Applied Soil Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Developing biocrust field cultivation techniques for soil restoration: An assessment of bacterial communities","authors":"Sierra D. Jech ,&nbsp;Kara Dohrenwend ,&nbsp;Natalie Day ,&nbsp;Nichole N. Barger ,&nbsp;Anita Antoninka ,&nbsp;Matthew A. Bowker ,&nbsp;Sasha Reed ,&nbsp;Colin Tucker","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105861","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105861","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a coherent, thin soil surface layer, engineered and inhabited by a diverse community of moss, lichen, cyanobacteria, and other microorganisms. Biocrusts provide critical functions in dryland systems and may be lost from the ecosystem through physical disturbance or other global change drivers. Once biocrusts are lost, natural recovery can occur very slowly. This has led to the development of biocrust rehabilitation strategies, including cultivation of biocrust propagules to inoculate degraded sites. As the need for biocrust restoration grows in scale and across different regions, inoculum cultivation and application methods are being asked to keep up. In this work, we evaluate cyanobacterial community composition and abundance in greenhouse and field cultivation systems, with and without growth substrate and shade treatments. We also consider cultivation of locally and non-locally sourced biocrust inocula at a single cultivation facility on the Colorado Plateau. We found that field cultivation is a viable option for biocrust cultivation. For almost all cyanobacteria, habitat amelioration was necessary for growth in the field. Despite differences in inocula composition following cultivation, restoration outcomes five months after inoculation were poor with no significant increases in cyanobacterial abundance, soil chlorophyll <em>a</em>, or soil exopolysaccharide content. Thus, more work is needed to boost the initial growth and survival of biocrust inocula, regardless of the method of cultivation (i.e., greenhouse or field). Future work focused on assessing opportunities for habitat amelioration during application to improve biocrust establishment during this critical restoration phase would be highly valuable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105861"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Disturbance from tillage is a dominant factor in explaining differences in soil biodiversity of three grasslands management types","authors":"Nick van Eekeren ,&nbsp;Jurre Dekker ,&nbsp;Rob Geerts ,&nbsp;Pedro Janssen ,&nbsp;Anthonie Stip ,&nbsp;Tim Visser ,&nbsp;Jaap Bloem ,&nbsp;Ron de Goede","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105881","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105881","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intensification of agriculture has reduced both aboveground and belowground biodiversity, as well as their ecosystem services. A transition towards regenerative agricultural systems is supposed to enhance functional agro-biodiversity and create more resilient systems. For dairy or beef farming, extensification towards semi-natural grasslands and establishing multi-species grasslands are potential contributors to this transition. Both grassland types differ in terms of plant diversity and management, but it is unclear whether and how these differences translate into soil quality and soil biodiversity. An on-farm trial was set up in which the abundance and diversity of soil biota was compared between intensively managed species-poor permanent grasslands, intensively managed frequently re-seeded multi-species grasslands, and extensively managed species-rich semi-natural grasslands. Total abundance and biomass of nematodes, micro-arthropods and earthworms did not differ between these grassland types. Bacterial PLFA was higher in semi-natural grasslands than in multi-species grasslands; intensive-permanent grasslands took an intermediate position. Protozoan PLFA was higher in intensive-permanent grasslands than in multi-species grasslands; semi-natural grasslands took an intermediate position. The grassland management types only had an effect on alpha and gamma diversity in the case of micro-arthropods, with a higher taxonomic richness in semi-natural grasslands. Nematode, micro-arthropod and earthworm taxonomic community structures differed between grassland management types. Differences in abundance and diversity of soil biota between multi-species grasslands on the one hand and intensive-permanent and semi-natural grasslands on the other hand were thought to be mostly related to disturbances caused by tillage and their direct and indirect effects on soil biota and its living conditions. Consequently, longevity without regular soil disturbance is considered important for the transition to grassland systems such as multi-species grasslands that simultaneously utilise and support soil biodiversity and its ecosystem services. However, what must also be considered in decisions on the transition to future farming systems are the impacts on aboveground biodiversity (including insects and birds) and ecosystem services such as agricultural production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105881"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does extending the incubation period really improve the accuracy of the Tea Bag Index as a measure of soil health?","authors":"Taiki Mori","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105837","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105837","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Tea Bag Index (TBI) approach was proposed as a simplified method for determining two key indices: the decomposition constant <em>k</em> and the stabilization factor <em>S</em>. In recent years, this method has gained increasing popularity within the field of soil health assessment. Hayes et al. (2024) proposed that extending the incubation period could enhance the accuracy of the TBI approach. However, this recommendation is misleading, as evidenced by the fact that the extended incubation period resulted in greater deviation of the decomposition