Via anthropogenic input, microplastics (MPs) today represent a part of the soil organic matter. We analyzed studies on passive translocation, active ingestion, bioaccumulation and adverse effects of MPs on multicellular soil faunal life. These studies on a wide range of soil organisms found a recurring pattern of adverse effects on motility, growth, metabolism, reproduction, mortality and gut microbiome. However, the shape and type of the experimental MP often did not match natural conditions.

Decision trees have become a widely adapted tool for mapping soil properties in geographic space. However, it is problematic to implement spatial relationships in the models. We present a new method which uses geographic coordinates along several axes tilted at oblique angles in the models. We test this method on four spatial datasets. The results show that the new method is at least as accurate as other proposed alternatives, has a computational advantage and is flexible and interpretable.

Research was conducted to assess the response of microbial communities in a soil with a long history of glyphosate-based herbicides to a secondary imposed perturbation (dry–rewetting event). Both perturbations could increase their frequency under current agricultural practices and climate change. The results of this study demonstrate that acute exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide does not have a conditioning effect on the response of microbial communities to the dry–rewetting event.

Degradation turns peatlands into a source of CO₂. There is no cost- or time-efficient method available for indicating peatland hydrology or the success of restoration. We found that ¹⁵N values have a clear link to microbial communities and degradation. We identified trends in natural, drained and rewetted conditions and concluded that ¹⁵N depth profiles can act as a reliable and efficient tool for obtaining information on current hydrology, restoration success and drainage history.

Microplastics and microglass are used in a wide range of everyday and industrial applications acting as abrasives, filler and binding agents, which could enter aquatic and terrestrial environments with unexpected consequences for ecosystems. Our study suggests that different types of microparticles seem to have contrary effects on soil microorganisms, depending on the origin and properties of microparticles. This study should be seen as basis for further research, which is urgently needed.

We evaluated soil fertility in seven watersheds on the East India Plateau, finding that soils are acid and infertile, with low chemical fertiliser use, and organic nutrient recycling is insufficient to maintain soil fertility. This leads to inefficient rainfall use and low yields. Fertiliser rates need to increase greatly, notably in P and K. This will challenge risk-averse subsistence farmers. Field-specific fertiliser regimes are needed despite consistent fertility trends along toposequences.

We developed a model to simulate long-term development of soils and landscapes under varying rainfall and land-use conditions to quantify the temporal variation of soil patterns. In natural landscapes, rainfall amount was the dominant factor influencing soil variation, while for agricultural landscapes, landscape position became the dominant factor due to tillage erosion. Our model shows potential for simulating past and future developments of soils in various landscapes and climates.

Most soil management activities are implemented at farm scale, yet digital soil maps are commonly available at regional/national scales. This study proposes Bayesian area-to-point kriging to downscale regional-/national-scale soil property maps to farm scale. A regional soil carbon map with a resolution of 100 m (block support) was disaggregated to 10 m (point support) information for a farm in northern NSW, Australia. Results are presented with the uncertainty of the downscaling process.

In this paper we introduce the use of game theory to interpret a digital soil mapping (DSM) model to understand the contribution of environmental factors to the prediction of soil organic carbon (SOC) in Chile. The analysis corroborated that the SOC model is capturing sensible relationships between SOC and climatic and topographical factors. We were able to represent them spatially (map) addressing the limitations of the current interpretation of models in DSM.

We do not understand the short- and long-term temperature response of soil denitrifiers, which produce and consume N₂O. Boreal forest soils from a long-term climate gradient were incubated in short-term warming experiments. We found stronger N₂O consumption at depth, inconsistent microbial gene abundance and function, and consistent higher N₂O emissions from warmer-climate soils at warmer temperatures. Consideration of our results in models will contribute to improved climate projections.

The goal of this study was to discuss current methods to create soils adapted for various green infrastructure (GI) designs. Investigating these new soils for several design categories of GI will provide technical information for management and design agencies. Moreover, these studies can serve as pioneer experiments to prevent recurring errors and, thus, provide improved plant growth practices. Results show that these constructed soils have a high potential to provide multiple soil functions.

In the context of global change, soil has been identified as a potential C sink, depending on land-use strategies. This work is devoted to identifying the processes affecting labile soil C pools resulting from changes in land use. We show that the land-use change in ley grassland provoked a decoupling of the storage and degradation processes after the grassland phase. Overall, the study enables us to develop a sufficient understanding of fine-scale C dynamics to refine soil C prediction models.

