Soil microcosms are a valuable tool for the study of genetic interactions between microorganisms in natural soil environments. However, many factors, some of which are better studied than others, can affect gene transfer events occurring in soil systems, and hence should be carefully considered when performing experiments in soil microcosms. This paper is a guide to setting up and evaluating ge...

UNLABELLED We investigated communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the roots and the rhizosphere soil of Brachypodium retusum in six different natural soils under field conditions. We explored phylogenetic patterns of AMF composition using indicator species analyses to find AMF associated with a given habitat (root versus rhizosphere) or soil type. We tested whether the AMF charact...

soil erosion is a serious environmental problem in vazroud watershed, which is located in the centre of the mazandaran province, iran. unfortunately, vazroud watershed like most iran watersheds don’t have recorded data and erosion and sedimentation gages to research, monitor and model soil erosion at large watershed. in order to assess the soil erosion risk, soil erosion modeling at the watersh...

corrosion of water and gas pipes is not desirable from the view point of health, economy and nuisances. there are many factors in soil which attack the metal pipes for corrosion. (steel, cast, iron and like). that is why the designer of metal pipes for conveyance of metal pipes for conveyance of water and gas should be aware of these factors and pay nutmost care in selection of pipes and protec...

Arid ecosystems are characterized by high spatial heterogeneity, and the variation among vegetation patches is a clear example. Soil biotic and abiotic factors associated with these patches have also been well documented as highly heterogeneous in space. Given the low vegetation cover and little precipitation in arid ecosystems, soil microorganisms are the main drivers of nutrient cycling. None...

Moso bamboo is famous for fast growth and biomass accumulation, as well as high annual output for timber and bamboo shoots. These high outputs require high nutrient inputs to maintain and improve stand productivity. Soil nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are important macronutrients for plant growth and productivity. Due to high variability of soils, analysing spatial patterns of s...

While soil quality encompasses physical and chemical besides biological characteristics, soil health is primarily an ecological characteristic. Ecosystem health has been defined in terms of ecosystem stability and resilience in response to a disturbance or stress. We therefore, suggest that indicators for soil health could be found by monitoring responses of the soil microbial community to the ...

Spatial variability of soil fluoride in the plough layer 0~20cm of paddy soil from Hang-Jia-Hu Plain of Zhejiang Province in China was studied using geostatistical analysis and GIS technique. The results of Semivariograms analysis showed that two forms of soil fluoride were correlated in a given spatial range, and total fluoride (T-F) was controlled by intrinsic factors of parent material, reli...

High-throughput, culture-independent surveys of bacterial and archaeal communities in soil have illuminated the importance of both edaphic and biotic influences on microbial diversity, yet few studies compare the relative importance of these factors. Here, we employ multiplexed pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to examine soil- and cactus-associated rhizosphere microbial communities of the So...

Terrestrial life in Antarctica has been described as some of the simplest on the planet, and mainly confined to soil microfaunal communities. Studies have suggested that the lack of diversity is due to extreme environmental conditions and thought to be driven by abiotic factors. In this study we investigated soil microfauna composition, abundance, and distribution in East Antarctica, and assess...