European agriculture is vulnerable to weather extremes. Nevertheless, by choosing well how to manage their land, farmers can protect themselves against drought and peak rains. More than a thousand observations across Europe show that it is important to keep the soil covered with living plants, even in winter. A focus on a general reduction of traffic on agricultural land is more important than reducing tillage. Organic material needs to remain or be added on the field as much as possible.

We introduce Shapley values for machine learning model interpretation and reveal the local and global controlling factors of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. The method enables spatial analysis of the important variables. Vegetation and topography determine much of the SOC stock variation in mainland France. We conclude that SOC stock variation is complex and should be interpreted at multiple levels.

Across northern Europe, millions of hectares of forest have been limed to counteract soil acidification and restore forest ecosystems. In this study, we investigated how restorative liming affects the forest soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and correspondingly ecosystem greenhouse gas fluxes. We found that the magnitude and direction of SOC stock changes hinge on the inherent site characteristics, namely, forest type, soil texture, initial soil pH, and initial soil SOC stocks (before liming).

Forest soils store large amounts of carbon (C), but research has remained focused on C storage in topsoil layers. We investigated changes in forest soil C storage and microbial ecology to 1 m depth. Though absolute soil C content, microbial diversity and microbial biomass declined sharply with depth, 35 % of total soil C was cumulatively stored in subsoil layers. Our findings highlight the importance of including subsoils when calculating the C storage capacity of forest systems.

Most agricultural soils erode faster than new soil is formed, which leads to soil thinning. Here, we used a model simulation to investigate how soil erosion and soil thinning can alter topsoil properties and change its susceptibility to erosion. We found that soil profiles are sensitive to erosion-induced changes in the soil system, which mostly slow down soil thinning. These findings are likely to impact how we estimate soil lifespans and simulate long-term erosion dynamics.

This paper presents a first comprehensive thesaurus for management practices driving soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. So far, a comprehensive thesaurus of management practices in agriculture and forestry has been lacking. It will help to merge datasets, a promising way to evaluate the impacts of management practices in agriculture and forestry on SOC. Identifying the drivers of SOC stock changes is of utmost importance to contribute to global challenges (climate change, food security).

Long-term inorganic P (IP) fertilization increased total P (TP), available P (AP) and IP, but manure fertilization accelerated the accumulation of organic P (OP). Long-term mineral fertilization had a negative impact on bacterial communities, while manure fertilization and rhizosphere soil provided more nutrients that improved the separation of bacterial communities. Correspondingly, P indicators such as IP and TP were related to the variation in a phosphate-solubilizing bacterial community.

The number of meta-analyses in agriculture and soil sciences is continuously rising, but they are often of poor quality. We quantitatively analyzed the quality of 31 meta-analyses studying the effects of different management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC). We found that only one meta-analysis on no tillage/reduced tillage obtained a high score. New or improved meta-analyses on the effects of organic agriculture, biochar, fertilization, and crop diversification on SOC are urgently needed.

Sodic soils affect ~580 Mha in semi-arid and arid regions of the world. These soils have a weak structure. This laboratory study evaluated treatments to overcome the weak aggregate structure in two sodic Vertisols by applying organic amendments, gypsum, and wetting–drying cycles. We conclude that sodic soils need to be treated with gypsum to flocculate clay and organic amendments (lucerne or chicken manure) to form aggregates, whereas drying cycles aid in small macroaggregates formation.

Adapting agricultural practices to future climatic conditions requires us to synthesize the effects of management practices on soil properties with respect to local soil and climate. We showcase different automated text-processing methods to identify topics, extract metadata for building a database and summarize findings from publication abstracts. While human intervention remains essential, these methods show great potential to support evidence synthesis from large numbers of publications.

Silicon (Si) research could provide complementary measures in sustainably cultivating oil-palm monocultures. Our study shows that current oil-palm management practices and topsoil erosion on oil-palm plantations in Indonesia have caused a spatial distribution of essential Si pools in soil. A lack of well-balanced Si levels in topsoil could negatively affect crop yield and soil fertility for future replanting at the same plantation site. Potential measures are suggested to maintain Si cycling.

The present study addresses the soil information gap in tropical seagrass meadows. The different geological and bioclimatic settings caused a relevant soil diversity. Contrasting geochemical conditions promote different intensities of soil processes. Seagrass soils from the northeastern semiarid coast are marked by a more intense sulfidization. Understanding soil processes may help in the sustainable management of seagrasses.