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Agricultural and environmental policies are being fundamentally reviewed and redesigned in the UK following its exit from the European Union. The UK government and the Devolved Administrations recognise that current land use is not sustainable and that there is now an unprecedented opportunity to define a better land strategy that responds fully to the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable development. This paper presents evidence from three pathways (current trends, sustainable medium ambition, and sustainable high ambition) to mid-century that were co-created with UK policymakers. The pathways were applied to a national integrated food and land-use model (the FABLE calculator) to explore potential synergies and trade-offs between achieving multiple sustainability targets under limited land availability and constraints to balance food supply and demand at national and global levels. Results show that under the Current Trends pathway all unprotected open natural land would be converted to urban, agriculture and afforested land, with the consequence that from 2030 onwards tree planting targets could not be met. In contrast, the two sustainable pathways illustrate how dietary change, agricultural productivity improvements and waste reduction can free up land for nature recovery and carbon sequestration. This enables a transition to a sustainable food and land-use system that provides a net carbon sink with up to 44% of land able to support biodiversity conservation. We highlight key trade-offs and synergies, which are important to consider for designing and implementing emerging national policies. These include the strong dependence of climate, food and biodiversity targets on dietary shifts, sustainable improvements in agricultural productivity, improved land-use design for protecting and restoring nature, and rapid reductions in food loss and waste.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01242-8.

Efforts to improve soil health require that target values of key soil properties are established. No agreed targets exist but providing population data as benchmarks is a useful step to standardise soil health comparison between landscapes. We exploited nationally representative topsoil (0–15 cm) measurements to derive soil health benchmarks for managed and semi-natural environments across Great Britain. In total, 4587 soil organic matter (SOM), 3860 pH, 2908 bulk density (BD), and 465 earthworm abundance (EA) datapoints were used. As soil properties are sensitive to site-specific characteristics, data were stratified by habitat, soil type, and mean annual precipitation, with benchmarks defined as the middle 80 % of values in each distribution – yielding 135 benchmarks. BD and pH decreased with land management intensity (agriculture > semi-natural grasslands > woodlands > heathlands > wetlands), and vice versa for SOM and EA. Normalising benchmark ranges by medians revealed soil health indicator benchmark widths increased in the order: pH

Plants exhibit significant variation in morphological and chemical traits of shoots and roots in response to an array of biotic and abiotic selection pressures, and this variation in turn affects their interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment. Thus far, most studies examining these interactions have focused on the aboveground domain, which is easier to study than the belowground domain. However, soil organisms significantly affect plant fitness directly through mutualisms e.g. growth promotion, or antagonisms e.g. herbivory and disease. Natural populations of wild Brassica oleracea L. growing along the south coastline of Great Britain exhibit significant differences in growth form and secondary chemistry. Studies in the field have shown that these differences affect aboveground plant-insect interactions, whereas soil communities have not been explored. We sampled belowground communities of nematodes, bacteria and fungi associated with roots, rhizosphere and bulk soil in five coastal wild cabbage populations in Dorset, England, and found significant differences among these communities. Site-related differences in nematode community composition were primarily found for nematodes in bulk soil and were consistent over two years of sampling. Nematode communities in roots of wild cabbage did not significantly differ across the cabbage populations but did differ between the two years. Results for communities in rhizosphere soil were spatially and temporally variable. The composition of nematode communities in cabbage roots differed strongly from those in the rhizosphere and bulk soil, showing that plants attract a subset of nematodes from the bulk soil community. For microbes, we analysed only rhizosphere samples, and found that fungal communities differed more strongly among plant populations than bacterial communities. Thus, while there is spatio-temporal variation in belowground communities, soil and/or plant properties differentially affect the assembly of nematodes, fungi and bacteria.

Droughts in Thailand are becoming more severe due to climate change. Developing a reliable Drought Monitoring and Early Warning System (DMEWS) is essential to strengthen a country’s resilience to droughts. However, for a DMEWS to be valuable, the drought indicators it provides stakeholders must have relevance to tangible impacts on the ground. Here, we analyse drought indicator-to-impact relationships in Thailand, using a combination of correlation analysis and machine learning techniques (random forest). In the correlation analysis, we study the link between meteorological drought indicators and high-resolution remote sensing vegetation indices used as proxies for crop-yield and forest-growth impacts. Our analysis shows that this link varies depending on land use, season, and region. The random forest models built to estimate regional crop productivity allow a more in-depth analysis of the crop-/region-specific importance of different drought indicators. The results highlight seasonal patterns of drought vulnerability for individual crops, usually linked to their growing season, although the effects are somewhat attenuated in irrigated regions. Integration of the approaches provides new detailed knowledge of crop-/region-specific indicator-to-impact links, which can form the basis of targeted mitigation actions in an improved DMEWS in Thailand, and could be applied in other parts of Southeast Asia and beyond.

Despite a theoretical link between plastic and plasticiser occurrence in the terrestrial environment, there are few empirical studies of the relationship between these contaminants in soils. We carried out a field study to assess the co-occurrence of plastic waste, and legacy and emerging plasticisers in UK soils (n = 19) from various land uses (woodlands, urban roadsides, urban parklands, landfill-associated). Surface plastics and soil microplastics were quantified and characterised using ATR-FTIR and μ-FTIR. Eight legacy (phthalate) and three emerging (adipate, citrate, trimellitate) plasticisers were quantified using GC–MS. Surface plastics were found at higher prevalence at landfill-associated and urban roadside sites, with levels significantly (2 orders of magnitude) greater than in woodlands. Microplastics were detected in landfill-associated (mean 12.3 particles g−1 dw), urban roadside (17.3 particles g−1 dw) and urban parkland (15.7 particles g−1 dw) soils, but not in woodland soils. The most commonly detected polymers were polyethene, polypropene and polystyrene. Mean ∑plasticiser concentration in urban roadside soils (3111 ng g−1 dw) was significantly higher than in woodlands (134 ng g−1 dw). No significant difference was found between landfill-associated (318 ng g−1 dw) and urban parkland (193 ng g−1 dw) soils and woodlands. Di-n-butyl phthalate (94.7% detection frequency) and the emerging plasticiser trioctyl trimellitate (89.5%) were the most commonly detected plasticisers, with diethylhexyl phthalate (493 ng g−1 dw) and di-iso-decyl phthalate (96.7 ng g−1 dw) present at the highest concentrations. ∑plasticiser concentrations were significantly correlated with surface plastic (R2 = 0.23), but not with soil microplastic concentrations. Whilst plastic litter seems a fundamental source of plasticisers in soils, mechanisms such as airborne transport from source areas may be as important. Based on the data from this study, phthalates remain the dominant plasticisers in soils, but emerging plasticisers are already widespread, as reflected by their presence in all land uses studied.

Agriculture is essential for providing food and maintaining food security while concurrently delivering multiple other ecosystem services. However, agricultural systems are generally a net source of greenhouse gases and ammonia. They, therefore, need to substantively contribute to climate change mitigation and net zero ambitions. It is widely acknowledged that there is a need to further reduce and mitigate emissions across sectors, including agriculture to address the climate emergency and emissions gap. This discussion paper outlines a collation of opinions from a range of experts within agricultural research and advisory roles following a greenhouse gas and ammonia emission mitigation workshop held in the UK in March 2022. The meeting identified the top mitigation priorities within the UK’s agricultural sector to achieve reductions in greenhouse gases and ammonia that are compatible with policy targets. In addition, experts provided an overview of what they believe are the key knowledge gaps, future opportunities and co-benefits to mitigation practices as well as indicating the potential barriers to uptake for mitigation scenarios discussed.

