Understory vegetation plays a vital role in regulating soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) characteristics due to differences in plant functional traits. Different understory vegetation types have been reported following aerial seeding. While aerial seeding is common in areas with serious soil erosion, few studies have been conducted to investigate changes in soil C and N cycling as affected by un...

BACKGROUND Variation in microbial metabolism poses one of the greatest current uncertainties in models of global carbon cycling, and is particularly poorly understood in soils. Biological Stoichiometry theory describes biochemical mechanisms linking metabolic rates with variation in the elemental composition of cells and organisms, and has been widely observed in animals, plants, and plankton. ...

There is increasing interest in amending degraded soils with organic matter to improve soil quality, especially in urban areas where rehabilitation of damaged soils may enhance tree growth and provision of ecosystem services. To assess the potential of such organic amendments for producing a sustained alteration in soil biological characteristics, researchers studied the effects of three organi...

It is well established that soil microbial communities change in response to altered land use and land cover, but less is known about the timing of these changes. Understanding temporal patterns in recovering microbial communities is an important part of improving how we assess and manage reconstructed ecosystems. We assessed patterns of community-level microbial diversity and abundance in corn...

Tillage practices affect soil microorganisms, which in turn influence many processes essential to the function and sustainability of soil. In this study, the changes in soil microbial biomass and community composition in response to conventional tillage (CT, moldboard plowing and post-harvest residue removal) and no-tillage (NT) practices were examined during a maize (Zea mays L.) growing seaso...

The patterns and drivers of soil microbial communities in forest plantations remain inadequate although they have been extensively studied in natural forest and grassland ecosystems. In this study, using data from 12 subtropical plantation sites, we found that the overstory tree biomass and tree cover increased with increasing plantation age. However, there was a decline in the aboveground biom...

Exotic plant species impact belowground processes by influencing resource availability through enhanced microbial activity as a consequence of litter inputs. We have little understanding of the impact of microbe-driven nutrient fluctuations on the biomass accumulation of invasive species. Here we attempt to answer the question on whether soil community-driven nitrogen availability influences in...

Oxytetracycline (OTC) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) are two of most widely used antibiotics in livestock and poultry industry. After consumption of antibiotics, a major portion of these compounds is excreted through the feces and urine of animals. Land application of antibiotic-treated animal wastes has caused increasing concern about their adverse effects on ecosystem health. In this regard, inco...

The contamination of agricultural soils by heavy metals is a global problem. Soil texture as a biotic factor represents one of the most important factors that influences the distribution of organic matter and ultimately play decisive role in retention of heavy metals in soil ecosystem. The effects of heavy metals on soil microbial processes were investigated. Analytical grade sulphate and chlor...

The importance of soil organic carbon (SOC) under forests in the global carbon cycle depends on the stability of the soil carbon and its availability to soil microbial biomass. We investigated the effects of successive rotations of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) plantations on the stability of SOC and its availability to microbes by adopting the two-step hydrolysis with H2SO...