Soil antibiotic resistome is considered to be primarily determined by bacterial community composition. However, the antibiotic resistance of plant microbiota and its association with the soil microbiome in soil‐plant systems remain largely unknown. Here, we studied the connections between bacteria and resistance genes (RGs) (mainly antibiotic resistance genes, ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs)

Carbon (C) substrates are critical for regulating denitrification, a process that results in nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2) emissions from soil. However, the impacts of C substrates on concomitant soil emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and N2O under varying soil types and soil water contents are not well studied. Three repacked Pallic grassland soils, varying in texture and phosphorus (P)

The increase of fossil‐fuel burning and nitrogen (N) fertilizer consumption is elevating N deposition, leading to significant increases of soil NH4+ and NO3− concentrations, and thus N2O emissions especially in natural soils which are considered as sensitive areas to N input. However, uncertainties exist regarding the interaction of soil N2O emissions with soil NH4+ and NO3− concentrations in response

In designed experiments, different sources of variability and an adequate scale of measurement need to be considered, but not all approaches in common usage are equally valid. In order to elucidate the importance of sources of variability and choice of scale, we conducted an experiment where the effects of biochar and slurry applications on soil properties related to soil fertility were studied for

Previous studies have indicated that diversity is a concern in soil science, including how this relates to gender equity. However, gender equity data for soil science are extremely limited, with only the USA having a current relatively extensive study published in the scientific literature. Therefore, this study was undertaken to gain a preliminary understanding of gender equity issues in a range of

Contrasting tillage strategies not only affect the stability and formation of soil aggregates but also modify the concentration and thermostability of soil organic matter associated with soil aggregates. Understanding the thermostability and carbon retention ability of aggregates under different tillage systems is essential to ascertain potential terrestrial carbon storage. We characterized the concentration

Understanding the spatiotemporal behaviour of soil moisture in tropical forests is fundamental because it mediates processes such as infiltration, groundwater recharge, runoff and evapotranspiration. This study aims to model the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil moisture in an Atlantic forest remnant (AFR) through four machine learning algorithms, as these dynamics represent an important knowledge gap

Soil phosphorus (P) remains an ever‐increasing topic of importance, notably for its key role as a nutrient for driving food production but with parallel concerns over damaging water quality, all against a backdrop of uncertainty of long‐term rock phosphate supplies. Soil is a key interface that holds P and regulates its onward flow to plants or leakage to waters. Often overlooked are a ubiquitous group

Soil can be seen as an important and delicate interface between the biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere. Biogeochemical processes occurring at this interface are crucial for maintaining soil ecosystem function, plant productivity and water quality. Aside from controlling the fate of pollutants, this interface plays a key role in the biogeochemical cycles and thus has a role in soils

The wet dichromate methods for the quantification of soil organic carbon on the basis of the reductant ability of soil organic matter have been widely used and they are still nowadays. The results obtained with these methods depart from the reference dry combustion with CO2 measurement and the discrepancies are interpreted in terms of incomplete oxidation under the wet dichromate conditions. However

The thermal conductivity (λ) of soils is an important property in a variety of science and engineering applications. One of the most widely used λ models in soil science was proposed by de Vries (deV‐0). This model is complicated and difficult to use as it is based on several controversial assumptions. The deV‐0 assumes that a soil system is composed of non‐contacting solid particles (rotated uniform

Soil macroporosity is a highly dynamic feature driven by numerous physical and biological processes, of which bioturbation, the movement of water in soil and swelling and shrinking cycles are the main processes. To date, the interaction between these factors, especially how galleries produced by soil fauna respond to rainwater percolation and wetting–drying (WD) cycles, remains poorly known. A laboratory

Uncertainties arising from the so‐far poorly explained spatial variability of soil respiration (Rs) remain large. This is partly due to the limited understanding about how spatially variable Rs actually is, but also on how environmental controls determine Rs's spatial variability and how these controls vary in time (e.g., seasonally). Our study was designed to look more deeply into the complexity of

Understanding changes in soil functions in response to land‐use change is important for guiding agricultural practices towards sustainable soil management. We evaluated the differences in soil properties (soil organic matter, water extractable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), microbial biomass, pHKCL and exchangeable cations) and microbial processes (respiration potential, net N mineralization, net nitrification

Conversion of grassland into cropland always induces a great degradation of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, during this process information on microbial residue C (MR‐C) and its contribution to SOC with increasing conversion age remain scarce. The relative contribution of soil properties to the accumulation of amino sugars is still poorly understood. Here, we studied variations in soil amino sugars