Trophic rewilding that reintroduces large animals into landscapes to re-establish food web interactions and restore biodiverse ecosystems has gained widespread attention. Despite this attention, few empirical studies have assessed the effectiveness of trophic rewilding for promoting biodiversity and its wider ecological benefits. Here we tested if trophic rewilding that introduced functional analogues for extinct large herbivores into former farmland of lowland England delivered additional benefits to biodiversity and ecosystems functioning. We predicted that these benefits would exceed those achieved through passive rewilding, that is unassisted habitat succession after the cessation of agricultural activity. Using a 9-year exclosure experiment, we found trophic rewilding reduced woody plant diversity and total carbon storage by 73% and 23%, respectively, compared to passive rewilding plots that excluded mammalian herbivores. However, trophic rewilding likely increased plant diversity and carbon storage compared to if land was left under continued agricultural production, e.g. artificial pastures associated with intensive livestock production. The vegetation changes accompanying trophic rewilding were further linked to a greater diversity and biomass of ground-dwelling arthropods by 21% and 167%, respectively, relative to passive rewilding, partly by creating more structurally complex vegetation. Given the trade-offs in biodiversity and ecosystem functions between trophic and passive rewilding, our study highlights that trophic rewilding will need to be applied alongside other interventions to tackle biodiversity loss whilst combatting climate change. Ultimately, the utility of trophic rewilding as a restoration tool will depend on the conservation outcomes valued by society.

Rapid urbanisation in China has resulted in an increased demand for land in towns and cities. To upgrade and modernise, China has also moved many major industries from urban centres to less populated areas. With the high economic value of urban land, the transformation and utilisation of brownfield areas have become important economically and socially. The Chinese government has recognised the need for strong frameworks to safeguard soil and groundwater quality, with brownfield sites a key category for management. Strong scientific, regulatory and decision-making frameworks are needed and being adopted to ensure practical, careful and wise use of central and localised government resources, to manage the reuse and regeneration of these brownfield sites. This paper reviews the context, policies and management procedures of developing brownfield sites in countries with a history of brownfield management and discusses China’s current situation and priorities for brownfield governance and redevelopment. These include (1) clarification of brownfield site soil contamination risk control standards and risk assessment procedures, (2) the responsibilities of different national and local agencies, (3) the establishment of a national expert committee to advise on best practices, policy and process, (4) the use of registered brownfield databases at national, provincial, municipal and county levels, and (5) the set up of soil pollution prevention fund at the provincial level.

The net impact of greenhouse gas emissions from degraded peatland environments on national Inventories and subsequent mitigation of such emissions has only been seriously considered within the last decade. Data on greenhouse gas emissions from special cases of peatland degradation, such as eroding peatlands, are particularly scarce. Here, we report the first eddy covariance-based monitoring of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from an eroding Atlantic blanket bog. The CO2 budget across the period July 2018–November 2019 was 147 (± 9) g C m−2. For an annual budget that contained proportionally more of the extreme 2018 drought and heat wave, cumulative CO2 emissions were nearly double (191 g C m−2) of that of an annual period without drought (106 g C m−2), suggesting that direct CO2 emissions from eroded peatlands are at risk of increasing with projected changes in temperatures and precipitation due to global climate change. The results of this study are consistent with chamber-based and modelling studies that suggest degraded blanket bogs to be a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere, and provide baseline data against which to assess future peatland restoration efforts in this region.

Direct land-to-atmosphere carbon exchange has been the primary focus in previous studies of peatland disturbance and subsequent restoration. However, loss of carbon via the fluvial pathway is a significant term in peatland carbon budgets and requires consideration to assess the overall impact of restoration measures. This study aimed to determine the effect of peatland land management regime on aquatic carbon concentrations and fluxes in an area within the UK's largest tract of blanket bog, the Flow Country of northern Scotland. Three sub-catchments were selected to represent peatland land management types: non-drained, drained, and restoration (achieved through drain blocking and tree removal). Water samples were collected on a fortnightly basis from September 2008 to August 2010 at six sampling sites, one located upstream and one downstream within each sub-catchment. Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were significantly lower for the upstream non-drained sub-catchment compared to the drained sub-catchments, and there was considerable variation in the speciation of aquatic carbon (DOC, particulate organic carbon (POC), CO2, and CH4) across the monitoring sites, with dissolved gas concentrations inversely correlated with catchment area and thereby contributing considerably more to total aquatic carbon in the smaller headwater catchments. Significantly higher POC concentrations were observed in the restored sub-catchment most affected by tree removal. Aquatic carbon fluxes were highest from the drained catchments and lowest from the non-drained catchments at 23.5 and 7.9 g C m−2 yr−1, respectively, with variability between the upstream and downstream sites within each catchment being very low. It is clear from both the aquatic carbon concentration and flux data that drainage has had a profound impact on the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of the peatland. In the restoration catchment, carbon export varied considerably, from 21.1 g C m−2 yr−1 at the upper site to 10.0 g C m−2 yr−1 at the lower site, largely due to differences in runoff generation. As a result of this hydrological variability, it is difficult to make definitive conclusions about the impact of restoration on carbon fluxes, and further monitoring is needed to corroborate the longer-term effects.

Environmental context Predicting the chemistry of metals is important for understanding their movement and impacts in the environment. Metal chemistry models are generally complex and difficult to apply, but a simpler model, which does not need large amounts of input data, can also provide good results. A simpler model can be more easily included in large-scale models of metal transport and impacts in the environment. Abstract Mechanistic geochemical models are useful for detailed study of the speciation of metals in well-characterised soils, but can be challenging to apply when driving soil compositional data are sparse, for example, at large scales. Empirical models, using minimal driving data, have been developed either for prediction of solid–solution partitioning or for the computation of the free metal ion from the total or geochemically active metal. This work presents an empirical speciation model, POSSMs (ParsimOniouS Speciation of Metals in soils), which predicts the free, solution-bound and sorbed metal in a soil in a single calculation, using a minimal set of soil parameters. The model has been parameterised for Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb using datasets of geochemically active soil metal and solution phase composition. The parameterised model can also be used to compute the free metal ion from the solution metal. The model was tested by applying it to literature datasets on the speciation of metals in soil solutions and extracts, and on the metal solid–solution partitioning. The performance of the model was comparable to other empirical models of similar complexity. Some test datasets produced biased predictions, particularly in the underestimation of measured free ion at circumneutral and alkaline pH, where the model predicted low free ion concentrations. The model is not a replacement for mechanistic geochemical models, but is a useful tool for soil metal speciation where comprehensive driving data are not available.

Sown wildflower areas are increasingly recommended as an agri-environmental intervention measure, but evidence for their success is limited to particular insect groups or hampered by the challenges of establishing seed mixes and maintaining flower abundance over time. We conducted a replicated experiment to establish wildflower areas to support insect pollinators in apple orchards. Over three years, and across 23 commercial UK orchards with and without sown wildflowers, we conducted 828 transect surveys across various non-crop habitats. We found that the abundance of flower-visiting solitary bees, bumblebees, honeybees, and beetles was increased in sown wildflower areas, compared with existing non-crop habitats in control orchards, from the second year following floral establishment. Abundance of hoverflies and other non-syrphid flies was increased in wildflower areas from the first year. Beyond the effect of wildflower areas, solitary bee abundance was also positively related to levels of floral cover in other local habitats within orchards, but neither local nor wider landscape-scale context affected abundance of other studied insect taxa within study orchards. There was a change in plant community composition on the sown wildflower areas between years, and in patterns of flowering within and between years, showing a succession from unsown weedy species towards a dominance of sown species over time. We discuss how the successful establishment of sown wildflower areas and delivery of benefits for different insect taxa relies on appropriate and reactive management practices as a key component of any such agri-environment scheme.

