Soil Surface‐Active Fauna in Degraded and Restored Lands of Northeast Brazil

Araújo, Ademir Sérgio Ferreira de; Eisenhauer, Nico; Nunes, Luís Alfredo Pinheiro Leal; Leite, Luiz Fernando Carvalho; Cesarz, Simone

doi:10.1002/ldr.2247

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In comparison to natural vegetation, land use for eucalyptus plantations might not have a negative impact on soil organic carbon content (Fialho and Zinn, 2012). In contrast, the cutting of native vegetation for charcoal production can result in highly degraded land, due to a drastic decrease in soil organic matter content and increase in soil bulk density (Araújo et al, 2013). Of all produced wood in Brazil, around 35 % was destined to charcoal production (ABRAF, 2010).…”

Section: T De Melo Carvalho Et Al: Biochar Increases Plant-availmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar increases plant-available water in a sandy loam soil under an aerobic rice crop system

et al. 2014

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Abstract. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of biochar rate (0, 8, 16 and 32 Mg ha −1 ) on the water retention capacity (WRC) of a sandy loam Dystric Plinthosol. The applied biochar was a by-product of slow pyrolysis (∼ 450 • C) of eucalyptus wood, milled to pass through a 2000 µm sieve that resulted in a material with an intrinsic porosity ≤ 10 µm and a specific surface area of ∼ 3.2 m 2 g −1 . The biochar was incorporated into the top 15 cm of the soil under an aerobic rice system. Our study focused on both the effects on WRC and rice yields 2 and 3 years after its application. Undisturbed soil samples were collected from 16 plots in two soil layers (5-10 and 15-20 cm). Soil water retention curves were modelled using a nonlinear mixed model which appropriately accounts for uncertainties inherent of spatial variability and repeated measurements taken within a specific soil sample. We found an increase in plant-available water in the upper soil layer proportional to the rate of biochar, with about 0.8 % for each Mg ha −1 biochar amendment 2 and 3 years after its application. The impact of biochar on soil WRC was most likely related to an effect in overall porosity of the sandy loam soil, which was evident from an increase in saturated soil moisture and macro porosity with 0.5 and 1.6 % for each Mg ha −1 of biochar applied, respectively. The increment in soil WRC did not translate into an increase in rice yield, essentially because in both seasons the amount of rainfall during the critical period for rice production exceeded 650 mm. The use of biochar as a soil amendment can be a worthy strategy to guarantee yield stability under short-term water-limited conditions. Our findings raise the importance of assessing the feasibility of very high application rates of biochar and the inclusion of a detailed analysis of its physical and chemical properties as part of future investigations.

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Section: T De Melo Carvalho Et Al: Biochar Increases Plant-availmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biochar increases plant-available water in a sandy loam soil under an aerobic rice crop system

et al. 2014

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“…The existence of plants can protect the soil surface against kinetic energy of drops, reduces runoff, and increases infiltration (Groen and Woods, 2008). Therefore, the vegetation cover plays a fundamental role in the soil development and soil erosion (Cerdà, 2002;Keesstra et al, 2014), and soil degradation (Ziadat and Taimeh, 2013), and also in the geomorphological (Nanko et al, 2015) and hydrological behavior of the Earth system (Keesstra, 2007;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013) and their interactions with the biota (Araújo et al, 2014;Bochet et al, 2015). At the same time, plants can shape soil microenvironments through living roots (Bardgett, 2002;Puente et al, 2004;Cerdà, 2002;Dai et al, 2013;Keesstra et al, 2014;Shang et al, 2014;Keesstra, 2014;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013) and affect microbial function (Wang et al, 2015;Pereg and McMillan, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting parameters of degradation succession processes of Tibetan <i>Kobresia</i> grasslands

Lin

et al. 2015

Solid Earth

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Abstract. In the past two decades, increasing human activity (i.e., overgrazing) in the Tibetan Plateau has strongly influenced plant succession processes, resulting in the degradation of alpine grasslands. Therefore, it is necessary to diagnose the degree of degradation to enable implementation of appropriate management for sustainable exploitation and protection of alpine grasslands. Here, we investigated environmental factors and plant functional group (PFG) quantity factors during the alpine grassland succession processes. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the parameters indicative of degradation. We divided the entire degradation process into six stages. PFG types shifted from rhizome bunchgrasses to rhizome plexus and denseplexus grasses during the degradation process. Leguminosae and Gramineae plants were replaced by sedges during the advanced stages of degradation. The PFGs were classified into two reaction groups: the grazing-sensitive group, containing Kobresia humilis Mey, and Gramineae and Leguminosae plants, and the grazing-insensitive group, containing Kobresia pygmaea Clarke. The first group was correlated with live root biomass in the surface soil (0-10 cm), whereas the second group was strongly correlated with mattic epipedon thickness and K. pygmaea characteristics. The degree of degradation of alpine meadows may be delineated by development of mattic epipedon and PFG composition. Thus, meadows could be easily graded and their use adjusted based on our scaling system, which would help prevent irreversible degradation of important grasslands. Because relatively few environmental factors are investigated, this approach can save time and labor to formulate a conservation management plan for degraded alpine meadows.

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“…It has been reported that land degradation strongly decreases the density of invertebrates but land restoration Table 6 Chemical contents (Mean AE SE) of control soil (C) and ant nest debris amended soil (D) of rice and tomato plants (n = 3, in each case; during the flowering stage) grown in polybags ( practices increase the density of soil surface active fauna which takes long time (De Araújo et al, 2015;Wong et al, 2016;Arnold and Williams, 2016). In the present study the disturbancetolerance ability of P. latinoda coupled with its high nest density in cultivated fields is likely to improve the growth of annual crops such as tomato, through nutrient enrichment via the nest maintenance activities of the ant colonies.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

How effective are disturbance – tolerant, agroecosystem – nesting ant species in improving soil fertility and crop yield?

Shukla

Singh

Rastogi

2016

Applied Soil Ecology

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Soil Surface‐Active Fauna in Degraded and Restored Lands of Northeast Brazil

Cited by 38 publications

References 38 publications

Biochar increases plant-available water in a sandy loam soil under an aerobic rice crop system

Biochar increases plant-available water in a sandy loam soil under an aerobic rice crop system

Predicting parameters of degradation succession processes of Tibetan <i>Kobresia</i> grasslands

How effective are disturbance – tolerant, agroecosystem – nesting ant species in improving soil fertility and crop yield?

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Soil Surface‐Active Fauna in Degraded and Restored Lands of Northeast Brazil

Cited by 38 publications

References 38 publications

Biochar increases plant-available water in a sandy loam soil under an aerobic rice crop system

Biochar increases plant-available water in a sandy loam soil under an aerobic rice crop system

Predicting parameters of degradation succession processes of Tibetan &lt;i&gt;Kobresia&lt;/i&gt; grasslands

How effective are disturbance – tolerant, agroecosystem – nesting ant species in improving soil fertility and crop yield?

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Predicting parameters of degradation succession processes of Tibetan <i>Kobresia</i> grasslands