Article
Plant Sciences
Bing Mao, Tingting Cui, Tongqing Su, Qiangsheng Xu, Feng Lu, Hongxin Su, Jianbing Zhang, Shuangshuang Xiao
Summary: Litter decomposition is a crucial process for nutrient cycling and carbon budgets in mixed forests. However, there is limited knowledge about the response of soil microbial processes to the mixed-litter decomposition of fresh leaf, semi-decomposed leaf, and fine root. In this study, a laboratory microcosm experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of mixed-litter decomposition on soil enzyme activity and microbial community in a karst forest in Southwest China. The results showed that the presence of fresh leaf litter had a significant influence on mixed-litter decomposition and soil enzyme activity. Furthermore, litter N concentration and the initial quality of litter played important roles in the decomposition process.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Magnolia del Carmen Tzec-Gamboa, Oscar Omar Alvarez-Rivera, Luis Ramirez y Aviles, Francisco Javier Solorio-Sanchez
Summary: The decomposition and N release patterns of three shrub species' leaves were studied in field conditions. The leaves of Leucaena leucocephala, Guazuma ulmifolia, and Moringa oleifera, as well as the mixtures of Leucaena + Moringa and Leucaena + Guazuma, were examined during the dry and wet seasons. The results showed that Moringa had the fastest decomposition and N release, while Guazuma had the slowest decomposition. During the wet season, Moringa and Leucaena + Moringa released the highest amount of N in the first two weeks. In the dry season, most of the N was released by the leaves in the initial 8 to 16 weeks.
Article
Soil Science
Yahya Kooch, Mohammad Kazem Parsapour, Stephan Wirth
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the influence of oak forest stands with different development stages on soil functional indicators in Loveh forest. The results showed that the decay stage of the oak stand exhibited the highest fertility and biological relevance in terms of soil functions.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Shah Fahad, Sangram Bhanudas Chavan, Akash Ravindra Chichaghare, Appanderanda Ramani Uthappa, Manish Kumar, Vijaysinha Kakade, Aliza Pradhan, Dinesh Jinger, Gauri Rawale, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Vikas Kumar, Taimoor Hassan Farooq, Baber Ali, Akshay Vijay Sawant, Shah Saud, Shouyue Chen, Peter Poczai
Summary: Agroforestry integrates different plants and animals in the same piece of land, promoting efficient resource utilization, providing various ecological services, enhancing biodiversity, reducing soil erosion, and improving agricultural productivity.
Article
Forestry
Xueqin Li, Xiaoping Chen, Jinlong Li, Panpan Wu, Dandan Hu, Quanlin Zhong, Dongliang Cheng
Summary: Leaf respiration in the light (Rlight) is crucial for understanding the net CO2 exchange of individual plants and entire ecosystems. This study measured Rlight, along with other leaf traits, in 54 subtropical woody evergreen and deciduous species. The results showed that deciduous species had higher Rlight, light-saturated photosynthetic rates, leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations compared to evergreen species. There was a significant correlation between Rlight and other leaf economic spectrum traits. A model based on Rdark, leaf dry mass per unit area and leaf phosphorus had a high explanatory power for predicting Rlight. These findings highlight the link between Rlight and the leaf economic spectrum and provide valuable information for improving terrestrial biosphere models.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Linjuan Huang, Fuyan Mo, Xiaofei An, Linlan Yu, Yanmei Yu, Gui Huang, Xinyu Liu, Ming Chen, Yuegui Xue, Weichao Teng
Summary: Tiankeng negative topography is an important landscape in karst forests, known for its unique geomorphological features, species refuge, and biodiversity conservation. This study found that the ecological strategies and species composition in Tiankeng forests differ from nearby karst forests, with higher proportions of unique species and higher soil phosphorus content. The distribution of species ecological strategies in Tiankeng forests is influenced by soil characteristics, particularly total phosphorus.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Lelia Weiland, Cheryl A. Rogers, Camile Sothe, M. Altaf Arain, Alemu Gonsamo
Summary: Soil respiration, a key ecosystem process, can be estimated using satellite-derived land surface temperature and soil moisture. This study evaluated three empirical models and a Random Forest algorithm, which were calibrated using in-situ measurements and validated against soil CO2 fluxes from automatic chambers. The results showed that satellite observations can explain over 70% of the variability in soil respiration and provide comparable accuracy to in-situ measurements.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Soumendra N. Bhanja, Junye Wang, Roland Bol