Producing more food with less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions is a grand challenge for the 21st century. Strategies to successfully promote win-win outcomes for both food security and environmental health are not easy to identify. Here we comprehensively assess an ecological rice-animal co-culture system (RAC) (e.g., rice-fish, rice-duck, and rice-crayfish) through a global meta-analysis and identify the potential benefits of global promotion. Compared to traditional monoculture of rice or animal production, the RAC can not only reduce the demand for agricultural land areas, but also increase rice yields (+4%) as well as nitrogen use efficiency of rice (+6%). At the same time, RAC reduces nitrogen losses (−16% runoff and −13% leaching) and methane emissions (−11%), except for rice-fish coculture systems, which are likely to increase methane emissions (+29%). Furthermore, RAC increases the net income of farmers through reducing cost of fertilizer and pesticide input and achieving higher outputs with more marketable products. According to the development stage of different countries, promotion of RAC will thus realize multiple benefits and aid sustainable intensification.

1. While abiotic drivers of yields represent important limiting factors to crop productivity, the role of biotic drivers that could be directly managed by farmers (e.g. agri-environment schemes supporting key ecosystem services) remains poorly understood. Precision yield mapping provides an opportunity to understand the factors that limit agricultural yield through the interpretation of high-resolution cropping data. This has the potential to inform future precision agricultural management, such as the targeted application of agrochemicals, promoting increased sustainability in modern agricultural systems. 2. We used precision yield measurements from a network of 1174 fields in England (2006–2020) to identify drivers of within-field yield variation in winter wheat and oilseed rape. Potential drivers included climate, topography and landscape composition and configuration. We then explored relationships between in-field yield patterns and local landscape context, including the presence of features associated with ecosystem benefits. 3. Proximity to the field edge was associated with reduced yields in 85% of wheat and 87% of oilseed fields. This translating to an approximate reduction of 10% in wheat and 18% in oilseed yields lost due to field edge effects. 4. We found evidence that reduced yields at the field edges were associated with biotic features of the surrounding landscape, including the occurrence of semi-natural habitats. Specifically, agri-environment scheme (AES) presence increased the rate at which yields at field edges approach those of the field centres. This suggests that AES occurrence within a landscape (rather than field adjacent) may increase edge effects. However, these trends are unclear and suggest interactions between drivers and the spatial and temporal scale of investigation. 5. Synthesis and applications. While we found evidence of landscape context mitigating against field edge effects, these were counterintuitive. For example, AES at a landscape scale appeared to increase the severity of edge effects. This study highlights a lack of environmental data at sufficiently high spatiotemporal resolution to match that of precision agriculture data. This mismatch is hindering the effective integration of precision agriculture data in an environmental policy and/or management context and potentially leading to unnecessarily poorly informed decisions related to AES deployment. This may limit environmental and economic benefits.

Increasing interest in the use of microbial metrics to evaluate soil health raises the issue of how fine-scale heterogeneity can affect microbial community measurements. Here we analyse bacterial and fungal communities of over 100 soil samples across 17 pasture farms and evaluate beta diversity at different scales. We find large variation in microbial communities between different points in the same field, and if Aitchison distance is used we find that within-field variation is as high as between-farm variation. However, if Bray-Curtis or Jaccard distance are used this variation is partially explained by differences in soil pH and vegetation and is higher under mob grazing for fungi. Hence, field scale variation in microbial communities can impact the evaluation of soil health.

Recent extreme weather events have had severe impacts on UK crop yields, and so there is concern that a greater frequency of extremes could affect crop production in a changing climate. Here we investigate the impacts of future climate change on wheat, the most widely grown cereal crop globally, in a temperate country with currently favourable wheat-growing conditions. Historically, following the plateau of UK wheat yields since the 1990s, we find there has been a recent significant increase in wheat yield volatility, which is only partially explained by seasonal metrics of temperature and precipitation across key wheat growth stages (foundation, construction and production). We find climate impacts on wheat yields are strongest in years with compound weather extremes across multiple growth stages (e.g. frost and heavy rainfall). To assess how these conditions might evolve in the future, we analyse the latest 2.2 km UK Climate Projections (UKCP Local): on average, the foundation growth stage (broadly 1 October to 9 April) is likely to become warmer and wetter, while the construction (10 April to 10 June) and production (11 June to 26 July) stages are likely to become warmer and slightly drier. Statistical wheat yield projections, obtained by driving the regression model with UKCP Local simulations of precipitation and temperature for the UK's three main wheat-growing regions, indicate continued growth of crop yields in the coming decades. Significantly warmer projected winter night temperatures offset the negative impacts of increasing rainfall during the foundation stage, while warmer day temperatures and drier conditions are generally beneficial to yields in the production stage. This work suggests that on average, at the regional scale, climate change is likely to have more positive impacts on UK wheat yields than previously considered. Against this background of positive change, however, our work illustrates that wheat farming in the UK is likely to move outside of the climatic envelope that it has previously experienced, increasing the risk of unseen weather conditions such as intense local thunderstorms or prolonged droughts, which are beyond the scope of this paper.

Freshwater is a scarce resource, and maintaining water quality is of great importance in dryland Australia. How water quality is affected by the dry climate and socio-economic influences in Australia remains widely unknown. Here, we find that agriculture activity dominates reactive nitrogen (Nr) emissions to water bodies. Such emissions not only contribute to deteriorating water quality in Southeastern Australia but also harm marine ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef, a World Natural Heritage site. A dry and warm climate reduces the share of Nr emitted directly to water bodies; however, it increases the Nr concentration in surface water due to reduced water volume, leading to a 3-fold higher water Nr concentration compared to major rivers globally, e.g., in the US or China. Business-as-usual socioeconomic development would increase the total Nr emitted to surface water by at least 43% by 2050, while effective mitigation measures could reduce N runoff by about 27%. Advanced agricultural management strategies should be considered to reduce future environmental pressures due to N runoff in Australia

Here we describe and evaluate the success of a multi-institutional Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT), which was established to address a UK skills shortage in Soil Science. The government-funded ‘STARS’ (Soils Training And Research Studentships) CDT was established in 2015 across a range of universities and research institutes in the UK. It recruited 41 PhD students equitably split across the institutions under four core research themes identified as being central to the national need, namely, (1) Understanding the soil–root interface, (2) Soils and the delivery of ecosystem services, (3) Resilience and response of functions in soil systems and (4) Modelling the soil ecosystem at different spatial and temporal scales. In addition, the STARS CDT provided a diverse skills programme, including: Holistic training in soils, the promotion of collegiality and joint working, strategies to promote science and generate impact, internships with end users (e.g., policymakers, industry), personal wellbeing, and ways to generate a lasting soils training legacy. Overall, both supervisors and students have reported a positive experience of the CDT in comparison to the conventional doctoral training programmes, which have less discipline focus and little chance for students to scientifically interact with their cohorts or to undertake joint training activities. The STARS CDT also allowed students to freely access research infrastructure across the partner institutions (e.g., long-term field trials, specialised analytical facilities, high-performance computing), breaking down traditional institutional barriers and thus maximising the students' potential to undertake high-quality research. The success and legacy of the STARS CDT can be evidenced in many ways; however, it is exemplified by the large number and diversity of journal papers produced, the lasting collaborations, final career destinations, and creation of a web-based legacy portal including new and reflective video material. STARS CDT, Grant/Award Numbers: NE/V017667/1, NE/R010218/1, NE/M009106/1; UKRI

China’s agriculture is dominated by smallholder farms, which have become major sources of negative environmental impacts including eutrophication, formation of haze, soil acidification, and greenhouse gas emissions. To mitigate these environmental impacts, new farming models including family farming, cooperation farming and industrial farming have emerged in recent years. However, whether these new farming practices would improve the economic and environmental performance as compared to the current smallholder farming has yet to be verified on ground level. In this paper, by using pilot farming cases within the watershed of Tai Lake, we found that alternative farming models produced 7% more crop yield, while using 8% less fertilizer, leading to an 28% decrease in pollutant emission per hectare. These alternative farming models have a 17% higher fertilizer use efficiency and 50% higher profit per hectare. Compared to smallholder farming, these alternative farming practices invest 27% more resources into agricultural facilities, including advanced machinery, and have a younger, better educated labor force as a consequence of a larger farm size and more specialization. These input changes substantially increase fertilizer use efficiency and reduce agricultural pollution. Policy arrangements to support and facilitate the uptake of these farming models will further promote the green development and sustainable intensification of agricultural production.

