Modelling the long-term soil response to atmospheric deposition at intensively monitored forest plots in Europe

The dynamic soil chemistry model SMART was applied to 121 intensive forest monitoring plots (mainly located in western and northern Europe) for which both element input (deposition) and element concentrations in the soil solution were available. After calibration of poorly known parameters, the model accurately simulated soil solution concentrations for most plots as indicated by goodness-of-fit measures, although some of the intra-annual variation especially in nitrate and aluminium concentrations could not be reproduced. Model evaluations of two emission-deposition scenarios (current legislation and maximum feasible reductions) for the period 1970-2030 show a strong reduction in sulphate concentrations between 1980 and 2000 in the soil due to the high reductions in sulphur emissions. However, current legislation hardly reduces future nitrogen concentrations, whereas maximum feasible reductions reduces them by more than half. Maximum feasible reductions are also more effective in increasing pH and reducing aluminium concentrations, mostly below ‘critical’ values.     

SOIL WATER CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO SOIL CATENAS IN ILLINOIS: IMPLICATIONS FOR IRRIGATION1

ABSTRACT: Soil water was monitored by neutron scattering in six soils, three each within two drainage catenas in east-central Illinois, over a 15-month time span. The prairie soils have formed in: (1) 76–152 cm of silt loam, eolian sediments (bess) over glacial till (Catlin-Flanagan-Drummer catena), and (2) bess greater than 152 cm in thickness (Tama-Ipava-Sable catena). We characterized the water content of these soils over the total time span and for wet and dry climatic subsets, as an aid to potential irrigation decisions. Soils of the thin bess, C-F-D catena dried out to lower water contents and had greater soil water variability than did the thick bess soils. Under wet conditions, soil water contents in the two catenas were quite similar. Alleviation of surface and subsurface drying via irrigation would thus be more advantageous to yields on the C-F-D soils than on the T-I-S soils.     

Deposition and Storage of Spheroidal Carbonaceous Fly-Ash Particles in European Mountain Lake Sediments and Catchment Soils

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles(SCPs) are produced only from high temperaturecombustion of fossil-fuels. In mountain lakesystems, they provide an unambiguous indicator ofatmospheric deposition. In order to comparedepositional fluxes of SCPs between mountainareas experiencing various pollutant regimes,intensive bulk deposition sampling was undertakenat five sites across Europe. Catchment soil coresand lake sediment cores were also taken at eachsite to compare SCP storage over the post-industrial period. Atmospheric, sediment and soilSCP data showed similar patterns. Highestcontamination was found in Scotland, Slovakia andSpain with the Austrian site intermediate and themid-Norwegian site least contaminated. A highproportion of accumulated SCPs were found to bestored in catchment soils at each site.Therefore, a significant increase in soilerosion, possibly as a result of future climatechange, could lead to the input of largequantities of catchment stored SCPs and, byimplication, other atmospherically depositedcontaminants to the lake ecosystem.     

岷江上游地区的草地资源与畜牧业发展

岷江上游草地面积837226hm^2,大约占了该区土地面积的35％。这块草地蕴藏着丰富的生物多样性,具有重要的生态学功能,是岷江上游绿色生态屏障的重要组成部分。高山草甸草地和亚高山草甸草地是该区的主要植被类型,其面积分别占草地总面积的54．8％和17．2％,其产草量分别占该区各类草地总产草量的53．47％和26．46％。岷江上游各县天然草地的面积和各县草地畜牧业在经济结构中所占的比重都表现了从高海拔到低海拔递变的趋势,基本上与植被的垂直梯度变化相耦合。指出了当前草地畜牧业发展存在的一些问题：超载过牧现象严重,生产效率低下,集约化水平低。除了饲草的生产与加工、畜种改良和草种改良等措施外,结合岷江上游的实际情况,在发展的思路和技术措施上着重阐述了以下几个方面：发展特色畜牧业,摒弃头数畜牧业;以市场为导向的主动畜群时空周转;结合“天保工程”和“退耕还林工程”,促进农林牧业的紧密结合。     

Management of an Agroecosystem

Agroecosystems (AESs) are autotrophic ecosystems managed by man. The goal of the management is to obtain the maximum possible amount of high-quality agricultural products while preserving agricultural resources, primarily the soils and biodiversity. The main components of the management of AES structures and functions, including primary and secondary biological production, the ratio between the energy flows in the plant–man and plant–livestock–man food chains, the efficiency of energy transfer in the plant–livestock link, and conservation of agricultural resources, are considered.     

Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on Bryophyte Species Composition of Calcareous Grasslands

Regular additions of NH₄NO₃ (35–140 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and (NH₄)₂SO₄ (140 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) to a calcareous grassland in northern England over a period of 12 years have resulted in a decline in the frequency of the indigenous bryophyte species and the establishment of non-indigenous calcifuge species, with implications for the structure and composition of this calcareous bryophyte community. The lowest NH₄NO₃ additions of 35 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ produced significant declines in frequency of Hypnum cupressiforme, Campylium chrysophyllum, and Calliergon cuspidatum. Significant reductions in frequency at higher NH₄NO₃ application rates were recorded for Pseudoscleropodium purum, Ctenidum molluscum, and Dicranum scoparium. The highest NH₄NO₃ and (NH₄)₂SO₄ additions provided conditions conducive for the establishment of two typical calcifuges – Polytrichum spp. and Campylopus introflexus, respectively. Substrate-surface pH measurements showed a dose-related reduction in pH with increasing NH₄NO₃ deposition rates of 1.6 pH units between the control and highest deposition rate, and a further significant fall in pH, of >1 pH unit, between the NH₄NO₃ and (NH₄)₂SO₄ treatments. These results suggest that indigenous bryophyte composition may be at risk from nitrogen deposition rates of 35 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ or less. These effects are of particular concern for rare or endangered species of low frequency.     

The Fernow Watershed Acidification Study: Ecosystem Acidification, Nitrogen Saturation and Base Cation Leaching

In 1989, a watershed acidification experiment was begun on the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, USA. Ammonium sulfate fertilizer (35.5 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹and 40.5 kg S ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) was applied to a forested watershed (WS3) that supported a 20-year-old stand of eastern deciduous hardwoods. Additions of N and S are approximately twice the ambient deposition of nitrogen and sulfur in the adjacent mature forested watershed (WS4), that serves as the reference watershed for this study. Acidification of stream water and soil solution was documented, although the response was delayed, and acidification processes appeared to be driven by nitrate rather than sulfate. As a result of the acidification treatment, nitrate solution concentrations increased below all soil layers, whereas sulfate was retained by all soil layers after only a few years of the fertilization treatments, perhaps due to adsorption induced from decreasing sulfate deposition. Based on soil solution monitoring, depletion of calcium and magnesium was observed, first from the upper soil horizons and later from the lower soil horizons. Increased base cation concentrations in stream water also were documented and linked closely with high solution levels of nitrate. Significant changes in soil chemical properties were not detected after 12 years of treatment, however.     

基于GIS的安徽省土壤空间分布的分形特征研究

分维数和稳定性指数是土壤空间分布的重要指数。通过建立安徽省土壤的空间数据库,运用分形理论,获得安徽省土壤类型周长与面积的关系,进而计算出各类土属在空间上的分维数和稳定性指数大小,得出如下结论:①安徽省土壤图斑的周长与面积之间存在双对数函数关系,相关性系数大部分在0.9以上,证明了安徽省土壤空间分形的客观存在。②安徽省各类土壤空间分维数大小在1.1375—1.9948之间,平均值为1.6138,最大的是泥质岩砾质土,最小的是脱青湖泥田。分维数在空间分布上存在差异,总的趋势是从西北向东南逐渐变大。③各种土属的稳定性指数在1.0252—0.0124之间,平均值约为0.2324,最大的是湿潮土,最小的是砂礓黄土。     

The Use of Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopes to Study Watershed Erosion Processes1

Abstract:  Tracer studies are needed to better understand watershed soil erosion and calibrate watershed erosion models. For the first time, stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes (δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C) and the carbon to nitrogen atomic ratio (C/N) natural tracers are used to investigate temporal and spatial variability of erosion processes within a sub‐watershed. Temporal variability was assessed by comparing δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C, and C/N of eroded‐soils from a non‐equilibrium erosion event immediately following freezing and thawing of surface soils with two erosion events characterized by equilibrium conditions with erosion downcutting. Spatial variability was assessed for the equilibrium events by using the δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C signatures of eroded‐soils to measure the fraction of eroded‐soil derived from rill/interrill erosion on upland hillslopes as compared to headcut erosion on floodplains. In order to perform this study, a number of tasks were carried out including: (1) sampling source‐soils from upland hillslopes and floodplains, (2) sampling eroded‐soils with an in situ trap in the stream of the sub‐watershed, (3) isotopic and elemental analysis of the samples using isotope ratio mass spectrometry, (4) fractioning eroded‐soil to its upland rill/interrill and floodplain headcut end‐members using an unmixing model within a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo framework, and (5) evaluating tracer unmixing model results by comparison with process‐based erosion prediction models for rill/interrill and headcut erosion processes. Results showed that finer soil particles eroded during the non‐equilibrium event were enriched in δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C tracers and depleted in C/N tracer relative to coarser soil particles eroded during the equilibrium events. Correlation of tracer signature with soil particle size was explainable based on known biogeochemical processes. δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C were also able to distinguish between upland rill/interrill erosion and floodplain headcut erosion, which was due to different plant cover at the erosion sources. Results from the tracer unmixing model highlighted future needs for coupling rill/interrill and headcut erosion prediction models.