Soil health is an important term in the international policy arena when considering soil contributions to sustainable development. We propose a measurement method, lacking so far, and explore differences within the term soil quality. The latter describes the inherent properties of soils, while soil health focuses on actual health. The procedure is illustrated for three Italian soil types, also showing the effects of climate change, demonstrating that each soil is significantly different.

Crop residues are widely available on-farm resources containing carbon and nutrients, but, as soil amendments, their decomposition does not always benefit the soil. We applied mixtures of crop residues that are chemically different from each other and found significantly increased soil organic matter and available nitrogen levels. Applying crop residue mixtures has practical implications involving the removal, mixing and reapplication rather than simply returning crop residues to soils in situ.

Soil quality is important for functioning of the agricultural ecosystem to sustain productivity. It is combination of several physical, chemical, and biological attributes. In the present work, we developed a soil biological quality index, a sub-set of the soil quality index (SBQI) using six important biological variables. These variables were computed from long-term manurial experimental soils and transformed into a unitless 10-scaled SBQI. This will provide constraints of soil processes.

In this study electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveys and soil sampling were repeated over time to monitor soil salinity dynamics in an important agricultural area that faces risk of soil salinization. EMI data were converted to electromagnetic conductivity imaging through a mathematical inversion algorithm and converted to 2-D soil salinity maps until a depth of 1.35 m through a regional calibration. This is a non-invasive and cost-effective methodology that can be employed over large areas.

Soil is a renewable resource for purposes ranging from agriculture to mineralization. Soil microbiome plays vital roles in facilitating process like providing nutrients to plants, or their mobilization for plant uptake, consequently improving plant growth and productivity. Therefore, understanding of these microbial communities and their role in soil is crucial for exploring the possibility of using microbial community inoculants for improving desert soil fertility and agricultural potential.

Long-term studies on the impact of land use change and crop selection on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in sub-Saharan Africa are scarce. Accordingly, this study analysed the impact of converting natural grasslands to a range of low-input production systems in a tropical savannah on SOC stocks. Apart from the cultivation of legume tree and/or shrub species, all land management techniques were detrimental. Grazed grasslands in particular had almost 50 % less SOC than natural grasslands.

Humanity depends on the existence of healthy soils, both for the production of food and for ensuring a healthy, biodiverse environment. In the face of global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, a sustainable soil management strategy is essential to ensure food security based on more diverse, locally oriented, and resilient food production systems through improving access to land, sound land use planning, sustainable soil management, enhanced research, and investment in education and extension.

Soil redistribution by water and tillage erosion processes on arable land is a major threat to sustainable use of soil resources. We unravel the role of tillage and water erosion from fallout radionuclide (239+240Pu) activities in a ground moraine landscape. Our results show that tillage erosion dominates soil redistribution processes and has a major impact on the hydrological and sedimentological connectivity, which started before the onset of highly mechanised farming since the 1960s.

The number of samples utilised to create predictive models affected model performance. This research compares the number of samples needed by a deep learning model to outperform the traditional machine learning models using visible near-infrared spectroscopy data for soil properties predictions. The deep learning model was found to outperform machine learning models when the sample size was above 2000.

Agricultural long-term field experiments (LTFEs) are an important basis for soil and agricultural sciences. A compilation of metadata and research data from LTFEs in Germany shall enhance networking and simplify the access to this most valuable research infrastructure. The common analyses of similar LTFEs on different sites can broaden the results. Therefore, LTFEs were classified and their distribution in Germany was compared to three site classifications.

Global significance of metals (extractable Fe and Al phases) to control organic matter (OM) in recognized. Next key questions include the identification of their localization and mechanism behind OM–metal relationships. Across 23 soils of contrasting mineralogy, Fe and Al phases were mainly associated with microbially processed OM as meso-density microaggregates. OM- and metal-rich nanocomposites with a narrow OM :  metal ratio likely acted as binding agents. A new conceptual model was proposed.

In this study geophysical observations from ground-penetrating radar with pedolith physical and geochemical properties from pedons excavated in four study areas of the climate and ecological gradient in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera are combined. Findings suggest that profiles with ground-penetrating radar along hillslopes can be used to infer lateral thickness variations in pedolith horizons and to some degree physical and chemical variations with depth.

Laboratory experiments that assess microplastic (MP) impact on the terrestrial environment require information on common soil MP concentrations. We reviewed item numbers and mass concentrations recorded in 23 studies, with 223 sampling sites in total with respect to the underlying entry pathways, land uses and vicinities. Common values included amounts of up to 13 000 items kg⁻¹ and 4.5  mg kg⁻¹ dry soil. Based on the collected data, we identified problems in past field studies.