Article
Biodiversity Conservation
E. Adeleke, E. Dzantor (Kudjo), A. Taheri
Summary: Bioenergy feedstock production on degraded land can help alleviate land competition between food and energy. Enhancing biomass productivity through soil amendment and inoculation strategies is crucial for rejuvenating degraded soil. A quick screening experiment demonstrated that enhancing soil and inoculation strategies can improve biomass productivities of SG in degraded soil.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Jiechao Chang, Kang Li, Jiayao Xie, Yanxia Zhang, Sitong Wang, Haiyan Ren, Manqiang Liu
Summary: Intense human activities disrupt the grassland-livestock balance and accelerate grassland degradation. Planting grass-legume mixtures combined with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be used to recover degraded grassland productivity and maintain nutrient accumulation and stability of grassland.
Article
Soil Science
Johan De Gruyter, James T. Weedon, Evelyne M. Elst, Stefan Geisen, Marcel G. A. Van der Heijden, Erik Verbruggen
Summary: The interaction between AM fungi and plants shapes the surrounding soil microbial communities, possibly due to enhanced growth of host plants changing the amount, timing, and form of carbon inputs into soil. This study found changes in the community composition of soil microbial groups in mesocosms inoculated with AM fungi on grass and clover plants, leading to increased plant productivity and other performance measures.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kasey N. Kiesewetter, Leydiana Otano, Michelle E. Afkhami
Summary: Anthropogenic habitat fragmentation is a pervasive threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. This fragmentation leads to the creation of a mosaic of native habitat patches embedded in human-modified habitat known as the 'matrix'. Despite the increasing threat of fragmentation, there is limited understanding of its effects on microbiomes and plant-microbe interactions in urban landscapes.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tingyan Liu, Longfei Hao, Shulan Bai, Yanlin Wang
Summary: The presence and interaction of shrubs and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play a crucial role in the biogeochemical cycles and sustainable development of arid and semiarid ecosystems. Through studying microbial nutrient constraints in ecosystems, the regulatory mechanisms of the soil microenvironment were explored. The results indicate that shrubs and AMF alter the ecoenzymatic stoichiometry of the rhizosphere soils, thus affecting soil microbial nutrient limitation through glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) and soil available nutrients (SANU).Native shrubs with AMF inoculation can regulate soil microbial metabolism, providing a theoretical basis for vegetation restoration of degraded ecosystems in drylands.
JOURNAL OF SOILS AND SEDIMENTS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Doroteia Alves Ferreira, Thais Freitas da Silva, Victor Satler Pylro, Joana Falcao Salles, Fernando Dini Andreote, Francisco Dini-Andreote
Summary: The study revealed a significant positive correlation between soil microbial diversity and the symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). This finding contradicts the diversity-invasibility hypothesis and highlights the potential overall helper effect of soil biodiversity on plant-AMF symbiosis.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Paula Madejon, Carmen M. Navarro-Fernandez, Engracia Madejon, Alvaro Lopez-Garcia, Teodoro Maranon
Summary: Understanding the combined effects of soil amendments and inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi on different plant species during phytostabilization of contaminated soils is challenging. Results showed weak or null effects of mycorrhizal inoculation on plant growth, while soil amendments were effective at reducing trace elements accumulation.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Florian Caillon, Katharina Besemer, Peter Peduzzi, Jakob Schelker
Summary: Flood events are recognized as important occasions for the transfer of soil microbes to stream ecosystems, affecting bacterial community composition and diversity. Soil inoculation during high flow events in pre-alpine streams and the Oberer Seebach alters stream bacterial community composition, with higher bacterial diversity observed during high flow in headwater streams.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Nihal Gujre, Ankit Soni, Latha Rangan, Daniel C. W. Tsang, Sudip Mitra
Summary: This review focuses on the use of biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to improve soil health and crop productivity, emphasizing their indispensable roles in maintaining the plant-soil continuum. The study highlights the significant progress made in understanding the physical and chemical properties of biochar, as well as the functions and roles of AMF in the soil ecosystem. The potential benefits, challenges, and future opportunities of combined biochar and AMF applications are critically examined.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Horticulture
Bethany A. Harris, Ellen M. Bauske, Svoboda Pennisi
Summary: Microbial inoculants have been promoted as biofertilizers, bio-pesticides, and phyto-stimulators, with research primarily focused on food crops. However, this study found that their effectiveness on ornamental plants like Lantana camara L. may vary depending on irrigation, nutrition, and environmental conditions, with slightly improved growth under low supplemental irrigation and nutrition, but better performance in plants without microbial inoculants during a season of above normal rainfall.
SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jose A. Siles, Inmaculada Garcia-Romera, Tomas Cajthaml, Jorge Belloc, Gloria Silva-Castro, Jirina Szakova, Pavel Tlustos, Mercedes Garcia-Sanchez
Summary: The application of biochar made from olive residue can enhance the functionality and abundance of microbial communities in metal-contaminated soils. Biochar amendment increases microbial abundances and has different effects on enzyme activities depending on the pyrolysis temperature and application dose. Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promotes the growth of AMF community and results in increased soil glomalin content and AMF root colonization rates.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yi Hong, Dong Li, Can Xie, Xiaoxiao Zheng, Jing Yin, Zhidong Li, Kailu Zhang, Yangqiu Jiao, Baijie Wang, Yueming Hu, Zhiqiang Zhu
Summary: Applying seaweed organic fertilizer, apatite, and biochar to farmland soils can effectively reduce heavy metal bioavailability and improve bacterial community structure, leading to higher crop productivity.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shunxi Zhou, Zhixiang Jiang, Junfang Shen, Qixing Yao, Xu Yang, Xiaobin Li, Mukesh Kumar Awasthi, Zengqiang Zhang
Summary: A meta-analysis was conducted on 47 peer-reviewed publications to evaluate the effect of biochar-amended compost (BAC) on plant productivity (PP) and soil quality. The results showed that BAC application significantly increased PP, total nitrogen content, and organic matter content of the soil, while decreasing the bioavailability of cadmium, lead, and zinc. However, the bioavailability of copper increased. The study identified the increase in soil organic matter content as the key mechanism for improving PP and recommended a BAC application rate of 10 to 20 t ha-1. The findings provide significant data support and technical guidance for agricultural production, but site-specific factors should be considered when applying BAC to soils.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Lixun Zhang, Yuntao Guan
Summary: The study introduces a new soil amendment, PAA/CTS/BC, which simultaneously improves nitrogen cycling and immobilizes heavy metals in soil. The amendment promotes soil ammonium retention, reduces nitrate accumulation, nitrous oxide emission, and ammonia volatilization during rice cultivation. It also significantly decreases the availability of various heavy metals in the soil, altering the structure and function of soil microbial communities, leading to a complex and function-specific network of microbial communities. The findings suggest a promising strategy for crop production improvement, pollution control, and climate change mitigation.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Nyiko C. Mabasa, Clifford L. W. Jones, Mark Laing
Summary: The study indicates that brewery effluent has high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, but the high sodium concentration hinders its reuse in agriculture. By planting salt-tolerant test crops and soil amendments, salt removal efficiency, crop growth, and soil structure can be improved, despite sodium accumulation issues.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Natasja C. van Gestel, Hugh W. Ducklow, Erland Baath
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
G. Rodriguez-Caballero, A. Roldan, F. Caravaca
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
G. Rodriguez-Caballero, F. Caravaca, G. Diaz, P. Torres, A. Roldan
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jinquan Li, Erland Baath, Junmin Pei, Changming Fang, Ming Nie
Summary: This study reveals the adaptive response of soil microbial respiration to temperature changes, providing a model to estimate the response to climate warming based on temperature adaptation. The findings suggest that soil microbial respiration is sensitive to long-term temperature differences and can be predicted across different geographic scales.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Raquel Vazquez-Blanco, Manuel Arias-Estevez, Erland Baath, David Fernandez-Calvino
Summary: The effects of Cu on soil microbes depend on different Cu sources, with pure Cu salts being effective in estimating the impact on microbial biomass but not recommended for analyzing microbial community structure. Cu salt additions can lead to overestimations of Cu effects, especially at high concentrations, highlighting the importance of considering both Cu source and concentration in toxicity assessments.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Claudia Campillo-Cora, Diego Soto-Gomez, Manuel Arias-Estevez, Erland Baath, David Fernandez-Calvino
Summary: The PICT concept can be used to determine bacterial community tolerance to Cu in uncontaminated soils, with a regression equation explaining 80% of the variance in log IC50 values. This provides a useful tool to estimate bacterial community tolerance to Cu baseline in a soil without the need for reference soils.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
A. T. Nottingham, L. C. Hicks, P. Meir, N. Salinas, M. Zimmermann, E. Baath
Summary: The study reveals that bacterial community growth adapts rapidly to climate warming within a short period of time (2 years), while cooling requires a longer timeframe (around a decade) for adaptation.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fuensanta Caravaca, Pilar Torres, Gisela Diaz, Antonio Roldan
Summary: The rise in atmospheric CO2 levels may enhance the growth of exotic invasive plants and alter the rhizosphere microbial community, increasing the risk of colonization by invaders. The response to CO2 supply depends on the plant type and invaded soil characteristics.
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Andrew T. Nottingham, Emanuel Gloor, Erland Baath, Patrick Meir
Summary: Climate warming can accelerate the decomposition of soil organic matter and affect microbial communities and carbon storage in tropical forest soils. The short-term impact of warming on soil carbon mineralization is highly sensitive, but its long-term effects remain unclear. The observed sensitivity at different time scales may contribute to climate change, although there is evidence suggesting the long-term stability of tropical soil carbon. To understand the relationship between soil microbes and carbon storage in tropical soils, large-scale and cross-site in situ experiments and monitoring approaches are urgently needed.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
F. Caravaca, P. Torres, G. Diaz, A. Roldan
Summary: Exotic invasive plant Carpobrotus edulis alters the composition and functionality of soil microbial communities, enriching certain metabolic pathways and increasing the diversity of catabolic enzymes and relative abundance of saprotrophs. This invasion may have implications for the functioning and stability of invaded ecosystems.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Soil Science
James T. Weedon, Erland Baath, Ruud Rijkers, Stephanie Reischke, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson, Edda Oddsdottir, Jurgen van Hal, Rien Aerts, Ivan A. Janssens, Peter M. van Bodegom
Summary: Understanding how soil microbial communities respond to temperature changes is crucial for understanding their distribution and abundance. By studying a unique area in Iceland with a stable warming gradient, researchers found that soil bacterial communities in grassland and forest adapted similarly to warming, with significant changes occurring at soil temperatures 6-9 degrees Celsius above ambient.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Emma Kritzberg, Erland Baath
Summary: Seasonal variation in temperature adaptation of growth is more pronounced for lake water than for soil bacterial communities. The faster turnover of bacterial biomass in water leads to more rapid community adaptation to changing environmental conditions, including temperature.
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY
(2022)