Summary: This study investigates the microbial enzyme-mediated decomposition of litter and soil organic matter in boreal forest regions through modeling and compares the results with field observations and satellite estimates. The findings are important for understanding future climate change feedbacks and reducing uncertainties.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Federico Sanna, Giuseppe Campesi, Paola Deligios, Luigi Ledda, Giovanna Piluzza, Leonardo Sulas, Giovanni Antonio Re
Summary: Appropriate agroforestry practices can contribute to carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. Different microenvironments have varying soil respiration rates, and changes in land use can affect soil organic carbon stocks.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Xiuping Liu, Wenxu Dong, Jeffrey D. Wood, Yuying Wang, Xiaoxin Li, Yuming Zhang, Chunsheng Hu, Lianhong Gu
Summary: A three-way carbon dioxide flux-partitioning algorithm was developed and applied to a dataset of an oak-hickory deciduous broadleaf forest. The algorithm successfully separated net ecosystem exchange into aboveground plant respiration, belowground root and soil respiration, and gross primary production. It was found that belowground respiration dominated over aboveground respiration on an annual time scale, and the temperature sensitivity of belowground respiration was higher than that of aboveground respiration.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Eric Owusu Adjei, Benedicta Essel Ayamba, Mohammed Moro Buri, Nathaniel Biney, Kwasi Appiah
Summary: A field study found that long-term cassava-maize rotation led to a decline in soil nutrient levels, subsoil acidification, and reduced soil quality. These findings pose challenges for continuous sustainable crop production.
FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nicolas Belanger, Alexandre Collin, Rim Khlifa, Simon Lebel-Desrosiers
Summary: Conifers and deciduous trees differ significantly in their phylogenetics, physiology, and impact on soil properties. This study found that seasonal soil temperature variations and tree species composition have significant effects on soil respiration (R-s), with mixedwood stands exhibiting higher R-s compared to other forest types. Additionally, root respiration in mixedwoods was estimated to be more than three times that in hardwoods and hardwood-beech stands. The study highlights the importance of considering forest-specific properties and climatic factors for robust predictions of R-s.
FRONTIERS IN FORESTS AND GLOBAL CHANGE
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Mari Raty, Maarit Termonen, Helena Soinne, Johanna Nikama, Kimmo Rasa, Mikko Jarvinen, Reijo Lappalainen, Harri Auvinen, Riikka Keskinen
Summary: The use of wood fiber-based sludges from the pulp and paper industry can help improve the productivity of coarse-textured soils by increasing their organic matter content. However, these amendments may also lead to competition between plants and microbes for nitrogen uptake.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lixia Wang, Dongzhou Deng, Qiuhong Feng, Zhengjingru Xu, Hongli Pan, Huichao Li
Summary: The study revealed that the impact of litter input on soil microbial communities and their function is more pronounced in high-density forest stands. Responses of soil dissolved organic carbon and total nitrogen to litter input were more significant in high-density forest stands, while enzymatic activity was more strongly inhibited in low-density forest stands.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Qitong Wang, Juan Xiao, Junxiang Ding, Tingting Zou, Ziliang Zhang, Qing Liu, Huajun Yin
Summary: The research found that deciduous tree species have significantly higher root exudation rates and annual root exudate carbon fluxes compared to evergreen tree species, and the rhizosphere effects of deciduous tree species on microbial biomass, enzyme activity, and net N mineralization rate are also greater.
Article
Agronomy
Manuel de Paz, Miriam E. Gobbi, Estela Raffaele
Article
Plant Sciences
Manuel de Paz, Estela Raffaele
JOURNAL OF PLANT ECOLOGY
(2013)
Article
Plant Sciences
Manuel de Paz, Estela Raffaele, Miriam E. Gobbi
Summary: This study examined plant-plant interaction networks in four shrublands in Northern Patagonia, finding that different nurse species groups with different traits can mediate the outcomes of facilitated species composition, but the disappearance of any nurse species would not change community maintenance.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Manuel De Paz, Miriam E. Gobbi, Estela Raffaele
BOLETIN DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE BOTANICA
(2013)