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ABSTRACT Farmers' perceptions of soil fertility change were compared with observations on soil quality changes and crop performance in soils from a chronosequence representing a range of soil ages since conversion from forest to cropland (0 to 57 years). A majority of the farmers, 92 per cent, had observed a decline in soil fertility on their land. Farmers use crop yield, indicator plants, soil softness and soil colour to judge soil fertility. They identified 11 plants that they used to indicate high soil fertility and four plants that they used to indicate low soil fertility. There was a strong correlation ( r = 0·96) between soil organic matter content (loss on ignition) and farmers' ranking of soil fertility based on colour and softness of soil samples from the chronosequence. The biotest experiment with maize showed an exponential decline in biomass production along the chronosequence, confirming the results of farmers' soil fertility ranking. In the biotest, total soil N predicted produced biomass well ( r2 = 0·95), whereas the relationship with soil available P (Olsen) was less obvious. Among the eight analysed plant nutrients in the maize leaves, N content was found to correlate best with biomass production ( r2 = 0·94). We conclude (i) that there is good agreement between farmers' knowledge and scientific indicators of soil fertility and (ii) that the major reason for declining soil fertility in Beseku is the decrease in N mineralization over time. Interventions should focus on supporting farmers to implement a diversified nutrient management strategy that can maintain or increase long-term productivity of the soil. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The adsorption of oxalate and fulvate and the competition for surface-adsorption sites between SO42–-oxalate and SO42–-fulvate on goethite and on a soil material from a podzol B horizon were studied in batch titration experiments. The adsorption and competition processes were evaluated with surface complexation modelling using the diffuse-layer model (DLM). Two different adsorption reactions were tested for oxalate and fulvate adsorption and the reaction giving the largest charge neutralization at the surface gave the best description of experimental data. In the soil solution an Al-oxalate complex induced a substantial decrease in oxalate adsorption when the pH fell below 4.5. No such effect was found in the soil-fulvate system. Adsorption constants obtained from binary systems (oxide-ligand) were used to model adsorption and competition in the two ternary systems oxide-SO42–-oxalate and oxide-SO42–-fulvate. Experimental data showed that oxalate and fulvate competed with SO42– for adsorption sites. The DLM produced acceptable descriptions of experimental data, although the model slightly underpredicted SO42– adsorption in ternary systems. The competition between adsorbates was attributed mainly to charge neutralization at the surface induced by adsorption of the ligands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The relations between pH, different fractions of Fe and A1 and Na4P2O7-soluble C and the amount of adsorbed SO2-4 were assessed by analysing 63 soil samples from 14 podsolized soils in Sweden. The amount of adsorbed SO2-4 was significantly better correlated with the calculated amount of the inorganic fraction of Fe and A1 oxides obtained by subtracting Na4P2O7-soluble Fe and A1 from oxalate-soluble Fe and Al than with the oxalate extraction alone. There was a close correlation between C and organically-bound S in the Na4P2O7 extract which shows that the C:S ratio of the extracted fulvic acids is about constant in the soils studied. It was found that, as the proportion of organically-complexed Fe and Al increases, the ability of the soil to adsorb SO2-4 decreases. The amount of adsorbed SO2-4 expressed on the basis of the amounts of oxalate-soluble Fe and Al was generally smaller in areas with low S deposition (< 60 mmol m-2 a-1). The ratio between pyrophosphate-soluble C and oxalate-extractable Fe and Al was negatively correlated with pH in water. It was concluded that Fe and Al associated with organic matter cannot adsorb SO2-4 and that the degree of this association is pH dependent. These observations have important implications regarding the effects of anthropogenic acidification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The input of acidity to Swedish forest soils through forestry between 1955 and 2010 is compared with the acid input from atmospheric deposition. Depending on region, input of acidity from forestry was the minor part (25-45%) of the study period's accumulated acid input but is now the dominating source (140-270 mol c ha -1  year -1 ). The net uptake of cations due to the increase in standing forest biomass, ranged between 35 and 45% of the forestry related input of acidity while whole-tree harvesting, introduced in the late 1990s, contributed only marginally (< 2%). The geographical gradient in acid input is reflected in the proportion of acidified soils in Sweden but edaphic properties contribute to variations in acidification sensitivity. It is important to consider the acid input due to increases in standing forest biomass in acidification assessments since it is long-term and quantitatively important., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Biochar has been recognised as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology. Unlike other CDR technologies, biochar is expected to deliver various valuable effects in e.g. agriculture, animal husbandry, industrial processes, remediation activities and waste management. The