Global change is challenging plant and animal populations with novel environmental conditions, including increased atmospheric CO(2) concentrations, warmer temperatures, and altered precipitation regimes. In some cases, contemporary or "rapid" evolution can ameliorate the effects of global change. However, the direction and magnitude of evolutionary responses may be contingent upon interactions...

Two solutions for UHF RFID tags for soil moisture sensing were designed and are described in this paper. In the first, two conventional tags (standard transponders) are employed: one, placed close to the soil surface, is the sensor tag, while the other, separated from the soil, is the reference for system calibration. By transmission power ramps, the tag's turn-on power levels are measured and ...

Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Papers published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions are under open-access review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Abstract Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures ◭ ◮ ◭ ◮ Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract The paper focuses on the observation of interannual an...

dry and wet atmospheric depositions as well as urban surface soil samples were collected in eight different land use zones (during 2010) of the most important and largest industrial city, southwest iran for determining cadmium, chromium, lead and zinc. the average of cd, cr, pb and zn concentrations in the study area for wet precipitation were 17.8 μg/l, 49.97 μg/l, 2.31 μg/l, and 0.53 μg/l, re...

The choice of analytical method and sample pretreatment has significant consequences for the shape of particlesize distribution (PSD) frequency curves, and therefore for the evaluation of soil textural parameters. Here, the comparison of several granulometric methods based on different physical principles is presented: wet sieving (WS), based on gravity and the mechanical force of water, was co...

Alterations in global and regional precipitation patterns are expected to affect plant and ecosystem productivity, especially in water-limited ecosystems. This study examined the effects of natural and supplemental (25% increase) seasonal precipitation on a sotol grassland ecosystem in Big Bend National Park in the Chihuahuan Desert. Physiological responses – leaf photosynthesis at saturating l...

Soil does not always bene®t from disturbance by earthworms. We investigated whether (under a temperate climate and in maize growing in rows running down-hill) earthworm casts could contribute to soil erosion and losses of nutrients in runo€ water. Observations of casts were made in compacted (wheel-tracks) and non-compacted (untracked) inter-rows, for a 2-month period in spring. Estimates of s...

Ecological processes regulating soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles are still poorly understood, especially in the world's largest agricultural frontier in Southern Amazonia. We analyzed soil parameters in samples from pristine rainforest and after land use change to pasture and crop fields, and correlated them with abundance of functional and phylogenetic marker genes (amoA, nirK, nirS, no...

To determine the effects of straw incorporation on soil nutrients, enzyme activity, and aggregates in tobacco fields, we conducted experiments with different amounts of wheat and maize straw in Zhucheng area of southeast Shandong province for three years (2010–2012). In the final year of experiment (2012), straw incorporation increased soil organic carbon (SOC) and related parameters, and impro...