The carbon-conserving nature of reduced or no-till soils as compared to conventionally tilled soils is well document­ ed (Blevins et al., 1983; Havlin et al., 1990; Wood and Edwards, 1992). With no-till, plant residues remaining on the soil surface decompose more slowly, resulting in more carbon (C) being retained in the soil than when residues are in­ corporated into the profile (Holland and C...

Severe soil erosion in the Yellow River basin is a significant obstruction to the sustainable management of soil and water resources. Any changes in soil erosion will have great effects on long-term planning of soil and water conservation in such a severely eroded basin. Rainfall erosivity describes the soil loss potential caused by rain, which can be expected to change in correspondence to cha...

Observing changes in soil organic matter (SOM) is a fundamental part of defining the carbon cycle in natural and cultivated environments. However, relying on changes in the mass of soil C over short periods often produces conflicting results because of errors associated with sampling and analysis. In addition, C mass balance studies provide little interpretation of processes or turnover of spec...

The climate sensitivity of microbe-mediated soil processes such as carbon and nitrogen cycling offers an interesting case for evaluating the corresponding sensitivity of microbial community composition to environmental change. Better understanding of the degree of linkage between functional and compositional stability would contribute to ongoing efforts to build mechanistic models aiming at pre...

BACKGROUND The importance of soil biota in the composition of mature plant communities is commonly acknowledged. In contrast, the role of soil biota in the early establishment of new plant communities and their relative importance for soil abiotic conditions are still poorly understood. AIMS AND METHODS The aim of this study was to understand the effects of soil origin and soil fungal communi...

To improve wind erosion model calculations across several spatial and temporal scales simultaneously, there is a requirement for a noninvasive approach that can be used rapidly to assess changes in the compositional and structural nature of a soil surface in time and space. Remote sensing allows consideration of the processes controlling erodibility on the same spatial continuum to avoid time-c...

Organic amendments such as composts and mulches have been shown to improve soil quality and reduce the impacts of stormwater runoff and soil erosion Previous studies using rainfall simulators have documented that runoff volumes and soil erosion can be significantly reduced when organic materials are added to the soil profile. The objectives of this study are to measure the changes in runoff and...

When agricultural land is no longer used for cultivation and allowed to revert to natural vegetation or replanted to perennial vegetation, soil organic carbon can accumulate by processes that essentially reverse some of the effects responsible for soil organic carbon losses from when the land was converted from perennial vegetation. We discuss the essential elements of what is known about soil ...