长期施用氮、磷和有机肥对不同种植体系土壤有效硫累积的影响

以22年定位试验为基础,研究了长期施用氮、磷和有机肥(NPM)对不同种植体系土壤有效硫在剖面上分布与累积状况。结果表明,在60—80 cm土层各处理出现第一个累积峰,累积峰值为粮饲轮作31.3,玉米连作29.2,小麦连作27.9,粮豆轮作25.6,苜蓿连作24.0 mg/kg;在140—180 cm土层各处理又出现有效硫的第二个累积峰,累积峰值为粮饲轮作44.7,粮豆轮作43.1,小麦连作41.0,玉米连作39.7,苜蓿连作36.5 mg/kg。第二累积峰值均大于第一累积峰值。0—200 cm土层有效硫总累积量粮饲轮作高达746.3 kg/hm~2,其次为玉米连作640.6,粮豆轮作为638.3,小麦连作为622.4,苜蓿连作最小为557.3 kg/hm~2。长期施用磷肥和有机肥是有效硫在土壤中累积的主要因素,有效硫在土壤剖面上有向深层迁移的趋势。不同作物对硫的吸收利用差异和不同种植方式对有效硫的累积与分布产生影响。

激光衍射法与吸管法对东北黑土区土壤粒径分布测定的差异性研究

目前激光衍射法(laser diffraction method,LD)逐步被用于土壤颗粒粒径分布(particle size distribution, PSD)的分析,为了对比LD法和吸管法测定东北黑土区土壤PSD的差异性,采用LD法和吸管法分别对东北黑土区宾州河流域36个土壤剖面不同层次178个土壤样品的PSD值进行了测定与分析。结果表明,同吸管法相比,LD法低估了土壤的黏粒含量,平均低估幅度19.69%,而高估了土壤的粉粒和砂粒含量,平均高估幅度分别为14.66%和5.13%。LD法所得PSD结果依据美国土壤质地分类制判定的土壤质地,相对于吸管法总体由粉黏质偏向粉砂质方向。建立了LD法与吸管法测定PSD结果的转换模型,将LD法测定的PSD结果利用转换模型校正后,其测定的各土壤粒级同吸管法相比,准确度达96.97%～98.71%,判定土壤质地的准确率也达83.15%。

毛乌素沙区土壤养分对湿地退化的响应

采用湿地生态理论中空间替代时间的研究方法,以毛乌素沙区退化湿地为研究对象,选择距退化湿地水面不同距离,具有不同地下水位埋深的研究区域代表湿地不同退化阶段,通过分析5个不同阶段退化湿地土壤的有机质、全氮、全磷随水平距离的变化特征,研究了土壤养分对湿地退化不同退化程度的响应特征。结果表明,不同退化阶段土壤有机质与全氮剖面均具有一个明显的富集层,既湿地退化前的泥炭沉积层。该沉积层在剖面中所处深度随退化程度的加剧而逐渐增加,且沉积层以上深度的有机质和全氮含量趋于一致。土壤中全磷含量在剖面波动较大,分布特征无明显规律,不同水平距离全磷平均含量无明显变化规律说明湿地退化对全磷含量无明显影响。以上研究结果表明,由于流动沙丘入侵是导致毛乌素沙地湿地退化的首要原因,湿地退化导致土壤有机质和全氮富集层深度逐渐下移,平均含量逐渐下降,而对全磷影响不大。