curves from the observed data. Hayes et al. (2024) also introduced a new metric, termed “biological decomposition,” which represents the simple mass loss ratios of both green and rooibos teas. They suggested to use this metric instead of calculating the TBI. While I fully agree with their recommendation to avoid using the TBI, the rationale for this recommendation should not rely on the reasoning presented by Hayes et al. (2024). Instead, the avoidance of the TBI metrics should be attributed to their fundamental inaccuracy due to biased assumptions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105837"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impacts of continuous potato cropping on soil microbial assembly processes and spread of potato common scab","authors":"Lichun Wang ,&nbsp;Song Liu ,&nbsp;Guokui Tian ,&nbsp;Yang Pan ,&nbsp;Haiyan Wang ,&nbsp;Guangwei Qiu ,&nbsp;Fengyun Li ,&nbsp;Ze Pang ,&nbsp;Kaixin Ding ,&nbsp;Jinpeng Zhang ,&nbsp;Hong Xue ,&nbsp;Xinyuan Li ,&nbsp;Guanghua Wang ,&nbsp;Xuepeng Fu","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105805","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105805","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Continuous cropping is a widely adopted cultivation system in intensive agriculture that can lead to a range of soil issues, ultimately affecting aboveground crops growth. However, the assembly process of soil microbial communities and the changes in pathogenic microorganisms under different years of continuous cropping remain unclear. The present study focused on the soil microbial community structure in potato geocaulosphere soil and potato common scab (CS) caused by pathogenic <em>Streptomyces</em> spp. We conducted pot experiment using five different continuous potato cropping soils and five alternative cropping soils (rotation potato cropping and non-potato monocropping). We used qPCR to detect pathogenic gene associated with CS and high-throughput sequencing to assess the microbial community composition. The results indicated that the microbial community structure in geocaulosphere is primarily influenced by the cropping history. Continuous cropping soils exhibited significantly increased bacterial richness and diversity compared to alternative cropping soils, with a distinct difference in microbial community composition. Moreover, null models revealed that deterministic processes driven by homogeneous selection predominated in shaping the assembly of microbial communities in continuous cropping soils. Short-term continuous cropping drove the assembly of soil bacterial communities towards deterministic processes through homogeneous selection, whereas with prolonged continuous cropping, the influence of homogeneous selection gradually diminished. The co-occurrence network of bacteria and fungi under continuous cropping exhibited characteristics of low average degree, high modularity, and high stability. Furthermore, continuous cropping increased the independence of fungal modules. The severity of CS and the presence of a pathogen-containing network module increased with the number of continuous cropping years, and the pathogen-containing network module demonstrated a significant positive correlation with CS. Collectively, our findings provide novel insights into the limitations of continuous agricultural cropping systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105805"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microbial dynamics and agroforestry impact on soil ecosystem multifunctionality following forest conversion to macadamia-based systems","authors":"Fandi Xu ,&nbsp;Zhihong Guo ,&nbsp;Yuchun Yang ,&nbsp;Yanxuan Chen ,&nbsp;Haidong Bai ,&nbsp;Tongli Wang ,&nbsp;Jiangchong Wu ,&nbsp;Shuaifeng Li ,&nbsp;Jianrong Su","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105869","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105869","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forest conversion to agroforestry systems has the potential to impact soil ecosystem functions in terrestrial ecosystems and optimize crop management, which may play a critical role in sustaining soil ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF, defined as simultaneously provision of multiple ecosystem functions) in a subtropical agroforestry system. However, the impact of sowing crops on soil EMF and its relationship with soil microbe remain poorly understood within macadamia-based agroforestry systems. Here, we investigated 50 plots, including macadamia monocultures and macadamia-based agroforestry systems intercropping with dasheen, konjac, and maize, as well as adjacent primary forest in the southwest of Yunnan Province, China. Our main objective was to assess the effects of soil microbial community structure and abiotic and biotic factors on soil EMF following forest conversion. We found that forest conversion significantly decreased soil EMF and multiple individual functions. Interestingly, the macadamia intercropping dasheen system exhibited advantages in maintaining soil EMF resilience. Soil EMF was negatively correlated with increasing soil bacterial diversity, soil bulk density, and soil pH, while positively correlated with increasing soil bacterial network complexity and woody aboveground biomass. Further analyses indicated that soil bacterial network complexity was a primary contributor to soil EMF, mediating the effect of woody aboveground biomass on soil EMF. <em>Acidobacteriota</em> and <em>Basidiomycota</em> were identified as important predictors of declines in soil EMF and most individual ecosystem functions. In contrast, others like <em>Gemmatimonadota</em>, <em>Firmicutes</em>, and <em>Chytridiomycota</em> were associated with increases in soil EMF and most individual ecosystem functions. Furthermore, macadamia-based agroforestry systems were found to result in lower soil bacterial network complexity and woody aboveground biomass, and higher soil bulk density, leading to reduced soil EMF. These findings highlight the potential diminishment of soil EMF associated with the development of macadamia-based agroforestry systems but also suggest the effective management of microbial taxa could enhance soil bacterial network complexity, ultimately promoting resilience in soil EMF.