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 inorganic carbon is the most common form of carbon in arid and semiarid regions, and has a very long turnover time. However, little is known about dissolved inorganic carbon storage and its turnover time in these soils. With 81 soil samples taken from 6 profiles in the southern Gurbantongute Desert, China, we investigated the soil inorganic carbon (SIC) and the soil dissolved inorganic car...

Robust estimation of soil moisture using microwave remote sensing depends on extensive ground sampling for calibration and validation of the data. Soil surface sealing is a frequent phenomenon in dry environments. It modulates soil moisture close to the soil surface and, thus, has the potential to affect the retrieval of soil moisture from microwave remote sensing and the validation of these da...

The flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere may ameliorate or exacerbate climate change, depending on the relative responses of ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration to warming temperatures, rising atmospheric CO2, and altered precipitation. The combined effect of these global change factors is especially uncertain because of their potential for interac...

Geostatistics and GIS were used to analyze the spatial variability of the soil water characteristics in western semiarid area of Heilongjiang province. Irrigation management zone was established based on spatial distribution of the soil water characteristics and actual condition of the study area. Sampling by layered sampling method and calculating of the rational sampling number by best distri...

this study was conducted to determine soil properties that correlate with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (amf) spore numbers in semiarid calcareous soils of hamadan province in northwestern of iran. soil samples from six sites managed differently were collected from a 0 to 30 cm depth. the results showed that land use and management systems had a significant effect on amf spore number in soi...

This paper reviews the main methodologies and techniques that have been used to characterize gypsum in soils, especially in gypsiferous soils of semiarid and arid regions and range from the identification of gypsum in soil surveys in the field to the study of gypsum in the laboratory. Many methods of gypsum identification and determination have been developed, each one with its own limitations....

Soil degradation is one of the most serious ecological problems in the world. In arid and semi-arid northern China, soil degradation predominantly arises from wind erosion. Trends in soil degradation caused by wind erosion in northern China frequently change with human activities and climatic change. To decrease soil loss by wind erosion and enhance local ecosystems, the Chinese government has ...

Extreme precipitation events are predicted to occur more frequently and will have significant influences on terrestrial ecosystem carbon (C) cycling in the future. However, response patterns of soil respiration to precipitation changes remain uncertain in terrestrial ecosystems. A field experiment with seven precipitation treatments (i.e. from -60% to +60% of ambient precipitation to form a dro...

This study examined the concentration of organic and inorganic phosphorus in surface soils of a Bouteloua gracilis-Bouteloua eriopoda grassland, and a Larrea tridentata shrubland, in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA. In this desert where the grassland vegetation has a uniform spatial distribution and individual shrubs have a patchy spatial distribution across the landscape, veget...