长期施氮磷化肥对不同种植体系土壤有效硫累积研究

以22 a定位试验为基础,在黄土高原旱地研究了长期施用氮磷化肥,对不同种植体系土壤有效硫在剖面上分布与累积状况。结果表明,在60-80 cm土层各处理出现第一个累积峰,累积峰值为:玉米-小麦(2 a)+糜子轮作27.07 mg/kg,豌豆-小麦(2 a)+糜子轮作25.42 mg/kg,小麦(2 a)+糜子-玉米轮作24.23 mg/kg,豌豆-小麦(2 a)+玉米轮作22.61 mg/kg,小麦连作16.56 mg/kg,红豆草-小麦(2 a)轮作15.14 mg/kg;在120-180 cm土层又出现有效硫的第二个累积峰,累积峰值为:小麦(2 a)+糜子-玉米轮作34.20 mg/kg,豌豆-小麦(2 a)+糜子轮作32.16 mg/kg,豌豆-小麦(2 a)+玉米轮作31.00 mg/kg,红豆草-小麦(2 a)轮作30.32mg/kg,玉米-小麦(2 a)+糜子轮作29.16 mg/kg,小麦连作26.22 mg/kg。0-200 cm土层有效硫总累积量玉米-小麦+糜子轮作高达559.64 kg/hm2,其次是小麦+糜子-玉米轮作为538.88 kg/hm2,豌豆-小麦+糜子轮作为514.34 kg/...

不同年限蔬菜温室土壤基本化学性质比较研究

本文对沈阳市郊大民屯镇不同年限蔬菜温室土壤化学性质进行研究与分析。得到主要结论如下： 蔬菜温室0～20 cm表层土壤有机质、全氮、速效磷、速效钾、铵态氮、硝态氮均处于较高的养分水平，并且随温室使用年限的延长，呈增加的趋势。土壤有酸化的趋势，土壤电导率呈升高态势。土壤有效态Fe、Mn、Cu、Zn含量分别为8.57～60.30 mg kg-1、2.69～22.43 mg kg-1、0.64～7.52 mg kg-1和0.56～9.29 mg kg-1，变异系数为50%左右；随着温室使用年限的增加，土壤有效态Fe、Mn、Cu、Zn含量总体上呈增加的趋势。土壤Ni、Cd的有效含量随种植年限的延长趋于增加，有效Pb呈现出下降的趋势，土壤重金属Cr的有效态含量与种植年限之间没有明显的相关性。 不同年限蔬菜温室土壤剖面有机质、全氮、速效磷及速效钾含量高于相邻的露地菜田土壤，并随种植年限的延长而增加，随土层深度的增加而下降。温室土壤中铵态氮的含量随温室种植年限的变化相对较小，在土壤剖面不同层次中变化也没有明显的规律性。与露地菜田土壤相比，温室土壤中有效态铁、锰含量下降，有效态铜、锌、铅、镍含量增加。0～30 cm土层土壤交换性Ca呈下降的趋势，交换性Mg呈上升的趋势，土壤Ca/Mg比值呈下降的趋势。

黄土高原沟壑区不同施肥条件下土壤剖面中矿质氮的分布特征

在黄土高原沟壑区长期施肥对土壤剖面中的 NH4- N、NO3 - N含量分布影响不同。长期不同施肥处理对 NH4- N含量和分布保持相对稳定 ;但不同施肥对 NO3 - N含量分布影响显著。凡施氮肥处理中 ,土壤剖面中出现了 NO3 - N深层富集分布。土壤剖面中 NO3 - N深层富集分布是作物降雨等条件的综合影响下经多年累积而形成的。其中 N处理中 ,NO3 - N富集深度的最大为 12 0 cm～ 2 0 0 cm,富集量为 2 91.4kg/ hm2。NPM处理中 ,NO3 - N富集量最大356.8kg/ hm2 ,但富集分布深度降低 60 cm～ 12 0 cm。 NP处理可有效降低 NO3 - N富集量169.9kg/ hm2和富集分布深度 80 cm～ 140 cm。不施氮肥处理中 ,NO3 - N含量分布在整个土壤剖面显著降低。

