Research Progress in Agricultural Vulnerability to Climate Change

With the deepening of climate change research, more attention has been paid to vulnerability to climate change. Compared with water resources, forests and other natural ecosystems, agriculture is more vulnerable to climate change, thereby scientifically assessing agricultural vulnerability to climate change is of great significance to the formulation of rational and effective adaptation strategies. In this paper, the authors give a comprehensive review of the research from the perspective of the definition of climate change vulnerability and agricultural vulnerability to climate change, research topics, and evaluation methodologies. Existing problems in current research, including scenario application, methods, and uncertainties, are analyzed, and meanwhile, a vision of the direction for future research in assessment of agricultural vulnerability is also presented.

Changes of Organic Matter, N, P and K Content of Soils in Red Soil Areas Under Long-Term Experiment

The content of organic matter （OM）, nitrogen （N）, phosphorus （P）, and potassium （K） in the three selected soils, including Calcaric Purpli-Orthic Primosols （purple sand-shale parent material）, Dystric Turbi-Anthric Primosols （quaternary red clay parent material） and Typic Udi-Sandic Primosols （granite parent material） were studied under a long-term experiment by using crop straw and inorganic fertilizers at the Hunan Red Soil Experiment Station of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The results showed that the contents of OM, N, P and K in the three selected soils increased after 23 years application of crop straw and inorganic fertilizers, but the contents increased much less when crop straw or inorganic fertilizers was applied alone. The nutrient contents in the three soils developed from granite changed more remarkably than those in the soil derived from quaternary red clay and purple sand-shale. It was also found that the contents of OM, N, and P increased slightly in the treatments without applying fertilizers or returning the crop straw to the root bed. Combined application of inorganic fertilizers and crop straw could remarkably increase the contents of OM, alkalihydrolyzable N and available K, the positive correlation between application of organic fertilizers and increase of OM in soil did not always happened, it provided evidence for the relation between appropriate C/N ratio and accumulation of OM in soil. The increase of nutrient content was influenced by the soil properties. By comparing the contents of nutrient in 0-20 cm depth in the three different soils, it was concluded that the most increases of OM, alkali-hydrolyzable N, and available P were observed in Typic Udi-Sandic Primosols with the average increase by 3.03, 27.38, and 21.73 mg kg^-1, respectively. The available K increased in Dystric Turbi-Anthric Primosols with the average increase by 25.82 mg kg^-1, while it decreased in Calcaric Purpli-Orthic Primosols and Typic Udi-Sandic Primosols. It was concluded that the application of inorganic fertilizer and crop straw was important to improve the soil fertility for all of three selected soils. The straw return to the field had played a significant role for enhancement of the soil quality in the study areas. The application of inorganic fertilizer combined with the straw return to the fields could remarkably improve the soil fertility.

Effects of Land Use on Heavy Metal Accumulation in Soils and Sources Analysis

Heavy metal accumulation and its influential factors were studied in the different land use soils, which would provide a theoretical basis for controlling the content of heavy metals in soils. To identify the effects of land use on the accumulation of heavy metals in soils, 148 soil samples were collected from four land use patterns including greenhouse field, uncovered vegetable field, maize field, and forest field in Siping area of Jilin Province, China, and Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, Pb, and Zn contents of those samples were determined with ICP and ICP-Mass. The result showed that there was a rather large difference in effects of the accumulation of Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, and Zn in soils under different land use patterns, except Pb. Based on the assessment which compared with background concentrations in soil, the higher accumulation of heavy metals was found in greenhouse and uncovered vegetable field, much less in maize field and forest field. The mean contents of heavy metals in soils from high to low were arranged in order of greenhouse field, uncovered vegetable field, maize field, and forest field. Cd and Cu had relatively serious accumulation in soils compared to Cr, Ni, As, and Zn. The mean content of Cd in greenhouse field was 0.467 mg kg-x,which exceeded the grade II of the Chinese Soil Quality Criterion GB15618-1995 （6.5 〈pH〈7.5） for Cd standard of 0.3 mg kg^-1, while it was 5.2 times of Cd standard in the forest fields. The mean contents ofCr, Ni, Cu, As, Pb, and Zn in soils under four land use patterns were lower than the grade II of the Chinese Soil Quality Criterion. Compared with the soil cultivated years, the agricultural chemical compounds and manures application, especially the quality and quantity of applied fertilizer was one of the main reasons for leading to different accumulation of heavy metals in soils under the studied land use patterns. The accumulation of heavy metals, such as Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, and Zn in soils was significantly affected by land use patterns, among them the accumulation of heavy metals in greenhouse soils was higher than others. It is suggested that the application of chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer, and pesticides with high contents of heavy metals should be avoided to prevent the accumulation of heavy metal and keep high quality soils for sustainable use.

