Pub Date : 2026-03-18DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117717
Josep Galceran, Guanlei Li, Jordi Sans-Duñó, Carlos Rey-Castro, Jaume Puy, Yue Gao, Joan Cecília
{"title":"Chemical availability in soils and sediments interpreted by coupled transport–reaction models of DGT (Diffusive Gradients in Thin-films) fluxes: Roles of dissolved ligands and finite sorption capacity","authors":"Josep Galceran, Guanlei Li, Jordi Sans-Duñó, Carlos Rey-Castro, Jaume Puy, Yue Gao, Joan Cecília","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117717","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147496115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-18DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117778
Justin L.K. Coulibaly, Xin Gong, Wenting Wang, Zohra Naseem, Gang Li, André L.C. Franco, Biao Zhu, Xin Sun
{"title":"Trade-off between taxonomic and functional diversity of nematodes due to species replacement in urban green spaces","authors":"Justin L.K. Coulibaly, Xin Gong, Wenting Wang, Zohra Naseem, Gang Li, André L.C. Franco, Biao Zhu, Xin Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117778","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117778","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147496117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-17DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117774
Tchodjowiè P.I. Kpemoua, Marija Stojanova, Claire Chenu, Denis Angers, Amicie Delahaie, Jussi Heinonsalo, Kristiina Karhu, Marine Landrieux, Sam McNally, Cédric Plessis, Christopher Poeplau, Valérie Pouteau, Pierre Roudier, Eva Rabot, Juliette Roussia, Marcus Schiedung, Iñigo Virto, Pierre Barré
Physical fractionation is a prevailing tool for studying the biogeochemical stability of soil organic carbon (SOC). Fractionation methods are straightforward to implement in the laboratory, and allow for the separation of SOC into at least two distinct fractions, either by size (OCfine vs. OCcoarse) or density (light vs. heavy fraction), and make it possible to distinguish fractions with contrasting average biogeochemical stability. Methods tend to differ in the protocol for soil dispersion (shaking in water and/or sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP), shaking with glass beads, or using ultrasonic dispersion), and in the fraction separation (through different sieve/mesh sizes or using chemical density). Several meta-analyses combining results obtained using different physical fractionation methods are emerging. In this context, it is important to determine whether the results obtained using different methods are directly comparable or, at a minimum, whether correction functions can be developed to harmonize the results obtained with different methods.
物理分馏是研究土壤有机碳(SOC)生物地球化学稳定性的常用工具。分馏方法在实验室中很容易实现,并且允许将有机碳分离成至少两个不同的组分,根据大小(OCfine vs. OCcoarse)或密度(轻质vs.重质馏分),并且可以区分具有对比平均生物地球化学稳定性的馏分。土壤分散(在水中和/或六偏磷酸钠(SHMP)中摇动,用玻璃珠摇动,或使用超声波分散)和馏分分离(通过不同的筛/网尺寸或使用化学密度)的方法往往不同。一些综合使用不同物理分馏方法获得的结果的荟萃分析正在出现。在这种情况下,重要的是确定使用不同方法获得的结果是否具有直接可比性,或者至少可以开发校正函数来协调使用不同方法获得的结果。
{"title":"Harmonizing data from different soil organic matter fractionation protocols","authors":"Tchodjowiè P.I. Kpemoua, Marija Stojanova, Claire Chenu, Denis Angers, Amicie Delahaie, Jussi Heinonsalo, Kristiina Karhu, Marine Landrieux, Sam McNally, Cédric Plessis, Christopher Poeplau, Valérie Pouteau, Pierre Roudier, Eva Rabot, Juliette Roussia, Marcus Schiedung, Iñigo Virto, Pierre Barré","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117774","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117774","url":null,"abstract":"Physical fractionation is a prevailing tool for studying the biogeochemical stability of soil organic carbon (SOC). Fractionation methods are straightforward to implement in the laboratory, and allow for the separation of SOC into at least two distinct fractions, either by size (OC<ce:inf loc=\"post\">fine</ce:inf> vs. OC<ce:inf loc=\"post\">coarse</ce:inf>) or density (light vs. heavy fraction), and make it possible to distinguish fractions with contrasting average biogeochemical stability. Methods tend to differ in the protocol for soil dispersion (shaking in water and/or sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP), shaking with glass beads, or using ultrasonic dispersion), and in the fraction separation (through different sieve/mesh sizes or using chemical density). Several <ce:italic>meta</ce:italic>-analyses combining results obtained using different physical fractionation methods are emerging. In this context, it is important to determine whether the results obtained using different methods are directly comparable or, at a minimum, whether correction functions can be developed to harmonize the results obtained with different methods.","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Estuarine mangrove wetlands mitigate coastal eutrophication by removing nitrate (NO3−); however, the effects of invasive Spartina alterniflora eradication, a key biogenic carbon source, on NO3− removal pathways and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions remain poorly understood. Here, we conducted a two-year field observation and laboratory anaerobic sediment incubation amended with plant residues, combined