末次盛冰期以来中国陆地生态系统碳储量变化研究

Carbon is an essential element for life, food and energy. It is also a key element in the greenhouse gases and therefore plays a vital role in climatic changes. The rapid increase in atmospheric concentration of CO_2 over the past 150 years, reaching current concentrations of about 370 ppmv, corresponds with combustion of fossii fuels since the beginning of the industrial age. Conversion of forested land to agricultural use has also redistributed carbon from plants and soils to the atmosphere. These human activities have significantly altered the global carbon cycle. Understanding the consequences of these activities in the coming decades is critical for formulating economic, energy, technology, trade, and security policies that will affect civilization for generations. Under the auspices of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), several large international scientific efforts are focused on elucidating the various aspects of the global carbon cycle of the past decade. It is only possible to balance the global carbon cycle for the 1990s if there is net carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems of around 2 Pg C/a. There are now some independent, direct evidences for the existence of such a sink. Policymarkers involved in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC) are striving to reach consensuses on a 'safe path' for future emissions, the credible predictions on where and how long the terrestrial sink will either persist at its current level, or grow/decline in the future, are important to advice the policy process. The changes of terrestrial carbon storage depend not only on human activities, but also on biogeochemical and climatological processes and their interaction with the carbon cycles. In this thesis, the climate-induced changes and human-induced changes of carbon storage in China since the past 20,000 years are examined. Based on the data of the soil profiles investigated during China's Second National Soil Survey (1979-1989), the forest biomass measured during China's Fourth National Forest Resource Inventory (1989-1993), the grass biomass investigated during the First National Grassland Resource Survey (1980-1991), and the data collected from a collection of published literatures, the current terrestrial carbon storage in China is estimated to -144.1 Pg C, including -136.8 Pg C in soil and -7.3 Pg C in vegetation. The soil organic (SOC) and inorganic carbon (SIC) storage are -78.2 Pg C and -58.6 Pg C, respectively. In the vegetation reservoir, the forest carbon storage is -5.3 Pg C, and the other of-1.4 Pg C is in the grassland. Under the natural conditions, the SOC, SIC, forest and grassland carbon storage are -85.3 Pg C, -62.6 Pg C, -24.5 Pg C and -5.3 Pg C, respectively. Thus, -29.6 Pg C organic carbon has been lost due to land use with a decrease of -20.6%. At the same time, the SIC storage also has been decreased by -4.0 Pg C (-6.4%). These suggest that human activity has caused significant carbon loss in terrestrial carbon storage of China, especially in the forest ecosystem (-76% loss). Using the Paleocarbon Model (PCM) developed by Wu et al. in this paper, total terrestrial organic carbon storage in China in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was -114.8 Pg C, including -23.1 Pg C in vegetation and -86.7 Pg C in soil. At the Middle Holocene (MH), the vegetation, soil and total carbon were -37.3 Pg C, -93.9 Pg C and -136.0 Pg C, respectively. This implies a gain of-21.2 Pg C in the terrestrial carbon storage from LGM to HM mainly due to the temperature increase. However, a loss of-14.4 Pg C of terrestrial organic carbon occurred in China under the current condition (before 1850) compared with the MH time, mainly due to the precipitation decrease associated with the weakening of the Asian summer monsoon. These results also suggest that the terrestrial ecosystem in China has a substantial potential in the restoration of carbon storage. This might be expected to provide an efficient way to mitigate the greenhouse warming through land management practices. Assuming that half of the carbon loss in the degraded terrestrial ecosystem in current forest and grass areas are restored during the next 50 years or so, the terrestrial ecosystem in China may sequestrate -12.0 Pg of organic carbon from the atmosphere, which represents a considerable offset to the industry's CO2 emission. If the ' Anthropocene' Era will be another climate optimum like MH due to the greenhouse effect, the sequestration would be increased again by -4.3 - 9.0 Pg C in China.

