New Advances in Vegetation Dynamics and Soil Systems Related to Biogeochemical Cycles

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this MDPI Topic is to bring together novel environmental studies that improve our understanding of vegetation dynamics and soil systems related to biogeochemical cycles under changing environments. Vegetation and soils play a crucial role in two major carbon fluxes (i.e., CO₂ uptake via photosynthesis and its efflux via respiration) in global carbon cycles. Over the past decades, numerous environmental studies have been conducted to reveal vegetation dynamics and soil systems that drive biogeochemical cycles which vary spatially and temporally in response to various environmental changes. These studies have made substantial contributions to our understanding of future Earth environments, yet there remain numerous unresolved questions. Nevertheless, recent progress in remote sensing, micrometeorological techniques, isotope and chemical ecology, microbial ecology, soil science, and data analysis hold promise for overcoming these limitations. In this MDPI Topic, we call for papers that make advances in vegetation dynamics and soil systems related to biogeochemical cycles under changing environments. Contributions may include, but are not limited to, the following topics and themes:

• Remote sensing and micrometeorological techniques
• Advanced techniques in ecosystem-scale observations
• Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Continuum theory
• Big spatio-temporal scale data mining
• Environmental impacts of agricultural and forest ecosystems
• Isotope and chemical ecology for understanding soil microbial metabolism
• Isotope labeling of substrates and organisms
• Analyses of natural abundances of stable and radioactive isotopes
• Data fusion using spatial distribution datasets of isotope abundances
• Microbial ecology in vegetation and soil systems
• Interactions between microbes and biogeochemical cycles
• Microbial-animals, -plants, and -microbial interactions
• Evaluation of active and inactive microbial communities
• Microbial growth and death responding to the environmental changes
• Mechanistic or molecular-level analysis of biogeochemical processes that drive the elemental cycle
• Molecular level analysis of soil and dissolved organic matter employing state-of-the-art techniques such as NMR and FT-ICR-MS
• Molecular indicators of particular sources or ecological processes
• Linking small scale processes to ecosystem scale patterns
• Disentangling plant and microbial organic matter in soils
• Analyses of material dynamics within soil over short time scale

We welcome contributions that focus on all terrestrial ecosystems.

Dr. Hirohiko Nagano
Dr. Hiroki Ikawa
Dr. Morimaru Kida
Dr. Masataka Nakayama
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Environments environments	3.7	5.9	2014	23.7 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
Forests forests	2.9	4.5	2010	16.9 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Land land	3.9	3.7	2012	14.8 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Remote Sensing remotesensing	5.0	7.9	2009	23 Days	CHF 2700	Submit
Soil Systems soilsystems	3.5	5.8	2017	27.7 Days	CHF 1800	Submit

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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All Environments Forests Land Remote Sensing Soil Systems

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17 pages, 10292 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Characteristics of the Rhizospheric AMF Community and Nutrient Contents of the Dominant Grasses in Four Microhabitats of the Subalpine Zone in Northwestern Yunnan, China

by Wei Li, Jiqing Yang, Fangdong Zhan, Jiawei Guo, Ya Zhang, Yong Ba, Hengwen Dong and Yongmei He

Forests 2024, 15(4), 656; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15040656 - 03 Apr 2024

Viewed by 438

Abstract

At the southeastern periphery of the Tibetan Plateau, the subalpine ecosystem hosts grasses as some of the most substantial species. However, the community and function of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) around the rhizospheres of grasses in the subalpine zone are still poorly understood. [...] Read more.

At the southeastern periphery of the Tibetan Plateau, the subalpine ecosystem hosts grasses as some of the most substantial species. However, the community and function of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) around the rhizospheres of grasses in the subalpine zone are still poorly understood. In the present study, 28 soils and 11 species of dominant grasses collected from four microhabitats (shrubland, grassland, woodland, and forest) in the subalpine zone of northwestern Yunnan, China, were used to investigate the AMF community by Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technology as well as nutrient contents. Among the four microhabitats, the maximum soil nutrient levels around the rhizospheres of grasses were observed in woodland. The nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium concentrations in Dactylis glomerata shoots were significantly higher than those in the other 10 grass species. The AMF diversity of grassland in summer was substantially greater than that of the other three microhabitats (p < 0.05). Discrepancies were observed within a given plant species across microhabitats; for example, in summer, the nitrogen concentration in the shoot of Iris tectorum in woodland was significantly higher than that in both forest and shrubland (p < 0.05). A total of eight genera were detected in the AMF communities, which were dominated by Glomus, with a relative abundance of 45.4%–94.4% in summer and 60.5%–84.3% in winter. Moreover, the abundance of Glomus was significantly positively correlated with the content of alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen in soil and nitrogen in grasses according to the Mantel test. As a critical nutrient element in soil, nitrogen is beneficial for plant growth. Thus, these results provide a better understanding of the resilience of soil AMF community and the ecological adaptability of grasses in the subalpine ecosystems of northwestern Yunnan. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic New Advances in Vegetation Dynamics and Soil Systems Related to Biogeochemical Cycles)

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15 pages, 2536 KiB  

Open AccessBrief Report

Vegetation Effects on Phosphorus Runoff from Headwater Catchments in a Cool-Temperate Region with Landslides, Northern Japan

by Jun’ichiro Ide, Rikuto Naito, Yohei Arata, Ryoma Hirokawa, Izuki Endo and Takashi Gomi

Forests 2024, 15(2), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020229 - 25 Jan 2024

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Abstract

Forest vegetation and soils in headwaters can control runoff and surface erosion. However, it remains unclear how vegetation affects nutrient exports from cool-temperate forest headwaters during intense rain events that transport sediment-associated nutrients, such as phosphorus (P). To clarify this, we targeted an [...] Read more.