with 15N isotope tracing and metagenomics analyses. Field observation and laboratory incubation experiments revealed that during the initial eradication, the elevated organic carbon from Spartina alterniflora degradation stimulated denitrifying bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria) and the nirS gene abundance. Consequently, NO3− removal was dominated by denitrification (DNF, 90.26%), while dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) contributed minimally. Meanwhile, the concurrent pH decline from plant residue fermentation inhibited nosZ-mediated reduction, leading to incomplete DNF and a consequent 153.0% rise in N2O emissions above the background level of 12.48 μg m−2 h−1. The DNF contribution and N2O emission increase reached their maximum approximately six months after plant removal. Driven by an elevated C: NO3− ratio from continuous organic carbon accumulation and NO3− consumption over the following two years, DNRA contribution rose from 5.78% to 34.34% alongside a shift of N2O flux to a sink (−14.54 μg m−2 h−1). The accumulation of nrfA gene, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and II type nosZ microorganisms (e.g., Bacteroidetes, Thermodesulfobacteria) in the sediments favored the above conversion. This study elucidates how biogenic carbon addition reconfigures NO3− removal pathways and associated ecosystem functions, providing scientific insights for coordinating ecosystem management restoration with climate change goals.
{"title":"Biogenic carbon input from Spartina alterniflora eradication governs nitrate removal pathways and N2O emission in estuarine mangrove wetlands","authors":"Shiyao Chen, Hui Wu, Wenhong Xu, Fenfang Wang, Ruifeng Yan, Shaobin Li, Nengwang Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117780","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117780","url":null,"abstract":"Estuarine mangrove wetlands mitigate coastal eutrophication by removing nitrate (NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup>); however, the effects of invasive <ce:italic>Spartina alterniflora</ce:italic> eradication, a key biogenic carbon source, on NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup> removal pathways and nitrous oxide (N<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>O) emissions remain poorly understood. Here, we conducted a two-year field observation and laboratory anaerobic sediment incubation amended with plant residues, combined with <ce:sup loc=\"post\">15</ce:sup>N isotope tracing and metagenomics analyses. Field observation and laboratory incubation experiments revealed that during the initial eradication, the elevated organic carbon from <ce:italic>Spartina alterniflora</ce:italic> degradation stimulated denitrifying bacteria (e.g., <ce:italic>Proteobacteria</ce:italic>) and the <ce:italic>nirS</ce:italic> gene abundance. Consequently, NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup> removal was dominated by denitrification (DNF, 90.26%), while dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) contributed minimally. Meanwhile, the concurrent pH decline from plant residue fermentation inhibited <ce:italic>nosZ</ce:italic>-mediated reduction, leading to incomplete DNF and a consequent 153.0% rise in N<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>O emissions above the background level of 12.48 μg m<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−2</ce:sup> h<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−1</ce:sup>. The DNF contribution and N<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>O emission increase reached their maximum approximately six months after plant removal. Driven by an elevated C: NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup> ratio from continuous organic carbon accumulation and NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup> consumption over the following two years, DNRA contribution rose from 5.78% to 34.34% alongside a shift of N<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>O flux to a sink (−14.54 μg m<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−2</ce:sup> h<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−1</ce:sup>). The accumulation of <ce:italic>nrfA</ce:italic> gene, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and II type <ce:italic>nosZ</ce:italic> microorganisms (e.g., <ce:italic>Bacteroidetes, Thermodesulfobacteria</ce:italic>) in the sediments favored the above conversion. This study elucidates how biogenic carbon addition reconfigures NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup> removal pathways and associated ecosystem functions, providing scientific insights for coordinating ecosystem management restoration with climate change goals.","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-17DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117773
Rugana Imbaná, Łukasz Uzarowicz, Zbigniew Zagórski, Mateusz Stolarczyk, Wojciech Szymański