东南极格罗夫山地区的土壤特征及其环境研究

The Grove Mountains, including 64 nunataks, is situated on an area about 3200km2 in the inland ice cap of east Antarctica in Princess Elizabeth land (72o20'-73°101S, 73°50'-75o40'E), between Zhongshan station and Dome A, about 450km away from Zhongshan station (69°22'S, 76°22'E). Many workers thought there was no pedogenesis in the areas because of the less precipitation and extreme lower temperature. However, during the austral summer in 1999-2000, the Chinaer 16 Antarctic expedition teams entered the inland East Antarctica and found three soil spots in the Southern Mount Harding, Grove Mountains, East Antarctica. It is the first case that soils are discovered in the inland in East Antarctica. Interestingly, the soils in this area show clay fraction migration, which is different from other cold desert soils. In addition, several moraine banks are discovered around the Mount Harding. The soil properties are discussed as below. Desert pavement commonly occurs on the three soil site surfaces, which is composed of pebbles and fragments formed slowly in typical desert zone. Many pebbles are subround and variegated. These pebbles are formed by abrasion caused by not only wind and wind selective transportation, but also salt weathering and thaw-freezing action on rocks. The wind blows the boulders and bedrocks with snow grains and small sands. This results in rock disintegration, paved on the soil surface, forming desert pavement, which protects the underground soil from wind-blow. The desert pavement is the typical feature in ice free zone in Antarctica. There developed desert varnish and ventifacts in this area. Rubification is a dominant process in cold desert Antarctic soils. In cold desert soils, rubification results in relatively high concentrations of Fed in soil profile. Stained depth increases progressively with time. The content of Fed is increasing up to surface in each profile. The reddish thin film is observed around the margin of mafic minerals such as biotite, hornblende, and magnetite in parent materials with the microscope analyzing on some soil profiles. So the Fed originates from the weathering of mafic minerals in soils. Accumulations of water-soluble salts, either as discrete horizons or dispersed within the soil, occur in the soil profiles, and the salt encrustations accumulate just beneath surface stones in this area. The results of X-ray diffraction analyses show that the crystalline salts consist of pentahydrite (MgSO4-5H2O), hexahydrite (MgSO4-6H2O), hurlbutite (CaBe2(PO4)2), bloedite (Na2Mg(S04)2-4H2O), et al., being mainly sulfate. The dominant cations in 1:5 soil-water extracts are Mg2+ and Na+, as well as Ca2+ and K+, while the dominant anion is SO42-, then NO3-, Cl- and HCO3-. There are white and yellowish sponge materials covered the stone underside surface, of which the main compounds are quartz (SiO2, 40.75%), rozenite (FeSOKkO, 37.39%), guyanaite (Cr2O3-1.5H2O, 9.30%), and starkeyite (MgSO4-4H2O, 12.56%). 4) The distribution of the clay fraction is related to the maximum content of moisture and salts. Clay fraction migration occurs in the soils, which is different from that of other cold desert soils. X-ray diffraction analyses show that the main clay minerals are illite, smectite, then illite-smectite, little kaolinite and veirniculite. Mica was changed to illite, even to vermiculite by hydration. Illite formed in the initial stage of weathering. The appearance of smectite suggests that it enriched in magnesium, but no strong eluviation, which belongs to cold and arid acid environment. 5) Three soil sites have different moisture. The effect moisture is in the form of little ice in site 1. There is no ice in site 2, and ice-cement horizon is 12 cm below the soil surface in site 3. Salt horizon is 5-10 cm up to the surface in Site 1 and Site 2, while about 26cm in site 3. The differentiation of the active layer and the permafrost are not distinct because of arid climate. The depth of active layer is about 10 cm in this area. Soils and Environment: On the basis of the characteristics of surface rocks, soil colors, horizon differentiation, salt in soils and soil depth, the soils age of the Grove Mountains is 0.5-3.5Ma. No remnants of glaciations are found on the soil sites of Mount Harding, which suggests that the Antarctic glaciations have not reached the soil sites since at least 0.5Ma, and the ice cap was not much higher than present, even during the Last Glacial Maximum. The average altitude of the contact line of level of blue ice and outcrop is 2050m, and the altitude of soil area is 2160m. The relative height deviation is about 110m, so the soils have developed and preserved until today. The parental material of the soils originated from alluvial sedimentary of baserocks nearby. Sporepollen were extracted from the soils, arbor pollen grains are dominant by Pinus and Betula, as well as a small amount Quercus, Juglans, Tilia and Artemisia etc. Judging from the shape and colour, the sporepollen group is likely attributed to Neogene or Pliocene in age. This indicates that there had been a warm period during the Neogene in the Grove Mountains, East Antarctica.