The interest in re-implementing agroforestry (AF) in European agriculture due to its environmental benefits has been growing exponentially. We reviewed the historical background and the current state (extent, farmers’ perception, legislative support, and barriers) to evaluate the future perspectives of AF in Czechia by identifying the key factors hampering further extension. Our results confirmed that AF almost disappeared after the middle of the 19th century due to agricultural intensification and collectivization. Currently, AF is not defined in the Czech legislation and no modern AF has been encountered by this study. Areas falling into AF definition recently comprise only traditional AF (less than 1% of agricultural area remaining) represented only by silvopastoral AF. The results of a farmers’ survey indicated that despite relatively high interest in AF, excessive bureaucratization, high costs of establishment and uncertain profitability are severe concerns among farmers. We therefore conclude that there is a lack of legal recognition and marginalization of AF as the key obstacles of low adoption rates. We suggest that systematic support beyond subsidies should include raising awareness, research, policy, legislation changes, training, and advisory service, as a cornerstone for progressive development of AF and thus conservation and creation of economically and environmentally sound landscapes throughout Czechia.

To assess the status of and trends in agricultural nitrogen (N) flows and their wider consequences for Bangladesh, in this study, we analyzed data from national and international bodies. The increased rates of N fertilizer applied for increased food production leaves behind a huge amount of unutilized reactive N (Nr). N fertilizer use is the largest in the crop sector, an important sector, where current annual consumption is 1190 Gg. The present combined annual Nr production from crop, fishery, and livestock sectors is ~600 Gg, while emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas, are ~200 Gg. Poor N management results in Nr leaking into the environment, which has increased approximately 16-fold since 1961. One potential consequence is the disruption of ecosystem functioning. The balanced tradeoff between food production and reducing Nr input needs to be achieved. One solution to reducing Nr may be a holistic approach that optimizes N application rates and incorporates waste of one subsector as an input to another applying the principle of the circular economy.

The response of soil carbon to global climate change remains one of the largest uncertainties for future climate projection. In this study, we re-sampled the soil in a long-term, field-scale, multi-factorial climate experiment, CLIMAITE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE), warming and drought in all combinations in a Danish heathland ecosystem) in 2020, seven years after the experiment was terminated. We aimed to study the dynamics of the soil carbon after the cessation of long-term multi-factorial climate manipulation, with special attention to the fate of the additional soil carbon (19% increase) that was sequestered in plots exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations (eCO2). Soil carbon pools in former eCO2 plots, as well as in drought and warming plots, had normalized again by 2020. However, the difference in soil isotopic composition between ambient and former eCO2 plots remained, indicating similar loss fractions from older and newer soil carbon pools in the eCO2 plots as well as stimulation of the decomposition of old soil carbon via priming. Throughout the study period, soil nitrogen dynamics tracked the changes in soil carbon, suggesting that nitrogen from deeper soil layers was transported upwards to meet increasing plant demand during eCO2 but was lost again from the topsoil after termination of the FACE treatment. Our findings show that the soil carbon and nitrogen pools in this ecosystem are highly dynamic and may respond strongly and rapidly to changes in major ecosystem drivers, and that revisiting climate experiments after the cessation of treatments may provide valuable insights into the dynamics, stability and resilience of major element pools in ecosystems.

Carbon sequestration (Cseq) in soils and plant biomass is viewed as an important means of mitigating climate change. Recent global assessments have estimated considerable potential for terrestrial Cseq, but generally lack sensitivity to climate warming, nutrient limitations and perspective on local land use. These are important factors since higher temperatures can accelerate the decomposition of soil organic matter, nutrient availability affects plant productivity, while land use pressures put broader constraints on terrestrial organic matter inputs and storage. Here, we explore the potential for Cseq under changing land use, climate and nutrient conditions in a UK-based national scale case study. We apply an integrated terrestrial C–N–P cycle model with representative ranges of high-resolution climate and land use scenarios to estimate Cseq potential across the UK. If realistic UK targets for grassland restoration and afforestation over the next 30 years are met, we estimate that an additional 120 TgC could be sequestered by 2100 (similar to current annual UK greenhouse gas emissions or roughly 7% of net emission cuts needed in meeting net zero), conditional on climate change of seq for countries like the UK, soil Cseq only provides a contribution if we are on a low emission pathway, and is therefore conditional on deep global cuts to emissions from fossil fuels, deforestation and soil degradation.

Natural approaches to flood risk management are gaining interest as sustainable flood mitigation options. Targeted tree planting has the potential to reduce local flood risk, however attention is generally focused on the hydrological impacts of catchment afforestation linked to generic tree features, whilst the species-specific impacts of trees on soil hydrology remain poorly understood. This study compared effects of different tree species on soil hydraulic properties. Monocultures of Alnus glutinosa (common alder), Fraxinus excelsior (European ash), Fagus sylvatica (European beech), Betula pendula (silver birch), Castanea sativa (sweet chestnut), Quercus robur (English oak) and Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore maple) were used to determine effects of tree species identity on soil hydraulic properties (near-saturated K and soil water retention) in a sandy loam soil, North Wales, United Kingdom. The interaction of F. excelsior root properties and soil class on hydraulic conductivity was also examined in four different soils (Rendzic Leptosol, Haplic Luvisol, Dystric Fluvic Cambisol and Dystric Gleysol) across England and Wales. Fine root biomass (FRB) and morphological characteristics were determined at three depths (0–0.1, 0.1–0.2 and 0.2–0.3 m) and complemented by in situ surface measurement of soil hydraulic conductivity. Root morphological traits were closely associated with species identity and pore-size distribution, and FRB was strongly correlated with soil hydraulic conductivity (R2 = 0.64 for 0–0.1 m depth FRB; R2 = 0.69 for 0.1–0.2 m depth FRB). Fine root biomass of F. excelsior was sixfold greater than C. sativa (p < 0.001), and the frequency of 0.01 mm radius soil pores under F. excelsior was twice that of Q. robur. Near-saturated hydraulic conductivity under F. excelsior was 7.91 ± 1.23 cm day−1, double the mean rate of the other species. Soil classification did not significantly influence FRB (p = 0.056) or near-saturated hydraulic conductivity (p = 0.076) in the 0.0–0.1 m depth soil, but soil water retention varied with depth. Species-specific traits of trees should be considered in landscape design to maximise the local hydrological benefits of trees.

To achieve net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 as set out by the 2019 amendment to the 2008 UK Climate Change Act, a major shift towards renewable energy is needed. This includes the development of new methods along with improving and upscaling existing technologies. One example of new methods in bioenergy is developing new Miscanthus cultivars for electricity generation via thermal power station furnaces. Miscanthus is still relatively new compared with other agriculture practices, so market assessments and improvements are needed to reduce the barriers to entry for prospective growers. This publication provides a profile of UK Miscanthus growers and their businesses, their experiences of benefits and drawbacks of the crop, and what they see as potential barriers to entry for prospective farmers. A survey of current Miscanthus growers in England and Wales was conducted and indicated that most farmers were content with the crop and that its environmental and economic benefits were noted. However, it was evident that with a geographically limited UK market, growers wanted to see a better distribution of biomass processing stations to reduce the ongoing costs of transport. With growing demand for renewables, including bio-energy sources, it was determined important to provide information and support for stable farming operations and to incentivise the adoption of Miscanthus. Such incentives include ongoing development of new cultivars, focussing on traits such as production potential and stressor resilience, and growers indicated preference for an annual planting grant. These developments are predicted to further improve the crop's profit margin, making it a more cost-effective crop for farmers. Sensitively managed Miscanthus also has the potential to contribute to carbon sequestration, soil health, and aspects of farmland biodiversity. Incentivising such management in government land–based environmental schemes would offer additional income streams and help to promote environmental positive crop planting.