The study aimed to use soil micromorphology to reveal the microscopic effects of soil-forming processes in young (up to about 200 years) Spolic Technosols developed from mine wastes and tailings containing iron (Fe) sulphides. Thin sections were analysed under petrographic microscopes. Three soil profiles developed from sulphide-rich mine wastes and tailings were studied in two abandoned pyrite mines in Rudki and Wieściszowice, southern Poland. Morphological observations showed that the studied profiles were poorly developed. However, microscopic investigations allowed for the identification of a set of pedogenic features as follows: (1) pedogenic structure (in particular in the topsoil) being an effect of soil organic matter accumulation and physical and biological alteration of technogenic parent materials; (2) Fe oxide hypocoatings and quasicoatings, which are the result of Fe mobilisation in the strongly acidic soil environment, followed by translocation in pore waters and precipitation of Fe oxides inside a soil groundmass; (3) clay coatings and infillings along pores which are the result of clay translocation in strongly acidic soils; (4) pedogenic gypsum in a form of rosettes or single crystals dispersed in the groundmass as an effect of crystallisation from pore waters rich in Ca and sulphate ions; and (5) bioturbations (e.g., root channels) being an effect of biota activity. The study showed that despite their young age and initial stage of soil profile development, the Technosols investigated are subject to natural soil-forming processes on the microscale that transform technogenic parent materials into functioning soils.
{"title":"Micromorphological indicators of pedogenesis in Technosols developed from mine wastes and tailings containing iron sulphides","authors":"Rugana Imbaná, Łukasz Uzarowicz, Zbigniew Zagórski, Mateusz Stolarczyk, Wojciech Szymański","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117773","url":null,"abstract":"The study aimed to use soil micromorphology to reveal the microscopic effects of soil-forming processes in young (up to about 200 years) Spolic Technosols developed from mine wastes and tailings containing iron (Fe) sulphides. Thin sections were analysed under petrographic microscopes. Three soil profiles developed from sulphide-rich mine wastes and tailings were studied in two abandoned pyrite mines in Rudki and Wieściszowice, southern Poland. Morphological observations showed that the studied profiles were poorly developed. However, microscopic investigations allowed for the identification of a set of pedogenic features as follows: (1) pedogenic structure (in particular in the topsoil) being an effect of soil organic matter accumulation and physical and biological alteration of technogenic parent materials; (2) Fe oxide hypocoatings and quasicoatings, which are the result of Fe mobilisation in the strongly acidic soil environment, followed by translocation in pore waters and precipitation of Fe oxides inside a soil groundmass; (3) clay coatings and infillings along pores which are the result of clay translocation in strongly acidic soils; (4) pedogenic gypsum in a form of rosettes or single crystals dispersed in the groundmass as an effect of crystallisation from pore waters rich in Ca and sulphate ions; and (5) bioturbations (e.g., root channels) being an effect of biota activity. The study showed that despite their young age and initial stage of soil profile development, the Technosols investigated are subject to natural soil-forming processes on the microscale that transform technogenic parent materials into functioning soils.","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"273 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-17DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117764
Luning Sun, José L. Safanelli, Jonathan Sanderman, Katerina Georgiou, Colby Brungard, Kanchan Grover, Bryan G. Hopkins, Shusen Liu, Peer-Timo Bremer
Infrared spectroscopy is a cost-effective, non-destructive, and environmentally benign technology that is increasingly recognized as an important solution for meeting the global demand for soil data. While both near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy enable rapid estimation of soil properties, they present a significant trade-off: NIR offers superior scalability and lower operational costs, whereas MIR provides higher analytical fidelity by capturing fundamental molecular vibrations. In this study, we propose a self-supervised, multi-fidelity learning framework designed to bridge this gap. Our approach leverages large-scale MIR spectral libraries to learn a compact, transferable latent representation, into which NIR spectra are subsequently aligned for downstream prediction. The workflow consists of pretraining a latent model on a large MIR library, adapting the representation using a smaller paired NIR–MIR dataset, and evaluating generalization on an independent external test set. Across a range of chemical and physical soil properties, we found that MIR-derived embeddings improved prediction accuracy relative to baseline models that used raw MIR inputs. Predictions derived from the spectrum conversion (NIR to MIR) task did not match the performance of the original MIR spectra but were similar or superior to predictive performance of NIR-only models, suggesting the unified spectral latent space can effectively leverage the larger and more diverse MIR dataset for prediction of soil properties not well represented in current NIR libraries.