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105869"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of biopedturbation by European badger Meles meles on the forest soil food web persist for years as revealed by nematode indicators","authors":"Paweł Kapusta ,&nbsp;Olga Wiśniewska ,&nbsp;Ewa Dmowska ,&nbsp;Przemysław Kurek","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105871","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105871","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European badger lives in burrows, the construction of which involves bringing large amounts of soil to the surface (rising mounds). Previous studies have demonstrated that the presence of such biopedturbation in temperate forests increases small-scale habitat heterogeneity, which favours the maintenance of plant species richness. This study aimed to assess the impact of badger burrowing on soil nematodes and, through nematode-based indices, also on soil food web structure. The study was conducted in the Kampinos Forest (Poland) and included three burrow sites. At each site, four sampling plots were established to represent the following disturbance categories: soil mounds at active burrow entrances (young mounds), soil mounds at entrances that had not been used for 1–2 years (mid-aged mounds) or at least 5 years (old mounds), and the undisturbed area (control). Soil samples were characterized for nematode abundance, diversity and composition. For each sample, indicators of food web maturity, structure, enrichment and decomposition pathways, as well as metabolic footprints, were calculated based on the abundances of nematode functional guilds. Badger burrowing did not affect the total abundance of nematodes, but significantly increased their taxonomic diversity. There were 1.5–1.8 times more taxa in the mound plots than in the control. There was also a significant shift in the composition of the nematode community from one dominated by <em>Acrobeloides nanus</em>, a bacteria-feeding species, to one in which several taxa from different trophic groups played an important role. Some disturbance-induced changes were short-lasting; the relative abundance of nematodes with short life cycles increased significantly after disturbance, and then decreased with disturbance age (from young to old mounds) to the baseline levels (control). Other changes were long-lasting; predatory nematodes, which were almost absent in the control area, appeared in significant numbers in young mounds and did not decrease with age of disturbance. Analysis of several nematode indices showed that, despite disturbance, the studied soil food webs remained mature and well-structured, and their part responsible for regulatory functions (higher trophic guilds) even became stronger, as shown by the increase in the structure footprint. The results obtained show that soil disturbance by badgers did not have a negative impact on soil biota communities; on the contrary, it may be stimulating for some groups of organisms, multitrophic interactions and ecological processes. This study supports previous findings that the European badger is an ecosystem engineering species that can play an important role in maintaining biodiversity in human-altered landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105871"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rice rhizosphere and microplastic synergistically reshaping antibiotic resistome in soil","authors":"Xiangmiao Su,&nbsp;Xinjian Huang,&nbsp;Yanyu Bao","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105796","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105796","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Whether and how rhizosphere and microplastic amendment together affect antibiotic resistome remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in soil and inhabited microplastic when rice growed up with polyethylene microplastic amendment of 50 particle·kg⁻¹ (low) and 200 particle·kg⁻¹ (high). Our findings suggested that a low amount microplastic exhibited a significant effect on soil ARGs, with the significant increase of total abundance from 0.236 to 0.367 in bulk soil and the significant decrease from 0.267 to 0.167 in rhizosphere soil. The combined effect of the high amount microplastic and rhizosphere synergistically promoted ARGs enrichment in inhabited microplastic. For soil and inhabited microplastic, weak co-occurrence of ARGs with bacteria (and metabolites) in rhizosphere compared with bulk soil. Almost every gene occurred a shift in the potential host bacteria from bulk to rhizosphere or from soil to the inhabited microplastic. Most soil bacterium which were positively or negatively correlated with ARGs were regulated by soil metabolites, such as indole-3-acetonitrile, 2,3-Butanediol in bulk soil and octacosane, sulfuric acid, N-Methacryloylglycine in rhizosphere soil. In soil and inhabited microplastic, the variation in ARGs profiles was mainly from the horizontal transfer triggered by mobile genetic elements (MGEs). These findings provide the microbial and metabolic mechanism on reshaping soil ARGs profile in rhizosphere with microplastic presence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105796"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Redundancy of microbial P mobilization in beech forest soils with contrasting P stock: A microbial dilution experiment","authors":"Yijie Shi ,&nbsp;Sasya Samhita ,&nbsp;Sebastian Loeppmann ,&nbsp;Iris Zimmermann ,&nbsp;Michaela A. Dippold ,&nbsp;Sandra Spielvogel","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105824","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105824","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Phosphorus (P) acquisition in forest ecosystems relies on litter cycling, but foliar P concentrations in beech forests are decreasing. This highlights the urgency to understand how soil microbes adapt to P limitations caused by environmental shifts. In this study, a novel approach combining ³³P-wick labeling to trace litter-P recycling with a microbial dilution approach was used to study microbial P cycling associated with microbial biodiversity loss. Sterilized soils, re-inoculated with different dilutions of their native microbial communities were incubated with ³³P-labeled beech litter for four weeks. The kinetics of acid phosphatase and the flux of ³³P into different soil pools were determined. Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and P, in soil microbial biomass and in extractable pools (e.g., P_resin) were measured. The acid phosphatase activity decreased by 75–92 % with the dilution increase from 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶ at the P-rich site, indicating a functional loss of P mobilization. The overall acid phosphatase activity was 1-fold higher at the P-deficient site than at the P-rich site, suggesting a high functional redundancy of microbial P mobilization. The recoveries of litter-derived ³³P in soil microbial biomass (SMB) and in P_resin were 5-fold and 2-fold higher for the P-deficient site than for the P-rich site throughout all dilutions, suggesting that the recycling of litter-P by SMB in the P-deficient soil is highly redundant as an intermediate reservoir. Our study confirms that the high functional redundancy of microbial P acquisition at a P-deficient forest site can maintain pivotal microbial acquisition processes for P uptake.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105824"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Distribution of plant-parasitic nematode communities across land-use types in the North of Portugal","authors":"Rui P. Carvalho ,&nbsp;Carlos Guerra ,&nbsp;Concha Cano-Díaz ,&nbsp;Susana Mendes ,&nbsp;Sofia R. Costa","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105852","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105852","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant-parasitic nematodes pose a significant threat to agriculture globally, yet, while much is known about their local effects, the large-scale distribution and primary drivers are still unknown. Our objective was to investigate the influence of land-use and other environmental factors in the distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes at regional scale. A comprehensive soil sampling campaign was conducted in the North of Portugal, covering diverse land-use types, geography and climate. A total of 406 soil samples were taken from six different land-use types: annual and perennial agriculture, pastures, urban areas, and exotic and native forests. Plant-parasitic nematodes were extracted and identified to genus level through morphological characters analysis and edaphoclimatic data was obtained from our analysis and from various European datasets. Taxonomic and functional diversity indices were calculated to evaluate the impact of land-use and environmental factors on community structure. Additionally, species distribution models using ensemble of machine learning algorithms were created to predict the potential distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes. Our findings revealed that pastures had significantly more diverse plant-parasitic nematode communities, with higher alpha diversity, biomass, and herbivory footprint. Meanwhile, forests had the lowest diversity, but more heterogeneous communities within sites. The influence of environmental factors such as soil properties, land cover, and climate on the distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes could not be established. However, the potential distribution of different genera can differ according to environmental variables. Our findings provide valuable insights into the distribution patterns of plant-parasitic nematodes in northern Portugal, which can inform future land-use planning and management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105852"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development and evaluation approach of soil quality in agricultural soils: Integrated system for a more reliable delineation of homogeneous management zones","authors":"Veljko Perović ,&nbsp;Dragan Čakmak ,&nbsp;Darko Jakšić ,&nbsp;Miško Milanović ,&nbsp;Marija Matić ,&nbsp;Dragana Pavlović ,&nbsp;Miroslava Mitrović ,&nbsp;Pavle Pavlović","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105860","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105860","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil quality (SQ) is of fundamental importance for sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation and food security. This study presents an integrative methodological framework for the assessment of SQ by combining indicators of soil properties with environmental variables. In a case study in Mali Zvornik, Serbia, agricultural SQ was assessed using total data set (TDS) and minimum data set (MDS) methods, incorporating additive and weighted Soil Quality Indices (SQIa and SQIw). Spatial variations in SQ were analysed using Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) and Boosted Regression Trees (BRT), while Homogeneous Management Zones (HMZ) were identified using fuzzy c-means clustering. The study analysed 18 soil indicators and selected nine key indicators for the MDS through Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Modeling was performed with 12 environmental variables, and the BRT model showed high predictive accuracy by achieving robust R² values and low prediction errors (MAE and RMSE). Topographic and vegetation factors, especially elevation and NDVI, were identified as the most influential variables affecting spatial SQI patterns. Three distinct HMZs were delineated: a high quality zone suitable for intensive agriculture, a moderately productive zone requiring targeted interventions, and a low quality zone affected by erosion and nutrient deficiency. This research highlights the effectiveness of integrating advanced modeling techniques with environmental data for accurate SQ assessment. The results provide valuable insights for agroecological planning that supports sustainable land management and rural development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 105860"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}