Search

Essential soil functions such as plant productivity, C storage, nutrient cycling and the storage and purification of water all depend on soil biological processes. Given this insight, it is remarkable that in modeling of these soil functions, the various biological actors usually do not play an explicit role. In this review and perspective paper we analyze the state of the art in modeling these soil functions and how biological processes could more adequately be accounted for. We do this for six different biologically driven processes clusters that are key for understanding soil functions, namely i) turnover of soil organic matter, ii) N cycling, iii) P dynamics, iv) biodegradation of contaminants v) plant disease control and vi) soil structure formation. A major conclusion is that the development of models to predict changes in soil functions at the scale of soil profiles (i.e. pedons) should be better rooted in the underlying biological processes that are known to a large extent. This is prerequisite to arrive at the predictive models that we urgently need under current conditions of Global Change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge about spatial patterns of soil respiration (SR) and its temperature sensitivity (Q10) is of emerging relevance for assessing carbon fluxes across the landscape. Related experiments are often conducted under controlled laboratory conditions and usually rely on soil samples, which are sieved and stored. Here, we investigated the effect of sieving and storage on SR and Q10. We took 14 samples from different land use types and soil textures. Samples were sieved to 2 mm at field-moist conditions and split into four treatments: sieved/no-storage, sieved/freeze-storage (−18 °C), sieved/cold-storage (+ 4 °C), and sieved/dry-storage (+ 40 °C). The storage time was 7 weeks. Intact soil cores were used as a control. The SR was not significantly affected by sieving/no-storage, sieving/freeze-storage, and sieving/cold-storage compared with the control. Yet, sieving/dry-storage significantly increased SR but all samples were similarly affected (r = 0.81 for the correlation between SR after sieving/dry-storage and SR in the control). The Q10 of sieving/no-storage (1.94 ± 0.28), sieving/freeze-storage (1.94 ± 0.23), sieving/cold-storage (2.37 ± 0.29), and sieving/dry-storage (2.29 ± 1.35) did not differ significantly from the control (2.12 ± 0.23). All samples responded similar to sieving and storage (r = 0.68–0.73 for the correlation between Q10 in each respective treatment and Q10 in the control), with the exception of sieved/dry-storage (r = 0.09). We conclude that sieving at field-moist conditions and subsequent freeze- or cold-storage is acceptable to derive SR and Q10 for the here reported storage time. Although dry-storage may be acceptable for the comparison of SR between samples, it should be avoided for realistic estimates of SR and for the determination of Q10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term paddy management promotes nitrogen (N) sequestration, but it is unknown to what extent the properties of the parent soil modify the management-induced N sequestration in peptide-bound amino acids (AA-N). We hypothesized that paddy management effects on the storage of AA-N relate to the mineral assembly. Hence, we determined contents and chirality of peptide-bound amino acids in paddy soils developed on contrasting parent material (Vertisols, Andosols, Alisols in Indonesia, Alisols in China, and Gleysol/Fluvisol in Italy). Adjacent non-paddy soils served as references. Selected samples were pre-extracted with dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate (DCB) to better understand the role of reactive oxide phases in AA-N storage, origin, and composition. The results showed that topsoil N and AA-N stocks were significantly larger in paddy-managed Andosols and Chinese Alisols than in their non-paddy counterparts. In other soils, however, paddy management did not cause higher proportions of N and AA-N, possibly because N fixing intercrops masked the paddy management effects on N sequestration processes. Among the different soils developed on contrasting parent material, AA-N stocks were largest in Andosols, followed by Alisols and Fluvisols, and lowest in Vertisols. The N storage in amino acid forms went along with elevated d-contents of bacteria-derived alanine and glutamic acid, as well as with increasing stocks of DCB-extractable Fe, Mn, and Al. Other d-amino acids, likely formed by racemization processes, did not vary systematically between paddy and non-paddy managed soils. Our data suggest that the presence of oxides increase the N sequestration in peptide-bound amino acids after microbial N transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle-size fractionation of a heavy metal polluted soil was performed to study the influence of environmental pollution on microbial community structure, microbial biomass, microbial residues and enzyme activities in microhabitats of a Calcaric Phaeocem. In 1987, the soil was experimentally contaminated with four heavy metal loads: (1) uncontaminated controls; (2) light (300 ppm Zn, 100 ppm Cu, 50 ppm Ni, 50 ppm V and 3 ppm Cd); (3) medium; and (4) heavy pollution (two- and threefold the light load, respectively). After 10 years of exposure, the highest concentrations of microbial ninhydrin-reactive nitrogen were found in the clay (2–0.1 μm) and silt fractions (63–2 μm), and the lowest were found in the coarse sand fraction (2,000–250 μm). The phospholipid fatty acid analyses (PLFA) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) separation of 16S rRNA gene fragments revealed that the microbial biomass within the clay fraction was predominantly due to soil bacteria. In contrast, a high percentage of fungal-derived PLFA 18 : 2ω6 was found in the coarse sand fraction. Bacterial residues such as muramic acid accumulated in the finer fractions in relation to fungal residues. The fractions also differed with respect to substrate utilization: Urease was located mainly in the <2 μm fraction, alkaline phosphatase and arylsulfatase in the 2–63 μm fraction, and xylanase activity was equally distributed in all fractions. Heavy metal pollution significantly decreased the concentration of ninhydrin-reactive nitrogen of soil microorganisms in the silt and clay fraction and thus in the bulk soil. Soil enzyme activity was reduced significantly in all fractions subjected to heavy metal pollution in the order arylsulfatase >phosphatase >urease >xylanase. Heavy metal pollution did not markedly change the similarity pattern of the DGGE profiles and amino sugar concentrations. Therefore, microbial biomass and enzyme activities seem to be more sensitive than 16S rRNA gene fragments and microbial amino-sugar-N to heavy metal treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publisher regret that the above article originally published with an error present in Table 1. The data "–18°C" under the Storage temperature column in the third row and the last row of the Table 1 were mistakenly omitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]