Soil bulk density (BD) is a key soil property in soil science. BD is measured at the scale of the soil horizon with conventional methods: core sampling and rubber balloon. Regardless of the method, BD measurement in the field is cumbersome and time consuming, especially in stony soils, and new, less invasive methods have emerged, but their measurement quality needs to be compared with conventional

The abundance and taxonomic composition of ammonia‐oxidizing archaea (AOA) were assessed in paddy soils that had received more than 50 years of fertilization with and without inorganic N. The inorganic N fertilized treatments were: NPK and NPK + CO (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and compost (CO)). The treatments without inorganic N were: CO, PK and control (unfertilized soils). Quantitative

Applying fertilizers on a long‐term basis can promote the accumulation of soil organic matter and increase soil aggregation. The effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on soil structure have manifested as different morphological characteristics for different soil types. To quantify the three‐dimensional (3D) pore structure of soil cores after long‐term fertilization, we collected cinnamon soil

River deltas are often considered as hotspots of atmospheric carbon regulation, but few studies have paid attention to the differences between topsoil and subsoil for carbon sequestration. Here physical and chemical stabilization mechanisms and sources of soil organic carbon (OC) accumulation in different soil layers of a major river delta (Yellow River delta) were studied by fractionation and isotopic

Iron (Fe)‐rich colloids in the environment have a high surface reactivity and facilitate transport of oxyanions and trace metal cations in soil. This study was set up to help identify the soil properties that might affect the concentrations of colloidal Fe and its size distribution in pore waters of soils. The pore water was isolated by centrifugation from a collection of 97 topsoils with contrasting

Management strategies that reduce machinery traffic, such as creating seedbeds, could be adopted to preserve soil health and reduce soil physical restriction to sugarcane (Saccharum sp.) growth. Field experiments on clayey and sandy loam soils were conducted along four crop seasons (2013–2017) to investigate the changes in bulk density, soil penetration resistance, macroporosity and microporosity in

Biochar is recommended as a soil amendment for its positive influence on soil hydrological properties, which results in improved soil fertility and crop yield. Much research in the last decade has been conducted in field and laboratory conditions on the effect of biochar on the hydraulic properties of soil. However, reported results in the literature are substantially inconsistent. Here we performed

Greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) is developing rapidly and farming practices strongly affect soil quality. However, quantitative evidence of the differences in soil macropore structure between organic and conventional greenhouse vegetable cultivation is still unavailable. In this study, we sampled paired organic and conventional greenhouse vegetable soils from the tilled and plough pan layers

The impact of heat treatment and wetting–drying cycles on the wetting properties of sandy forest soils was explored. Topsoil and upper subsoil were sampled at three beech forest sites in northern Germany. The air‐dried soils were treated at 20, 40 and 80°C for 24 h, with materials treated at 20°C serving as reference. After wetting, materials were air‐dried or shock‐frozen in liquid N2 and freeze‐dried

Soil particle interaction forces/energies control aggregation and breakup/dispersion processes, which further profoundly affect a series of soil micro‐ and macro‐processes. For soils with complex compositions, it is the interaction energy of different particles that determines particle aggregation and aggregate breakdown/dispersion. However, measuring the interaction energy for complex systems remains

The vertical change in the number of macropores causes a variation of the relative macroporosity (wf) and the effective aggregate width (dag) over the soil profile. Both parameters are used in HYDRUS to represent this variation, increasing the number of parameters and making automated calibration challenging. The working hypothesis is that we can improve an analytical estimation of wf and dag developed

HYDRUS‐1D has been extensively applied to the simulation of wettable soil infiltration, but very few studies have explored its applicability to the infiltration of water‐repellent soil (WRS) at different depths. To this end, HYDRUS‐1D was used to simulate water movement of layered soil with a surface repellent thickness of 10 cm. The parameters of the van Genuchten model were calibrated and validated

Detachment rate in rill erosion is an important indicator of soil erosion speed and serves as the basis for estimation of soil erosion using the process‐oriented model. Rill detachment rates on saturated soil slopes were numerically calculated from the dataset of the rill erosion process. The datasets of sediment concentrations were obtained from laboratory experiments, along saturated soil rills 1

Return of crop straw and its biochar to the agricultural field decreases pressure on phosphorus (P) resources and reduces leaching and P runoff. We conducted a 5‐year field trial from 2013 to 2017 to study the capability of maize straw and its biochar to retain soil P, which was quantified by investigating the distribution of P fractions in the soil profile (0–100 cm) and soil aggregates of different

Biological nitrification inhibition is a plant‐mediated rhizosphere process where natural nitrification inhibitors can be produced and released by roots to suppress nitrifier activity in soil. Nitrification is one of the critical soil processes in the nitrogen (N) cycle, but unrestricted and rapid nitrification in agricultural systems can result in major losses of N from the plant–soil system (i.e