红外光谱是一种具有成本效益、非破坏性和环境友好的技术,越来越被认为是满足全球土壤数据需求的重要解决方案。虽然近红外(NIR)和中红外(MIR)漫反射光谱都可以快速估计土壤特性,但它们存在一个重要的权衡:近红外提供了优越的可扩展性和更低的操作成本,而MIR通过捕获基本分子振动提供了更高的分析保真度。在这项研究中,我们提出了一个自我监督的多保真度学习框架,旨在弥合这一差距。我们的方法利用大规模的MIR光谱库来学习一个紧凑的、可转移的潜在表示,其中近红外光谱随后被对齐用于下游预测。该工作流程包括在大型MIR库上预训练潜在模型,使用较小的配对NIR-MIR数据集调整表示,以及在独立的外部测试集上评估泛化。在一系列土壤化学和物理特性中,我们发现,相对于使用原始MIR输入的基线模型,MIR衍生嵌入提高了预测精度。从光谱转换(NIR to MIR)任务中获得的预测结果与原始MIR光谱的性能不匹配,但与仅NIR模型的预测性能相似或优于前者,这表明统一的光谱潜在空间可以有效地利用更大、更多样化的MIR数据集来预测当前NIR库中无法很好地表示的土壤性质。
{"title":"Self-supervised and multi-fidelity learning for extended predictive soil spectroscopy","authors":"Luning Sun, José L. Safanelli, Jonathan Sanderman, Katerina Georgiou, Colby Brungard, Kanchan Grover, Bryan G. Hopkins, Shusen Liu, Peer-Timo Bremer","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117764","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117764","url":null,"abstract":"Infrared spectroscopy is a cost-effective, non-destructive, and environmentally benign technology that is increasingly recognized as an important solution for meeting the global demand for soil data. While both near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy enable rapid estimation of soil properties, they present a significant trade-off: NIR offers superior scalability and lower operational costs, whereas MIR provides higher analytical fidelity by capturing fundamental molecular vibrations. In this study, we propose a self-supervised, multi-fidelity learning framework designed to bridge this gap. Our approach leverages large-scale MIR spectral libraries to learn a compact, transferable latent representation, into which NIR spectra are subsequently aligned for downstream prediction. The workflow consists of pretraining a latent model on a large MIR library, adapting the representation using a smaller paired NIR–MIR dataset, and evaluating generalization on an independent external test set. Across a range of chemical and physical soil properties, we found that MIR-derived embeddings improved prediction accuracy relative to baseline models that used raw MIR inputs. Predictions derived from the spectrum conversion (NIR to MIR) task did not match the performance of the original MIR spectra but were similar or superior to predictive performance of NIR-only models, suggesting the unified spectral latent space can effectively leverage the larger and more diverse MIR dataset for prediction of soil properties not well represented in current NIR libraries.","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117726
Zelin Hou , Quanzhong Huang , Jiawei Liu , Lei Sun , Yiming Fan , Haozhi Li , Dongyang Ren , Xu Xu , Yunwu Xiong , Zailin Huo , Guanhua Huang
Accurate representation of the coupled interactions between soil water content (SWC), groundwater dynamics, and crop growth is crucial for assessing the impacts of changing environments at the basin scale. Many basin-scale hydrological models often prioritize hydrological processes while overlooking the influence of crop growth on water dynamics. In this study, the EPIC (Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator) model was coupled with ParFlow (referred to as ParFlow-AGE, ParFlow with Agricultural Environment) to simulate crop growth along with surface water, soil water, and groundwater at the regional scale. The model was calibrated and validated using three years of field data from a typical research area in the Hetao Irrigation District (HID). All the simulated values showed good agreement with the measured data. The simulated SWC demonstrated R2 ranging from 0.65 to 0.71, while the simulated crop height (CH), leaf area index (LAI), and aboveground biomass showed R2 values ranging from 0.90 to 0.93. Additionally, the simulated groundwater depth (GWD) exhibited relatively high accuracy, with R2 ranging from 0.76 to 0.83. During soil water exchange, in the vertical direction, irrigation and rainfall events caused pronounced fluctuations in surface soil water content, while deeper SWC remained relatively stable. In the lateral direction, quantification of water exchange of experimental field A and B using normalized radial water exchange (NRWE) showed that lateral water movement increased with depth (NRWE0-1 < NRWE1-2.6 < NRWE2.6-5). GWD, evapotranspiration, and yield exhibited high spatial variability across the study area. Shallower groundwater depth was obtained near the canal due to lateral seepage, resulting in a significantly higher actual evapotranspiration than other fields. However, the yields of maize and sunflower were 12% and 9% lower than those in other fields, respectively, because of increased stress to crops from water and aeration. Non-productive use of water, including soil evaporation from agricultural fields and evaporation from canal and built-up land, accounted for 35% of the total ETact (135,401 m3 water across 45.57 hm2). These findings validate the feasibility of the coupled model, providing a more practical and powerful tool for large-scale agro-hydrological studies.
