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The European Journal of Soil Science (EJSS) is celebrating its 75th anniversary in March 2024. Published by Wiley on behalf of the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS), the journal has evolved over the years and supports international authors and a diverse readership. It has published over 2,000 papers since 1949, many of which are still highly cited today. The EJSS accepts various types of articles and has seen increased online engagement. They prioritize fairness in publishing, open data sharing, and author diversity. The journal looks forward to continued support from its stakeholders. [Extracted from the article]

Critical Zone Science (CZS) explores the deep evolution of landscapes from the base of the groundwater or the saprolite‐rock interface to the top of vegetation, the zone that supports all terrestrial life. Here we propose a framework for CZS to evolve further as a discipline, building on 1st generation CZOs in natural systems and 2nd generation CZOs in human‐modified systems, to incorporate human behaviour for more holistic understanding in a 3rd generation of CZOs. This concept was tested in the China‐UK CZO programme (2016–2020) that established four CZOs across China on different lithologies. Beyond conventional CZO insights into soil resources, biogeochemical cycling and hydrology across scales, surveys of farmers and local government officials led to insights into human‐environment interactions and key pressures affecting the socio‐economic livelihoods of local farmers. These learnings combined with the CZS data identified knowledge exchange (KE) opportunities to unravel diverse factors within the Land‐Water‐Food Nexus, that could directly improve local livelihoods and environmental conditions, such as reduction in fertilizer use, contributing toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and environmental policies. Through two‐way local KE, the local cultural context and socio‐economic considerations were more readily apparent alongside the environmental rationale for policy and local action to improve the sustainability of farming practices. Seeking solutions to understand and remediate CZ degradation caused by human‐decision making requires the co‐design of CZS that foregrounds human behavior and the opinions of those living in human modified CZOs. We show how a new transdisciplinary CZO approach for sustainable Earth futures can improve alignment of research with the practical needs of communities in stressed environments and their governments, supporting social‐ecological and planetary health research agendas and improving capacity to achieve SDGs. Plain Language Summary: Critical Zone Science (CZS) explores how landscapes evolve from below the Earth's surface to the top of trees, supporting life on Earth. CZS was established by studying pristine landscapes, with little or no human modification of the land, water and soil. These pristine natural systems are rare in our modern world. In this paper, we have proposed a new approach to CZS for studying the human‐modified landscapes that dominate our world. To help explain why this is needed, we have re‐drawn a diagram explaining how the critical zone works to show the role of humans. We also give examples of research in three regions of China where we learned from local farmers living in our study areas, to improve our scientific understanding and to try to align our research process to address the biggest pressures affecting their lives. This new approach to CZS can help focus research to directly support local people and improve our ability to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Key Points: Integrating local knowledge with critical zone science can improve interpretation of scientific findings and delivery of Sustainable Development GoalsThird generation science can improve alignment of research with the practical needs of communities and governmentsA new conceptual diagram for human‐modified critical zones is produced to illustrate transdisciplinary Critical Zone Observatories for sustainable Earth futures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing global emphasis on sustainable agriculture to reduce human impacts and improve delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With increasing investment in critical zone observatories (CZOs), it becomes important to understand how sustainable agricultural knowledge is produced, shared and used between different groups including farmers, scientists and government. To explore these issues, scientists leading the knowledge exchange (KE) component of a China‐UK CZO program studied three farming regions with contrasting geologies and varying economic levels, using a practice‐based research method. We demonstrate how additional funding for social science research allowed us to understand how farmers access and share farming knowledge through bonding, bridging and linking networks, and how this varies spatially, using interviews and survey questionnaires. Knowledge flows, barriers and opportunities for designing locally suited two‐way KE activities were identified. First, we highlight the need for a more locally, socially embedded and reflexive approach to build trust and better address pressing local environmental challenges. Second, we show how social science can usefully inform KE for collaborative, international development science, to draw on local knowledge, promote research impacts and capacity building while avoiding knowledge mismatches. Lastly, a blueprint for the design and funding of future CZOs, social‐ecological and planetary health research agendas that combine science, social science, local knowledge and KE is presented, including the need for substantive social science research to take place in addition to science research in human‐modified landscapes—enabling the CZ science to be better grounded in, informed by and