Soil Organic Matter Stability in Amazonian Dark Earths

Glaser, Bruno; Guggenberger, Georg; Zech, Wolfgang; Ruivo, Maria de Lourdes Pinheiro

doi:10.1007/1-4020-2597-1_8

Cited by 33 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Furthermore, their incorporation into organic substrates promotes the formation of organo-mineral complexes initiated by the biological activity of soil fauna after subsequent soil application. This aspect seems important since SOM in terra preta is stabilized by interaction with soil minerals (Glaser et al, 2003).…”

Section: Can Combined Biochar Compost Processing Contribute To Optimimentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergisms between Compost and Biochar for Sustainable Soil Amelioration

Fischer¹,

Glaser²

2012

Management of Organic Waste

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Section: Can Combined Biochar Compost Processing Contribute To Optimimentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergisms between Compost and Biochar for Sustainable Soil Amelioration

Fischer¹,

Glaser²

2012

Management of Organic Waste

Self Cite

171

132

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“…It is therefore not surprising that the original Amazonian Terra preta soil patches containing high SOM have higher moisture contents relative to non-Terra preta neighbouring soils [100][101][102][103] peer reviewed studies, in Portuguese, describe many Terra preta soil patches where soil 'moisture retention' is suggested as an important plant growth determinant (see [1,103,104]). A comparison between a Terra preta patch and the local native Ferralsols showed a 15% increase topsoil horizon 'field capacity', from which they conclude growth on Terra preta was in part due to an improved water supply [103], as may be the case elsewhere [105]. However, recent texts on Terra preta and biochar generally provide little critical data to support the notion of Terra preta induces changes in soil water content [100,106,107].…”

Section: Biochar As An Improver Of Soil Water Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies link both the positive and negative functional importance of soil microbial activity, particularly through soil C losses, respiration rates, denitrification and the release of N2O [42,74,78,[124][125][126][127]. Soil microbial status and function will likely change in response to environmental variables like soil water content which influences oxygen tensions and the capacity of the soil micro-organisms to oxidise SOM, as well as those linked to nutrient availability, mineralisation and leaching [103,108,[129][130][131]. Many of these studies equally suffer from data which is limited to describing WHC.…”

Section: The Evidence For Biochar Increasing Soil Water Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar: an improver of nutrient and soil water availability - what is the evidence?

Scott¹,

Ponsonby²,

Atkinson

2014

CABI Reviews

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Keywords: Biochar nutrient availability water availability soil fertility water holding capacity Methodology CAB Abstracts and Science Direct (keywords biochar, nutrients, water) along with sources at the University of Greenwich were searched to obtain up to date research papers. Personal collections of the corresponding author were obtained from various sources over the past 5 years were also used.This material has been published in CAB Reviews (2014) AbstractBiochar has consistently been proposed as a way of improving soil fertility by increasing nutrient and soil water availability. This review critically investigates recent literature, focussing particularly on these agronomic aspects of biochar. We clarify the differences between biochar made from plant (plant derived biochar, PDB) and animal feedstock (animal derived biochar, ADB) and show how pyrolysis temperature affects biochar properties. We also tabulate crop yield data against production variables using recent field and greenhouse studies. We find evidence to suggest that ADB supplies many more nutrients than PDB and that, in general, biochar can improve nutrient availability indirectly through changes in pH, CEC, soil structure, improved fertiliser efficiency, decreased nutrient leaching and may effect nutrient availability by changing nitrogenous gas release and by changing the soil microbial community, which under some circumstances translates into short term, increased crop yield. Few studies however show complete nutrient, especially N budgets and elaborate on the underlying mechanisms of interaction, especially with regards to microbial induced changes. Also the longevity of the different beneficial effects is questionable as most studies are less than a year long.A synopsis of the literature concludes that biochar application promotes soil water availability, particularly in soils which are degraded or of low quality. Despite this conclusion it is hard to find studies that have adopted methodologies which are fully appropriate to support this notion such as available water capacity and how this changes in response to crop uptake and soil drying. We conclude that the variability in biochar due to variable feedstock and pyrolysis process, as well as particle size and application method, necessitates and also enables production of specific purposedriven biochars to benefit particular aspects of crop production.

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“…With the idea that the addition of BC to soil was due to fire events, these anthropic activities are thought to be determinant to the biogeochemistry of ADE [65,66], and they may alter the soil microbiological community structure and composition of the microbial communities below ground. Due to the prevalence of BC in ADE and its unique physical and chemical characteristics, more detailed studies were carried out to better understand the role of BC on the microbial populations in ADE soils.…”

Section: Mspi Hhaimentioning

confidence: 99%

A Molecular Survey of the Diversity of Microbial Communities in Different Amazonian Agricultural Model Systems

et al. 2010

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Abstract:The processes of land conversion and agricultural intensification are a significant cause of biodiversity loss, with consequent negative effects both on the environment and the sustainability of food production. The anthrosols associated with pre-Colombian settlements in the Amazonian region are examples of how anthropogenic activities may sustain the native populations against harsh tropical environments for human establishment, even without a previous intentionality of anthropic soil formation. In a case study (Model I-"Slash-andBurn") the community structures detected by automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) revealed that soil archaeal, bacterial and fungal communities are heterogeneous and each capable of responding differently to environmental characteristics. ARISA data evidenced considerable difference in structure existing between microbial communities in forest and agricultural soils. In a second study (Model II-"Anthropogenic Soil"), the bacterial community structures revealed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) differed among an Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE), black carbon (BC) and its adjacent non-anthropogenic oxisoil. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene (OTU) richness estimated by pyrosequencing was higher in ADE than BC. The most abundant bacterial phyla in ADE soils and BC were Proteobacteria-24% ADE, 15% BC; Acidobacteria-10% ADE, 21% BC; Actinobacteria-7% ADE, 12% BC; Verrucomicrobia, 8% ADE; 9% BC; Firmicutes-3% ADE, 8% BC. Overall, unclassified bacteria corresponded to 36% ADE, and 26% BC. Regardless of current land uses, our data suggest OPEN ACCESSDiversity 2010, 2 788 that soil microbial community structures may be strongly influenced by the historical soil management and that anthrosols in Amazonia, of anthropogenic origins, in addition to their capacity of enhancing crop yields, may also improve microbial diversity, with the support of the black carbon, which may sustain a particular and unique habitat for the microbes.

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Soil Organic Matter Stability in Amazonian Dark Earths

Cited by 33 publications

References 54 publications

Synergisms between Compost and Biochar for Sustainable Soil Amelioration

Synergisms between Compost and Biochar for Sustainable Soil Amelioration

Biochar: an improver of nutrient and soil water availability - what is the evidence?

A Molecular Survey of the Diversity of Microbial Communities in Different Amazonian Agricultural Model Systems

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