Recent  

This study investigated how the deposition of mineral dust delivered by the wind influences soil development in mountain environments. At six sites in the southwestern United States, modern dust was collected along with samples of soil and local bedrock. Analysis indicates that at all locations the properties of dust and soil are very similar, and are very different from underlying rock. This result indicates that soils are predominantly composed of dust delivered by the wind over time.

To investigate the influence of parent material and land use on N₂O emissions, a multifaceted approach involving gamma irradiation and site preference techniques was used. A significant impact of parent material on N₂O production in soils treated with hydroxylamine was observed. Neither parent material nor land use exerted a significant effect on N₂O emissions in the case of nitrite amendments. The site preference values indicated that abiotic pathways took the lead.

Little effort has been made to develop methods for calculating the application rates of lime combined with organic amendments (OAs) needed to neutralise soil acidity and achieve the desired pH for plant growth. Previous approach of estimating appropriate lime and OA combinations based on field trials is time consuming and costly. Hence, we developed and successfully validated a new method used for calculating the amount of lime or OAs in combined applications required to ameliorate acidity.

Sediment source fingerprinting is a relevant tool to support soil conservation and watershed management in the context of accelerated soil erosion. To quantify sediment source contribution, it requires the selection of relevant tracers among the analysed properties. We compared the most conventional method, so-called three-step method, and the newly proposed consensus method. These methods resulted in very contrasted contribution trends, highlighting the importance of conservativity assessment.

Soil degradation is a topic that companies increasingly recognise as a business risk. But how effectively do they use sustainability standards to prevent it in their supply chain? Investigating the global food retail industry, we discovered that soil is a priority objective for companies but standards usually lack specific criteria. Working with retailers in a European country, we explored ways they can improve their suppliers’ everyday practice and overcome barriers that hinder implementation.

Cover crops have substantial impacts on soil properties, but so far it is not clear how long a legacy effect of cover cropping will remain in the soil. We found, that cover crops attenuate negative effects on soil structure that come from soil cultivation. The combination of plants with different litter qualities and rhizodeposits in biodiverse cover crop mixtures can improve the positive effects of cover cropping on soil structure amelioration.

This study assessed the long-term impact of water- and tillage-induced soil redistribution on SOC dynamics on a regional-scale catchment (ca. 200 km²). Large-scale and long-term soil redistribution modelling is necessary to explain today’s SOC pattern in young moraine landscapes. Tillage erosion was found to be an underestimated driver of SOC dynamics in areas with long (several centuries to millennia) agricultural history.

The fungal kingdom has been diversifying for more than 800 million years by colonizing a large number of habitats on Earth. Based on an unique dataset, we described the spatial distribution of fungal diversity at the scale of France and also environmental drivers by tackling biogeographical patterns and ecological concepts. The main results show that total fungal richness includes about 1 % of the global soil fungal diversity for a territory representing only 0.3 % of terrestrial surface on Earth.

Our soil incubation experiment demonstrates that dissolved labile carbon is a significant contributor to the formation of particulate organic carbon. The formation of particulate organic carbon from dissolved substrates is regulated by microbial biomass carbon and soil texture. The soil carbon model underestimates soil carbon sequestration when carbon flow from dissolved substrates to particulate organic carbon through microbial processes is not considered.