Characterizing Pb mobilization from upland soils to streams using (206)Pb/(207)Pb isotopic ratios

Anthropogenically deposited lead (Pb) binds efficiently to soil organic matter, which can be mobilized through hydrologically mediated mechanisms, with implications for ecological and potable quality of receiving waters. Lead isotopic ((206)Pb/(207)Pb) ratios change down peat profiles as a consequence of long-term temporal variation in depositional sources, each with distinctive isotopic signatures. This study characterizes differential Pb transport mechanisms from deposition to streams at two small catchments with contrasting soil types in upland Wales, U.K., by determining Pb concentrations and (206)Pb/(207)Pb ratios from soil core profiles, interstitial pore waters, and stream water. Hydrological characteristics of soils are instrumental in determining the location in soil profiles of exported Pb and hence concentration and (206)Pb/(207)Pb ratios in surface waters. The highest Pb concentrations from near-surface soils are mobilized, concomitant with high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exports, from hydrologically responsive peat soils with preferential shallow subsurface flows, leading to increased Pb concentrations in stream water and isotopic signatures more closely resembling recently deposited Pb. In more minerogenic soils, percolation of water allows Pb, bound to DOC, to be retained in mineral horizons and combined with other groundwater sources, resulting in Pb being transported from throughout the profile with a more geogenic isotopic signature. This study shows that (206)Pb/(207)Pb ratios can enhance our understanding of the provenances and transport mechanisms of Pb and potentially organic matter within upland soils.

A Microscopic Study of Iron and Manganese Oxide Distribution in Soils from East Tennessee (U.S.A.)

Soils and saprolites developed from interbedded shales and limestones of the Conasauga Group are widespread in the Valley and Ridge Province of East Tennessee. Thin sections from four soil profiles were examined by petrographic and scanning electron microscopy including backscatter electron and energy-dispersive X-ray analyses. Iron and manganese released by weathering had migrated differentially downward and precipitated as crystalline and noncrystalline oxides. Oxides were observed as nodules, granular particulates, pore fillings, and coatings on other minerals, packing voids, vesicles, channels, and chambers. Iron oxides formed predominantly as coatings on packing-void walls and on laminated clays in vesicles and channels. Manganese oxides occurred as an early replacement phase of packing voids and of fracture-filling carbonate minerals. Iron oxides were dominant in moderately well-drained and oxidized horizons of the soil solum, whereas manganese oxides were abundant in the oxidized and moderately leached saprolite zone where the water table fluctuates seasonally. Therefore, a manganese enrichment zone, on a bulk soil basis, occurred generally below the iron oxide zone in the soil profile. Such differential migration and accumulation of iron and manganese have been controlled by localized soil microenvironments. Micromorphologic features observed in this study are important in land-use evaluation for hazardous waste disposal. © 1990.

Landscape geochemical investigations in the vicinity of a lead deposit near Snertingdal, southern Norway

