Soil microbial communities are structured by biogeochemical processes that occur at many different spatial scales, which makes soil sampling difficult. Because soil microbial communities are important in nutrient cycling and soil fertility, it is important to understand how microbial communities function within the heterogeneous soil landscape. In this study, a self-organizing map was used to d...

Nitrogen balance in agroecosystems provides a quantitative framework of N inputs and outputs and retention in the soil that examines the sustainability of agricultural productivity and soil and environmental quality. Nitrogen inputs include N additions from manures and fertilizers, atmospheric depositions including wet and dry depositions, irrigation water, and biological N fixation. Nitrogen o...

[1] This study was conducted to examine direct and indirect impacts of global warming on carbon processes in a tallgrass prairie in the U.S. Great Plains. Infrared radiators were used to simulate global warming, and clipping was used to mimic hay mowing. Experimental warming caused significant increases in green biomass in spring and autumn and total biomass in summer on most of the measuring d...

The use of organic wastes in agricultural soils is one of the possible ways to employ these materials. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of organic wastes and Fermented Bokashi Compost (FBC), to establish the most efficient use of organic wastes for a soil, changing the net nitrogen mineralization and soil chemical properties. The experimental design was completely rando...

BACKGROUND Both climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are predicted to affect soil N cycling in terrestrial biomes over the next century. However, the interactive effects of warming and N deposition on soil N mineralization in temperate grasslands are poorly understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A field manipulation experiment was conducted to examine the effects of war...

Soils and vegetation were analyzed in 20 lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forest stands, varying in age from 50 to 350 years, that had initiated following stand-replacing fire. Our goal was to determine how nitrogen availability (NH4 –N) and microbial community composition varied with stand age-class and to determine whether differences could be explained by canopy, soil, or understory character...

To determine seasonal variability in mineralization dynamics of mussel biodeposits, we applied a multiple-element approach measuring mineralization rates of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and silicate (Si) during three periods (March, August and November). The results of this study showed that mineralization rates vary between seasons and between elements and that mineralization dynam...

Nitrogen (N) is frequently a limiting element for primary productivity in karst ecosystems due to its low availability. N mineralization drives availability and important improving use efficiency soils. While the of biochar agricultural forest has attracted great attention recently, little been reported on seasonal dynamics soil transformation response application. Therefore, we conducted pot e...

We measured nitrogen transformations and loss following forest clearing in a relatively fertile tropical forest site. Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and amounts of ammonium and nitrate increased substantially in surface soils during the 6 mo following burning, then returned to background levels. The nitrogen content of microbial biomass declined to half its original value 6 mo after cl...

Evidence is presented for mineralization of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in nutrient-rich media (high-nitrogen and malt extract media) by wild-type Phanerochaete chrysosporium and by a peroxidase-negative mutant of this organism. Mass balance analysis of [U-ring-C]2,4-D mineralization in malt extract cultures showed 82.7% recovery of radioactivity. Of this, 38.6% was released as CO(2)...