Microplastic-Induced Changes in Soil Quality and Functioning: Field Scale Trials

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davey Jones ◽  
David Chadwick
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Appreciable Effect ◽  
Field Scale ◽  
Soil System ◽  
Dose Rates ◽  
Contamination Levels ◽  
The Impact

<p>Microplastics represent an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems, however, our understanding of the fate and behaviour of microplastics in the plant-soil system remains poor. In this replicated, field-scale study we added microplastics (low density polyethylene) to soil at different dose rates representing contamination levels ranging from 0 to 10 t ha<sup>-1</sup>. These levels were chosen to cover both agricultural and urban contamination levels. Over a 12 month period, we studied a range of chemical, physical and biological soil quality indicators and wheat productivity to evaluate the impact of microplastics on the delivery of soil-related ecosystem services. Overall, we found little evidence to suggest that microplastics affect plant growth even at high dose rates. In contrast, microplastics had a significant impact on soil quality. The use of PLFA profiling and 16S metabarcoding of the bacterial and archaeal community, revealed changes in key microbial taxa at high microplastic doses. In addition, physiological profiling of the microbial community using lipidomics, untargeted metabolomics and targeted nitrogen metabolomics (using GC-MS platform) revealed significant shifts in microbial physiology. No appreciable effect of microplastics was seen on soil N and P dynamics, earthworm abundance or greenhouse gas emissions (CO<sub>2</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O and CH<sub>4</sub>). Overall, our results suggest that microplastics do induce changes in soil quality, but that this has little overall effect on the delivery of key soil-related ecosystem services. These results contrast strongly with experiments performed in laboratory mesocosms where microplastics negatively affected plant growth and soil quality, and highlight the need to study the impact of microplastics at the field scale over longer timescales.</p>

The effect of lignin application on plant growth and soil biological quality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mesfin Gebremikael ◽  
Ramon Vandendaele ◽  
Marta Alarcon ◽  
Ruben Torregrosa ◽  
Stefaan De Neve
Keyword(s):  
Plant Growth ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
N Uptake ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Simultaneous Increase ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Total N ◽  
Simultaneous Application ◽  
Laboratory Conditions

<p>There is a wide variety of agricultural waste co- and by-products that could potentially be valorised in high-value applications. One of such products is lignin, the second most abundant organic biopolymer after cellulose. Because of the large amounts of pruning wastes in the Mediterranean regions, lignin extraction can be one of the possibilities for valorisation and sustainable management of agricultural wastes. Research on the application of lignin, particularly lignosulfonates, is limited to its use as a biostimulant for root growth under controlled laboratory conditions and as a complexing agent in micronutrient foliar fertilizer formulations. Little is known about the impacts of lignin extracted from various feedstock on plant growth and soil quality.</p><p> </p><p>We investigated the potential of lignin as plant biostimulator and soil conditioner in a pot experiment with fresh soil and lignin extracts obtained from three types of pruning wastes (urban trees, fruit and forest trees) using ryegrass as a test plant, under laboratory conditions. Two doses of lignin extracts (equivalent to 5 and 20 kg lignin-C ha<sup>-1</sup>) were applied to assess whether the effect on plant growth and soil quality depends on the rate of application. Soil and plant parameters were determined seven weeks after the grass was planted at 17 °C and 16 h photoperiod. </p><p> </p><p>Root biomass significantly increased (62-152%) in treatments with lignin addition, particularly lignin from urban and forest pruning wastes compared to the control. However, the increase in root biomass did not result in a simultaneous increase in shoot biomass or N uptake showing the need to apply additional plant nutrient. The microbial biomass C did not significantly respond to the application of lignin. A significantly higher dehydrogenase enzyme activity was recorded in samples with the high dose of lignin extracted from the urban wastes compared to the lower dose. Urban waste lignin extract contains 15-18 times more total N compared to the lignin extracts from forest and fruit trees, which could explain its significant effect on enzymatic activities and root biomass.</p><p> </p><p>The findings show that differences in feedstock properties may influence the plant growth stimulating activity of the lignin. Further research is needed to improve the plant growth-stimulating effect of lignin, to investigate the simultaneous application of the major plant nutrients and the response of the microbial community to lignin application.   </p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Highly contrasting effects of different climate forcing agents on terrestrial ecosystem services

2011 ◽  
Vol 369 (1943) ◽  
pp. 2026-2037 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Huntingford ◽  
P. M. Cox ◽  
L. M. Mercado ◽  
S. Sitch ◽  
N. Bellouin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Atmospheric Aerosols ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The Impact

Many atmospheric constituents besides carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) contribute to global warming, and it is common to compare their influence on climate in terms of radiative forcing, which measures their impact on the planetary energy budget. A number of recent studies have shown that many radiatively active constituents also have important impacts on the physiological functioning of ecosystems, and thus the ‘ecosystem services’ that humankind relies upon. CO 2 increases have most probably increased river runoff and had generally positive impacts on plant growth where nutrients are non-limiting, whereas increases in near-surface ozone (O 3 ) are very detrimental to plant productivity. Atmospheric aerosols increase the fraction of surface diffuse light, which is beneficial for plant growth. To illustrate these differences, we present the impact on net primary productivity and runoff of higher CO 2 , higher near-surface O 3 , and lower sulphate aerosols, and for equivalent changes in radiative forcing. We compare this with the impact of climate change alone, arising, for example, from a physiologically inactive gas such as methane (CH 4 ). For equivalent levels of change in radiative forcing, we show that the combined climate and physiological impacts of these individual agents vary markedly and in some cases actually differ in sign. This study highlights the need to develop more informative metrics of the impact of changing atmospheric constituents that go beyond simple radiative forcing.

