In recent years, wildfire frequency and severity has increased in the Arctic tundra regions due to climate change. Pyrogenic organic matter (PyOM) is a product of incomplete combustion of biomass containing nutrients such as nitrogen (N), and is expected to affect ecosystem N cycling during a post-fire recovery period. We investigated effects of fire on soil biogeochemical cycles with a focus on pyrogenic

Salt accumulation and salinisation of coastal soils is a global issue. Further, climate change is likely to increase the amount of land affected by salinity due to the increasing frequency and severity of coastal flooding and brackish water ingress. The impact of this on the ability of soils to deliver ecosystem services, particularly carbon (C) storage, however, remains unclear. We hypothesized that

Soil health is a promising lens through which to approach land management, having the potential to serve as a descriptor of biophysical processes and as an effective communication tool across stakeholders. However, this potential has been largely unrealized due to difficulty in quantitatively assessing soil health and linking those assessments to outcomes. Here we discuss many multiple persistent obstacles

Reductions in ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural systems are critical for achievement of sustainability targets that underpin international efforts on climate and biodiversity. Urease inhibitors (UI) such as N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) and nitrification inhibitors (NI) such as dicyandiamide (DCD) slow down microbial and chemical N transformation rates in

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is closely tied to soil health. However, additional biological indicators may also provide insight about C dynamics and microbial activity. We used SOC and the other C indicators (potential C mineralization, permanganate oxidizable C, water extractable organic C, and β-glucosidase enzyme activity) from the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements to examine

Entombment, or the production of graveyards for the disposal of dead bodies, is not only a practice of human societies but is also observed in nature, including among small invertebrates such as termites. While the influence of termites on soil dynamics has largely been studied in comparing the specific properties of their mounds and protective sheeting with those of the surrounding soil, the properties

The transition year from tillage to no tillage in semiarid areas and its effects on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and related microbial communities, as well as the potential interaction with N management, including enhanced-efficiency fertilisers, are not well studied despite their economic and environmental implications. In tilled and nontilled plots, the effectiveness of the double DMPSA + NBPT inhibitor

Soil fungi are vital for ecosystem functioning, but an understanding of their ecology is still growing. A better appreciation of their ecological preferences and the controls on the composition and distribution of fungal communities at macroecological scales is needed. Here, we used one of the most extensive continental-scale datasets on soil fungi and modelled the relative abundance of dominant fungal

Both warming and nitrogen (N) addition affect the chemistry and characteristics of soil organic matter (SOM). However, their interactive impacts on molecular compositions and origins (plant- or microbial-derived) in agroecosystems are indeterminate. A nine-year field trial study in Northern China was undertaken to quantify the effects of warming (+2 °C), N addition (315 kg N ha−1 yr−1), and their interaction

Some soil microbes can methylate arsenic (As) and produce dimethylarsenate (DMA) as a main product. Excessive accumulation of DMA by rice plants can cause the straighthead disease, a physiological disorder leading to substantial yield losses. DMA can also be demethylated in soil, but the mechanism and the microbes involved are not well understood. We investigated the dynamics of methylated As species

Widespread degradation and destruction of coastal wetlands over the last century have spurred on the practice of creating salt marshes to mitigate losses of wetland area and ecosystem function. Constructed marshes can quickly recover plant biomass, but biogeochemical functions, such as nitrogen removal capacity through denitrification, can take decades to centuries to recover. One potential mechanism

Mollisols have a high potential to mitigate climate change and play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle due to their inherently high soil organic matter (SOM). However, little is known about the mechanism of C stabilization in Mollisols, especially subjected to different management effects. To trace C stabilization between aggregates and SOM density fractions in Mollisols, soil samples

Organic amendments stimulate carbon (C) mineralization by affecting the soil nutrient content, soil organic carbon (SOC) chemistry, and microbial community structure, especially keystone taxa. Exogenous substrates' quality is expected to affect the relative importance of these biotic and abiotic factors in C mineralization. However, little evidence from long-term studies has been found, and the underlying

Identifying general patterns in microbial community responses to global change factors remains a challenge in soil ecology, partially due to different methods used to characterize microbial communities among studies. In this study, we used DNA-based (qPCR, sequencing) and PLFA approaches to assess microbial responses to both land use change and drought-rewetting. Both methods detected microbial community

