Laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate adsorption, desorption and mobility of metsulfuron-methyl in soils of the oil palm agroecosystem consisting of the Bernam, Selangor, Rengam and Bongor soil series. The lowest adsorption of metsulfuron-methyl occurred in the Bongor soil (0.366 ml g(-1)), and the highest in the Bemam soil (2.837 ml g(-1). The K(fads) (Freundlich) values of metsulf...

Water is a limiting factor for plant growth and vegetation dynamics in alpine sandy land of the Tibetan Plateau, especially with the increasing frequency of extreme precipitation events and drought caused by climate change. Therefore, a relatively stable water source from either deeper soil profiles or ground water is necessary for plant growth. Understanding the water use strategy of dominant ...

Manganese (Mn) contamination of drinking water may cause aesthetic and human health problems when concentrations exceed 50 and 500 μg l, respectively. In the UK, the majority of Mn-related drinking water supply failures originate from unpolluted upland catchments. The source of Mn is therefore soil, but the exact mechanisms by which it is mobilised into surface waters remain unknown. Elevated M...

BACKGROUND Monitoring the properties of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil water is frequently used to evaluate changes in soil quality and to explain shifts in freshwater ecosystem functioning. METHODS Using >700 individual soils (0-15 cm) collected from a 209,331 km(2) area we evaluated the relationship between soil classification (7 major soil types) or vegetation cover (8 dominant cla...

Definitions and forms of salinity All natural waters contain soluble salts. The concentration of the salts determines whether the water is of high quality (drinkable or usable for irrigation without need for special precautions) or of low quality (brackish or saline). Water in the soil also contains soluble salts (sometimes called free or nonattached salts). The amount of salts in the root zone...

Freshwater resources in the North China Plain (NCP) are near depletion due to the unceasing overexploitation of deep groundwater, by far the most significant source of freshwater in the region. To deal with the deepening freshwater crisis, brackish water (rich but largely unused water in agriculture) is increasingly being used in irrigation in the region. However, inappropriate irrigation with ...

Soil conservation is the only known way to protect the productive land. In country like Ethiopia, where droughts and floods cause food scarcity problem, soil and water conservation not only increases crop yield, but also prevents further deterioration of land. Soil and water conservation preserve soil moisture and drain water sustainably to avoid soil erosion and depletion of soil nutrients. So...

480 D use diff erent strategies to survive and fl ourish with erratically available water (Hamerlynck et al., 2002; Lombardini, 2006). Th e persistence of soil water within a particular depth range and its characteristic time scales of fl uctuation (Katul et al., 2007) help determine the resulting plant community. Th e depth to which infi ltration percolates and the degree to which water is ret...

Groundwater is the main water resource for plant growth and development in the saline soil of the Yellow River Delta in China. To investigate the variabilities and distributions of soil water and salt contents at various groundwater level (GL), soil columns with planting Tamarix chinensis Lour were established at six different GL. The results demonstrated the following: With increasing GL, the ...

" Human beings are all interlocked with plants, animals, soils and waters, in one humming community of cooperation and competition: one biota. They are related and bound into a seemless fabric " (Aldo Leopold, 1949).