concentration reaches a certain level. Mineralizable C has a stronger relationship with crop yield than permanganate oxidizable C. In this region, mineral fertilizer, manure, and SOM show similar effects on crop yield, indicating that the combination of SOM and exogenous inputs plays an important role in agricultural productivity. The impact of SOM on crop yields varies depending on crop rotation.
SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Clara C. Pregitzer, Chloe Hanna, Sarah Charlop-Powers, Mark A. Bradford
Summary: Forests play a crucial role in mitigating the negative effects of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and storing carbon. Urban forested natural areas store significant amounts of carbon at rates similar to or higher than rural forests, with oak-dominated forests storing the most carbon. Our results suggest that natural area forests in cities are important for localized climate solutions and should be central to urban greening policies aiming to reduce the climate footprint of cities.
Article
Entomology
Mary Schultz, Robert J. Warren, James Costa, Beverly Collins, Mark Bradford
Summary: Anthropogenic disturbance can decrease woodland diversity, particularly impacting ant-dispersed plants. However, the abundance of myrmecochorous plants and their keystone seed-dispersing ants increases with time since the last disturbance. Moreover, the bait pattern and frequency do not significantly affect ant foraging interest.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Danica A. Doroski, Mark A. Bradford, Marlyse C. Duguid, Richard A. Hallett, Clara C. Pregitzer, Mark S. Ashton
Summary: Forested natural areas in cities offer a variety of benefits, but understanding urban forest dynamics is crucial for managing these benefits. A study in New Haven, CT, found significant shifts in forest structure and composition within different patch sizes, with large patches dominated by native species, medium patches showing heterogeneity, and small patches playing a potential role as wildlife corridors.
Review
Ecology
Ethan T. Addicott, Eli P. Fenichel, Mark A. Bradford, Malin L. Pinsky, Stephen A. Wood
Summary: Society increasingly calls for accurate predictions of complex ecosystem processes under new conditions to address environmental challenges. However, obtaining process-level knowledge for such predictions doesn't necessarily align with the prevalent use of correlative model selection criteria in ecology. Relying on information criteria may lead researchers to incorrect conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships. Bridging the gap between correlative inference and a process-based understanding of ecological systems is crucial.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fiona Jevon, Alexander Polussa, Ashley K. Lang, J. William Munger, Stephen A. Wood, William R. Wieder, Mark A. Bradford
Summary: Aboveground litter production in forests is a crucial pathway for carbon and nutrient cycling, which is influenced by factors such as aboveground tree productivity, plant functional group, and climate. Climate and seasonality play a significant role in litter production, and there are notable differences in litter production between coniferous and deciduous forests.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mark A. Bradford, G. F. Ciska Veen, Ella M. Bradford, Kristofer R. Covey, Thomas W. Crowther, Nicholas Fields, Paul T. Frankson, Javier Gonzalez-Rivero, Fiona V. Jevon, Sara E. Kuebbing, Steven McBride, Jacqueline E. Mohan, Emily E. Oldfield, Angela M. Oliverio, Alexander Polussa, Corinna Steinrueck, Michael S. Strickland, Elisabeth B. Ward, Carl Wepking, Daniel S. Maynard
Summary: This study investigates the effect of downed coarse woody material (CWM) on the decomposition rates of fine woody material (FWM). The results show that the presence of CWM accelerates the decomposition of FWM, and this effect becomes stronger over time.
Letter
Ecology
Ethan T. Addicott, Eli P. Fenichel, Mark A. Bradford, Malin L. Pinsky, Stephen A. Wood
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Pablo Garcia-Palacios, Mark A. Bradford, David J. Eldridge, Miguel Berdugo, Tadeo Saez-Sandino, Yu-Rong Liu, Fernando Alfaro, Sebastian Abades, Adebola R. Bamigboye, Felipe Bastida, Jose L. Blanco-Pastor, Jorge Duran, Juan J. Gaitan, Javier G. Illan, Tine Grebenc, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal, Tina U. Nahberger, Gabriel F. Penaloza-Bojaca, Ana Rey, Alexandra Rodriguez, Christina Siebe, Alberto L. Teixido, Wei Sun, Pankaj Trivedi, Jay Prakash Verma, Ling Wang, Jianyong Wang, Tianxue Yang, Eli Zaady, Xiaobing Zhou, Xin-Quan Zhou, Cesar Plaza
Summary: This study compared soil samples from urban and natural ecosystems and found that the soil microbiome is an essential driver of soil carbon in urban greenspace under warming. This research is significant in highlighting the importance of considering the soil microbiome in urban management strategies to maintain soil carbon and related ecosystem services.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
M. A. Taylor, M. A. Bradford, W. Arnold, D. Takahashi, T. Colgan, V. Davis, D. Losos, J. Peccia, P. A. Raymond
Summary: Northern wetlands and bogs are significant sources of biogenic methane (CH4) emissions, which affect climate. Quantifying the effects of controls on bog CH4 emissions is challenging due to their spatial and temporal heterogeneity. To address this, we established 55 measurement plots with extensive spatial and temporal coverage in an ombrotrophic bog. Our data showed that temperature had the strongest control on CH4 emissions, while water table depth (WTD) and vegetation composition had smaller effects. Despite the large effect of temperature, the controls we measured explained only about 29% of the variance in CH4 fluxes. Highly-replicated, local designs can provide valuable data for refining our understanding of wetland CH4 emissions.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Charles Bettigole, Juliana Hanle, Daniel A. Kane, Zoe Pagliaro, Shaylan Kolodney, Sylvana Szuhay, Miles Chandler, Eli Hersh, Stephen A. Wood, Bruno Basso, Douglas Jeffrey Goodwin, Shane Hardy, Zachary Wolf, Kristofer R. Covey
Summary: Soils, as the largest pool of terrestrial carbon, have lost significant stocks due to human activity. Changes in land management offer opportunities for large-scale carbon sequestration in soils. This study compares different sampling techniques for soil carbon inventory and finds that Conditioned Latin Hypercube Sampling (cLHS) and grid sampling are most efficient across various sites and strata sizes. The number of strata chosen in K-means stratification significantly affects sample efficiency, emphasizing the need for adaptive sampling methodologies.
Article
Agronomy
Shivesh Kishore Karan, Dominic Woolf, Elias Sebastian Azzi, Cecilia Sundberg, Stephen A. Wood
Summary: Global warming requires urgent action to reduce and remove carbon dioxide emissions. Biochar, produced from crop residues, offers a promising solution for climate change mitigation. Using a high spatial resolution global dataset, it is found that crop residues generate approximately 2.4 Pg C annually. Taking into account limitations on residue harvesting and livestock usage, the global biochar production potential decreases to 0.51 Pg C/year. Twelve countries have the potential to sequester over one fifth of their current emissions through biochar production.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY BIOENERGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elisabeth B. Ward, Alexander Polussa, Mark A. Bradford
Summary: Plant mycorrhizal associations impact the accumulation and persistence of soil organic matter, which can affect how ecosystems respond to global changes. The co-occurrence of trees and shrubs with different mycorrhizal associations can influence soil organic matter pools, but more research is needed to understand these effects.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
M. A. Bradford, L. Eash, A. Polussa, F. V. Jevon, S. E. Kuebbing, W. A. Hammac, S. Rosenzweig, E. E. Oldfield
Summary: There is disagreement about the potential of regenerative management practices to sequester enough soil organic carbon to mitigate climate change. This study evaluates the feasibility of quantifying change through sampling data from cropland fields and finds that higher sampling densities and field numbers can accurately quantify management effects on soil organic carbon change.