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) play important roles in ecosystem functioning and are considered ecosystem engineers: stabilizing the soil surface, preventing soil erosion, changing soil surface hydrology, and enriching the soil with carbon and nitrogen. The link between geodiversity and biodiversity incorporates physical aspects from geology, geomorphology and pedology. We aimed to assess the effects

Soil aggregate breakdown is the key step of splash erosion. Recent studies have shown that it is the soil internal forces that induce aggregate breakdown and subsequent splash erosion. However, little is known about the size characteristics of soil aggregate breakdown and corresponding effects on splash erosion. In this study, Cinnamon soil and Heilu soil were adopted to investigate the effects of

Cropping practices have a great potential to improve soil quality through changes in soil biota. Yet the effects of these soil‐improving cropping systems on soil fungal communities are not well known. Here, we analysed soil fungal communities using standardized measurements in 12 long‐term experiments and 20 agricultural treatments across Europe. We were interested in whether the same practices (i

Deteriorating soil health, diminishing soil organic carbon (SOC), development of subsurface hard compact layer and declining system productivity are barriers to achieving sustainable production in the traditional rice–wheat cropping system (TA) in the eastern Indo‐Gangetic Plain of India. Conservation agriculture (CA), which favours minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop diversification

Applying digestate, the residue from anaerobic digestion, to soil as a replacement for inorganic fertiliser is of growing interest in agriculture. However, the impacts of different fractions of digestate on the soil carbon (C) cycle remain unclear and provide the focus for the research reported here. We examined the effects of applying whole digestate (WD) and solid digestate (SD) on carbon dioxide

Rill erosion is considered one of the most important soil processes because of the large amount of soil loss due to the development of a rill network able to promote an efficient transport of both rill flow‐detached particles and those delivered from the inter‐rill areas. Rill flow experiments are useful to overcome the gap in rill hydraulics knowledge and to test the reliability of currently applied

The application of biochar to agricultural soils to increase nutrient availability, crop production and carbon sequestration has gained increasing interest but data from field experiments on temperate, marginal soils are still under‐represented. In the current study, biochar, produced from organic residues (digestates) from a biogas plant, was applied with and without digestates at low (3.4 t ha−1)

Airborne imaging spectroscopy data provide soil and vegetation information over relatively large areas at high spatial resolutions (<5 m). We combined airborne hyperspectral data with space‐borne data (LiDAR DEM and Sentinel‐1) to map soil properties and investigate the contributions of the different sensor data to the mapping accuracy. The study was conducted on a 330‐ha farm in south‐central Wisconsin

Permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) is a sub‐pool of labile soil organic carbon (SOC) and is defined as the carbon (C) that can be oxidized by potassium permanganate (KMnO4). Determination of the content of POXC has been used as a way to measure labile C and may be related to soil microbial biomass and particulate organic C. Fourier transform mid‐infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR‐PAS) has

Assessment of soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration in high‐altitude shrublands is essential for understanding C dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems. Hence, we investigated the SOC concentration and its influencing factors using 198 soil profiles (0–100 cm) from 66 sites between 2011 and 2013 in the north‐eastern Tibetan Plateau shrublands. SOC concentration was different under different shrubland

Optimization of phosphorus (P) fertiliser use is desired to ensure more sustainable use of fertiliser, economic food production and reduction of eutrophication of water bodies. Presently, the Olsen P values on which fertiliser recommendations are based to achieve optimum yield are frequently the same for all soils. The aim of this study was to identify the properties of different soils that affect

The growth of deep‐rooted crops has the potential to increase carbon deposition within deep subsoil layers, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation. Yet, the mechanisms of labile carbon stabilization in deep subsoils remain uncertain. Here we studied the effect of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur limitations on the microbial mineralization of added glucose and an artificial root exudate mixture

The return of organic materials to cultivated fields to improve soil quality and to sequester carbon are widely studied, but the effects of combining different types of organic material on soil microbial diversity and community structure are poorly understood, particularly in alkaline soils. An incubation experiment was performed to study the effects of incorporating two straw‐derived materials (fresh

We, the co‐authors of this letter, are an international group of soil scientists at early career stages, from PhD students to postdoctoral researchers, lecturers, and research fellows with permanent positions. Here, we present our collective musings on soil research challenges and opportunities and, in particular, the points raised by Philippe Baveye (Baveye, 2020a, 2020b) and Johan Bouma (Bouma, 2020)

