Search results for "SOIL ORGANIC MATTER"
showing 10 items of 186 documents
The influence of ants on soil and water losses from an orange orchard in eastern Spain
2008
Herbicide applications have greatly reduced plant cover, and increased soil erosion on a new orange orchard planted on valley slopes in eastern Spain. This has increased the importance of soil fauna, such as ants, in regulating soil erosion processes. Ants increase water infiltration rates by forming soil macropores during nest construction, but new soil brought to the surface by ant activity could increase the sediments available for erosion. Simulated rainfall experiments were conducted on 20 paired plots (20 with ant activity and 20 controls) to study the impact of ants on surface water flow and sediment movement in an intensively managed orange orchard near Valencia, Spain. Simulated ra…
Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of soil organic matter extracted from a Brazilian mangrove and Spanish salt marshes
2009
The soil organic matter (SOM) extracted under different vegetation types from a Brazilian mangrove (Pai Matos Island, São Paulo State) and from three Spanish salt marshes (Betanzos Ría and Corrubedo Natural Parks, Galícia, and the Albufera Natural Park, Valencia) was investigated by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The chemical variation was larger in SOM from the Spanish marshes than in the SOM of the Brazilian mangroves, possibly because the marshes included sites with both tidal and nontidal variation, whereas the mangrove forest underwent just tidal variation. Thus, plant-derived organic matter was better preserved under permanently anoxic environments. Moreove…
Charcoal and stable soil organic matter as indicators of fire frequency, climate and past vegetation in volcanic soils of Mt. Etna, Sicily
2012
Abstract Charcoal fragments in soils are useful to reconstruct past vegetation because the level of preservation is often good enough to determine the tree genus. All forest ecosystems have the potential to burn as a result of naturally occurring or human-induced fires. Forest fires are coupled to climate and are a not-negligible factor of pedogenesis in Mediterranean areas, where they occur frequently. Furthermore, soil organic matter (SOM) is prone to undergo peculiar changes due to forest fires, both in terms of quantity and quality. A soil sequence along an elevational gradient ranging from Mediterranean to subalpine climate zones on slopes of Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) was investigated i…
Effects of traditional forest management on carbon storage in a Mediterranean holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) coppice
2018
Abstract: In the last decade, there has been increased interest in measuring and modeling storage in the five forest carbon pools: the aboveground and belowground biomass (living biomass), the deadwood and litter (dead biomass), and the soil (soil organic matter). In this paper, we examined carbon storage in a holm oak coppice stand in the Madonie Mountains in Sicily (Italy), which is a typical case of managed coppice stands. Today, traditional coppice practices are only applied to a small number of forested areas in Sicily, such as the selected site, because of the decline in demand for wood and charcoal. The dendrometric parameters of the stands were recorded, and silvicultural indices we…
Biodiversity of nematofauna associated with the rice field agro-ecosystem in north Italy
2008
This research is intended to give an idea on the soil biodiversity associated with the rice field agro-ecosystem. The research was carried out in two areas of North Italy where Oryza sativa is a traditional crop. The nematodes were extracted from soil samples and from the rhizosphere of rice plants. The nematode community was investigated for the genus composition, trophic structure and biodiversity. 22 families and 45 different genera were recorded. The dominant trophic group was the bacteriophagous with the genus Rhabditis. Other important genera were Pratylenchus, Helicotylenchus and Acrobeloides. Phytophagous represent in almost all fields not more than the 20% of the total nematodes. I…
Do conservative agriculture practices increase soil water repellency? A case study in citrus-cropped soils
2012
Water repellency is a property of soils that inhibits or delays infiltration. Long-term conservation practices as no-tillage, manure addition, application of herbicides may contribute to increase soil organic matter and, hence, soil water repellency. In this research, we have studied the effect of long-term addition of plant residues and organic manure, no-tillage and no chemical fertilization (MNT), annual addition of plant residues and no-tillage (NT), application of conventional herbicides and no-tillage (H), and conventional tillage (CT) on soil water repellency in Mediterranean calcareous citrus-cropped soils (Eastern Spain). Slight water repellency was observed in MNT soils, which may…
Lotus spp: biotechnological strategies to improve the bioeconomy of lowlands in the Salado River Basin (Argentina)
2016
The Salado River Basin region is the most important livestock breeding area in Argentina, wherethe Lotus species has been traditionally cultivated as forages. Nearly 60% of their land surface is dominated by salt-affected soils with severe constraints for crop cultivation. In order to cope with that limitation, farmers have utilized species such as non-native L. tenuis (ex- Lotus glaber), which shows a very good adaptation. As a result, inter-seeding of L. tenuis has been proposed as a strategy of choice for improving forage production in marginal areas. The increase in soil quality by these means is achieved by an increment of the organic matter content, improvement of soil fertility as we…
Soil carbon, multiple benefits
2014
Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T17:24:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-01-01 In March 2013, 40 leading experts from across the world gathered at a workshop, hosted by the European Commission, Directorate General Joint Research Centre, Italy, to discuss the multiple benefits of soil carbon as part of a Rapid Assessment Process (RAP) project commissioned by Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE). This collaboration led to the publication of the SCOPE Series Volume 71 Soil Carbon: Science, Management and Policy for Multiple Benefits; which brings together the essential scientific evidence and policy opportunities regarding the global importa…
Accelerated soil formation due to paddy management on marshlands (Zhejiang Province, China)
2014
Inundation of paddy soils for submerged rice production strongly impacts soil formation. Here we used chronosequences with up to 2000 years of cultivation history to compare soil formation in non-inundated (non-paddy) cropping systems with the formation of soils used for paddy rice production. This approach allowed us to identify the influence of agricultural management at different stages of pedogenesis. Soil samples were taken from two chronosequences derived from uniform parent material in the coastal region of the Zhejiang Province (P.R. China). One chronosequence consisted of paddy soils of different ages (50-2000 years), characterized by a yearly cropping sequence of rice cultivation …
Clay minerals, oxyhydroxide formation, element leaching and humus development in volcanic soils
2008
Aweathering sequence with soils developing on volcanic, trachy-basaltic parent materials with ages ranging from 100–115,000 years in the Etna region served as the basis to analyse and calculate the accumulation and stabilisation mechanisms of soil organic matter (SOM), the transformation of pedogenic Fe and Al, the formation and transformation of clay minerals, the weathering indices and, by means of mass-balance calculations, net losses of the main elements. Although the soils were influenced by ash depositions during their development and the soil on the oldest lava flow developed to a great extent under a different climate, leaching of elements and mineral formation and transformation co…