Landscape geochemical investigations were conducted upon portions of a natural uniform landscape in southern Norway. This consisted of sampling both soil profile samples and spruce tree twigs for the analysis of twelve chemical elements. These elements were cobalt, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and aluminum which were determined by atomic absorption analysis on standardized extraction techniques for both organic and inorganic materials. Two "landscape traverses" were chosen for a comparative study of the effects of varying landscape parameters upon the trace element distribution patterns throughout the landscape traverses. The object of this study was to test this method of investigation and the concept of an ideal uniform landscape under Norwegian conditions. A "control traverse" was established to represent uniform landscape conditions typical of the study area and was used to determine "normal" or average trace element distribution patterns. A "signal traverse" was selected nearby over an area of lead mineralization where the depth to bedrock is very small. The signal traverse provided an area of similar landscape conditions to those of the control traverse with significant differences in the bedrock configuration and composition. This study was also to determine the effect of the bedrock mineralization upon the distribution patterns of the twelve chemical elements within the major components of the two landscape traverses (i.e. soil profiles and tree branches). The lead distribution within the soils of the signal traverse showed localized accumulations of lead within the overburden with maximum values occurring within the organic A horizon of soil profile #10. Above average concentrations of lead were common within the signal traverse, however, the other elements studied were not significantly different from those averages determined throughout the soils of the control traverse. The spruce twig samples did not have corresponding accumulations of lead near the soil lead anomaly. This is attributable to the very localized nature of the lead dispersion pattern within the soils. This approach to the study of the geochemistry of a natural landscape was effective in establishing: a) average or "normal" trace element distribution patterns b) local variations in the landscape morphology and c) the effect of unusually high lead concentrations upon the geochemistry of the landscape (i.e. within the soil profiles and tree branches). This type of study provides the basis for further more intensive studies and serves only as a first approximation of the behaviour of elements within a natural landscape.

Contenu total en éléments traces de sols forestiers du Québec méridional

Les sols forestiers constituent un réservoir considérable d’éléments nutritifs disponibles pour soutenir la productivité forestière. Ces sols contiennent aussi une quantité, encore inconnue à ce jour, d’éléments traces biodisponibles provenant de sources anthropiques ou naturelles. Or, plusieurs de ces éléments recèlent un potentiel toxique pour les organismes vivants. Ainsi, la quantification de la concentration et du contenu total en éléments traces des sols forestiers s’avère nécessaire afin d’évaluer les impacts des perturbations sur la qualité des sols. Les objectifs de ce projet de recherche sont: 1) de mesurer le contenu total en éléments traces en phase solide (Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, Tl, V, Y, Zn) des divers horizons de sols d’écosystèmes forestiers du Québec méridional; 2) d’établir des liens significatifs entre la fraction soluble dans l’eau des éléments traces et les propriétés des horizons de sols et; 3) d’évaluer le rôle de la proximité d’un centre urbain sur les contenus en éléments traces. Pour répondre à ces objectifs, quatre profils de sols situés dans la région de St-Hippolyte et deux situés dans la région de Montréal furent échantillonnés jusqu'à l'atteinte du matériel parental. Les résultats de ce projet de recherche ont révélé que le contenu total en éléments traces présents dans les profils de sols se retrouve en grande partie dans les fragments grossiers du sol. Il a été démontré que la teneur en carbone organique, les complexes organométalliques et les oxydes de fer et d’aluminium dictent la distribution en profil de la majorité des éléments traces étudiés. Finalement, il fut prouvé que la région de Montréal présente des niveaux de contamination en éléments traces (Ag, As, Ba, Cu, Mn, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, Tl et Zn) supérieurs à ceux rencontrés dans les Laurentides.

The turnover of organic carbon in subsoils. Part 2. Modelling carbon turnover

A new model, RothPC-1, is described for the turnover of organic C in the top metre of soil. RothPC-1 is a version of RothC-26.3, an earlier model for the turnover of C in topsoils. In RothPC-1 two extra parameters are used to model turnover in the top metre of soil: one, p, which moves organic C down the profile by an advective process, and the other, s, which slows decomposition with depth. RothPC-1 is parameterized and tested using measurements (described in Part 1, this issue) of total organic C and radiocarbon on soil profiles from the Rothamsted long-term field experiments, collected over a period of more than 100 years. RothPC-1 gives fits to measurements of organic C and radiocarbon in the 0-23, 23-46, 46-69 and 69-92 cm layers of soil that are almost all within (or close to) measurement error in two areas of regenerating woodland (Geescroft and Broadbalk Wildernesses) and an area of cultivated land from the Broadbalk Continuous Wheat Experiment. The fits to old grassland (the Park Grass Experiment) are less close. Two other sites that provide the requisite pre- and post-bomb data are also fitted; a prairie Chernozem from Russia and an annual grassland from California. Roth-PC-1 gives a close fit to measurements of organic C and radiocarbon down the Chernozem profile, provided that allowance is made for soil age; with the annual grassland the fit is acceptable in the upper part of the profile, but not in the clay-rich Bt horizon below. Calculations suggest that treating the top metre of soil as a homogeneous unit will greatly overestimate the effects of global warming in accelerating the decomposition of soil C and hence on the enhanced release of CO2 from soil organic matter; more realistic estimates will be obtained from multi-layer models such as RothPC-1.

