Analysis of an illustrative interaction between structural features and earthworm populations in Brazilian ferralsols

Aggregation and clay dispersion of an oxisol treated with swine and poultry manures

“…The main characteristics of the soil are its advanced degree of weathering and high contents of iron oxides (greater than 180 g kg À1 ), aluminium, 1:1 clay minerals (kaolinite) and quartz (Reatto et al, 2008), which are characterised by low-activity clay, little differentiation among horizons, and a strong and well developed microgranular structure comprising angular and subangular microaggregates (Reatto et al, 2009;Brossard et al, 2012). These microaggregates are organised into micropeds that are smaller than 1 mm, with a porous massive structure according to Volland-Tuduri et al (2005).…”

Soil discrimination using diffuse reflectance Vis–NIR spectroscopy in a local toposequence

“…These structures present significant variations in porosity and size (Balbino et al, 2002b). These microorganizations are in part controlled by soil fauna activities that promote fluctuation in soil porosity (Brossard et al, 2012). The incident energy penetrates $2 mm deep into the sample.…”