Recent advances in soil phosphorus (P) studies have revealed unique P hot spots and discrete micron-sized grains at soil microsites, but the significance of these so-called ‘hot spots’ and grains in P cycling and long-term supply is yet to be determined. We examined soil particles and pore space distribution at a micro-scale in two postglacial forest soils by laser ablation ICP-MS imaging. This allowed us to semi-quantitatively reveal both axial and lateral abundance, distribution, and co-localization of P with elements known to influence its chemical speciation (e.g., Si, Al, Mn, Ca, and Fe). The results show topsoil P to be co-localised predominantly with Si, Al, and Fe. However, in the subsoils, P was co-localised mainly with Ca, Si, Al, and Mg in spots within Si and Al-bearing minerals and with only Ca in discrete micron-sized grains. While the spots of P-Ca inclusions were ~ 1000 μm apart and present at 40–100 cm depth in Tärnsjö, the discrete grains of P-Ca were ~ 700–1200 μm apart and present at 90–100 cm depth in Tönnersjöheden. The P concentrations in these ‘hot spots’ and grains were 7 to 600 times greater than the average soil P concentrations, with the highest values (3434–8716 mmol P kg−1) occurring in the C horizons of the two soils. When combined with previous P speciation results obtained by synchrotron P K-edge XANES in the same soils, our work confirms geogenic apatite to have been dissolved in the topsoil and its P transformed to P adsorbed by Al-Si and Fe phases, and to organic P. Most importantly, our work shows subsoil spots of P-Ca inclusions and micron-sized grains to be a long-term source of P and Ca.

We consider how the stoichiometry and energy content of organic matter reservoirs and fluxes through and from a peatland enable the fluxes and storage of carbon within a peatland to be constrained. We include the elemental composition of the above- and below-ground biomass, litter, the peat profile, and the dissolved and particulate organic matter within a blanket bog in northern England for which the C budget has previously been measured. The study shows, based only on the elemental composition, and calculation of oxidation and energy contents, that: (a) Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in first-order streams is significantly more oxidized than in peat pore water but that there was no significant difference in organic carbon oxidation state down the peat profile; (b) The occurrence and speciation of N uptake and release in the peatland with N used and recycled can be predicted; (c) The relatively high oxidation state of DOC in stream water acts as an endpoint for peat-forming reactions; (d) Methanogenesis does not result in deep peat formation as its requirement for energy consumes too much organic matter to form residual peat at depth; (e) Sulfate reduction does occur during the formation of deep peat; (f) Organic matter elemental composition could be constrained to within three bounding equations though the proportions of carbon species could not be specified. (g) The formation of deep peat in this catchment could only be achieved if the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the peat pore water is the dominant electron acceptor and energy source in the production of residual organic matter; however, it is unclear as to the flux of DOM up or down the peat profile.

1. Livestock farming in Great Britain (GB) faces multiple pressures. Yet, grassland managed for livestock is the most extensive habitat in GB and is key to cultural landscapes and their biodiversity and soil health. 2. This study analysed a nationally representative dataset of over 940 large (200 m2) Neutral (agriculturally semi-improved) and (agriculturally) Improved Grassland plots from the GB Countryside Survey (CS) to assess relationships between key grassland sward and soil variables. Analysis also looked at how these variables changed over time as plots switched between these grassland types. Data from grassland plots managed by Pasture-Fed Livestock Association (PFLA) farmers were compared to CS plot data to assess the impacts of their practices on these variables. 3. Plant species richness in Neutral grassland types in CS plots was positively associated with total soil invertebrate abundance (total taxa) and soil N and C and negatively associated with soil P. There were negative relationships between the covers of Lolium sp. (Neutral only), legumes and forbs and soil C and moisture variables. 4. Grassland swards on PFLA member farms were characteristic of Neutral grassland. PFLA plots were more species rich and contained more legume and forb species and lower proportions of Lolium perenne than those on Improved Grassland. Vegetation height was greater in PFLA plots than in CS plots of either Improved or Neutral Grassland. Unlike CS Neutral Grassland plots, soil properties in PFLA plots were not significantly different from those for Improved Grassland for any measured variable (soil carbon concentration [C], bulk density, pH, nitrogen [N], phosphorus [P]). 5. Higher species richness in grasslands is associated with positive measures of soil health. PFLA plant communities contain relatively high species richness and tall vegetation, which is positive for biodiversity. Lack of positive measures of soil health associated with higher species richness recorded in PFLA grassland (as opposed to CS grassland) may reflect time lags in soil responses to management, as evidenced through an analysis of the impacts of land-use change over time on CS plot characteristics. Our findings indicate that pasture-fed livestock approaches may be beneficial for grassland and wider ecosystems.

Two virtual joint centers for nitrogen agronomy were established between the UK and China to facilitate collaborative research aimed at improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in agricultural production systems and reducing losses of reactive N to the environment. Major focus areas were improving fertilizer NUE, use of livestock manures, soil health, and policy development and knowledge exchange. Improvements to fertilizer NUE included attention to application rate in the context of yield potential and economic considerations and the potential of improved practices including enhanced efficiency fertilizers, plastic film mulching and cropping design. Improved utilization of livestock manures requires knowledge of the available nutrient content, appropriate manure processing technologies and integrated nutrient management practices. Soil carbon, acidification and biodiversity were considered as important aspects of soil health. Both centers identified a range of potential actions that could be taken to improve N management, and the research conducted has highlighted the importance of developing a systems-level approach to assessing improvement in the overall efficiency of N management and avoiding unintended secondary effects from individual interventions. Within this context, the management of fertilizer emissions and livestock manure at the farm and regional scales appear to be particularly important targets for mitigation.

Gene expression-based biomarkers are regularly proposed as rapid, sensitive, and mechanistically informative tools to identify whether soil invertebrates experience adverse effects due to chemical exposure. However, before biomarkers could be deployed within diagnostic studies, systematic evidence of the robustness of such biomarkers to detect effects is needed. In our study, we present an approach for conducting a meta-analysis of the robustness of gene expression-based biomarkers in soil invertebrates. The approach was developed and trialed for two measurements of gene expression commonly proposed as biomarkers in soil ecotoxicology: earthworm metallothionein (MT) gene expression for metals and earthworm heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression for organic chemicals. We collected 294 unique gene expression data points from the literature and used linear mixed-effect models to assess concentration, exposure duration, and species effects on the quantified response. The meta-analysis showed that the expression of earthworm MT was strongly metal concentration dependent, stable over time and species independent. The metal concentration-dependent response was strongest for cadmium, indicating that this gene is a suitable biomarker for this metal. For copper, no clear concentration-dependent response of MT gene expression in earthworms was found, indicating MT is not a reliable biomarker for this metal. For HSP70, overall marginal up-regulation and lack of a concentration-dependent response indicated that this gene is not suitable as a biomarker for organic pollutant effects in earthworms. The present study demonstrates how meta-analysis can be used to assess the status of biomarkers. We encourage colleagues to apply this open-access approach to other biomarkers, as such quantitative assessment is a prerequisite to ensuring that the suitability and limitations of proposed biomarkers are known and stated. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2124-2138. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Increasing consideration is being given as to whether and how the subsoil can be utilised as a resource to store greater quantities of organic carbon through a range of ‘frontier' technologies. However, recent work suggests ‘priming’ effects may occur when fresh soil organic carbon (SOC) is mixed with older organic carbon (OC). Combined with increasing intensity of land use and perturbation of the surface environment there is potential for buried organic carbon (OC) to be re-incorporated into the active global C cycle. Therefore, understanding the nature of existing buried organic carbon (OC) within Soil Parent Material (SPM) and landscapes is increasingly important. A major OC burial route within landscapes is via erosion and deposition processes. This paper aims to provide a ‘first order' overview of the role erosion processes have made since the UK Last Glacial Maximum (UK-LGM) in the burial of OC in Great Britain. Using collated information, Monte-Carlo simulations were used to produce ‘first-order' estimates of the mass of OC buried within three deposit types; Devensian Till, Devensian Glacio-fluvial deposits and Holocene Alluvium. Combined median estimates for these three deposit types alone suggest, that 385 MT of OC has been buried in these deposits across Great Britain, demonstrating the importance of post UK-LGM erosion processes in long-term sequestration of OC. The paper provides a basis of a framework to describe where buried OC may be found within UK SPM and landscapes, whilst identifying gaps in our knowledge base. Whilst focusing on Great Britain, the processes are relevant to many countries, each of which will have experienced erosion processes unique to their own history of geology, geomorphology and climate.