{"title":"Coupling crop growth with ParFlow for simulating agro-hydrological processes on a regional scale","authors":"Zelin Hou , Quanzhong Huang , Jiawei Liu , Lei Sun , Yiming Fan , Haozhi Li , Dongyang Ren , Xu Xu , Yunwu Xiong , Zailin Huo , Guanhua Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117726","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117726","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate representation of the coupled interactions between soil water content (SWC), groundwater dynamics, and crop growth is crucial for assessing the impacts of changing environments at the basin scale. Many basin-scale hydrological models often prioritize hydrological processes while overlooking the influence of crop growth on water dynamics. In this study, the EPIC (Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator) model was coupled with ParFlow (referred to as ParFlow-AGE, ParFlow with Agricultural Environment) to simulate crop growth along with surface water, soil water, and groundwater at the regional scale. The model was calibrated and validated using three years of field data from a typical research area in the Hetao Irrigation District (HID). All the simulated values showed good agreement with the measured data. The simulated SWC demonstrated R<sup>2</sup> ranging from 0.65 to 0.71, while the simulated crop height (CH), leaf area index (LAI), and aboveground biomass showed R<sup>2</sup> values ranging from 0.90 to 0.93. Additionally, the simulated groundwater depth (GWD) exhibited relatively high accuracy, with R<sup>2</sup> ranging from 0.76 to 0.83. During soil water exchange, in the vertical direction, irrigation and rainfall events caused pronounced fluctuations in surface soil water content, while deeper SWC remained relatively stable. In the lateral direction, quantification of water exchange of experimental field A and B using normalized radial water exchange (NRWE) showed that lateral water movement increased with depth (NRWE<sub>0-1</sub> < NRWE<sub>1-2.6</sub> < NRWE<sub>2.6-5</sub>). GWD, evapotranspiration, and yield exhibited high spatial variability across the study area. Shallower groundwater depth was obtained near the canal due to lateral seepage, resulting in a significantly higher actual evapotranspiration than other fields. However, the yields of maize and sunflower were 12% and 9% lower than those in other fields, respectively, because of increased stress to crops from water and aeration. Non-productive use of water, including soil evaporation from agricultural fields and evaporation from canal and built-up land, accounted for 35% of the total ET<sub>act</sub> (135,401 m<sup>3</sup> water across 45.57 hm<sup>2</sup>). These findings validate the feasibility of the coupled model, providing a more practical and powerful tool for large-scale agro-hydrological studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"467 ","pages":"Article 117726"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146172524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-14DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117734
Pauline Sophie Rummel , Martin Reinhard Rasmussen , Aurélien Saghaï , Theresa Merl , Sara Hallin , Carsten W. Mueller , Klaus Koren
Plant roots can modify all major controls of denitrification in soils, particularly the availability of the main substrates (NO3− and Corg), soil moisture, soil O2 content, and root-associated microbial communities, and thus play an important role in N2O formation. Direct in-situ measurements of N2O concentrations in the rhizosphere are lacking, yet are crucial to better understand how rhizosphere denitrification contributes to overall N2O emissions from soil. We equipped rhizoboxes with O2-sensitive planar optodes to simultaneously monitor root growth and rhizosphere/soil O2 concentrations. We measured soil surface N2O fluxes and linked them to root growth, soil moisture, and root/soil O2 concentrations. Based on root growth and O2 concentrations, we identified regions of interest (ROI) and sampled small soil volumes, which were analyzed for C and N content, and abundance of genes indicative of microbial denitrifiers (nirK, nirS) and N2O reducers (nosZI, nosZII), and soil N2O concentrations. Plant roots determined depth gradients of nutrients and denitrification gene abundances in the soil of the rhizoboxes with higher resource availability (NO3–, DOC) and lower soil moisture in the upper soil layers, which also had higher abundances of total bacteria, nirK and nosZII. These findings indicate that the uppermost soil layers largely contributed to N2O formation. Our study provides the first direct evidence of roots creating distinct O2 and N gradients controlling N2O production at the process scale leading to high in-situ N2O concentrations.
