Long-term presence of charcoal increases maize yield in Belgium due to increased soil water availability

A 3-year field study of the cumulative effects of ozone (O3), wet and dry acidic deposition, and soil water availability was conducted on ponderosa pine (Pinusponderosa Laws.) in the Sierra Nevada of California from 1988 to 1990. Thirty-six 2-year-old potted seedlings were placed in each of 30 chambers and exposed from May through October to three levels of O3 (charcoal-filtered (CF), nonfiltered (NF), and NF plus 1.5 times ambient O3 (NF150)); three levels of acidity in simulated rain (pH 3.5, 4.4, 5.3); two levels of dry deposition (60 or 90% filtration), and two levels of soil water availability (well watered (WW) or drought stressed (DS)). An additional six plots served as ambient air (AA) controls. One-third (432) of the trees were harvested at the end of each exposure season. Low soil water availability was the only stress factor to significantly affect growth following the first exposure season. After the second season, O3 significantly reduced foliar biomass in WW–NF150 trees, but DS seedlings did not respond to O3. After 3 years of exposure, WW–NF150 trees averaged 70% loss of 1988 needles and 48% loss of 1989 foliage. Ozone-injured seedlings compensated for these losses by increased growth of current-year needles and stems and also increased growth of fine feeder roots. Radial stem growth and coarse-root growth were significantly reduced in O3-injured trees. DS trees in NF150 chambers averaged half the needle loss of WW trees and showed no reduction in radial growth in response to O3. Rain pH and dry deposition had no direct effects on growth of ponderosa pine. These cumulative responses to interacting stresses indicate the importance of multifactorial, long-term studies to evaluate forest tree responses to atmospheric deposition.

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Soil water repellency influences maize yield by changing soil water availability under long-term tillage management

10.5194/soil-2021-57 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shengping Li ◽

Guopeng Liang ◽

Xueping Wu ◽

Jinjing Lu ◽

Erwan Plougonven ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Yield ◽

Soil Water ◽

Water Availability ◽

Water Storage ◽

Water Repellency ◽

Conservation Agriculture ◽

Soil Water Availability ◽

Soil Water Storage ◽

Water Sorptivity

Abstract. Drought is increasingly common due to frequent occurrences of extreme weather events, which further increases soil water repellency (SWR) and influences grain yield. Conservation agriculture is playing a vital role in attaining high food security and it could also increase SWR. However, the relationship between SWR and grain yield under conservation agriculture is still not fully understood. We studied the impact of SWR in 0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, and 10–20 cm layers during three growth periods on grain yield from a soil water availability perspective using a long-term field experiment. In particular, we assessed the effect of SWR on soil water content under two rainfall events with different rainfall intensities. Three treatments were conducted: conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), and no-tillage (NT). The results showed that the water repellency index (RI) of NT and RT treatments in 0–20 cm layers was increased by 12.9 %–39.9 % and 5.7 %–18.2 % compared to CT treatment during the three growth periods, respectively. The effect of the RI on soil water content became more obvious with the decrease in soil moisture following rainfall, which was also influenced by rainfall intensity. The RI played a prominent role in increasing soil water storage during the three growth periods compared to the soil total porosity, penetration resistance, mean weight diameter, and organic carbon content. Furthermore, although the increment in the RI under NT treatment increased the soil water storage, grain yield was not influenced by RI (p > 0.05) because the grain yield under NT treatment was mainly driven by penetration resistance and least limiting water range (LLWR). The higher water sorptivity increased LLWR and water use efficiency, which further increased the grain yield under RT treatment. Overall, SWR, which was characterized by water sorptivity and RI, had the potential to influence grain yield by changing soil water availability (e.g. LLWR and soil water storage) and RT treatment was the most effective tillage management compared to CT and NT treatments in improving grain yield.

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Differential responses of litter decomposition to nutrient addition and soil water availability with long-term vegetation recovery

Biology and Fertility of Soils ◽

10.1007/s00374-017-1242-9 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 53 (8) ◽

pp. 939-949 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Yangquanwei Zhong ◽

Weiming Yan ◽

Ruiwu Wang ◽

Zhouping Shangguan

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Litter Decomposition ◽

Water Availability ◽

Nutrient Addition ◽

Soil Water Availability ◽

Vegetation Recovery ◽

Differential Responses

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An Assessment of Climate Induced Increase in Soil Water Availability for Soil Bacterial Communities Exposed to Long-Term Differential Phosphorus Fertilization

Frontiers in Microbiology ◽

10.3389/fmicb.2020.00682 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Kate C. Randall ◽

Fiona Brennan ◽

Nicholas Clipson ◽

Rachel E. Creamer ◽

Bryan S. Griffiths ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Availability ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Soil Water Availability ◽

Phosphorus Fertilization ◽

Soil Bacterial Communities ◽

Soil Bacterial

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Variation in short-term and long-term responses of photosynthesis and isoprenoid-mediated photoprotection to soil water availability in four Douglas-fir provenances

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep40145 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Laura Verena Junker ◽

Anita Kleiber ◽

Kirstin Jansen ◽

Henning Wildhagen ◽

Moritz Hess ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Availability ◽

Douglas Fir ◽

Soil Water Availability ◽

Short Term

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Characterizing Growing Season Length of Subtropical Coniferous Forests with a Phenological Model

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12010095 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 95

Author(s):

Yuan Gong ◽

Christina L. Staudhammer ◽

Susanne Wiesner ◽

Gregory Starr ◽

Yinlong Zhang

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Soil Water ◽

Prescribed Fire ◽

Water Availability ◽

Longleaf Pine ◽

Growing Season ◽

Soil Water Availability ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Short Term ◽

Phenological Model

Understanding plant phenological change is of great concern in the context of global climate change. Phenological models can aid in understanding and predicting growing season changes and can be parameterized with gross primary production (GPP) estimated using the eddy covariance (EC) technique. This study used nine years of EC-derived GPP data from three mature subtropical longleaf pine forests in the southeastern United States with differing soil water holding capacity in combination with site-specific micrometeorological data to parameterize a photosynthesis-based phenological model. We evaluated how weather conditions and prescribed fire led to variation in the ecosystem phenological processes. The results suggest that soil water availability had an effect on phenology, and greater soil water availability was associated with a longer growing season (LOS). We also observed that prescribed fire, a common forest management activity in the region, had a limited impact on phenological processes. Dormant season fire had no significant effect on phenological processes by site, but we observed differences in the start of the growing season (SOS) between fire and non-fire years. Fire delayed SOS by 10 d ± 5 d (SE), and this effect was greater with higher soil water availability, extending SOS by 18 d on average. Fire was also associated with increased sensitivity of spring phenology to radiation and air temperature. We found that interannual climate change and periodic weather anomalies (flood, short-term drought, and long-term drought), controlled annual ecosystem phenological processes more than prescribed fire. When water availability increased following short-term summer drought, the growing season was extended. With future climate change, subtropical areas of the Southeastern US are expected to experience more frequent short-term droughts, which could shorten the region’s growing season and lead to a reduction in the longleaf pine ecosystem’s carbon sequestration capacity.

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