Land use change as the most important destructive factor in natural ecosystems is a globally problem that changes soil properties. Therefore, correct management and recognition of change aspects on each component of the ecosystem is necessary. This process causes land destruction, ecosystem instability, soil erosion, and more biological threats. Due to increasing land use conversion from rangel...

Differences in the composition of a bacterial community engaged in decomposing wheat straw in a fluvo-aquic soil at 15 °C, 25 °C, and 35 °C were identified using barcode pyrosequencing. Functional carbon groups in the decomposing wheat straw were evaluated by (13)C-NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance). Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were more abundant, whereas Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes w...

The physico-chemical properties of serpentine soils lead to strong selection of plant species. Whereas many studies have described the serpentine flora, little information is available on the fungal communities dwelling in these sites. Asbestos minerals, often associated with serpentine rocks, can be weathered by serpentine-isolated fungi, suggesting an adaptation to this substrate. In this stu...

A study was conducted to access the phytoremediation potential of Coriandrum sativum for lead (Pb) and Arsenic (As). Metal tolerance index and pot experiment were conducted. Viable seeds were spread on filter paper and planted in soil placed in pots. The amount of Pb and As in control and in tailing soil was 0.27, 0.141, 1.77, and 0.35 ppm. The study was carried out in triplicates for a period ...

Urban agriculture has been recently highlighted with the increased importance for recreation in modern society; however, soil quality and public health may not be guaranteed because of continuous exposure to various pollutants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil quality of urban agriculture by soil microbial assessments. Two independent variables, organic and inorganic fertili...

Use of Fe/Al hydroxide-containing materials to remediate As-contaminated sites is based on the general notion that As adsorption in soils is primarily controlled by Fe/Al (hydr)oxides. A low-cost and potentially effective substitute for natural Fe/Al hydroxides could be the drinking-water treatment residuals (WTRs). Earlier work in our laboratory has shown that WTRs are effective sorbents for A...

Mediterranean biomes are biodiversity hotspots, and vineyards are important components of the Mediterranean landscape. Over the last few decades, the amount of land occupied by vineyards has augmented rapidly, thereby increasing threats to Mediterranean ecosystems. Land use change and agricultural management have important effects on soil biodiversity, because they change the physical and chemi...

The buildup of phosphorus (P) in the soil is a major factor limiting the operating life of a wastewater land treatment system. In this study, we evaluated changes of chemical properties, P profiles, and adsorption isotherms in the soils of a Muskegon wastewater land treatment system, which has received wastewater for approximately 30 years. It was found that the pH in the 15-cm topsoil increase...

Intraspecific negative feedback effects, where performance is reduced on soils conditioned by conspecifics, are widely documented in plant communities. However, interspecific feedbacks are less well studied, and their direction, strength, causes, and consequences are poorly understood. If more closely related species share pathogens, or have similar soil resource requirements, plants may perfor...

Soil organic matter is a complex mixture of material with heterogeneous biological, physical, and chemical properties. Decomposition models represent this heterogeneity either as a set of discrete pools with different residence times or as a continuum of qualities. It is unclear though, whether these two different approaches yield comparable predictions of organic matter dynamics. Here, we comp...