The map published as Figure 1 in Zhao, et al. (2018) is incorrect. The correct map of the study basin is below: FIGURE 1 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Location of the Loess Plateau and the study basin [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Soil particle size distribution (PSD) essentially determines the soil's physical characteristics, including aggregate stability and porosity. Evaluating the PSD of sodic soils altered by reclamation is beneficial to the development of strategies for addressing land degradation. However, it remains unclear how to extract the features of PSD of sodic soils sensitively under gypsum reclamation. In this

Soil science is one of the least diverse fields within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Because demographics of groups and institutions provide a window into the culture, climate, equity and inclusion of minoritized scholars, we discuss how lack of diversity continues to affect our science and the scientific community, and its implications for the welfare of the global population

Water retention and saturated hydraulic conductivity are soil properties that are key determinants in crop growth and hydrological modelling. They are commonly estimated from basic soil characteristics such as bulk density, organic carbon content and texture by means of pedotransfer functions (PTFs). In order to assess and compare the inherent performance and the functional applicability in the Zambezi

This study summarizes a large diverse dataset of methane (CH4) fluxes measured from agricultural sites across the British Isles. A total of 53,976 manual static chamber measurements from 27 different sites were investigated to determine the magnitude of CH4 fluxes from a variety of agricultural fields across the UK and Ireland. Our study shows that contrary to some studies, agricultural soils (both

Soil is a complex system in which biological, chemical and physical interactions take place. The behaviour of these interactions changes in spatial scale from the atomic to the global, and in time. To understand how this system works, soil scientists usually rely on incremental improvements in the knowledge by refinement of theories through hypothesis testing and development using carefully designed

Temperate forest ecosystems store most of the organic carbon in soils (SOC), and changes in the soil carbon stock due to climate change or land management can potentially have a large influence on carbon balance. The most important factors controlling the SOC pool on a global scale are generally agreed upon; however, estimations of SOC pools differ significantly among studies at regional and local

Computed tomography technology has contributed greatly to the visualization of soil internal structure. Complex topological structure and spatial distribution of pores have become a focal area for studying the spatiotemporal evolution of soil structure. This is significant for understanding soil functions and ecological processes. Image‐processing software, such as ImageJ and Image Pro‐Plus, is widely

Dispersive soils limit crop growth and significantly impact world food production. Although numerous reviews have examined soil dispersion, many focus on irrigated systems and fail to differentiate the approaches required for rainfed agriculture. This review seeks to fill this gap by focusing on the impact, identification and management of dispersive soils in rainfed areas. Dispersive soils can have

The relative uptake by plants of the two ionic nitrogen (N) forms, ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3−), has been the subject of much interest during the past 50 years, resulting in a considerable scientific literature. The general idea is that plants have choice, resulting in preference for either one mineral N form or the other. Unfortunately, there is no specific definition of preference or agreement

The adsorbed water content is an attractive predictor for estimation of soil specific surface area (SSA) as its measurement is less laborious and more cost effective than standard laboratory techniques. We analysed the effects of total specific surface area (SSAtot), external specific surface area (SSAex) and internal specific surface area (SSAin) on water vapour sorption on 21 soil samples, and proposed

The Loess Plateau has long been considered as a very fragile area that suffers from serious water erosion. With the onset of global climate fluctuations and regional implementation of soil and water conservation measures, it is of great significance to effectively reveal the variations in soil erosion risk and its driving mechanism on the Loess Plateau. Taking the Yanwachuan watershed as a case study

Grassed waterways are used to mitigate the offsite transport of sediment generated by soil erosion. This study used a novel trait‐based ranking approach as a method to screen potential candidate grass monocultures and mixes based on their theoretical performance in reducing (a) detachment via rainsplash, (b) detachment via scouring due to concentrated flow and (c) sediment transport and deposition

Ratoon rice (RR) is a practice that involves achieving a second crop originating from the stubble left after the previous main rice crop (MR) harvest. There has been little previous study on methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from ratoon paddy fields. A 3‐year field experiment was conducted to simultaneously measure CH4 and N2O emissions from traditional single rice (SR) and MR + RR fields

Forest species control the quantity and chemistry of organic matter input, which in interaction with the soil physicochemical properties, environmental conditions and microbial community associated with a given ecosystem may result in specific patterns of soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization and chemistry. The objectives of this study were: (a) to characterize the chemistry of soil organic matter

Although plant canopies are widely recognized to protect the soil and help mitigate soil erosion, recent research has shown that the majority of soil scour prevention can be attributed to the roots. Because roots are more difficult and time‐consuming to measure than shoots, research in this area has largely been limited to understanding the influence of large roots and/or whole root systems, and there