scholarly journals Early Response of Soil Properties under Different Restoration Strategies in Tropical Hotspot

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 768
Author(s):  
Katarzyna A. Koryś ◽  
Agnieszka E. Latawiec ◽  
Maiara S. Mendes ◽  
Jerônimo B. B. Sansevero ◽  
Aline F. Rodrigues ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Atlantic Forest ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Brazilian Atlantic Forest ◽  
The Impact

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest has undergone adverse land-use change due to deforestation for urbanization and agriculture. Numerous restoration initiatives have been taken to restore its ecosystem services. Deforested areas have been restored through active intervention or natural regeneration. Understanding the impact of those different reforestation approaches on soil quality should provide important scientific and practical conclusions on increasing forest cover in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome. However, studies evaluating active planting versus natural regeneration in terms of soil recovery are scarce. We evaluate soil dynamics under those two contrasting strategies at an early stage (<10 years). Reforestation was conducted simultaneously on degraded lands previously used for cattle grazing and compared to an abandoned pasture as a reference system. We examined soil physicochemical properties such as: pH, soil organic matter content, soil moisture, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, Cu, Al, and soil texture. We also present the costs of both methods. We found significant differences in restored areas regarding pH, Na, Fe, Mn content, and the cost. Soil moisture was significantly higher in pasture. Our research can contribute to better decision-making about which restoration strategy to adopt to maximize restoration success regarding soil quality and ecosystem services in the tropics.

scholarly journals An overview of a land evaluation in the context of ecosystem services

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslava Janků ◽  
Jan Jehlička ◽  
Kristina Heřmanová ◽  
Daniel Toth ◽  
Mansoor Maitah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Land Evaluation ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Soil System ◽  
Detailed Measurement ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
The Status

The environment is changing quickly and it is ever more burdened in connection with the greater needs of human society. This fact has increased efforts to improve the management of land and natural resources and the necessity to evaluate them. Land valuations become more important as the land consumption increases. Soil needs to be evaluated in the whole context of how its quality is affected and the values it provides. The concept of ecosystem services offers this holistic view. This paper defines ecosystem services (ES), the various linkages between soil properties, their functions and benefits, the assessment of soil quality using indicators and then briefly mentions EU environmental assessment methods and terms used in the context of ES. The article also mentions frameworks with which to assess and evaluate the soil quality that can be divided into two groups. The first group is comprised of a framework of indicators that describe the current state of the soil system assessment for evaluating the quality of the agricultural land. This is based on a detailed measurement of the terrain, a statistical analysis of soil databases or processing the status of specific threats to the soil. The second group is comprised of a framework of indicators focused on changes in the soil quality and applied soil management. These frameworks deal with the productivity of the soil in various systems of farming, compare agricultural systems or discuss the advantages of soil biota as indicators of soil quality in detail. Many of the designs of the soil quality indicators focus on the soil management in the context of a single discipline such as agriculture or water pollution. There are concepts for considering the soil quality in regional planning.

scholarly journals Using the LANCA® Model to Account for Soil Quality Within LCA: First Application and Approach Comparison in Two Contrasted Tropical Case Studies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Thoumazeau ◽  
Céline Bustany ◽  
Jérémy Rodrigues ◽  
Cécile Bessou
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
Soil System ◽  
The Impact

Assessing the effect of land management on soil quality is nowadays a key environmental concern, as the soil system is linked to major ecosystem services. There is a strong methodological shortage to integrate the impact of anthropogenic pressure on the soil system within large scale environmental frameworks, such as the Life Cycle Assessment. The LANCA® method was proposed to meet this need, integrating five impact categories of soil functions and directly applicable within the Life Cycle Assessment framework. Although the most recent 2016-LANCA® version shows readiness to be integrated in this large scale environmental framework to meet the demand, it has not yet been applied and validated on case studies. This study proposes a first application of the LANCA® model on two contrasted agricultural-based case studies to share experience in implementing the model through both background and foreground approaches, to analyze the first model outputs and to provide tracks for further model improvements. The results proved that both LANCA® approaches were poorly sensitive to the agricultural land managements tested. The foreground approach was difficult to implement due to the lack of transparency of the targeted characterization factors calculation procedure. Further global sensitivity and redundancy analysis should also be proposed in order to validate the consistency of the global model.

