Article
Environmental Sciences
Tobias Fremout, Jorge Cobian-De Vinatea, Evert Thomas, Wilson Huaman-Zambrano, Mike Salazar-Villegas, Daniela Limache-de la Fuente, Paulo N. Bernardino, Rachel Atkinson, Elmar Csaplovics, Bart Muys
Summary: Remote sensing-based approach is developed to map forest degradation status in heterogeneous landscapes with a long-standing degradation history for the planning of restoration interventions.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Juan Zuo, Bart Muys, Matty P. Berg, Mariet M. Hefting, Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, Jurgen van Hal, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen
Summary: This study investigated earthworm communities in decaying deadwood and examined how their dynamics are influenced by tree species, wood decomposition stage, and forest environment. The results showed that tree species, wood decomposition stage, and forest type influenced the composition and abundance of earthworm communities in deadwood. Additionally, the interaction between these factors played a role in shaping the community dynamics. The findings suggest that the diversity of deadwood resources contributes to earthworm diversity in forests.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Nils Broothaerts, Vao Fenotiana Razanamahandry, Liesa Brosens, Benjamin Campforts, Liesbet Jacobs, Tantely Razafimbelo, Tovonarivo Rafolisy, Gert Verstraeten, Steven Bouillon, Gerard Govers
Summary: Madagascar has high erosion rates in its central highlands, and the role of human disturbance versus natural processes is still debatable. However, there is a lack of quantitative data to understand the vegetation dynamics and sediment fluxes in Madagascar over time. This study focuses on the Lake Alaotra region to investigate vegetation changes and sediment transfers over the past millennia, specifically looking at the impact of human disturbances and natural processes. The findings suggest that human activities have indirectly influenced vegetation shifts, while there is strong evidence of direct human disturbance on sediment accumulation through increased use of grasslands.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ellen Desie, Juan Zuo, Kris Verheyen, Ika Djukic, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Harald Auge, Nadia Barsoum, Christel Baum, Helge Bruelheide, Nico Eisenhauer, Heike Feldhaar, Olga Ferlian, Dominique Gravel, Herve Jactel, Inger Kappel Schmidt, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Celine Meredieu, Simone Mereu, Christian Messier, Lourdes Morillas, Charles Nock, Alain Paquette, Quentin Ponette, Peter B. Reich, Javier Roales, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Steffen Seitz, Anja Schmidt, Artur Stefanski, Stefan Trogisch, Inge van Halder, Martin Weih, Laura J. Williams, Bo Yang, Bart Muys
Summary: Tree species diversity has a significant impact on litter decomposition in forests. Our study, conducted in 15 tree diversity experiments across three continents, found that tree identity has a significant effect on decomposition, while tree species richness does not. Additionally, litter quality, stand age, and density also influence decomposition.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhengang Wang, Yizhe Zhang, Gerard Govers, Guoping Tang, Timothy A. Quine, Jianxiu Qiu, Ana Navas, Haiyan Fang, Qian Tan, Kristof Van Oost
Summary: Erosion and soil organic carbon (SOC) are influenced by climate, and the extent to which temperature controls the interaction between them is unclear. Using Cs-137 and SOC inventories from catchments with different climates, the study finds that increasing decomposition rates with temperature lead to efficient replacement of SOC lost by erosion in eroding areas, but lower preservation of deposited SOC in depositional areas. At the landscape level, the erosion-induced C sink strength per unit lateral SOC flux increases with temperature. The study estimates that the global C sink induced by water erosion on croplands increases by 7% due to climate change.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Limnology
Jean-Philippe Belliard, Olivier Gourgue, Gerard Govers, Matthew L. Kirwan, Stijn Temmerman
Summary: The adaptability of coastal wetlands to relative sea level rise is influenced by the tidal pattern, with less frequent diurnal tides leading to higher vulnerability. This overlooked driver highlights the need for further research on the impact of tidal patterns on wetland ecosystems.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Liesa Brosens, Ronadh Cox, Benjamin Campforts, Liesbet Jacobs, Veerle Vanacker, Paul Bierman, Vao Fenotiana Razanamahandry, Amos Fety Michel Rakotondrazafy, Tantely Razafimbelo, Tovonarivo Rafolisy, Gerard Govers
Summary: Cosmogenic nuclide analysis of river sediment in Madagascar reveals low and spatially variable Be-10-inferred erosion rates, with elevation as the main controlling factor. River concavity, seismic events, and gully densities also contribute to regional differences in erosion rates. These findings highlight the limitations of simple topography-based models and emphasize the importance of considering different regions and environmental controls in interpreting erosion rates inferred from Be-10 concentrations.
EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Laura Nikinmaa, Marcus Lindner, Elena Cantarello, Barry Gardiner, Jette Bredahl Jacobsen, Alistair S. Jump, Constanza Parra, Tobias Plieninger, Andreas Schuck, Rupert Seidl, Thomas Timberlake, Kristen Waring, Georg Winkel, Bart Muys
Summary: Against the backdrop of increasing climate-induced disturbances, there is an urgent need to enhance the resilience of forests and forest management. However, current methods for assessing resilience lack considerations for trade-offs. This study proposes a hierarchical framework that considers trade-offs between mechanisms, social-ecological system components, ecosystem services, and spatial and temporal scales to assess resilience.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nick Gutkin, Valens Uwizeyimana, Ben Somers, Bart Muys, Bruno Verbist
Summary: Eastern Rwanda has diverse land cover types including agroforestry, forest patches, and shrubland, all of which have tree cover. The use of automated methods and satellite imagery, such as Google Earth Engine and the random forests algorithm, allows for cost-effective and time-efficient mapping and monitoring of the landscape. This study combined Sentinel-2 satellite imagery with various vegetation indices, texture metrics, principal components, and non-spectral layers to classify land cover types in the study area. The results showed high classification accuracies for forest, shrubland, and agroforestry, with non-spectral layers and texture metrics being important for accurate classification.
Article
Food Science & Technology
Koen De Vos, Charlotte Janssens, Liesbet Jacobs, Benjamin Campforts, Esther Boere, Marta Kozicka, Petr Havlik, Christian Folberth, Juraj Balkovic, Miet Maertens, Gerard Govers
Summary: African rice production is affected by high variability in yields and uncertain supply chains. This study proposes a framework to assess the future impacts of socio-economic development and climate change on rice availability and stability in Africa. The study highlights the importance of both local and trade-related climatic variabilities in identifying future challenges.
Article
Remote Sensing
Koen De Vos, Benjamin Campforts, Laurent Tits, Kristof Van Tricht, Kasper Bonte, Gerard Govers, Liesbet Jacobs
Summary: Assessing rice production potential in Madagascar is important due to population growth and rice consumption. Remote sensing and crowdsourced data can be used to improve mapping, but their usefulness depends on representativeness and the application context. Establishing a multi-faceted evaluation framework is necessary for credible maps using crowdsourcing.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Ellen Desie, Bart Muys, Jan den Ouden, Bart Nyssen, Rita Sousa-Silva, Leon van den Berg, Arnold van den Burg, Gert-Jan van Duinen, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Maaike Weijters, Karen Vancampenhout
Summary: The vitality of European forests is declining due to various factors, including pests, diseases, climate change, and nitrogen deposition. Deteriorating soil health is a major reason for the low vitality of West-European forests. This study evaluated the impact of black cherry on the vitality of neighboring pedunculate oak in mixed forests in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The findings suggest that while black cherry admixture has negative effects on oak foliar nutrient concentrations, it can also reduce defoliation caused by herbivory. The study also highlighted the limited indirect effects of black cherry on oak vitality via improved soil health.
Article
Forestry
Bart Muys, Christian Messier
Summary: The UNFCCC COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh confirmed that climate policies heavily rely on forest mitigation instead of transitioning away from fossil fuels to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C. However, the decline in forest vitality highlights the urgent need for forest adaptation, which is not being adequately addressed by foresters. This letter explores the reasons for this inaction and proposes a diversity-based no-regret approach as a way forward.