{"title":"Maize root growth, oxygen and N availability drive formation of N2O hotspots in soil","authors":"Pauline Sophie Rummel , Martin Reinhard Rasmussen , Aurélien Saghaï , Theresa Merl , Sara Hallin , Carsten W. Mueller , Klaus Koren","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117734","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117734","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant roots can modify all major controls of denitrification in soils, particularly the availability of the main substrates (NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> and C<sub>org</sub>), soil moisture, soil O<sub>2</sub> content, and root-associated microbial communities, and thus play an important role in N<sub>2</sub>O formation. Direct <em>in-situ</em> measurements of N<sub>2</sub>O concentrations in the rhizosphere are lacking, yet are crucial to better understand how rhizosphere denitrification contributes to overall N<sub>2</sub>O emissions from soil. We equipped rhizoboxes with O<sub>2</sub>-sensitive planar optodes to simultaneously monitor root growth and rhizosphere/soil O<sub>2</sub> concentrations. We measured soil surface N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes and linked them to root growth, soil moisture, and root/soil O<sub>2</sub> concentrations. Based on root growth and O<sub>2</sub> concentrations, we identified regions of interest (ROI) and sampled small soil volumes, which were analyzed for C and N content, and abundance of genes indicative of microbial denitrifiers (<em>nirK</em>, <em>nirS</em>) and N<sub>2</sub>O reducers (<em>nosZ</em>I, <em>nosZ</em>II), and soil N<sub>2</sub>O concentrations. Plant roots determined depth gradients of nutrients and denitrification gene abundances in the soil of the rhizoboxes with higher resource availability (NO<sub>3</sub><sup>–</sup>, DOC) and lower soil moisture in the upper soil layers, which also had higher abundances of total bacteria, <em>nirK</em> and <em>nosZ</em>II. These findings indicate that the uppermost soil layers largely contributed to N<sub>2</sub>O formation. Our study provides the first direct evidence of roots creating distinct O<sub>2</sub> and N gradients controlling N<sub>2</sub>O production at the process scale leading to high <em>in-situ</em> N<sub>2</sub>O concentrations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"467 ","pages":"Article 117734"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146209228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-19DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117730
Sebastián Alfaro-Zepeda, Mariano Moreno de las Heras, Antonio Peñalver-Alcalá, Eduardo García-Braga, Joaquim Farguell, Xavier Úbeda
Fire has long shaped Mediterranean ecosystems. However, changes in fire regimes, a major consequence of global environment change, have led to increasingly frequent and more intense wildfires in these regions. Sustainable forest management is, therefore, today critical for reducing the risk of ignition and minimising the damage caused by wildfires. In Spain, management tools as pruning and felling, silviculture, and prescribed fire (PF) are employed individually or in combination to address this challenge. But the use of PF is controversial due to the risks of provoking uncontrolled fire episodes, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and altering soil properties if such fires are not properly managed. This study reports the results of the annual monitoring of the physical and chemical properties of a calcareous soil after a PF. We document changes in a Pinus halepensis plantation of the Montgrí massif (NE Spain) to determine whether this forest management approach has any short-term (two-year period) effects. In year zero, i.e., immediately after the PF, a significant increase in the soil’s electrical conductivity and water repellency was observed in the burned plot (vs. control). In the first year, soil pH was significantly higher in the treated plot relative both to its first-year pH levels and to those of the control. By the second year, no significant differences were observed in the physicochemical properties of the soils of the treated and control plots. These results suggest that PF did not cause significant short-term changes in soil properties, supporting its role as a sustainable management tool for reducing accumulated biomass in forests while maintaining soil resilience in Mediterranean ecosystems.