Earthworm distribution and abundance predicted by a process-based model

Earthworms are significant ecosystem engineers and are an important component of the diet of many vertebrates and invertebrates, so the ability to predict their distribution and abundance would have wide application in ecology, conservation and land management. Earthworm viability is known to be affected by the availability and quality of food resources, soil water conditions and temperature, but has not yet been modelled mechanistically to link effects on individuals to field population responses. Here we present a novel model capable of predicting the effects of land management and environmental conditions on the distribution and abundance of Aporrectodea caliginosa, the dominant earthworm species in agroecosystems. Our process-based approach uses individual based modelling (IBM), in which each individual has its own energy budget. Individual earthworm energy budgets follow established principles of physiological ecology and are parameterised for A. caliginosa from experimental measurements under optimal conditions. Under suboptimal conditions (e.g. food limitation, low soil temperatures and water contents) reproduction is prioritised over growth. Good model agreement to independent laboratory data on individual cocoon production and growth of body mass, under variable feeding and temperature conditions support our representation of A. caliginosa physiology through energy budgets. Our mechanistic model is able to accurately predict A. caliginosa distribution and abundance in spatially heterogeneous soil profiles representative of field study conditions. Essential here is the explicit modelling of earthworm behaviour in the soil profile. Local earthworm movement responds to a trade-off between food availability and soil water conditions, and this determines the spatiotemporal distribution of the population in the soil profile. Importantly, multiple environmental variables can be manipulated simultaneously in the model to explore earthworm population exposure and effects to combinations of stressors. Potential applications include prediction of the population-level effects of pesticides and changes in soil management e.g. conservation tillage and climate change.

The hidden organic carbon in deep mineral soils

Aims Current estimates of soil organic carbon (SOC) are based largely on surficial measurements to depths of 0.3 to 1 m. Many of the world’s soils greatly exceed 1 m depth and there are numerous reports of biological activity to depths of many metres. Although SOC storage to depths of up to 8 m has been previously reported, the extent to which SOC is stored at deeper depths in soil profiles is currently unknown. This paper aims to provide the first detailed analysis of these previously unreported stores of SOC. Methods Soils from five sites in the deeply weathered regolith in the Yilgarn Craton of south-western Australia were sampled and analysed for total organic carbon by combustion chromatography. These soils ranged between 5 and 38 m (mean 21 m) depth to bedrock and had been either recently reforested with Pinus pinaster or were under agriculture. Sites had a mean annual rainfall of between 399 and 583 mm yr−1. Results The mean SOC concentration across all sites was 2.30 ± 0.26 % (s.e.), 0.41 ± 0.05 % and 0.23 ± 0.04 % in the surface 0.1, 0.1–0.5 and 0.5 to 1.0 m increments, respectively. The mean value between 1 and 5 m was 0.12 ± 0.01 %, whereas between 5 and 35 m the values decreased from 0.04 ± 0.002 % to 0.03 ± 0.003 %. Mean SOC mass densities for each of the five locations varied from 21.8–37.5 kg C m−2, and were in toto two to five times greater than would be reported with sampling to a depth of 0.5 m. Conclusions This finding may have major implications for estimates of global carbon storage and modelling of the potential global impacts of climate change and land-use change on carbon cycles. The paper demonstrates the need for a reassessment of the current arbitrary shallow soil sampling depths for assessing carbon stocks, a revision of global SOC estimates and elucidation of the composition and fate of deep carbon in response to land use and climate change