The Valorization of Biolignin from Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) Produced by Green Process CIMV (Compagnie Industrielle de la Matière Végétale) for Fertilization of Algerian Degraded Soil: Impact on the Physicochemical and Biological Properties

This study proposes a new use for a paper industry waste material, lignin, in agriculture and agronomy as a fertilizer for arid soils, while following a strategy aiming to both increase the amount of organic matter in these soils and decrease the impact of pollution caused by industrial discharges that contain organic and/or inorganic pollutants generated by the paper industry. In fact, this method works to improve soil quality through a new carbon-rich bioorganic fertilizer (biolignin) that results from a green method called CIMV, a targeted depollution objective of the paper industry. Over the course of 180 days, we monitored the physicochemical and biological characteristics of degraded soils treated with three different biolignin treatments of 0 (D0), 2 (D1), and 4 (D2) g/kg. The humification was then evaluated by the equation E4/E6. A remarkable variation of the physicochemical and biological parameters was observed in D1 and D2: temperature 12–38 °C, humidity 9–29%, and pH 7.06–8.73. The C/N ratio decreased from 266 to 49. After 180 days, the improvement in soil carbon content for the three treatments D0, D1, and D2 was 14%, 19%, and 24%, respectively. A maximum bacterial biomass of 152 (CFU/g soil) was observed on the 30th day for D1. Maximum laccase activity for D2 was observed on the 120th day. D1 and D2 recorded a significant degree of humification compared to D0. The best indicator of humification E4/E6 was observed in D1, where the value reached 2.66 at the end of the treatment period. The D2 treatment showed a remarkable effect improving the fertility of the degraded soil, which confirms that biolignin is a good fertilizer.

Modeling the Soil Erosion Regulation Ecosystem Services of the Landscape in Polish Catchments

In this study, the soil erosion regulation ecosystem services of the CORINE land use/ land cover types along with soil intrinsic features and geomorphological factors were examined by using the soil erosion data of 327 catchments in Poland, with a mean area of 510 ± 330 km2, applying a multivariate regression modeling approach. The results showed that soil erosion is accelerated by the discontinuous urban fabric (r = 0.224, p ≤ 0.01), by construction sites (r = 0.141, p ≤ 0.05), non-irrigated arable land (r = 0.237, p ≤ 0.01), and is mitigated by coniferous forest (r = −0.322, p ≤ 0.01), the clay ratio (r = −0.652, p ≤ 0.01), and the organic content of the soil (r = −0.622, p ≤ 0.01). The models also indicated that there is a strong relationship between soil erosion and the percentage of land use/land cover types (r2 = [0.62, 0.82, 0.83, 0.74]), i.e., mixed forest, non-irrigated arable land, fruit trees and berry plantations, broad-leaf forest, sport and leisure facilities, construction sites, and mineral extraction sites. The findings show that the soil erosion regulation ecosystem service is sensitive to broadleaf forests, rainfed agriculture, soil water content, terrain slope, drainage network density, annual precipitation, the clay ratio, the soil carbon content, and the degree of sensitivity increases from the broadleaf forest to the soil carbon content.

The variation of carbon content and bulk density on different time period post fire and peat depth

Peatland plays the biggest carbon sink and the biggest carbon stock is in the soil. The main factors determining the number of carbon stock are bulk density and soil carbon content. Fire has caused the changes in the soil biophysical condition however limited study has been performed. The aim of this study is to obtain the number of carbon content and bulk density on post burning sites and various peat depth. The study was conducted on post burning peatland sites after 22 years, 16 years, 5 years and one site that has never been burnt. Two hundred and eighteen soil samples were collected up to the 5 m depth. Laboratorium analysis was carried out using Loss of Ignition method. The result showed that the average carbon content was 52.65% with the biggest carbon content was 53.98% from the site that has never been burnt. Nevertheless, the carbon content was not effected by the fire scenes. Peat depth had effect on the carbon content adjacent to the peat sub-stratum. Generally, the carbon content was lower following the distance to peat sub-stratum however the number of carbon content varied on the upper layer of peat sub-stratum. The carbon content value was different with the conversion factor of 46% or 50%, respectively. It was shown by the diversity analysis that the conversion value different with the value of carbon obtained in this research (Pvalue < 0.05). The peat bulk density was not effected by the period of fire. Generally, the bulk density was bigger following the distance to peat sub-stratum and it showed no pattern on the upper layer of the peat sub-stratum. The implication of this study emphasized that the conversion factor for peatland should be more than 50% to prevent underestimate carbon stock prediction.