{"title":"Effects of prescribed fire on soil physicochemical properties in a mediterranean Pinus halepensis plantation: a case study in the Montgrí Massif.","authors":"Sebastián Alfaro-Zepeda, Mariano Moreno de las Heras, Antonio Peñalver-Alcalá, Eduardo García-Braga, Joaquim Farguell, Xavier Úbeda","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117730","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117730","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fire has long shaped Mediterranean ecosystems. However, changes in fire regimes, a major consequence of global environment change, have led to increasingly frequent and more intense wildfires in these regions. Sustainable forest management is, therefore, today critical for reducing the risk of ignition and minimising the damage caused by wildfires. In Spain, management tools as pruning and felling, silviculture, and prescribed fire (PF) are employed individually or in combination to address this challenge. But the use of PF is controversial due to the risks of provoking uncontrolled fire episodes, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and altering soil properties if such fires are not properly managed. This study reports the results of the annual monitoring of the physical and chemical properties of a calcareous soil after a PF. We document changes in a <em>Pinus halepensis</em> plantation of the Montgrí massif (NE Spain) to determine whether this forest management approach has any short-term (two-year period) effects. In year zero, i.e., immediately after the PF, a significant increase in the soil’s electrical conductivity and water repellency was observed in the burned plot (vs. control). In the first year, soil pH was significantly higher in the treated plot relative both to its first-year pH levels and to those of the control. By the second year, no significant differences were observed in the physicochemical properties of the soils of the treated and control plots. These results suggest that PF did not cause significant short-term changes in soil properties, supporting its role as a sustainable management tool for reducing accumulated biomass in forests while maintaining soil resilience in Mediterranean ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"467 ","pages":"Article 117730"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146777808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-27DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117738
Dries De Bièvre, Pierre Defourny, Bas van Wesemael
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key indicator of soil health on croplands, as well as a potential lever for carbon sequestration in agriculture. This requires tools for understanding spatial and temporal variations in SOC content. Multispectral satellites provide data on bare soil reflectance which is influenced by SOC content. In this study, an extensive database of 34,418 soil analyses on 22,850 fields is leveraged to train a Machine-Learning model for SOC content prediction. The predictive covariates are derived from a bare soil composite of Sentinel-2 images over the Walloon region (Belgium) obtained from March to June over a three-year period (2019–2021) as well as some environmental covariates. We observe that multispectral data is complementary to environmental covariates for explaining spatial variability in SOC content. Through feature elimination relevant spectral features were identified: the normalized difference of band 3 (Green) and 2 (Blue); band 5 (Red-Edge) and 11 (SWIR1); band 11 (SWIR1) and 12 (SWIR2) and the reflectance in band 4 (Red). These spectral indices were combined with three environmental covariates: elevation, the agro-ecological zone and the fine fraction ( 20m) content. The resulting model predicts SOC content at field-level with an RMSE of 2.7 g C kg−1 and an of 0.56. Given this uncertainty, we conclude that multispectral data is insufficient for SOC content monitoring at parcel-level but is a tool to consider for SOC content mapping. The SOC content map can be used for regional SOC content estimates, after modeling the autocorrelation of the model errors. This offers the possibility to compare groups with different management practices or assess the average SOC content of fields in a soil conservation program compared to a regional baseline.