diversity of biochar side effects to CDR makes the systematic environmental assessment of biochar projects challenging, and to date, there is no common framework for evaluating them. Our aim is to bridge the methodology gap for evaluating biochar systems from a life-cycle perspective. Using life cycle theory, actual biochar projects, and reviews of biochar research, we propose a general description of biochar systems, an overview of biochar effects, and an evaluation framework for biochar effects. The evaluation framework was applied to a case study, the Stockholm Biochar Project. In the framework, biochar effects are classified according to life cycle stage and life cycle effect type; and the biochar's end-of-life and the reference situations are made explicit. Three types of effects are easily included in life cycle theory: changes in biosphere exchanges, technosphere inputs, and technosphere outputs. For other effects, analysing the cause-effect chain may be helpful. Several biochar effects in agroecosystems can be modelled as future productivity increases against a reference situation. In practice, the complexity of agroecosystems can be bypassed by using empirical models. Existing biochar life cycle studies are often limited to carbon footprint calculations and quantify a limited amount of biochar effects, mainly carbon sequestration, energy displacements and fertiliser-related emissions. The methodological development in this study can be of benefit to the biochar and CDR research communities, as well as decision-makers in biochar practice and policy., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Several cities in Sweden are aiming for climate neutrality within a few decades and for negative emissions thereafter. Combined biochar, heat, and power production is an option to achieve carbon sequestration for cities relying on biomass-fuelled district heating, while biochar use could mitigate environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. By using prospective life cycle assessment, the climate impact of the pyrolysis of woodchips in Stockholm is compared with two reference scenarios based on woodchip combustion. The pyrolysis of woodchips produces heat and power for the city of Stockholm, and biochar whose potential use as a feed and manure additive on Swedish dairy farms is explored. The climate change mitigation trade-off between bioenergy production and biochar carbon sequestration in Stockholm's context is dominated by the fate of marginal power. If decarbonisation of power is achieved, building a new pyrolysis plant becomes a better climate option than conventional combustion. Effects of cascading biochar use in animal husbandry are uncertain but could provide 10-20% more mitigation than direct biochar soil incorporation. These results help design regional biochar systems that combine negative carbon dioxide emissions with increased methane and nitrous oxide mitigation efforts and can also guide the development of minimum performance criteria for biochar products.

Boreal forest soils retain significant amounts of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in purely organic layers, but the regulation of organic matter turnover and the relative importance of leaf litter and root-derived inputs are not well understood. We combined bomb 14 C dating of organic matter with stable isotope profiling for Bayesian parameterization of an organic matter sequestration model. C and N dynamics were assessed across annual depth layers (cohorts), together representing 256 yr of organic matter accumulation. Results were related to ecosystem fertility (soil inorganic N, pH and litter C : N). Root-derived C was estimated to decompose two to 10 times more slowly than leaf litter, but more rapidly in fertile plots. The amounts of C and N per cohort declined during the initial 20 yr of decomposition, but, in older material, the amount of N per cohort increased, indicating N retention driven by root-derived C. The dynamics of root-derived inputs were more important than leaf litter dynamics in regulating the variation in organic matter accumulation along a forest fertility gradient. N retention in the rooting zone combined with impeded mining for N in less fertile ecosystems provides evidence for a positive feedback between ecosystem fertility and organic matter turnover., (© 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust.)

Forestry reshapes ecosystems with respect to tree age structure, soil properties and vegetation composition. These changes are likely to be paralleled by shifts in microbial community composition with potential feedbacks on ecosystem functioning. Here, we assessed fungal communities across a chronosequence of managed Pinus sylvestris stands and investigated correlations between taxonomic composition and extracellular enzyme activities. Not surprisingly, clear-cutting had a negative effect on ectomycorrhizal fungal abundance and diversity. In contrast, clear-cutting favoured proliferation of saprotrophic fungi correlated with enzymes involved in holocellulose decomposition. During stand development, the re-establishing ectomycorrhizal fungal community shifted in composition from dominance by Atheliaceae in younger stands to Cortinarius and Russula species in older stands. Late successional ectomycorrhizal taxa correlated with enzymes involved in mobilisation of nutrients from organic matter, indicating intensified nutrient limitation. Our results suggest that maintenance of functional diversity in the ectomycorrhizal fungal community may sustain long-term forest production by retaining a capacity for symbiosis-driven recycling of organic nutrient pools.