Search results for "SOIL ORGANIC"
showing 10 items of 214 documents
Effects of soil management techniques on soil water erosion in apricot orchards.
2016
Soil erosion is extreme in Mediterranean orchards due to management impact, high rainfall intensities, steep slopes and erodible parent material. Vall d'Albaida is a traditional fruit production area which, due to the Mediterranean climate and marly soils, produces sweet fruits. However, these highly productive soils are left bare under the prevailing land management and marly soils are vulnerable to soil water erosion when left bare. In this paper we study the impact of different agricultural land management strategies on soil properties (bulk density, soil organic matter, soil moisture), soil water erosion and runoff, by means of simulated rainfall experiments and soil analyses. Three rep…
Runoff initiation, soil detachment and connectivity are enhanced as a consequence of vineyards plantations.
2017
[EN] Rainfall-induced soil erosion is a major threat, especially in agricultural soils. In the Mediterranean belt, vineyards are affected by high soil loss rates, leading to land degradation. Plantation of new vines is carried out after deep ploughing, use of heavy machinery, wheel traffic, and trampling. Those works result in soil physical properties changes and contribute to enhanced runoff rates and increased soil erosion rates. The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the plantation of vineyards on soil hydrological and erosional response under low frequency - high magnitude rainfall events, the ones that under the Mediterranean climatic conditions trigger extreme soil ero…
Determination and assessment of mercury content in calcareous soils.
2009
Abstract This paper provides the first available information on the determination of the total mercury content in different Mediterranean calcareous soils by thermal decomposition, amalgamation and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Fifty-three samples from five soil use groups (natural, dry land, greenhouse, irrigated and rice farming soils) were analysed. The results show that the levels of mercury in these soils were 9.4–1585 μg kg −1 . Soil organic matter and the zinc equivalent index have been related to Hg content in soils, suggesting that Cu, Ni, Zn and Hg are of a similar origin. The background level (BL), geochemical baseline concentrations (GBC) and the reference value (RV) were…
Biochar based remediation of water and soil contaminated by phenanthrene and pentachlorophenol
2017
Abstract Phenanthrene (Phe) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) are classified as persistent organic pollutants and represent serious concern for the environment as they are toxic and ubiquitous. Biochar based remediation is an emerging technology used in water and soil contamination. In this study we used poplar (BP) and conifer (BC) biochars to remediate water and soil contaminated by Phe and PCP. BP and BC were able to remove completely either Phe or PCP from contaminated water within one to three days. When biochar was confined in a porous membrane, BC and BP maintained their sorption efficiency for several remediation cycles. However, in these conditions BC allowed faster Phe removal. In soil …
Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration
2016
Abandonment of agricultural land leads to several consequences for ecosystem functions. Agricultural abandonment may be a significant and low cost strategy for carbon sequestration and mitigation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions due to the vegetation recovery and increase in soil organic matter. The aim of this study was to: (i) estimate the influence of different Soil Regions (areas characterized by a typical climate and parent material association) and Bioclimates (zones with homogeneous climatic regions and thermotype indices) on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics after agricultural land abandonment; and (ii) to analyse the efficiency of the agri-environment policy (agri-environment measur…
Long-term effects of contrasting tillage on soil organic carbon, nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions in a Mediterranean Vertisol under different crop…
2018
This 2-year study aimed to verify whether the continuous application of no tillage (NT) for over 20 years, in comparison with conventional tillage (CT), affects nitrous oxide (NO) and ammonia (NH) emissions from a Vertisol and, if so, whether such an effect varies with crop sequence (continuous wheat, WW and wheat after faba bean, FW). To shed light on the mechanisms involved in determining N-gas emissions, soil bulk density, water filled pore space (WFPS), some carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools, denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA), and nitrous oxide reductase gene abundance (nosZ gene) were also assessed at 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depth. Tillage system had no significant effect on total NH e…
Dead-wood effects on enchytraeids and nematodes in thinned and unmanaged Norway spruce forests
2009
Abstract The effects of dead wood on enchytraeids and nematodes were studied in thinned and uncut Norway spruce forests in two experiments. Fifteen pairs of small spruce logs (one enclosed in polyethylene sheet and another untreated control) were returned to the forest floor in a complete randomized block design after thinning. Soil under the logs and at distances of 0–6 cm and 6–12 cm from each log was sampled after one growing season, and enchytraeids and nematodes were extracted and forest floor properties measured. Log enclosure increased enchytraeid length irrespective of the distance from the log. Soil moisture or pH were not affected by enclosure, but organic matter content was reduc…
Short-term responses of soil decomposer and vegetation communities to stump harvesting in boreal forests
2011
Recently, in addition to logging residues, stumps have become an important component in energy production since there is growing global interest in the use of renewable energy sources in order to decrease anthropogenic carbon emissions. Harvesting of stumps influences the forest floor by changing vegetation and soil organic layers and exposing mineral soil across large areas. We studied whether stump harvesting after clear felling poses further short-term changes in boreal forest soil decomposer community (microbes and mesofauna) and vegetation when compared to the traditional site preparation practice (mounding). In general, stump harvesting caused decline in enchytraeid abundance but did …
Spot mounding and granulated wood ash increase inorganic N availability and alter key components of the soil food web in clear-cut Norway spruce fore…
2012
Abstract The interactive effects of site preparation (spot mounding) and fertilization (granulated wood ash) on soil properties, soil micro- and mesofauna and ground vegetation were studied in two Norway spruce plantations established in clear-cut forests in Central Finland. Half of the seedlings were planted on mounds created by the planting machine, and the rest on intact forest floor. Half of the seedlings on mounded and intact forest floor were fertilized by adding granulated wood ash to circular plots surrounding the seedlings. Initial samples were taken from mounded and intact soil immediately after planting in June. Samples were taken from all treated plots in the autumn in the first…
Distribution of sulphur forms in soils from beech and spruce forests of Mont Loz�re (France)
1993
From a quantitative inventory of sulphur forms and sulphur budget, the relation between the distribution of the various sulphur forms and the sulphate fluxes in three soil profiles has been addressed. These profiles are located in two forested watersheds at Mont Lozere. One has been sampled in a beech forest and the other two in a spruce forest and in a harvested plot of this spruce forest, respectively. The mean annual input-output budgets showed a sulphur immobilization in the soil cover of the three plots. In the preserved spruce forest plot, because of larger dry depositions, the sulphur immobilization is much greater than in other plots and occurs essentially in the B horizons. In the …