Organic carbon (OC) sequestration in degraded semi-arid environments by improved soil management is assumed to contribute substantially to climate change mitigation. However, information about the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential in steppe soils and their current saturation status remains unknown. In this study, we estimated the OC storage capacity of semi-arid grassland soils ...

The Viking missions showed the martian soil to be lifeless and depleted in organic material and indicated the presence of one or more reactive oxidants. Here we report the presence of Mars-like soils in the extreme arid region of the Atacama Desert. Samples from this region had organic species only at trace levels and extremely low levels of culturable bacteria. Two samples from the extreme ari...

The filamentous cyanobacterium Microcoleus vaginatusis found in arid land soils worldwide. The genome of M. vaginatus strain FGP-2 allows exploration of genes involved in photosynthesis, desiccation tolerance, alkane production, and other features contributing to this organism's ability to function as a major component of biological soil crusts in arid lands.

Climate changes are predicted to increase extreme rainfall events in semiarid and arid region in Northern Hemisphere. Nutrient cycles will be affected by the precipitation changes but so far only very little is known how soil N transformations may respond. Here we investigated gross soil N transformation rates and their response to simulated rainfall events across Northeast China Transect (NECT...

Semi-arid soils cover a significant area of Earth's land surface and typically contain large amounts of inorganic C. Determining the effects of biochar additions on CO2 emissions from semi-arid soils is therefore essential for evaluating the potential of biochar as a climate change mitigation strategy. Here, we measured the CO2 that evolved from semi-arid calcareous soils amended with biochar a...

Wind erosion and dust storms are main issues in arid and semi-arid regions. Application of soil stabilizer on unstable land might be an eff ective and sustainable strategy in arid and semi-arid countries to minimized harmful eff ects on environment and human health. Th e aim of this study was to assess the eff ect of using nanoclay for increasing soil stability, as a result of increasing in siz...

1.1 Iron deficiency – The problem Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for plants, humans and other animals. An adequate uptake of Fe is needed to ensure proper growth and development, as well as good health of organisms (Marschner, 1995; Vasconcelos and Grusak, 2007). When provided with insufficient quantities of Fe, organisms will suffer from Fe deficiency symptoms. Fe deficiency is a worl...

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress adversely affecting plant growth and crop production worldwide. Increased salinization of arable land is expected to have destructive universal effects, resulting in 30 % land loss within the next 25 years and up to 50 % by the middle of twenty-first century (Porcel et al. 2012; Kapoor et al. 2013; Abdel Latef and Chaoxing 2014). The term ‘‘salinity’’ ref...