Electron Beam Damage of Biomolecules Assessed by Energy Loss Spectroscopy

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
M. Isaacson ◽  
M.L. Collins ◽  
M. Listvan
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Radiation Damage ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Analytical Electron Microscopy ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Dose Rates ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Analytical Electron ◽  
Atom Migration ◽  
Beam Damage

Over the past five years it has become evident that radiation damage provides the fundamental limit to the study of blomolecular structure by electron microscopy. In some special cases structural determinations at very low doses can be achieved through superposition techniques to study periodic (Unwin & Henderson, 1975) and nonperiodic (Saxton & Frank, 1977) specimens. In addition, protection methods such as glucose embedding (Unwin & Henderson, 1975) and maintenance of specimen hydration at low temperatures (Taylor & Glaeser, 1976) have also shown promise. Despite these successes, the basic nature of radiation damage in the electron microscope is far from clear. In general we cannot predict exactly how different structures will behave during electron Irradiation at high dose rates. Moreover, with the rapid rise of analytical electron microscopy over the last few years, nvicroscopists are becoming concerned with questions of compositional as well as structural integrity. It is important to measure changes in elemental composition arising from atom migration in or loss from the specimen as a result of electron bombardment.

Electron-diffraction studies in synthetic polymer materials

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 362-365
Author(s):  
D.T. Grubb
Keyword(s):  
Electron Diffraction ◽  
Synthetic Polymer ◽  
Polymer Materials ◽  
Crystallographic Structure ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Electron Dose ◽  
Dose Rates ◽  
First Case ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
The Many

Diffraction studies in polymeric and other beam sensitive materials may bring to mind the many experiments where diffracted intensity has been used as a measure of the electron dose required to destroy fine structure in the TEM. But this paper is concerned with a range of cases where the diffraction pattern itself contains the important information.In the first case, electron diffraction from paraffins, degraded polyethylene and polyethylene single crystals, all the samples are highly ordered, and their crystallographic structure is well known. The diffraction patterns fade on irradiation and may also change considerably in a-spacing, increasing the unit cell volume on irradiation. The effect is large and continuous far C94H190 paraffin and for PE, while for shorter chains to C 28H58 the change is less, levelling off at high dose, Fig.l. It is also found that the change in a-spacing increases at higher dose rates and at higher irradiation temperatures.

scholarly journals Tracking of Zinc Ferrite Nanoparticle Effects on Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Plant Growth, Pigments, Mineral Content and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Colonization

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 583
Author(s):  
Reda E. Abdelhameed ◽  
Nagwa I. Abu-Elsaad ◽  
Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef ◽  
Rabab A. Metwally
Keyword(s):  
Pisum Sativum ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Zinc Ferrite ◽  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Nanocrystalline Structure ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Am Fungi ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Agricultural Applications ◽  
The Impact

Important gaps in knowledge remain regarding the potential of nanoparticles (NPs) for plants, particularly the existence of helpful microorganisms, for instance, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi present in the soil. Hence, more profound studies are required to distinguish the impact of NPs on plant growth inoculated with AM fungi and their role in NP uptake to develop smart nanotechnology implementations in crop improvement. Zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) NPs are prepared via the citrate technique and defined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as transmission electron microscopy for several physical properties. The analysis of the XRD pattern confirmed the creation of a nanocrystalline structure with a crystallite size equal to 25.4 nm. The effects of ZnFe2O4 NP on AM fungi, growth and pigment content as well as nutrient uptake of pea (Pisum sativum) plants were assessed. ZnFe2O4 NP application caused a slight decrease in root colonization. However, its application showed an augmentation of 74.36% and 91.89% in AM pea plant shoots and roots’ fresh weights, respectively, compared to the control. Moreover, the synthesized ZnFe2O4 NP uptake by plant roots and their contents were enhanced by AM fungi. These findings suggest the safe use of ZnFe2O4 NPs in nano-agricultural applications for plant development with AM fungi.

scholarly journals The Role of Selected Ecosystem Services in Different Farming Systems in Poland Regarding the Differentiation of Agricultural Land Structure

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6673
Author(s):  
Lidia Luty ◽  
Kamila Musiał ◽  
Monika Zioło
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Supporting Soil ◽  
Management Method ◽  
The Impact

The functioning of various agroecosystems is nowadays shaped by different farming systems, which may impair their functions, as well as being beneficial to them. The benefits include ecosystem services, defined as economic and noneconomic values gained by humans from ecosystems, through supporting soil formation and nutrient circulation, and the impact of agriculture on climate and biodiversity. Their mutual flow and various disturbances depend on the agroecosystem’s management method, which is associated with the type of management of agricultural land (AL) in individual farms. This paper raises a problem of transformation in the structure of three main farming systems in Poland, in 2004–2018, in relation to the implementation of 16 selected ecosystem services and their scale. Special attention was given to organic farming, as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable. The analysis demonstrates the increase in ALs in that type of production during the analyzed period of time. Disparities of transformation associated with the type of agricultural system were noticeable at the regional level, which were presented in 16 Polish voivodeships. The results of the analysis confirm that the organic system, which is an important carrier of various ecosystem services, gained a stable position. Moreover, areas with integrated farming still do not exceed 0.5% of total agricultural lands in such voivodeships. The analysis of factors influencing the deterioration or disappearance of selected environmental services characterizing agricultural systems indicates the need to depart from an intensive conventional management system.

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