Non-Standard Discrete RothC Models for Soil Carbon Dynamics

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) is one of the key indicators of land degradation. SOC positively affects soil functions with regard to habitats, biological diversity and soil fertility; therefore, a reduction in the SOC stock of soil results in degradation, and it may also have potential negative effects on soil-derived ecosystem services. Dynamical models, such as the Rothamsted Carbon (RothC) model, may predict the long-term behaviour of soil carbon content and may suggest optimal land use patterns suitable for the achievement of land degradation neutrality as measured in terms of the SOC indicator. In this paper, we compared continuous and discrete versions of the RothC model, especially to achieve long-term solutions. The original discrete formulation of the RothC model was then compared with a novel non-standard integrator that represents an alternative to the exponential Rosenbrock–Euler approach in the literature.

Spreading herbivore manure in livestock farms increases soil carbon content, while granivore manure decreases it

Livestock farming occupies 57% of agricultural area in France and has contrasting impacts on the environment. Studies have analyzed relations between livestock farming and soil organic carbon (SOC) content, but the influence of livestock farming on soils is difficult to perceive at a large scale. The objective of this study was to increase understanding of impacts of livestock farming on soils that receive livestock manure depending on different initial levels of SOC content, at cantonal level. To this end, we used French soil and agricultural databases to analyze relations between livestock farming practices and SOC content. We used statistical data calculated from the French soil test database for the periods 2000–2004 and 2010–2014. For livestock farming practices, we used data from the French agricultural census of 2000 and 2010, and for spreading of livestock manure, data from the French program to control pollution of agricultural origin (2002–2007) and data from the French Livestock Institute. The novelty of our large-scale analysis is to differentiate the origin of livestock manure (herbivore or granivore) and the type of crop on which it was spread (crops or grasslands). Statistical analysis was performed at the cantonal scale for France using the method of generalized least squares. We show for the first time that, at the national scale, spreading of livestock manure influences SOC content and dynamics significantly. Our results also show the importance of the nature of the manure; solid manure increases SOC content, unlike liquid manure. Spreading herbivore manure on crops increases SOC content, but spreading granivore manure may decrease it. Livestock manure spread on grasslands has no significant effect on SOC content, possibly due to under-representation of grassland soils in the soil database. These results demonstrate the importance of the complementary between crop and livestock to maintain soil ecosystem services, including soil fertility.

Deadwood, Soil and Carabid Beetle-Based Interaction Networks—An Initial Case Study from Montane Coniferous Forests in Poland

In four study plots located in silver fir and Scots pine stands in Magura National Park (southeastern Poland), the relationships between the occurrence and biomass of epigeic carabids, the volume of deadwood and soil biochemical properties were investigated. Thirteen carabid beetle species from the genera Abax, Carabus, Molops and Pterostichus were captured. Rare epigeic carabid species in the fauna of Poland and Europe, such as Carabus glabratus (Paykull), Carabus sylvestris (Panzer) and Abax schueppeli (Germar), were recorded. The number of carabid individuals and species captured as well as the mean individual biomass index at different elevations and in forests of different tree compositions differed significantly. There were no correlations between deadwood volume, carabid abundance and the mean individual biomass of the carabid beetles. The mean individual Carabidae biomass increased with elevated pH, soil carbon content, soil dehydrogenase activity and the number of stumps.

Testing PRISMA hyperspectral satellite imagery in predicting soil carbon content based on synthetized LUCAS spectral data

&lt;p&gt;The estimation of the soil organic carbon (SOC) content plays an important role for carbon sequestration in the context of climate change and soil degradation. Reflectance spectroscopy has proven to be promising technique for SOC quantification in the laboratory and increasingly from air and spaceborne platforms, where hyperspectral imagery provides great potential for mapping SOC on larger scales.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) is an earth-observation satellite with a medium spatial resolution hyperspectral radiometer onboard, developed and maintained by the Italian Space Agency.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Pan-European Land Use/ Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS) topsoil database contains soil physical, chemical and spectral data for most European countries. Based on the LUCAS points located in Hungary, a synthetized spectral dataset was created and matched to the spectral characteristic of PRISMA sensor, later used for building up machine learning based models (random forest, artificial neural network). SOC levels for the sample area was predicted using generated models and mainly PRISMA imagery.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our sample imagery data was generated from five consecutive, cloud-free PRISMA images covering 4500 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in the central part of the Great Plain in Hungary, which is one of the most important agricultural areas of the country, used mainly for crops on arable lands. The images were recorded in 2020 February when most croplands are not covered by vegetation therefore our tests were implemented on bare soils.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We tested the prediction accuracy of hyperspectral imagery data supplemented by various environmental datasets as additional predictor variables in four scenarios: (i) using solely hyperspectral imagery data (ii) spectral imagery data, elevation and its derived parameters (e.g. slope, aspect, topographic wetness index etc.) (iii) spectral imagery data and land-use information and (iv) all aforementioned data in fusion.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For validation two types of datasets were used: (i) measured data at the observation sites of the Hungarian Soil Information and Monitoring System and (ii) the recently compiled national SOC maps., which provides a suitable and formerly tested spatial representation of the carbon stock of the Hungarian soils.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acknowledgment:&lt;/strong&gt; Our research was supported by the Cooperative Doctoral Programme for Doctoral Scholarships (1015642) and by the OTKA thematic research projects K-131820 and K-124290 of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office and by the Scholarship of Human Resource Supporter (NTP-NFT&amp;#214;-20-B-0022). Our project carried out using PRISMA Products, &amp;#169; of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), delivered under an ASI License to use.&lt;/p&gt;