土壤有机碳(SOC)是农田土壤健康状况的重要指标,也是农业碳固存的潜在杠杆。这就需要工具来理解有机碳含量的时空变化。多光谱卫星提供了受有机碳含量影响的裸土反射率数据。在这项研究中,利用22,850个领域的34,418个土壤分析的广泛数据库来训练用于SOC含量预测的机器学习模型。预测协变量来源于3月至6月(2019-2021年)在比利时瓦隆地区(wallon region)获得的Sentinel-2裸地复合图像以及一些环境协变量。研究发现,在解释土壤有机碳含量的空间变异方面,多光谱数据与环境协变量是互补的。通过特征消去,识别出相关的光谱特征:波段3(绿色)和波段2(蓝色)的归一化差;波段5 (Red-Edge)和11 (SWIR1);波段11 (SWIR1)和12 (SWIR2)以及波段4 (Red)的反射率。这些光谱指数与三个环境协变量:海拔、农业生态区和细粒(< 20μm)含量相结合。该模型预测土壤有机碳含量的RMSE为2.7 g C kg - 1, R2为0.56。考虑到这种不确定性,我们得出结论,多光谱数据不足以在包裹级监测有机碳含量,但可以作为有机碳含量制图的工具。在对模型误差的自相关进行建模后,碳含量图可用于区域碳含量估算。这提供了比较不同管理实践群体的可能性,或与区域基线相比,评估土壤保持计划中田地的平均有机碳含量。
{"title":"Multispectral bare soil composites as a resource for SOC mapping rather than SOC monitoring: A case study in the Walloon region (Belgium)","authors":"Dries De Bièvre, Pierre Defourny, Bas van Wesemael","doi":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117738","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117738","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key indicator of soil health on croplands, as well as a potential lever for carbon sequestration in agriculture. This requires tools for understanding spatial and temporal variations in SOC content. Multispectral satellites provide data on bare soil reflectance which is influenced by SOC content. In this study, an extensive database of 34,418 soil analyses on 22,850 fields is leveraged to train a Machine-Learning model for SOC content prediction. The predictive covariates are derived from a bare soil composite of Sentinel-2 images over the Walloon region (Belgium) obtained from March to June over a three-year period (2019–2021) as well as some environmental covariates. We observe that multispectral data is complementary to environmental covariates for explaining spatial variability in SOC content. Through feature elimination relevant spectral features were identified: the normalized difference of band 3 (Green) and 2 (Blue); band 5 (Red-Edge) and 11 (SWIR1); band 11 (SWIR1) and 12 (SWIR2) and the reflectance in band 4 (Red). These spectral indices were combined with three environmental covariates: elevation, the agro-ecological zone and the fine fraction (<span><math><mo><</mo></math></span> 20<span><math><mi>μ</mi></math></span>m) content. The resulting model predicts SOC content at field-level with an RMSE of 2.7 g C kg<sup>−1</sup> and an <span><math><msup><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></math></span> of 0.56. Given this uncertainty, we conclude that multispectral data is insufficient for SOC content monitoring at parcel-level but is a tool to consider for SOC content mapping. The SOC content map can be used for regional SOC content estimates, after modeling the autocorrelation of the model errors. This offers the possibility to compare groups with different management practices or assess the average SOC content of fields in a soil conservation program compared to a regional baseline.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12511,"journal":{"name":"Geoderma","volume":"467 ","pages":"Article 117738"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147334371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}