Relationship between severity of trunk decay of Pinus koraiensis and soil properties around roots

The decay rate of standing Korean pine(Pinus koraiensis)in natural forests can be as high as 50%and is likely infl uenced by the soil properties and nutrient and water status of the site.To clarify the relationship between the severity of tree decay and soil properties in order to prevent decay in a natural mixed forest in the Xiaoxing'an Mountains,wood strength of standing trees was nondestructively assessed,and the severity of decay of extracted wood cores was quantified based on differences in mass between two decayed increment cores extracted at breast height and an intact increment core near the decayed ones.Soil samples from the critical root zone(non-rhizosphere)of each tree were analyzed for chemical properties and microbial composition.The abundance of chemical elements(especially total N and K)and the species richness of soil microbes increased as decay severity increased.Fungal number(FN)and actinomycetes number(AN)were related to decay severity(R^(2)=0.504).Bacterial number(BN)was higher than FN or AN,but had a minor effect on tree decay.Path analysis showed BN might indirectly inhibit decay by affecting FN.Decay severity was not significantly correlated with either soil fungal or bacterial diversity.These results suggest that forest managers need to monitor levels of fungi and total N and total K levels to reduce the decay of Korean pine.

Soil carbon budget in different-aged Chinese fir plantations in south China

Understanding the age effect on soil carbon balance in forest ecosystems is important for other material cycles and forest man-agement. In this research we investigated soil organic carbon density, litter production, litter decomposition rate, soil respiration, and soil mi-crobial properties in a chronosequence of four Chinese fir plantations of 7, 16, 23 and 29 years at Dagangshan mountain range, Jiangxi Province, south China. There was a significant increasing trend in litter production with increasing plantation age. Litter decomposition rate and soil respira-tion, however, declined from the 7-year to the 16-year plantation, and then increased after 16 years. This was largely dependent on soil micro-organisms. Soil carbon output was higher than carbon input before 16 years, and total soil carbon stock declined from 35.98 t＆#183;ha-1 in the 7-year plantation to 30.12 t＆#183;ha-1 in the 16-year plantation. Greater litter produc-tion could not explain the greater soil carbon stock, suggesting that forest growth impacted this microbial process that controlled rates of soil car-bon balance together with litter and soil respiration. The results highlight＆amp;nbsp;the importance of the development stage in assessing soil carbon budget and its significance to future management of Chinese fir plantations.

LINKING CROP WATER PRODUCTIVITY TO SOIL PHYSICAL,CHEMICAL AND MICROBIAL PROPERTIES

Agriculture uses a large proportion of global and regional water resources.Due to the rapid increase of population in the world,the increasing competition for water resources has led to an urgent need in increasing crop water productivity for agricultural sustainability.As the medium for crop growth,soils and their properties are important in affecting crop water productivity.This review examines the effects of soil physical,chemical,and microbial properties on crop water productivity and the quantitative relationships between them.A comprehensive view of these relationships may provide important insights for soil and water management in arable land for agriculture in the future.

Soil Microbial Biomass After Three-Year Consecutive Composted Tannery Sludge Amendment

Brazilian industry produces huge amounts of tannery sludge as residues,which is often disposed by landfilling or land application.However,consecutive amendment of such composted industrial wastes may cause shifts in soil microbial biomass(SMB) and enzyme activity.This study aimed to evaluate SMB and enzyme activity after 3-year consecutive composted tannery sludge(CTS) amendment in tropical sandy soils.Different amounts of CTS(0.0,2.5,5.0,10.0,and 20.0 t ha^(-1)) were applied to a sandy soil.The C and N contents of SMB,basal and substrate-induced respiration,respiratory quotient(qCO_2),and enzyme activities were determined in the soil samples collected after CTS amendment for 60 d at the third year.After 3 years,significant changes were found in soil microbial properties in response to different CTS amounts applied.The organic matter and Cr contents significantly increased with increasing CTS amounts.SMB and soil respiration peaked following amendment with 10.0 and 20.0 t ha-1 of CTS,respectively,while qCO_2was not significantly affected by CTS amendment.However,soil enzyme activity decreased significantly with increasing CTS amounts.Consecutive CTS amendment for 3 years showed inconsistent and contrasting effects on SMB and enzyme activities.The decrease in soil enzyme activities was proportional to a substantial increase in soil Cr concentration,with the latter exceeding the permitted concentrations by more than twofold.Thus,our results suggest that a maximum CTS quantity of 5.0 t ha^(-1) can be applied annually to tropical sandy soil,without causing potential risks to SMB and enzyme activity.

Exogenous rare earth element-yttrium deteriorated soil microbial community structure

In this study, we selected yttrium as the representative of REEs to investigate the impacts of exogenous yttrium on soil physicochemical properties and microbiota. The results showed that exogenous yttrium has no significant effect on soil physical properties but a significantly negative impact on soil chemical properties. The results of high-throughput sequencing demonstrate that exogenous yttrium significantly decreases the number of OTUs, ACE, Chao 1, and Shannon indices while increases the Simpson index（P 〈 0.05）, indicating the low soil microbial diversity. The relative abundances of soil microbes are significantly changed at phylum and genus level. Principal component analysis（PCA） showed the significant difference of microbial community between yttrium treatments（YCl_3-250 and YCl_3-500） and non-yttrium treatment（CK） and the similarity of that between YCl_3-250 and YCI_3-500. Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes are found to be the most tolerant phyla to exogenous yttrium while Verrucomicrobia the most sensitive phylum. Redundancy analysis（RDA） results suggest that exogenous yttrium affects soil microbiota only through changing the soil chemical properties but not soil physical properties, and C/N ratio is the key environmental factor.