Ecological-Geobotanical Evaluation of Potential of Soil-Vegetation Cover of Pastures in Shirvan (Azerbaijan)

Data on a new method of ecological-geobotanical evaluation of the soil and vegetation cover of Shirvan in Azerbaijan, developed for the first time on the basis of data on soil evaluation, their ecological assessment and the state of natural plant population characteristic of this territory have been shown in the paper. The soil-vegetation cover of Shirvan was grouped according to the ecological-geobotanical evaluative indicators and 4 groups were identified based on the data of the ecological-geobotanical evaluation. Management is carried out in 3 directions: with application in cultivation, with application in animal husbandry and improvement of social policy and agriculture. Thus, the method of ecological-geobotanical evaluation developed for the first time can be applied to territories with similar soil and vegetation cover throughout Azerbaijan.

Advances in visual soil evaluation techniques

Soil structure is a complex and dynamic soil property that constitutes a key aspect of soil health. Soil structure assessment can be evaluated in the field by visual soil evaluation techniques. Development and improvement of these techniques/methods have been the focus of numerous soil scientists worldwide since the mid-20th century. Divided into topsoil and soil profile methods, they differ in principle and level of detail of the assessment. The development and protocols of selected methods are presented in this chapter in chronological order of development, to show differences in methodological approaches. The description given for each of the methods includes guidance for the appropriate selection of the method to be used by stakeholders. Two case studies are given as examples of i) how visual techniques can contribute to achieving the challenges for developing sustainable agricultural management focused on nurturing soil fertility, and ii) the use of visual techniques as tools to assess and monitor soil health in developing countries.

Using Modern Technologies to Complement the Classic Ones in Soil Survey

Soil is a complex and dynamic factor that, needs to be studied, analyzed, known and understood. The spreading of soils in the territory is conditioned by the microrelief, lithology characteristics and the hydrographic network. This paper aims to establish the soil survey characteristics and soil evaluation of an agricultural land to be introduced into the national forest fund for afforestation.In order to achieve the proposed goals, in addition to the classical works, orthophotomaps were used. To establish an afforestation solution, the main site characteristics were determined on the field: altitude, exposure, slope, functional category. These characteristics have been associated with laboratory analyzes to determine soil type, with orthophotomaps measurements and weather data. Analyzing the collected data, the land was enclosed in the bioclimatic hilly region of Turkey oak stand (FD2), where the main species best suited is the Turkey oak, mixed with flowering ash, field maple and pear-tree.

Optimizing Small World Initiative service learning by focusing on antibiotics-producing actinomycetes from soil

ABSTRACT Small World Initiative and Tiny Earth are popular citizen science programs that are implemented worldwide in response to the global antibiotic resistance crisis. When starting up the program in Albacete (Spain), we noted that rates of isolated antibiotic-producing bacteria are generally low. To make the activity more stimulating for participating students, we modified the protocol to obtain more positive results by focusing on isolation of actinomycetes, the main producers of most clinically used antibiotics. Adaptations involved redesigning culture media, incubation times and temperatures, and modification of the ESKAPE antibiosis experiment by employing an agar-transplantation step. Of 390 bacterial isolates tested, almost 6% tested positive in antibiosis experiments and DNA sequence analysis confirmed that all positives are actinomycetes, demonstrating that our protocol is efficient toward isolating antibiotic-producing actinomycetes from soil. Evaluation forms filled by participating students indicated that the program was received very positively and that our modifications contribute to make this educational program more stimulating and efficient.