The response of soil microbial communities to a changing climate will impact global biogeochemical cycles, potentially leading to positive and negative feedbacks. However, our understanding of how soil microbial communities respond to climate change and the implications of these changes for future soil function is limited. Here, we assess the response of soil bacterial and fungal communities to long-term experimental climate change in a heathland organo-mineral soil. We analysed microbial communities using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and ITS2 region at two depths, from plots undergoing 4 and 18 years of in situ summer drought or warming. We also assessed the colonisation of Calluna vulgaris roots by ericoid and dark septate endophytic (DSE) fungi using microscopy after 16 years of climate treatment. We found significant changes in both the bacterial and fungal communities in response to drought and warming, likely mediated by changes in soil pH and electrical conductivity. Changes in the microbial communities were more pronounced after a longer period of climate manipulation. Additionally, the subsoil communities of the long-term warmed plots became similar to the topsoil. Ericoid mycorrhizal colonisation decreased with depth while DSEs increased; however, these trends with depth were removed by warming. We largely ascribe the observed changes in microbial communities to shifts in plant cover and subsequent feedback on soil physicochemical properties, especially pH. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering changes in soil microbial responses to climate change across different soil depths and after extended periods of time.

We use a national citizen science monitoring scheme to quantify how agricultural intensification affects honeybee diet breadth (number of plant species). To do this we used DNA metabarcoding to identify the plants present in 527 honey samples collected in 2019 across Great Britain. The species richness of forage plants was negatively correlated with arable cropping area, although this was only found early in the year when the abundance of flowering plants was more limited. Within intensively farmed areas, honeybee diets were dominated by Brassica crops (including oilseed rape). We demonstrate how the structure and complexity of honeybee foraging relationships with plants is negatively affected by the area of arable crops surrounding hives. Using information collected from the beekeepers on the incidence of an economically damaging bee disease (Deformed Wing Virus) we found that the occurrence of this disease increased where bees foraged in agricultural land where there was a high use of foliar insecticides. Understanding impacts of land use on resource availability is fundamental to assessing long-term viability of pollinator populations. These findings highlight the importance of supporting temporally timed resources as mitigation strategies to support wider pollinator population viability.

Soils are subjected to multiple anthropogenic modifications, but the synergistic impacts of simultaneous environmental stressors on below-ground communities are poorly understood. We used a large-scale (1152 plots), long-term (26 years), multi-factorial grassland experiment to assess the impact of five common agricultural practises (pesticides, herbicide, liming, fertilizers and grazing exclusion) and their interactive effects on the composition and activity of soil microbial communities. We confirmed that pH strongly impacts belowground communities, but further demonstrate that pH strongly mediates the impacts of other management factors. Notably, there was a significant interaction between liming and the effect of pesticide application, with only half of the taxa responding to pesticide being shared in both limed and unlimed treatments. Likewise, nutrient amendments significantly altered bacterial community structure in acidic soils. Not only do these results highlight an hierarchy of effect of commonly used agricultural practices but also the widespread interactions between treatments: many taxa were significantly affected by interactions between treatments, even in the absence of significant main effects. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that chemical amendments may not percolate deeply into physically unperturbed soils with effects concentrated between 0 and 30 cm, despite 20+ years of treatment. The research shows that future changes to agricultural practices will need to consider interactions among multiple factors.

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers support global food production and feed over half of the global population. However, more than half of the N fertilizers applied to croplands are not absorbed by crops, but lost to the environment, leading to low N use efficiency (NUE) globally. Identifying and overcoming socioeconomic barriers to achieve an improvement of NUE and a reduction in N loss is thus key for N management and to attain agricultural and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we compiled the global cropland N budgets at a national scale (1961–2018) and developed robust econometric models to explore the relationship between cropland N use with socioeconomic factors. The results demonstrate that economic development and farm size are the key drivers to improve NUE for agricultural and environmental sustainability. In less developed countries, it is difficult for farmers to access chemical fertilizers, leading to croplands receiving too little N input and at a high NUE, but suffering from soil N depletion. As economic development progresses, more fertilizer is produced and applied, but smallholder farming typically leads to over-fertilization and consequently N losses to the environment. Large-scale farming improves NUE, reduces N loss and benefits agricultural production and environmental protection. Also, interactions between farm size and economic development, international trade, crop and livestock systems, and related policies are important causes for changes in the NUE of the whole agricultural system. Overcoming these socioeconomic barriers especially combining large-scale farming could effectively reduce excessive N inputs and sustain agricultural and environmental N management, while maintaining food production, resulting in a triple-win for food security, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection.

To develop models that support site-specific risk assessment for nanoparticles (NPs), a better understanding of how NP transformation processes, bioavailability and toxicity are influenced by soil properties is needed. In this study, the influence of differing soil properties on the bioavailability and toxicity of zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs and ionic Zn to the earthworm Eisenia fetida was investigated. Earthworms were exposed to ZnO_NPs and ionic Zn, between 100 and 4400 mg Zn/kg, in four different natural soils (organic matter content: 1.8–16.7%, soil pH: 5.4–8.3, representing sandy loam to calcareous soils). Survival and reproduction were assessed after 28 and 56 days, respectively. Zn concentrations in soil pore waters were measured while labile concentrations of Zn were measured using an in-situ dynamic speciation technique (diffusive gradient in thin films, DGT). Earthworm Zn tissue concentrations were also measured. Soil properties influenced earthworm reproduction between soil controls, with highest reproductive output in soils with pH values of 6–7. Toxicity was also influenced by soil properties, with EC50s based on total Zn in soil ranging from 694 to >2200 mg Zn/kg for ZnO_NP and 277–734 mg Zn/kg for ionic Zn. Soil pore water and DGT measurements showed good agreement in the relative amount of Zn extracted across the four soils. Earthworms exposed to ZnO_NPs survived higher Zn concentrations in the soils and had higher tissue concentrations compared with ionic Zn exposures, particularly in the high organic content calcareous soil. These higher tissue concentrations in ZnO_NP exposed earthworm could have consequences for the persistence and trophic mobility of Zn in terrestrial systems and need to be further investigated to elucidate if there any longer-term risks associated with sustained input of ZnO_NP to soil.

The Ghana Meteorological Agency delineated Ghana’s geographical space into four agro-climatic zones namely the north, transition, forest and coastal zones. Since the demarcation in the 1960s, previous studies have rarely provided a more dis-aggregated agro-climatic zone map in tandem with contemporary climate change and variability. The continued use of this age-old classified zones is a disservice to the public. In this study, therefore, we evaluated the existing agro-climatic zone map of Ghana and reconstructed it to a more appropriate and dis-aggregated map that reflect current climate change and variability impact. This was achieved by quantifying the contrast in rainfall and temperature amount over a 30 year period for different climate windows and mapped out areas with similar rainfall and temperature regimes. Our findings revealed significant changes in the existing agro-climatic zones especially in terms of number, the boundary size and geographical orientation of the zones. The newly proposed map consist of five distinctive climate zones namely: the Sudan Savannah, Guinea Savannah, Transition, Forest and Coastal zones. The Sudan and Guinea Savannah zones showed a southerly expansion. The transition zone shriveled in size as the Guinea Savannah zone took over most of it, notably in the southeast. The forest zone shrank in size with a northwest shift while the coastal belt grew to encompass the whole coast of Ghana. These changes are strong evidence of climate change and possible food production changes. These findings are useful to agriculture sector in planning their activities, the health sector in predicting specific diseases caused by changes in weather and climate, Ghana Meteorological Agency for weather forecasting purposes, and the National Disaster Management in identifying disaster prone zones.

