This paper studies the impacts of the large-scale Road Sector Development Program in Ethiopia between 1997 and 2016 on local economic activity and land cover (urbanization and cropland). It exploits spatial and temporal variation in road upgrades across Ethiopia, together with high-resolution...

Urbanization is gaining pace worldwide and is the most elemental cause of global land transformation. This necessitates land use land cover change to be analyzed on various spatial and temporal scales to understand its potential impacts on the environment. This work focuses on the urbanization...

The marketization of agricultural land affects the average land productivity not only through improving land allocation efficiency but also through reducing land price under the perfect market. The effect of the improvement of land allocation efficiency on the average land productivity is...

In face of increased efforts to mitigate climate change, biofuels may be included in reduction plans forgreenhouse gas emissions. Feedstock for first generation biofuels and food crops both use arable land andmay compete for it. Also, fuel is an input for the production and transport of food....

At the onset of the United Nations’ decade of ecosystem restoration, lessons from well-designed impact evaluations on land restoration programs are crucial for improving policymaking. This study presents findings from a systematic review of research on the socioeconomic impact of such...

The terms “solar farm” and “wind farm” could not more perfectly demonstrate the inevitable pairing of renewable energy and agriculture as uses of land. At the same time, harvesting the sun and wind and converting both to energy forms usable to mankind are far from traditional...

Site-|specific management for irrigation purpose remains a great challenge especially within mixed cropping system due to complex correlations and the spatial variability of soil properties. This variability generates crop yield heterogeneity within agricultural fields. This study was conducted...

In this study, a meta-analysis was carried out to address the quantitative relevance of considering postharvest nitrous oxide (N 2 O) measurements in herbaceous crops (excluding rice) and using static chambers (i.e., noncontinuous measurements). We compiled data from 17 studies carried out in...

Soil organic matter (SOM) in different density fractions has different characteristics and turnover rates. The environmental fates and risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with different SOM fractions are inevitably different during the transformation of SOM. Four...

Several ancient urban centres worldwide are characterized by natural and anthropogenic cavities excavated just beneath the walkable floor (about 1-3 m depth). Sometimes these caves have been excavated by underground waters in calcareous rocks or the most cases they were manmade since the Roman...

To verify an effective scheme for alleviating obstacles during continuous cropping, the effects of biofertilizer (BF) and water-soluble (WS) fertilizer applications on yield, quality, and soil properties were evaluated during the 2018-2019 growth seasons in fields continuously planted with sweet...

Understanding the effects of rotational grazing on soil nitrogen (N) mineralization and cycling is critical for better management and sustainable development of grassland ecosystems. However, these effects in annual pastures, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved, are unclear. In this...

Soil seed bank (SSB) is an important component in the process of rehabilitating degraded lands and forecasting the future vegetation cover of a given area and to take a required conservation approach accordingly. The present study was conducted in Hirmi dryland vegetation, Tigray regional state,...

Rampant soil degradation associated with accelerated soil erosion on the continent of Africa is estimated to contribute to crop yield reductions of about 16%, let alone the current climate change challenges. This study sought to evaluate the soil erosion smartness of conservation agriculture...

Mountain grasslands contain large stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC), of which a good part is in labile particulate form. This labile SOC may be protected by cold climate that limits microbial activity. Strong climate change in mountain regions threatens to destabilize these SOC stocks....

The responsiveness of microbially-mediated processes such as methane oxidation to environmental change is likely to be dependent on the correct species or strains of methane oxidizers being present to exploit the new conditions. It is unclear whether the slow dispersal of microbes will limit the...

AbstractSoil genesis deals with factors and forming processes explaining soil development and its current physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties. Kaolinite, gibbsite, and Fe sesquioxides are minerals commonly found in highly weathered soils within humid tropics, product of extensive...

Afforestation is a common and effective method for restoring degraded ecosystems worldwide. Robinia pseudoacacia is a main non-native tree species that has been widely planted in the Loess Plateau for revegetation. However, suitability and sustainability of R. pseudoacacia must be considered due...

As digital soil mapping (DSM) applications have been developed at multiple extents over the two last decades, large areas of the world are now covered by several DSM products with similar resolution and targeted soil properties. Thus, from these products, end-users must carefully select the one...

Continuous inputs of organic matter are vital for sustaining soil organic carbon (SOC) and productivity of soils in smallholder crop-livestock systems. However, the dynamics of the different inputs i.e. maize shoots, roots and manure used are poorly understood. Along with organic inputs, use of...

Agroforestry systems play important roles in increasing carbon (C) sequestration and mitigating climate change in western Canada. However, the effect of different agroforestry systems and their component land-uses on soil organic C (SOC) stability is poorly understood. We studied SOC stability...

We present a set of new geomorphometric variables that express landscape position relative to breaklines in hillslopes, and test whether these variables are of value in explaining soil property variation in three study sites in the United States, the Netherlands, and Spain. Underlying this work...

Microplastics (MPs) pollution in agricultural soil threatens soil quality and human health which has attracted extensive attention worldwide. However, little information is available on appropriate extraction methods for different typical agricultural soils. In this study, an experiment was...

Preserving biopore geometry is an important first step in evaluating its effect on the movement of water, air, and chemical substances through the soil. This is usually accomplished by making and extracting a cast of the biopore. To prevent damage to or distortion of the cast, sufficiently...

