238 results for group: agriculture-1
Impacts of enhanced weathering on biomass production for negative emission technologies and soil hydrology
Wagner de Oliveira Garcia, Thorben Amann, Jens Hartmann, Kristine Karstens, Alexander Popp, Lena R. Boysen, Pete Smith, and Daniel Goll
Abstract
Limiting global mean temperature changes to well below 2 ∘C likely requires a rapid and large-scale deployment of negative emission technologies (NETs). Assessments so far have shown a high potential of biomass-based terrestrial NETs, but only a few assessments have included effects of the commonly found nutrient-deficient soils on biomass production. Here, we investigate the deployment of enhanced weathering (EW) to supply nutrients to areas of afforestation–reforestation and naturally growing ...
Elevated growth and biomass along temperate forest edges
Luca L. Morreale, Jonathan R. Thompson, Xiaojing Tang, Andrew B. Reinmann & Lucy R. Hutyra
Abstract
Fragmentation transforms the environment along forest edges. The prevailing narrative, driven by research in tropical systems, suggests that edge environments increase tree mortality and structural degradation resulting in net decreases in ecosystem productivity. We show that, in contrast to tropical systems, temperate forest edges exhibit increased forest growth and biomass with no change in total mortality relative to the forest interior. We analyze >48,000 forest inventory plots across the north-eastern US using a quasi-experimental matching ...
Trace Elements as Fertilizer Micronutrients
Izabela Michalak, Agnieszka Saeid, Katarzyna Chojnacka, Mateusz Gramza
Abstract
Trace elements are important in human, animal, and plant nutrition. One of the main sources of food for humans and animals are plants. Therefore, the effect of trace elements (optimal doses, as well as excess and deficiency) on plant growth is described. Plants use several trace elements in small quantities. In this chapter special attention is paid to boron, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, molybdenum, manganese, selenium, zinc, silicon, nickel and chlorine as fertilizer micronutrients. The functions of each trace element are described, both with the symptoms of their ...
Increased yield and CO2 sequestration potential with the C4 cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust-amended agricultural soil
Mike E. Kelland, Peter W. Wade, Amy L. Lewis, Lyla L. Taylor, Binoy Sarkar, M. Grace Andrews, Mark R. Lomas, T. E. Anne Cotton, Simon J. Kemp, Rachael H. James, Christopher R. Pearce, Sue E. Hartley, Mark E. Hodson, Jonathan R. Leake, Steven A. Banwart, David J. Beerling
Abstract
Land-based enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a biogeochemical carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy aiming to accelerate natural geological processes of carbon sequestration through application of crushed silicate rocks, such as basalt, to croplands and forested landscapes. However, the efficacy of the approach when undertaken with basalt, and its potential co-benefits ...
Nitrogen in rock: Occurrences and biogeochemical implications
JoAnn M. Holloway,Randy A. Dahlgren
Abstract
There is a growing interest in the role of bedrock in global nitrogen cycling and potential for increased ecosystem sensitivity to human impacts in terrains with elevated background nitrogen concentrations. Nitrogen-bearing rocks are globally distributed and comprise a potentially large pool of nitrogen in nutrient cycling that is frequently neglected because of a lack of routine analytical methods for quantification. Nitrogen in rock originates as organically bound nitrogen associated with sediment, or in thermal waters representing a mixture of sedimentary, mantle, and meteoric sources of nitrogen. ...
Critical evaluation of strategies for mineral fortification of staple food crops
Sonia Gómez-Galera, Eduard Rojas, Duraialagaraja Sudhakar, Changfu Zhu, Ana M Pelacho, Teresa Capell, Paul Christou
Abstract
Staple food crops, in particular cereal grains, are poor sources of key mineral nutrients. As a result, the world's poorest people, generally those subsisting on a monotonous cereal diet, are also those most vulnerable to mineral deficiency diseases. Various strategies have been proposed to deal with micronutrient deficiencies including the provision of mineral supplements, the fortification of processed food, the biofortification of crop plants at source with mineral-rich fertilizers and the implementation of breeding ...
Diverging patterns at the forest edge: Soil respiration dynamics of fragmented forests in urban and rural areas
Sarah M. Garvey, Pamela H. Templer, Erin A. Pierce, Andrew B. Reinmann, Lucy R. Hutyra
Abstract
As urbanization and forest fragmentation increase around the globe, it is critical to understand how rates of respiration and carbon losses from soil carbon pools are affected by these processes. This study characterizes soils in fragmented forests along an urban to rural gradient, evaluating the sensitivity of soil respiration to changes in soil temperature and moisture near the forest edge. While previous studies found elevated rates of soil respiration at temperate forest edges in rural areas compared to the forest interior, we find that soil ...
Soil and foliar application of rock dust as natural control agent for two-spotted spider mites on tomato plants
Nicoletta Faraone, Rodger Evans, Julia LeBlanc & Neil Kirk Hillier
Abstract
Mineral-based products represent a valid alternative to synthetic pesticides in integrated pest management. We investigated the effects of a novel granite dust product as an agent for controlling two-spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), on tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Two-choice tests for repellency and repulsiveness, and no-choice bioassays with different type of applications (soil, foliar, and soil–foliar) were used in order to evaluate performance and action of the product. Evaluation of epidermal micromorphology and ...
Ants as a powerful biotic agent of olivine and plagioclase dissolution
Ronald I. Dorn
Abstract
The biotic enhancement of Ca-Mg silicate weathering has helped maintain Earth’s habitability over geological time scales by assisting in the gradual drawdown of atmospheric CO2. 25 years of in-situ measurements of Ca-Mg silicate mineral dissolution by ants, termites, root mats, bare ground, and a control reveals ants to be one of the most powerful biotic weathering agents yet recognized. Six sites in Arizona and Texas (USA) indicate that eight different ant species enhance mineral dissolution by ∼50×–300× over controls. A comparison of extracted soil at a 50 cm depth in ant colonies and adjacent bare ground shows ...