Accurate identification of maize plantation distribution and timely examination of key spatial-temporal drivers is a practice that can support agricultural production estimates and development decisions. Previous studies have rarely used efficient cloud processing methods to extract crop distribution, and meteorological and socioeconomic factors were often considered independently in driving force analysis. In this paper, we extract the spatial distribution of maize using classification and regression tree (CART) and random forest (RF) algorithms based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Combining remote sensing, meteorological and statistical data, the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of maize plantation proportion (MPP) at the county scale were analyzed using trend analysis, kernel density estimation, and standard deviation ellipse analysis, and the driving forces of MPP spatio-temporal variation were explored using partial correlation analysis and geodetectors. Our empirical results in Heilongjiang province, China showed that (1) the CART algorithm achieved higher classification accuracy than the RF algorithm; (2) MPP showed an upward trend in more than 75% of counties, especially in high-latitude regions; (3) the main climatic factor affecting the inter-annual fluctuation of MPP was relative humidity; (4) the impact of socioeconomic factors on MPP spatial distribution was significantly larger than meteorological factors, the temperature was the most important meteorological factor, and the number of rural households was the most important socioeconomic factor affecting MPP spatial distribution. The interaction between different factors was greater than a single factor alone; (5) the correlation between meteorological factors and MPP differed across different latitudinal regions and landforms. This research provides a key reference for the optimal adjustment of crop cultivation distribution and agricultural development planning and policy.

Grasslands cover around 25% of the global ice-free land surface, they are used predominantly for forage and livestock production and are considered to contribute significantly to soil carbon (C) sequestration. Recent investigations into using ‘nature-based solutions’ to limit warming to

Healthy soil is the foundation underpinning global agriculture and food security. Soil erosion is currently the most serious threat to soil health, leading to yield decline, ecosystem degradation and economic impacts. Here, we provide high-resolution (ca. 100 × 100 m) global estimates of soil displacement by water erosion obtained using the Revised-Universal-Soil-Loss-Equation-based Global Soil Erosion Modelling (GloSEM) platform under present (2019) and future (2070) climate scenarios (i.e. Shared Socioeconomic Pathway [SSP]1–Representative Concentration Pathway [RCP]2.6, SSP2–RCP4.5 and SSP5–RCP8.5). GloSEM is the first global modelling platform to take into account regional farming systems, the mitigation effects of conservation agriculture (CA), and climate change projections. We provide a set of data, maps and descriptive statistics to support researchers and decision-makers in exploring the extent and geography of soil erosion, identifying probable hotspots, and exploring (with stakeholders) appropriate actions for mitigating impacts. In this regard, we have also provided an Excel spreadsheet that can provide useful insights into the potential mitigating effects of present and future alternative CA scenarios at the country level.

Sulphur deposition through rainfall has led to species loss and ecosystem degradation globally, and across Europe huge reductions in sulphur emissions since the 1970s were expected to promote the recovery of acidified ecosystem. However, the rate and ecological impact of recovery from acidification in terrestrial ecosystems is still unclear as is the influence of management and climate, as to date there has been no long-term spatially extensive evaluation of these changes.Here we present data from thousands of sites across Great Britain surveyed repeatedly from 1978-2019 and assess change in soil pH and plant acidity preference (Ellenberg R) in response to atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen. We analyse change in grasslands managed for pasture, referred to as high-intensity habitats, and compare to semi-natural habitats comprising rough grassland, broadleaved woodland, bog and heathland, referred to as low-intensity habitats.Soil pH increased from 1978 to 2007 but then decreased between 2007 and 2019, resulting in a net increase of ~0.2 pH units in low-intensity habitats but no change in high-intensity habitats. The community average Ellenberg R increased in semi-natural habitats by ~0.2 units but remained stable in intensive grasslands.In semi-natural habitats, but not intensive grasslands, these changes in plant community composition were associated with the soil pH changes which were in turn linked to decreasing sulphur deposition and differences in rainfall.Nitrogen deposition, which was relatively stable over the survey period, showed no additional effect upon soil acidity once sulphur deposition was accounted for.Synthesis:Our results provide conclusive evidence that reductions in acid emissions are stimulating the gradual recovery of chronically acidified terrestrial ecosystems at a whole-country scale, while also suggesting this recovery is being compromised by changing climate and land management.

Peatland carbon stores are under widespread anthropogenic pressure, resulting in degradation and carbon loss. This paper presents DO14C (Dissolved Organic Carbon) dates from waters draining two eroded blanket peatland catchments in the UK. Both catchments are characterized by severe gully erosion but one additionally has extensive surface erosion on unvegetated surfaces. DO14C values ranged from 104.3 to 88.6 percent modern (present to 976 Before Present). The oldest DOC dates came from the catchment characterized by both gully and surface erosion and are among the oldest reported from waters draining temperate peatlands. Together with peat age-depth data from across the peatland landscape, the DO14C ages identify where in the peat profile carbon loss is occurring. Source depths were compared with modeled water table data indicating that in the catchment where gully erosion alone dominated, mean water table was a key control on depth of DOC production. In the system exhibiting both gully erosion and surface erosion, DOC ages were younger than expected from the age of surficial peats and measured water tables. This may indicate either that the old organic matter exposed at the surface by erosion is less labile or that there are modifications of hydrological flow pathways. Our data indicate that eroded peatlands are losing carbon from depth, and that erosion form may be a control on carbon loss. Our approach uses point measurements of DO14C to indicate DOC source depths and has the potential to act as an indicator of peatland function in degraded and restored systems.

Soil microbial communities regulate global biogeochemical cycles and respond rapidly to changing environmental conditions. However, understanding how soil microbial communities respond to climate change, and how this influences biogeochemical cycles, remains a major challenge. This is especially pertinent in alpine regions where climate change is taking place at double the rate of the global average, with large reductions in snow cover and earlier spring snowmelt expected as a consequence. Here, we show that spring snowmelt triggers an abrupt transition in the composition of soil microbial communities of alpine grassland that is closely linked to shifts in soil microbial functioning and biogeochemical pools and fluxes. Further, by experimentally manipulating snow cover we show that this abrupt seasonal transition in wide-ranging microbial and biogeochemical soil properties is advanced by earlier snowmelt. Preceding winter conditions did not change the processes that take place during snowmelt. Our findings emphasise the importance of seasonal dynamics for soil microbial communities and the biogeochemical cycles that they regulate. Moreover, our findings suggest that earlier spring snowmelt due to climate change will have far reaching consequences for microbial communities and nutrient cycling in these globally widespread alpine ecosystems.