ANNALS OF FOREST SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Seyoum Getaneh, Olivier Honnay, Ellen Desie, Kenny Helsen, Lisa Couck, Simon Shibru, Bart Muys
Summary: This study investigates the importance of tree species choice on litter decomposition and nutrient recycling for the restoration of degraded land. The results show significant effects of both litter quality and diversity on decomposition rates, with native tree species exhibiting faster decomposition. Additionally, positive non-additive effects were observed for litter mixtures containing nutrient-rich litter.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Koen Kramer, Laura Bouriaud, Peter H. Feindt, Lan van Wassenaer, Nicole Glanemann, Marc Hanewinkel, Martijn van der Heide, Geerten M. Hengeveld, Marjanke Hoogstra, Verina Ingram, Anders Levermann, Marcus Lindner, Csaba Matyas, Frits Mohren, Bart Muys, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Marc Palahi, Nico Polman, Christopher P. O. Reyer, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Rupert Seidl, Wim de Vries, Saskia E. Werners, Georg Winkel, Rasoul Yousefpour
Summary: This article presents a roadmap for developing a stress test for forest ecosystem services tailored to the needs and demands of multiple stakeholders. The authors provide the Cascade and Resilience Rosetta, along with performance and resilience indicators, as tools to facilitate the development of this stress test. The application of this test will aid in the transition towards a bio-based economy where healthy and diverse forests provide sustainable and resilient ecosystem services.
Article
Soil Science
He Zhang, Aurore Degre, Caroline De Clerck, Shuangshuang Li, Jinshan Lian, Yuanyuan Peng, Tao Sun, Lindan Luo, Yanan Yue, Guihua Li, Jianfeng Zhang
Summary: The continuous expansion of sandy soil poses a threat to crop security. The use of chitin-rich organic material and attapulgite as soil amendments can improve degraded soil by increasing nutrient content and enzyme activity and altering bacterial community structure. This study provides insights into the link between soil properties, bacterial community structure, and microbial carbon metabolism function.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Xian Zhou, Yi Jiang, Ganghua Leng, Wanting Ling, Jian Wang
Summary: Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) residues have significant impacts on soil pollution remediation. The addition of exogenous functional microbial consortium and glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) can promote the degradation of bound PAH residues. This study fills the cognitive gap of GRSP in regulating the degradation of bound PAH residues in soil.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Review
Soil Science
Xinyu Zhao, Evrim Elcin, Lizhi He, Meththika Vithanage, Xiaokai Zhang, Jie Wang, Shuo Wang, Yun Deng, Nabeel Khan Niazi, Sabry M. Shaheen, Hailong Wang, Zhenyu Wang
Summary: The increase of cultivated varieties of Chinese herbal remedies, the expansion of cultivation area, and long-term monoculture cropping have led to aggravated problems of soil diseases, yield loss, and quality reduction. Biochar, as a carbon-rich material, has the potential to improve soil quality and alleviate continuous crop obstacles for Chinese herbal remedies.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Editorial Material
Soil Science
Melanie M. Pollierer, Anton Potapov, Andrey Zaitsev
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Yajie Wang, Jiefeng Li, Yongfen Wei, Zhiyi Deng, Xiaodi Hao, Fusheng Li
Summary: This study investigates the impacts of heavy metal pollution caused by coal production on soil microbial ecology in the semi-arid region of Heilongjiang. The results reveal negative correlations between heavy metals and bacterial abundance and diversity. Twelve sensitive bacterial taxa and corresponding models were identified. Water content and total phosphorus were also found to play vital roles in regulating the bacterial community in the soil.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Sujit Das, Sunanda Biswas, B. Ramakrishnan, T. K. Das, T. J. Purakayastha, B. H. Gawade, Priya Singh, Partha Sarathi Ghorai, Saloni Tripathy, Kanchan Sinha
Summary: This study assessed the impact of conservation agriculture on the biological soil health index in a rice-wheat system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The results showed that zero till direct seeded rice and crop residue incorporation could improve soil organic carbon, enzyme activities, and microbial population. Specifically, the inclusion of mungbean residues and sesbania brown manuring significantly increased the abundance of the nifH gene in the soil.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Xingxiu Huang, Genxing Pan, Lianqing Li, Xuhui Zhang, Hailong Wang, Nanthi Bolan, Bhupinder Pal Singh, Chongjian Ma, Fuwei Liang, Yanjie Chen, Huashou Li