The persistence of soil organic carbon (SOC) is influenced by soil physicochemical properties, organic matter quality, and climatic conditions that govern its vulnerability to microbial activity. We compared the susceptibility of newly formed SOC to mineralization in two soils (Andosols) that developed under contrasting precipitation regimes. Soil from the high rainfall region (‘highrain’) had higher

Earthworms have potential to stabilize soil organic carbon (SOC), but the biophysical controls on SOC dynamics in earthworm casts and the SOC residence time in casts is poorly known. To this end, we aimed to investigate (1) the kinetics of SOC (de-) protection in earthworm casts deposited in a tropical environment and (2) changes in the spatial relationships between fresh particulate organic matter

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts), specialized communities of cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, fungi and bacteria occurring on the ground surface, are key drivers of soil carbon (C) cycles in drylands, yet our understanding of how biocrusts directly and indirectly (through soil temperature or moisture) affect soil respiration and the contributions of biocrusts to soil C efflux is very limited. Using

Repeated fires can alter the microtopography, vegetation composition, peat surface temperature and can increase the risk of flooding in tropical peatlands. However, difficult site conditions limit our understanding of these critical factors regulating greenhouse gas (GHG, viz. CO2 and CH4) production and emissions from fire-degraded tropical peatlands. We aimed to relate the complex interactions between

Although widely used in ecology, comparative analyses of diversity and niche properties are still lacking for microorganisms, especially focusing on niche variations. Quantifying the niches of microbial taxa is necessary to then forecast how taxa and the communities they compose might respond to environmental changes. In this study, we first identified important topoclimatic, edaphic, spatial and biotic

Iron (oxyhydr)oxides [Fe(III)] are important adsorbents of arsenate [As(V)] and phosphate in paddy soils, and microbial Fe(III) reduction is hence central to biogeochemical cycles of arsenic and phosphorus. Nevertheless, how Fe(III) reducers and As(V) reducers at the community level respond to As(V) and phosphate adsorption in paddy soils remain unclear. Here, we explored the influences of arsenate

Microbial responses to nitrogen (N) enrichment under chronic ambient N deposition conditions are understudied, especially in subtropical forests which are often not limited by N. We investigated variation in subtropical forest soil microbial biomass and composition, bacterial-fungal interactions (BFI), and their linkages to N cycling along a gradient of high-rate N deposition in Shanghai, China (estimated

Coastal forests worldwide are vulnerable to a dramatic transition from upland to wetland as sea-level rise accelerates and regimes of precipitation and storms change. However, the biogeochemical impacts of shifting salinity and inundation disturbance that foreshadow forest to wetland state transitions are largely unknown. This experiment used a natural salinity gradient in a tidal creek in eastern

The environmental conditions under which the availability of inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) influence soil microbial growth are poorly understood, especially with regards to how fertilization changes specific aspects of microbial growth such as carbon-use efficiency (CUE). Microbial CUE is the fraction of C converted into biomass out of all C taken in and plays a critical

Anthropogenic activities have severely altered biogeochemical cycles with far-reaching consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The use of artificial fertilizers, increased legume cultivation and fossil fuel combustion has resulted in a twofold increase of inorganic nitrogen input in natural ecosystems worldwide, often with considerable negative effects on plant and microbial communities

The health and functioning of soil ecosystems are the foundation of sustainable food production and land management. Of key importance in achieving sustainability, is the frequent measurement of soil health, and indices based on the community structure of nematodes are amongst the most widely used toolsets by soil ecologists. Thirty years after the development of the Maturity Index, we aimed to evaluate

The main characteristic of a desert ecosystem is a low content of water and nutrients, which reduces the rate of the biogeochemical cycle. In such a seemingly slow metabolism ecosystem, little attention has been paid to microbial metal homeostasis and its relationship with biogeochemical processes and soil properties. Here, we studied the microbial functional genes associated with metal homeostasis

Energy flux in food webs, i.e., energy consumption by different trophic groups and describing their energetic structure, has been proposed as a powerful tool to understand the relationships between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem functions (ecosystem multifunctionality). Here we examined how different fertilization regimes affected the energy flux across multitrophic levels of soil nematodes in

Biomass productivity of black spruce trees is strongly limited by soil nitrogen (N) in shallow active layer on permafrost. Trees and mycorrhizal roots are known to absorb amino acids to bypass slow N mineralization in N-limited boreal forest soils. However, amino acid uptake strategy of tree roots cannot fully explain their advantages in competition for soil N with other plants and microbes. We investigated

