Soil Processes and Functions in Critical Zone Observatories: Hypotheses and Experimental Design

Banwart, Steven A.; Bernasconi, Stefano M.; Bloem, J.; Blum, Winfried E. H.; Brandão, Miguel; Brantley, Susan L.; Chabaux, François; Duffy, Christopher; Krám, Pavel; Lair, Georg J.; Lundin, Lars; Nikolaidis, Nikolaos P.; Novák, Martin; Panagos, Panos; Ragnarsdottir, KV; Reynolds, B.; Rousseva, Svetla; Ruiter, Peter de; Gaans, Pauline van; Riemsdijk, Willem van; White, Tim; Zhang, Bin

doi:10.2136/vzj2010.0136

Cited by 88 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…These three broad generalizations have been informed by up to 10 years of work at multiple CZOs as well as work by the greater CZ science community (Banwart et al, 2011).…”

Section: Emergent Network-level Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing a network of critical zone observatories to explore the living skin of the terrestrial Earth

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The critical zone (CZ), the dynamic living skin of the Earth, extends from the top of the vegetative canopy through the soil and down to fresh bedrock and the bottom of the groundwater. All humans live in and depend on the CZ. This zone has three co-evolving surfaces: the top of the vegetative canopy, the ground surface, and a deep subsurface below which Earth's materials are unweathered. The network of nine CZ observatories supported by the US National Science Foundation has made advances in three broad areas of CZ research relating to the co-evolving surfaces. First, monitoring has revealed how natural and anthropogenic inputs at the vegetation canopy and ground surface cause subsurface responses in water, regolith structure, minerals, and biotic activity to considerable depths. This response, in turn, impacts aboveground biota and climate. Second, drilling and geophysical imaging now reveal how the deep subsurface of the CZ varies across landscapes, which in turn influences aboveground ecosystems. Third, several new mechanistic models now provide quantitative predictions of the spatial structure of the subsurface of the CZ.Many countries fund critical zone observatories (CZOs) to measure the fluxes of solutes, water, energy, gases, and sediments in the CZ and some relate these observations to the histories of those fluxes recorded in landforms, biota, soils, sediments, and rocks. Each US observatory has succeeded in (i) synthesizing research across disciplines into convergent approaches; (ii) providing long-term measurements to compare across sites; (iii) testing and developing models; (iv) collecting and measuring baseline data for comparison to catastrophic events; (v) stimulating new process-based hypotheses; (vi) catalyzing development of new techniques and instrumentation; (vii) informing the public about the CZ; (viii) mentoring students and teaching about emerging multidisciplinary CZ science; and (ix) discovering new insights about the CZ. Many of these activities can only be accomplished with observatories. Here we review the CZO enterprise in the United States and identify how such observatoriesPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 842 S. L. Brantley et al.: Designing a network of critical zone observatories could operate in the future as a network designed to generate critical scientific insights. Specifically, we recognize the need for the network to study network-level questions, expand the environments under investigation, accommodate both hypothesis testing and monitoring, and involve more stakeholders. We propose a driving question for future CZ science and a "hubs-and-campaigns" model to address that question and target the CZ as one unit. Only with such integrative efforts will we learn to steward the life-sustaining critical zone now and into the future.

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“…These three broad generalizations have been informed by up to 10 years of work at multiple CZOs as well as work by the greater CZ science community (Banwart et al, 2011).…”

Section: Emergent Network-level Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing a network of critical zone observatories to explore the living skin of the terrestrial Earth

et al. 2017

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“…It is also a major issue to predict the CZ evolution in response to environmental modifications due to tectonic, climatic or anthropogenic forcings (e.g., Banwart et al 2011;Brantley et al 2007). Such a characterization and understanding first requires the recognition and the investigation of different hydrological compartments involved in the water circulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical tracing and modeling of surface and deep water–rock interactions in elementary granitic watersheds (Strengbach and Ringelbach CZOs, France)

et al. 2017

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From the study of the Strengbach and Ringelbach watersheds we propose to illustrate the interest of combining the geochemical tracing and geochemical modeling approaches on surface and deep borehole waters, to decipher the diversity of the water flow and the associated water-rock interactions in such elementary mountainous catchments. The results point to a clear geochemical typology of waters depending on the water circulations (deep vs. hypodermic) within the substratum.

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“…The European CZO network consists of sites along soil formation gradients (Austria, Switzerland, Iceland), along a soil degradation gradient (Greece), along a pollution gradient (Czech Republic), and of agricultural sites differing in methods of soil management (Austria, Iceland) (Menon et al, 2014;Banwart et al, 2011). This paper presents the soil quality assessment as carried out for the agricultural CZO sites in Europe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria

Leeuwen¹,

Sandén²,

Lair³

et al. 2015

SOIL

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Abstract. Intensive agricultural production can be an important driver for the loss of long-term soil quality. For this reason, the European Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) network adopted four pairs of agricultural CZO sites that differ in their management: conventional or organic. The CZO sites include two pairs of grassland farms in Iceland and two pairs of arable farms in Austria. Conventional fields differed from the organic fields in the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides. Soils of these eight farms were analysed in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological properties, including soil aggregate size distribution, soil organic matter contents, abundance of soil microbes and soil fauna, and taxonomic diversity of soil microarthropods. In Icelandic grasslands, organically farmed soils had larger mean weight diameters of soil aggregates than the conventional farms, while there were no differences on the Austrian farms. Organic farming did not systematically influence organic matter contents or composition, nor soil carbon and nitrogen contents. Also, soil food web structures, in terms of presence of trophic groups of soil organisms, were highly similar among all farms, indicating a low sensitivity of trophic structure to land use or climate. However, soil organism biomass, especially of bacteria and nematodes, was consistently higher on organic farms than on conventional farms. Within the microarthropods, taxonomic diversity was systematically higher in the organic farms compared to the conventional farms. This difference was found across countries and farm, crop, and soil types. The results do not show systematic differences in physical and chemical properties between organic and conventional farms, but confirm that organic farming can enhance soil biomass and that microarthropod diversity is a sensitive and consistent indicator for land management.

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Soil Processes and Functions in Critical Zone Observatories: Hypotheses and Experimental Design

Cited by 88 publications

References 44 publications

Designing a network of critical zone observatories to explore the living skin of the terrestrial Earth

Designing a network of critical zone observatories to explore the living skin of the terrestrial Earth

Geochemical tracing and modeling of surface and deep water–rock interactions in elementary granitic watersheds (Strengbach and Ringelbach CZOs, France)

An ecosystem approach to assess soil quality in organically and conventionally managed farms in Iceland and Austria

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