Forest vegetation and soils in headwaters can control runoff and surface erosion. However, it remains unclear how vegetation affects nutrient exports from cool-temperate forest headwaters during intense rain events that transport sediment-associated nutrients, such as phosphorus (P). To clarify this, we targeted an upstream landslide area and analyzed P contents in surface soils and total P (TP) in stream water of the undisturbed (UF) and landslide-bearing forest (LB) catchments. The soil P content was higher in the UF catchment than in the LB catchment, but differences in the average TP concentration and load during low flows between these catchments were not significant. Conversely, the overall runoff and the TP load were three and ten times higher in the LB catchment than in the UF catchment, respectively, during a rain event with daily precipitation of 49 mm, despite the soil P content being much lower in the LB catchment. Particulate P (PP) accounted for more than 90% of the TP load during the rain event in the LB catchment, whereas dissolved P accounted for more than 80% of the TP load in the UF catchment. Therefore, soil surface mobility strongly affected P transport in the forest catchments. Our study suggests that vegetation not only reduces PP loads by controlling runoff, but also influences stream P forms in cool-temperate forests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic New Advances in Vegetation Dynamics and Soil Systems Related to Biogeochemical Cycles)

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16 pages, 3901 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Interannual Variation and Control Factors of Soil Respiration in Xeric Shrubland and Agricultural Sites from the Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico

by Gabriela Guillen-Cruz, Emmanuel F. Campuzano, René Juárez-Altamirano, Karla Liliana López-García, Roberto Torres-Arreola and Dulce Flores-Rentería

Land 2023, 12(11), 1961; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12111961 - 24 Oct 2023

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Abstract

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems dominate the R_S variability due to the multiple changing factors that control it. Consequently, any variation, in addition to climate change and land use change, impacts the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Here, the effect of [...] Read more.

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems dominate the R_S variability due to the multiple changing factors that control it. Consequently, any variation, in addition to climate change and land use change, impacts the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Here, the effect of the interannual variation and the controlling factors of R_S in native xeric shrublands and agricultural systems is investigated. This study was conducted in four sites per condition for two years (2019 to 2020), where R_S and the soil properties were measured. The R_S presented a higher variation in the xeric shrubland. The agricultural plots showed the highest R_S (0.33 g CO₂ m⁻² hr⁻¹) compared to the xeric shrubland (0.12 g CO₂ m⁻² hr⁻¹). The soil water content was the main controlling variable for R_S in both land uses. However, soil temperature affected R_S only in agricultural plots. The variation in the R_S under different land uses confirms that changes in the soil and environmental conditions (i.e., season) control the R_S. In addition, if current management practices are maintained in agricultural sites and under a temperature increase scenario, a significant increase in the R_S rate is expected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic New Advances in Vegetation Dynamics and Soil Systems Related to Biogeochemical Cycles)

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15 pages, 2444 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Volatilization or Recovery of Fairway Foliar Nitrogen Fertilizer via Time and Spray Oil Inclusion

by Nathaniel L. Leiby and Maxim J. Schlossberg

Environments 2023, 10(10), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10100176 - 05 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1434

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is the essential plant nutrient needed by turfgrass in the greatest quantity. Urea and urea-based liquids are arguably the safest, least expensive, and subsequently most popular soluble N fertilizers. Unfortunately, urea fertilizer application to turfgrass is often subject to NH₃ [...] Read more.

Nitrogen (N) is the essential plant nutrient needed by turfgrass in the greatest quantity. Urea and urea-based liquids are arguably the safest, least expensive, and subsequently most popular soluble N fertilizers. Unfortunately, urea fertilizer application to turfgrass is often subject to NH₃ volatilization: a deleterious phenomenon from both environmental and agronomic perspectives. The objective of this research was to quantify the efficacy of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) golf course fairway foliar fertilization by urea-based N fertilizers as influenced by a petroleum-derived spray oil (PDSO) containing Cu II phthalocyanine colorant (Civitas Turf Defense^TM Pre-M1xed, Intelligro LLC, Mississauga, ON, Canada). In 2019 and 2020, a maintained creeping bentgrass fairway received semimonthly 9.76 kg ha^–1 soluble N treatment either alone or in combination with Civitas at a rate of 27 L ha^–1. In the 48 h following foliar application, fertilizer N loss as NH₃ ranged from 1.3 to 5.5% and corresponded directly to fertilizer urea content but not Civitas inclusion. In the 1 to 14 d following semimonthly treatment, Civitas had either a beneficial (methylol urea and UAN) or negligible (urea) effect on canopy mean dark green color index. Once cumulative N inputs exceeded 47 kg ha^–1, creeping bentgrass fairway shoot growth and N nutrition were consistently increased by Civitas complementation of commercial liquid N fertilizer. Over the 2-yr study, absolute mean percent fertilizer N recovery from plots treated by Civitas-complemented foliar liquid N treatment exceeded their ’N only’ counterparts by 8.7%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic New Advances in Vegetation Dynamics and Soil Systems Related to Biogeochemical Cycles)

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