BACKGROUND Arable weeds threaten farming and food production, impacting on productivity. Large-scale data on weed populations are typically lacking, and changes are frequently undocumented until they reach problem levels. Managing the future spread of weeds requires that we understand the factors that influence current densities and distributions. In doing so, one of the challenges is to measure populations at a large enough scale to be able to accurately measure changes in densities and distributions. Here we analyse the density and distribution of a major weed (Alopecurus myosuroides) on a large scale. Our objectives were to (i) develop a methodology for rapid measurement of occurrence and abundance, (ii) test hypotheses about the roles of soils and climate variation in determining densities, and (iii) use this information to identify areas in which occurrence could increase in the future. RESULTS Populations were mapped through England over 4 years in 4631 locations. We also analysed UK atlas data published over the past 50 years. Densities of populations show significant interannual variability, but historical data show that the species has spread. We find significant impacts of soil and rainfall on densities, which increase with the proportion of heavy soils, but decrease with increasing rainfall. Compared with independent atlas data we found that our statistical models provide good predictions of large-scale occupancy and we provide maps of current and potential densities. CONCLUSION Models of spread highlight the localised nature of colonisation, and this emphasises the need for management to limit dispersal. Comparisons of current, historical and potential distributions suggest sizeable habitable areas in which increases in abundance are still possible. © 2021 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Determining the temperature sensitivity of terrestrial carbon (C) stores is an urgent priority for predicting future climate feedbacks. A key aspect to solve this long-standing research gap is to determine whether warmer temperatures will increase autotrophic activities leading to greater C storage or promote heterotrophic activities that will drive these systems to become C sources. We experimentally addressed this critical question by subjecting intact plant-soil systems in a UK upland ecosystem to simulated climate warming under natural field conditions. We report the results of a 13-year field-based climate manipulation experiment combining in situ respiration measurements with radiocarbon (14 C) analyses of respired CO2 , dissolved organic carbon (DOC), soil and the tissue contents of the dominant soil fauna (enchytraeids). We found that warming during the growing season produced the largely expected increases in ecosystem respiration (63%) and leaching of DOC (19%) with no evidence for thermal acclimation or substrate exhaustion over the whole 13-year experimental period. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence to support an increased release of old soil C after more than a decade of simulated climatic change, and indeed, 14 C analyses indicated that warming caused a significant shift towards mineralisation of more recent plant-derived C inputs. Further support came from the radiocarbon analyses of the enchytraeid tissues, which showed a greater assimilation of the more recent (plant-derived) C sources following warming. Therefore, in contrast to subarctic ecosystems, our results suggest that changes in C storage in this UK upland soil are strongly coupled to plant activities and that increasing temperatures will drive the turnover of organic material fixed only within recent years, without resulting in the loss of existing old carbon stores.

Earthworms are important ecosystem engineers, and assessment of the risk of plant protection products toward them is part of the European environmental risk assessment (ERA). In the current ERA scheme, exposure and effects are represented simplistically and are not well integrated, resulting in uncertainty when the results are applied to ecosystems. Modeling offers a powerful tool to integrate the effects observed in lower tier laboratory studies with the environmental conditions under which exposure is expected in the field. This paper provides a summary of the (In)Field Organism Risk modEling by coupling Soil Exposure and Effect (FORESEE) Workshop held 28-30 January 2020 in Düsseldorf, Germany. This workshop focused on toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) and population modeling of earthworms in the context of ERA. The goal was to bring together scientists from different stakeholder groups to discuss the current state of soil invertebrate modeling and to explore how earthworm modeling could be applied to risk assessments, in particular how the different model outputs can be used in the tiered ERA approach. In support of these goals, the workshop aimed at addressing the requirements and concerns of the different stakeholder groups to support further model development. The modeling approach included 4 submodules to cover the most relevant processes for earthworm risk assessment: environment, behavior (feeding, vertical movement), TKTD, and population. Four workgroups examined different aspects of the model with relevance for risk assessment, earthworm ecology, uptake routes, and cross-species extrapolation and model testing. Here, we present the perspectives of each workgroup and highlight how the collaborative effort of participants from multidisciplinary backgrounds helped to establish common ground. In addition, we provide a list of recommendations for how earthworm TKTD modeling could address some of the uncertainties in current risk assessments for plant protection products. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:352-363. © 2020 SETAC.

The complexity of water, food and energy security is analysed from the perspectives of (i) water and food and (ii) water and energy and their interconnectivity and focuses ultimately on water as a primary input into processes, the entry point for participants of the Third World Irrigation Forum. The paper provides an overview of trends in water, food and energy security, highlights the interconnectivity between the various elements and introduces the water–food–energy nexus as a tool for improving productivity and sector policies, avoiding unintended consequences on other sectors. Invariably, there will be trade‐offs and the challenge is to find combinations of measures that have a net positive outcome. In order to quantify security in the three elements and the trade‐offs between them, emerging modelling approaches for the nexus are discussed. Sub‐theme 3 of the forum focuses on productivity and technology interventions and sub‐theme 2 on stakeholder interaction. The combination of modelling, technology innovations and stakeholder participation in a water–food–energy nexus approach leads to better understanding of linkages and more robust policies and is used to derive recommendations for an enabling policy environment.

As demand for food production continues to rise, it is clear that in order to meet the challenges of the future in terms of food security and environmental sustainability, radical changes are required throughout all levels of the global food system. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) (a.k.a. indoor farming) has an advantage over conventional farming methods in that production processes can be largely separated from the natural environment, thus, production is less reliant on environmental conditions, and pollution can be better restricted and controlled. While output potential of conventional farming at a global scale is predicted to suffer due to the effects of climate change, technological advancements in this time will drastically improve both the economic and environmental performance of CEA systems. This article summarizes the current understanding and gaps in knowledge surrounding the environmental sustainability of CEA systems, and assesses whether these systems may allow for intensive and fully sustainable agriculture at a global scale. The energy requirements and subsequent carbon footprint of many systems is currently the greatest environmental hurdle to overcome. The lack of economically grown staple crops which make up the majority of calories consumed by humans is also a major limiting factor in the expansion of CEA systems to reduce the environmental impacts of food production at a global scale. This review introduces the concept of Integrated System CEA (ISCEA) in which multiple CEA systems can be deployed in an integrated localized fashion to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts of food production. We conclude that it is feasible that with sufficient green energy, that ISCEA systems could largely negate most forms of environmental damage associated with conventional farming at a global scale (e.g., GHGs, deforestation, nitrogen, phosphorus, pesticide use, etc.). However, while there is plenty of research being carried out into improving energy efficiency, renewable energy and crop diversification in CEA systems, the circular economy approach to waste is largely ignored. We recommend that industries begin to investigate how nutrient flows and efficiencies in systems can be better managed to improve the environmental performance of CEA systems of the future.

Studies for the northern high latitudes suggest that, in the near term, increased vegetation uptake may offset permafrost carbon losses, but over longer time periods, permafrost carbon decomposition causes a net loss of carbon. Here, we assess the impact of a coupled carbon and nitrogen cycle on the simulations of these carbon fluxes. We present results from JULES-IMOGEN—a global land surface model coupled to an intermediate complexity climate model with vertically resolved soil biogeochemistry. We quantify the impact of nitrogen fertilisation from thawing permafrost on the carbon cycle and compare it with the loss of permafrost carbon. Projections show that the additional fertilisation reduces the high latitude vegetation nitrogen limitation and causes an overall increase in vegetation carbon uptake. This is a few Petagrams of carbon (Pg C) by year 2100, increasing to up to 40 Pg C by year 2300 for the RCP8.5 concentration scenario and adds around 50% to the projected overall increase in vegetation carbon in that region. This nitrogen fertilisation results in a negative (stabilising) feedback on the global mean temperature, which could be equivalent in magnitude to the positive (destabilising) temperature feedback from the loss of permafrost carbon. This balance depends on the future scenario and initial permafrost carbon. JULES-IMOGEN describes one representation of the changes in Arctic carbon and nitrogen cycling in response to climate change. However there are uncertainties in the modelling framework, model parameterisation and missing processes which, when assessed, will provide a more complete picture of the balance between stabilising and destabilising feedbacks.

The global challenge of feeding two billion more people by 2050, using more sustainable agricultural practices whilst dealing with uncertainties associated with environmental change, requires a transformation of food systems. We present a new perspective for how advances in network science can provide novel ways to better understand, harness, and restore multiple ecological processes in agricultural environments. We describe: (i) a network-focused framework for managing agro-ecosystems that accounts for the multiple interactions between biodiversity and associated ecosystem services; (ii) guidance for incorporating socio-economic factors into ecological networks; and (iii) the potential to upscale network methods to inform efforts to build resilience, including global food-supply chains. In doing so we aim to facilitate the application of network science as a systems-based way to tackle the challenges of securing an equitable distribution of food.