Abundance and Diversity of RuBisCO Genes Responsible for CO_2 Fixation in Arid Soils of Northwest China

Arid soils where water and nutrients are scarce occupy over 30% of the Earth's total surface. However, the microbial autotrophy in the harsh environments remains largely unexplored. In this study, the abundance and diversity of autotrophic bacteria were investigated, by quantifying and profiling the large subunit genes of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase(Ru Bis CO) form I(cbb L) responsible for CO2 fixation, in the arid soils under three typical plant types(Haloxylon ammodendron, Cleistogenes chinensis,and Reaumuria soongorica) in Northwest China. The bacterial communities in the soils were also characterized using the 16 S r RNA gene. Abundance of red-like autotrophic bacteria ranged from 3.94 × 105 to 1.51 × 106 copies g-1dry soil and those of green-like autotrophic bacteria ranged from 1.15 × 106 to 2.08 × 106 copies g-1dry soil. Abundance of both red- and green-like autotrophic bacteria did not significantly differ among the soils under different plant types. The autotrophic bacteria identified with the cbb L gene primer were mainly affiliated with Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria and an uncultured bacterial group, which were not detected in the 16 S r RNA library. In addition, 25.9% and 8.1% of the 16 S r RNA genes were affiliated with Cyanobacteria in the soils under H. ammodendron and R. soongorica, respectively. However, no Cyanobacteria-affiliated cbb L genes were detected in the same soils. The results suggested that microbial autotrophic CO2 fixation might be significant in the carbon cycling of arid soils, which warrants further exploration.

Determination of Soil Parameters in Apple-Growing Regions by Near-and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy

Soil quality monitoring is important in precision agriculture.This study aimed to examine the possibility of assessing the soil parameters in apple-growing regions using spectroscopic methods.A total of 111 soil samples were collected from 11 typical sites of apple orchards,and the croplands surrounding them.Near-infrared(NIR) and mid-infrared(MIR) spectra,combined with partial least square regression,were used to predict the soil parameters,including organic matter(OM) content,pH,and the contents of As,Cu,Zn,Pb,and Cr.Organic matter and pH were closely correlated with As and the heavy metals.The NIR model showed a high prediction accuracy for the determination of OM,pH,and As,with correlation coefficients(r) of 0.89,0.89,and 0.90,respectively.The predictions of these three parameters by MIR showed reduced accuracy,with r values of 0.77,0.84,and 0.92,respectively.The heavy metals could also be measured by spectroscopy due to their correlation with organic matter.Both NIR and MIR had high correlation coefficients for the determination of Cu,Zn,and Cr,with standard errors of prediction of 2.95,10.48,and 9.49 mg kg-1 for NIR and 3.69,5.84,and 6.94 mg kg-1 for MIR,respectively.Pb content behaved differently from the other parameters.Both NIR and MIR underestimated Pb content,with r values of 0.67 and 0.56 and standard errors of prediction of 3.46 and 2.99,respectively.Cu and Zn had a higher correlation with OM and pH and were better predicted than Pb and Cr.Thus,NIR spectra could accurately predict several soil parameters,metallic and nonmetallic,simultaneously,and were more feasible than MIR in analyzing soil parameters in the study area.