Journal Paper Digests

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Journal Paper Digests 2020 #13

  • Mapping soil profile depth, bulk density and carbon stock in Scotland using remote sensing and spatial covariates
  • A new approach for studying vertical infiltration
  • Increasing the organic carbon stocks in mineral soils sequesters large amounts of phosphorus
  • Global human influence maps reveal clear opportunities in conserving Earth’s remaining intact terrestrial ecosystems
  • Distinct controls over the temporal dynamics of soil carbon fractions after land use change
  • Soil as an extended composite phenotype of the microbial metagenome

Mapping soil profile depth, bulk density and carbon stock in Scotland using remote sensing and spatial covariates

Matt Aitkenhead Malcolm Coull EJSS

A new approach for studying vertical infiltration

Alexander Poulovassilis 0000-0003-1117-1158 and Ioannis Argyrokastritis 0000-0003-0519-2219 pp. 509-518

The absorption of rain and irrigation water by soils, called the infiltration process, is of vital importance for plant growth. This process is controlled by the permeability properties of soils, and this paper presents new methods for determining these properties and new equations describing the infiltration process more precisely than in previous works. These contributions allow a better understanding of the infiltration process and more precise calculation of water infiltration rates under conditions imposed by both nature and irrigation practices.

Increasing the organic carbon stocks in mineral soils sequesters large amounts of phosphorus

Marie Spohn Global CHange Biology

Global human influence maps reveal clear opportunities in conserving Earth’s remaining intact terrestrial ecosystems

Jason Riggio Jonathan E. M. Baillie Steven Brumby Erle Ellis Christina M. Kennedy James R. Oakleaf Alex Tait Therese Tepe David M. Theobald Oscar Venter James E. M. Watson Andrew P. Jacobson Pages: 4344-4356 First Published: 05 June 2020

Leading up to the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties 15, there is momentum around setting bold conservation targets. Yet it remains unclear how much of Earth’s land area remains without significant human influence. We compare four recent global maps of human influences (Anthromes, Global Human Modification, Human Footprint, and Low Impact Areas) and find that about half of Earth’s terrestrial surface has relatively low human influence. These findings offer opportunities for proactive conservation actions to retain the last intact ecosystems on the planet, although the relative abundance of ecosystem areas with low human influence varies widely by biome.

Distinct controls over the temporal dynamics of soil carbon fractions after land use change

Zhongkui Luo Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel Zhou Shi Pages: 4614-4625 First Published: 13 May 2020

Our understanding on the controls over soil organic carbon (SOC) composition, particularly its temporal dynamics, is quite limited, inhibiting reliable prediction of SOC dynamics. By assessing a comprehensive dataset including temporal measurements of three SOC fractions (i.e. particulate, mineral-associated and charred organic carbon) after land use change, we found that environmental factors present distinct effects on the dynamics of the three fractions, and these effects were time-dependent. To reduce uncertainties in SOC predictions in response to global change and land management, the distinct controls over the dynamics of SOC fractions should be properly considered in carbon models.

Soil as an extended composite phenotype of the microbial metagenome

Andrew L. Neal, Aur?lie Bacq-Labreuil, Xiaoxian Zhang, Ian M. Clark, Kevin Coleman, Sacha J. Mooney, Karl Ritz & John W. Crawford

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