Fungi influence agricultural production due to their key roles in soil biotic and abiotic processes. However, there is limited knowledge of their status at scales relevant for farm management and policymaking. We examined the relationships between commonly applied agricultural practices and soil fungal diversity in 78 arable fields in Estonia. We used DNA metabarcoding of the ITS and SSU regions to

Shrubification is widespread in global grasslands. However, whether shrubification promotes the mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC) remains uncertain. We compared sizes and compositions of soil non-cellulosic and amino sugar pools, soil stoichiometry, SOC decomposition and its temperature sensitivity between herbaceous and shrubby patches in alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The

Microbial biodiversity is crucial for maintaining ecosystem functions. As climate change progresses at both global and regional scales, there is a need to understand microbial community assembly processes and diversity to predict changes in soil function in different regions. However, our knowledge of the mechanisms that shape bacterial β diversity at multiple spatial scales with complex environmental

Agricultural intensification and extreme weather events can represent considerable stress to soil microorganisms and their functions by influencing the key players behind the degradation of soil organic matter. A better understanding of the diversity and abundance of microbial functional genes that predict the functional potential of soils, can link the microbial communities to their key ecosystem

The 18O-labelled-water incubation approach is the latest widely used method for soil microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) estimation. This approach assumes oxygen used for microbial DNA synthesis is from growth medium water. However, whether the oxygen might be from oxygen gas (O2) is unknown. Here we compared the results of 18O-labelled water and 18O-labelled O2 incubation experiments following the

We still lack crucial knowledge about the contribution of plant vs. microbial residues to specific SOM pools, particularly the relative contribution of arbuscular (AM), ectomycorrhizal (ECM), and saprotrophic (SAP) fungi. We investigated sources of particulate and mineral-associated organic matter (POM and MAOM) around trees with distinct mycorrhizal types, Liriodendron tulipifera (AM-association)

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a fundamental resource to humanity for the many ecosystem services it provides. Increasing its stocks can significantly contribute to climate change mitigation and the sustainability of agricultural production. Elucidating the mechanisms and drivers of the formation of the main components of SOM, particulate (POM) and mineral associated (MAOM) organic matter, from the decomposition

The discovery of comammox Nitrospira fundamentally changed our perspective of the traditional concept of soil nitrification and has expanded our understanding of the diversity of nitrifying microorganisms. However, the significance and the relative contribution of comammox to nitrification in soil remains poorly understood. Two paddy soils collected in January (winter, nitrification almost stopped)

The decomposition of leaf and root litter plays an important role in the cycling of nutrients and carbon (C) in ecosystems. The long-term patterns of mass loss during leaf and root decomposition are well documented, but the long-term responses of mass loss and C quality during the decomposition of these two types of litter to the simultaneous deposition of exogenous nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)

Plant and microbial residues are two main sources of soil organic carbon (SOC). While recent studies have extensively examined the distribution of microbial necromass in different ecosystems, how plant residues (in particular, non-lignin components) contribute to SOC accumulation is less clear, especially in forests which make up 50% of the global soil carbon storage. Filling this knowledge gap will

Interspecific competition between ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) has been documented, however, its significance in niche differentiation between these nitrifiers under ammonia-rich conditions remains elusive. A network-oriented microcosm incubation study was established to improve our understanding of their interspecific competition. A high ammonium concentration was maintained

Magnetically responsive minerals were isolated from soil samples using a strong permanent magnet. The isolated materials exhibited peroxidase-like activity using N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine sulfate salt as a substrate. Autoclaving and hot air treatment at 200 °C did not substantially decreased the enzyme-like activity; on the contrary thermal treatment many times caused an increase of peroxidase-like

Large-scale information regarding nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions is needed as an evidence base to underpin land use policy and mitigation approaches. However, the highly variable rates of denitrification make the prediction of N2O emission demanding. Here, we evaluated the role of abiotic and biotic factors on the potential denitrification of Irish soils, in order to identify the key factors regulating

Straw return to soil is a global field practice for sequestering carbon (C) in agricultural ecosystems, and soil C mineralization depends on the soil microbial metabolic process. However, the variation patterns of microbial respiration (Rs) and associated mechanisms under long-term straw input at different levels remain unclear. Here, this study investigated the changes in Rs and microbial metabolic