Understanding rainfall-driven soil water dynamics (SWD) in soil profiles is crucial for improving hydrometeorological modeling. This study characterized the spatiotemporal patterns of rainfall-driven SWD in soil profiles and quantified the impacts of environmental factors using the random forest...

Soil is the largest carbon reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems, and minor changes in this reservoir can dramatically affect atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. The fragile ecological environment in the arid zone of northwest China is extremely susceptible to natural and anthropogenic factors,...

In the Brazilian Southwestern Amazon, food security agriculture predominates in smallholder farms where cassava cultivation is conducted under conventional tillage (CT). This study investigated the impact of conservation agriculture on soil C content and organic matter (SOM) composition in an...

The role of the increasing rodent population in grassland degradation on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) is the subject of continuing debate. Rodenticides are used to control the population, but this measure threatens ecosystem biodiversity. We conducted a five-year grazing experiment to...

Rice straw (RS) is treated by straw biogas anaerobic digestion (AD) technology to reduce pollution, but RS anaerobic gas production technology has some problems such as low gas production rate, slow digestion speed, and long digestion period. Domesticated paddy soil microbes (DPSM) is an...

Soil microorganisms are a vital component and regulate a myriad of functions of forest ecosystems. Anthropogenic disturbances in natural forests could drive major shifts in plant and microbial communities resulting in substantial biogeochemical alterations. We evaluated the effect of...

R unoff is a poorly understood aspect of pesticide environmental behaviour. To improve understanding of pesticide runoff, data from three rainfall simulator studies was used. Fourteen pesticides were studied ranged from tightly sorbed (DDE, soil sorption coefficient (K D ) ~15,000 L kg -1 ) to...

Understanding of feedbacks between plant N uptake and soil N transformations under various vegetable production systems is of vital importance to enhance vegetable N acquisition and improve N fertilizer management. In this study, a series of 15N tracing pot experiments were conducted under...

Soil microbial growth, respiration, and carbon (C) use efficiency (CUE) are essential parameters to understand, describe and model the soil carbon cycle. While seasonal dynamics of microbial respiration are well studied, little is known about how microbial growth and CUE change over the course...

Highlights• Soils with highest nitrification also had the highest denitrification potential (PD).• Soil phosphorus was as important predicting PD as was pH and total nitrogen.• The prokaryotic community was more predictive of soil PD than the fungal community.• Soil community structure,...

Straw returning has been widely used as nitrogen (N) reduction measure in the North China Plain in recent years. But, little is known of the optimal plant density and N application rate of cotton under straw returning by now. In the present study, a short season cotton SCRC66 was used to study...

Plastic film mulching and gravel mulching in combination with fertilization are widely used to increase crop yields and water use efficiency (WUE) in arid and semi-arid areas, but soil surface mulching may stimulate soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralization, therefore, film mulching with manure...

Low water use efficiency in the dryland regions contributes to the low crop productivity. We assessed how selected soil management strategies affect soil moisture, and water use efficiency in the drylands of Tharaka-Nithi County in Kenya. The experiment was laid in a randomized complete block...

The inappropriate use and occupation of the environment has led to changes in the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of ecosystems that incorporated living standards that are unsustainable in relation to the maintenance of their quality. Therefore, this work had the following...

In the face of climate change, forage production is a challenge for human populations sustainability in semiarid areas, due to the decrease in water availability, and increase in soil degradation. Sewage effluents can represent an alternative supply of water and nutrients. However, their...

Crop production under irrigated agriculture faces numerous challenges including premature drying and poor yield due to poor soil and water quality. Crops such as maize and beans have been failing to yield optimally while leafy vegetables have been experiencing premature drying up at Katumba...

Soil protection is key for human security and survival. Not only because it is the basis of our agricultural food system but also because it is the world’s second-largest carbon sink after the oceans. With the growing climate crisis, the significance of soil protection cannot be overvalued....

This study aimed to evaluate whether soil water is facilitated and secured for tung growth or is competed by cover crops in tung-based intercropping and crop succession system in sandy-loam soil in southern Brazil. Additional effect of poultry manure was also evaluated during the winter and...

Archaeological soils (AS) are found in areas where humans have impacted soils both spatially and temporally through technical, domestic, agricultural, or burial activities. Accordingly, the capacity of soil to preserve cultural heritage was widely recognized as one of the main functions that...

In this study, we performed both laboratory and field studies to analyze the behavior of the pesticides chlorantraniliprole (CAP) and difenoconazole (DIF) by the presence of tank adjuvant in soil. In the laboratory, DIF exhibited a significantly higher Freundlich maximum adsorption capacity than...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants in soil, which have carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic hazards. The effects of RL, nZVI and AQDS on the degradation of PAHs in soil were studied. It was found that the treatment of 5 mg · kg-1RL + 1% nZVI...

We implement a public goods experiment in Central Malawi that asks small-scale farmers to contribute to the cost of a soil test, the results of which provide public information with private value. By randomly varying the plot selected for soil testing within each village, we examine the role of...

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the explosive growth of microplastics (MPs) related to medical waste and takeaway services, increasing the burden of solid waste treatment systems while also potentially threatening the surrounding environment. But data on the influence of solid waste treatment...