Summary: The study evaluated the effects of using a mixture of biomass waste ash and biochar on soil pH, heavy metal remediation, and plant growth. The results showed that the mixed use could ameliorate soil acidification, reduce absorption of cadmium and lead by plants, and promote plant growth. The special fertilizer prepared from the mixture can be used to promote crop growth and reduce environmental pollution.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Astrid C. H. Jaeger, Martin Hartmann, Rafaela Feola Conz, Johan Six, Emily F. Solly
Summary: This study investigates the effects of tree mortality on soil microbial communities using a mesocosm experiment. The results show that tree death influenced soil microbial abundance and composition, with the potential to affect soil processes in forest ecosystems.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Dane C. Elmquist, Subodh Adhikari, Ina Popova, Sanford D. Eigenbrode
Summary: This study investigated the effects of soil arthropod communities from cereal-based agroecosystems on wheat plant growth and above-belowground interactions. The results showed that wheat grown in soils with arthropod communities had better growth and defense against aphids, compared to wheat grown in soils without arthropod communities.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Lei Wang, Jing Wang, Zhonghou Tang, Jidong Wang, Yongchun Zhang
Summary: This study found that the application of organic fertilizer enhances carbon and phosphorus cycling enzyme activities in soil, reshapes the soil microbial community structure, and regulates the interactions between these crucial indicators through soil organic carbon.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Review
Soil Science
M. Pawlett, N. T. Girkin, L. Deeks, D. L. Evans, R. Sakrabani, P. Masters, K. Garnett, N. Marquez-Grant
Summary: The modern funeral industry faces environmental risks and challenges, and natural burial offers a more sustainable alternative. However, there is a lack of research comparing the risks and benefits of natural burial practices, including groundwater contamination and atmospheric emissions. More scientific research is needed to understand and regulate funeral options, as well as cultural incentives for natural burial.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Zhongcheng Wang, Jin Zhao, Dan Xiao, Meifeng Chen, Xunyang He
Summary: Root AMF colonization, diversity, and interactions vary with soil depth. Higher soil nutrient levels and root biomass promote colonization but suppress diversity and interactions in the upper soil layer compared to deeper layers.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Zhiyang Zhang, Shiting Zhang, Riikka Rinnan
Summary: This study revealed the mechanisms behind the effects of dung deposition on soil heterotrophic respiration, providing insights for grassland management and carbon feedback prediction in grazed ecosystems.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Ismail Ibrahim Garba, Graham R. Stirling, A. Marcelle Stirling, Alwyn Williams
Summary: Integrating diverse cover crops into dryland crop-fallow rotations can enhance soil nutrient and water retention, suppress soil-borne pests, and improve soil health. The effects on soil nematode communities are modulated by the functional type and mixture composition of the cover crops. Selecting cover crops with appropriate traits can improve soil health through suppression of plant-parasitic nematodes, promotion of free-living nematodes, and enhancement of soil food web complexity.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Min Li, Chao He, Miao Wei, Junmeng Long, Jingru Wang, Xinrong Yang, Kehan Wang, Xueli He
Summary: In extreme desert environments, black septate endophytes (DSE) can benefit the relict plant Gymnocarpos przewalskii by assisting it to survive and maintain ecosystem stability. The colonization of DSE in the roots of G. przewalskii varies significantly with seasons and sites, with soil properties being a major factor affecting the composition of DSE. Additionally, the functional metabolite composition of DSE strains varies greatly with different drought levels and isolates, indicating the potential complementarity between different strains in helping hosts cope with drought stress.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2024)