DataBase Management System (DBMS) of Model Of InTegrated Impact and Vulnerability Evaluation for Climate Change (MOTIVE)

&lt;p&gt;The Model Of InTegrated Impact and Vulnerability Evaluation of climate change (MOTIVE) project (2014 - 2020) develops an integrated assessment platform including health, water (quantity and quality of water, aquatic ecology), agriculture (productivity, suitability, greenhouse-gas emissions), forest (net ecosystem exchanges, soil carbon content, landslide, forest fire), land-ecosystem (species diversity, habitat), ocean (flood area by the typhoon), and fishery (gross primary productivity, catch) sectors. The MOTIVE assesses the societal impact and vulnerability of climate change in the 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s. The 1 km high-resolution Representative Concentration Pathways climate scenarios (RCPs) are predicted by the dynamically downscaling from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) by Korea Environment Institute and the Unified Model (UM) by Korea Meteorological Administration. The user-friendly webpage is designed with the DataBase Management System (DBMS) to visualize the results of MOTIVE. This DBMS-MOTIVE aims to provide the scientific-knowledge for adaptation planning the local community to national scales. This study is supported by &amp;#8220;Basic Study on Improving Climate Resilience&amp;#8221; (2021-001-03), conducted by the Korea Environment Institute (KEI) upon the request of the Korea Ministry of Environment.&lt;/p&gt;

Drought years of 2018 and 2019 affect CO2 balance of urban forest ecosystems in the Ruhr Metropolitan Region (Germany) differently

&lt;p&gt;Forests are important ecosystems for mitigating CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;. However, droughts affect the vitality of forests and alter CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; uptake. In worst cases, forest ecosystems can even turn from a carbon sink to a source in consequence of water shortage. Forest stands in urban areas are more prone to droughts because of elevated temperatures in comparison to rural land and unfavorable growth conditions such as limited rooting depth and low soil carbon content.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The drought years 2018 and 2019 in the Ruhr Metropolitan Region (Germany) were characterized by a 0.6 K higher mean annual temperature as normal and only 75 % of the normal annual precipitation. During this period, we investigated the CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; balance of urban forest ecosystems, considering annual changes in carbon stocks of tree biomass and litterfall and annual CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; effluxes from soil respiration, at eleven monitoring sites across the Ruhr Metropolitan Region by combining measuring and modelling approaches. The chosen sites represent the different urban forest types found here: old-grown semi-natural forests (beech, oak, maple), autochthon non-managed succession forests of birch, poplar or willow on brownfields and allochthone mixed forest stands planted in urban parcs and on heaps (urban greening forests).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tree growth, leaf expansion, and CO&lt;sub&gt;2 &lt;/sub&gt;efflux decreased at nearly all sites in 2019 in comparison to 2018 in consequence of the ongoing drought. While the semi-natural forests were able to increase CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; uptake by 11 % in 2019, the urban greening forests decreased their CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; uptake by 62.9 %. The succession forests were CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; sources in both years but increased the CO&lt;sub&gt;2 &lt;/sub&gt;release in the second year by 85 % in comparison to the first year. Two sites turned from carbon sinks in 2018 to carbon sources in 2019. Correlation analyses showed that the soil hydraulic properties such as depth of the rooting zone, soil carbon content, and plant available water were the main influencing factors describing the decrease in tree growth and leaf development. Overall, the results indicate that, semi-natural forests on mesophilic sites are more resilient against droughts due to unlimited rooting zone, high soil carbon content, which favor the amount and accessibility of plant available water, while urban greening and succession forests are more vulnerable to droughts due to limiting rooting zone, low soil carbon content, and low plant available water. More vulnerable to droughts are also semi-natural forests on more extreme sites, like an examined Stellario-Carpinetum, which turned from a carbon sink in 2018 to a source in 2019. Furthermore, two patterns of seasonal changes in soil respiration were found in reaction to the drought. i) those of elevated soil respiration associated to elevated temperature in 2018 and decrease of soil respiration in 2019 in consequence of thermal denaturation of the microbial community, and one ii) those where, the mineralization activity was shifted to winter when the upper soil layer was rewetted, leading to larger soil respiration during the cold season.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Urban planners should ensure a deep rooting zone and carbon rich soils by establishing new urban forest stands to tackle drought periods.&lt;/p&gt;