Recent  

Soil moisture measurements at the field scale are highly beneficial for numerous (soil) hydrological applications. Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive monitoring of field-scale soil moisture across several hectares but only for the first few tens of centimetres of the soil. In this study, we modify and test a simple modeling approach to extrapolate CRNS-derived surface soil moisture information down to 450 cm depth and compare calibrated and uncalibrated model results.

Effective management of soil organic carbon (SOC) requires accurate knowledge of its distribution and factors influencing its dynamics. We identify the importance of variables in spatial SOC variation and estimate SOC stocks in Australia using various models. We find there are significant disparities in SOC estimates when different models are used, highlighting the need for a critical re-evaluation of land management strategies that rely on the SOC distribution derived from a single approach.

In Ethiopia, we studied (a) the effectiveness of low-cost gully rehabilitation measures in reducing soil loss and upward expansion of gully heads and (b) how farmers and communities view gully interventions. The tested low-cost gully rehabilitation measures were effective in mitigating the upward expansion of gully heads and in reducing soil loss. Farmers also perceive success, but scaling-out can be constrained by diverse challenges.

This research introduces methods and tools for obtaining soil input data in European case studies for environmental models like SWAT+. With various available soil datasets and prediction methods, determining the most suitable is challenging. The study aims to (i) catalogue open-access datasets and prediction methods for Europe, (ii) demonstrate and quantify differences between prediction approaches, and (iii) offer a comprehensive workflow with open-source R codes for deriving missing soil data.

This research applies luminescence dating methods to a plaggic anthrosol in the eastern Netherlands to understand the formation history of the soil. To achieve this, we combined both quartz and feldspar luminescence dating methods. We developed a new method for feldspar to largely avoid the problem occurring from poorly bleached grains by examining two different signals from a single grain. Through our research, we were able to reconstruct the timing and processes of plaggic anthrosol formation.

In 1995, an initial study determined that using plants and fertilizers increased degradation of petroleum in soil; the site was then abandoned. In 2010, we returned to find that initial choices of plant and fertilizer use continued to cause changes in the plant and soil microbiomes. We also found evidence for the restoration of native vegetation with certain treatments, which indicates that this could be an important tool for communities that experience soil contamination.

Several agroecological management options foster soil organic C stock accrual. What is behind the persistence of this "additional" C? We used three different methodological approaches and >20 years of field experiments under temperate conditions to find out. We found that the additional C is less stable at the pluri-decadal scale than the baseline C. This highlights the need to maintain agroecological practices to keep these carbon stocks at a high level over time.