useful to local communities. Plain Language Summary: There is a growing global need for sustainable agriculture to reduce human impacts on the environment. To do this, we need to have a better understanding of how sustainable agricultural knowledge is produced, shared and used between different groups including farmers, scientists and government. In this paper, we explored these issues in three farming regions in China, using a practice‐based research method where we interviewed and surveyed several 100 farmers. We found that in two of the three regions, farmers access and share farming knowledge through family networks, whilst in the third region farmers learned from a broader range of groups including scientists and government. We recommend that future science studies in stressed agricultural landscapes use a more local approach to build trust and carry out science that better addresses pressing local environmental challenges. This requires us to study people, the residents in these landscapes, using social science, alongside understanding how the landscape is functioning ecologically. Lastly, we propose a new "blueprint" for funding of future science, social‐ecological and planetary health research agendas that combine science, social science, local knowledge and knowledge exchange. This will enable environmental science to be better grounded in, informed by and useful to local communities. Key Points: A blueprint for future critical zone observatories and planetary health research is presented that combines science, social science and local knowledgeWe show how social science can usefully inform knowledge exchange (KE) for collaborative science, to build capacity while avoiding knowledge mismatchesSpatial variations in how farmers learn through bonding, bridging and linking networks exist, showing the need for a local approach to KE [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Grain‐for‐Green Program in China aims to restore sloping karst cropland severely degraded by intensive agriculture to secondary forest. Heterotrophic respiration (Rh) is a major process of carbon release from soils and is associated with the sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, we still do not have a comprehensive understanding of Rh and what drives it along soil profile horizons during the natural vegetative recovery process in typical karst soils. We investigated the responses of Rh (C release per gram of soil) and specific Rh (C release per gram of SOC) in soil horizons from the soil surface to bedrock at the different vegetation recovery stages in a karst region. Coincident soil microbial properties (e.g., bacterial and fungal abundance, total microbial biomass, potential enzyme activities) and physicochemical properties were quantified. Vegetation restoration after cropland abandonment significantly increased Rh rates due to increased soil nutrients and microbial biomass, bacterial abundances, and hydrolase activities (all, p < 0.05). The rates of Rh enhanced in sloping cropland (SC) from the soil surface to bedrock but reduced in the recovering stages (ASC: abandoned sloping cropland and SF: secondary forest) and primary forest (PF). The specific Rh between SF (1.34 mg CO2‐C g−1SOC d−1) and PF (1.32 mg CO2‐C g−1SOC d−1) were not significantly different but both of them were greater than those in SC (0.79 mg CO2‐C g−1SOC d−1) and ASC (0.8 mg CO2‐C g−1SOC d−1). Soil physicochemical properties and microbial properties explained approximately 48% and 22% of the variations in Rh along vegetation recovery, respectively. Nitrogen to phosphorus stoichiometry exerted the most direct and positive effects on Rh, suggesting the importance of managing soil nutrient status to regulate carbon decomposition during vegetation recovery in karst soils. The increased microbial biomass was the most important microbial factor regulating Rh in later vegetation recovery phases. Our results provide scientific insight into the impact of vegetation restoration on Rh in degraded ecosystems, which is important for reducing carbon loss in karst soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial necromass is a large and persistent component of soil organic carbon (SOC), especially under croplands. The effects of cropland management on microbial necromass accumulation and its contribution to SOC have been measured in individual studies but have not yet been summarized on the global scale. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 481‐paired measurements from cropland soils to examine the management effects on microbial necromass and identify the optimal conditions for its accumulation. Nitrogen fertilization increased total microbial necromass C by 12%, cover crops by 14%, no or reduced tillage (NT/RT) by 20%, manure by 21%, and straw amendment by 21%. Microbial necromass accumulation was independent of biochar addition. NT/RT and straw amendment increased fungal necromass and its contribution to SOC more than bacterial necromass. Manure increased bacterial necromass higher than fungal, leading to decreased ratio of fungal‐to‐bacterial necromass. Greater microbial necromass increases after straw amendments were common under semi‐arid and in cool climates in soils with pH <8, and were proportional to the amount of straw input. In contrast, NT/RT increased microbial necromass mainly under warm and humid climates. Manure application increased microbial necromass irrespective of soil properties and climate. Management effects were especially strong when applied during medium (3–10 years) to long (10+ years) periods to soils with larger initial SOC contents, but were absent in sandy soils. Close positive links between microbial biomass, necromass and SOC indicate the important role of stabilized microbial products for C accrual. Microbial necromass contribution to SOC increment (accumulation efficiency) under NT/RT, cover crops, manure and straw amendment ranged from 45% to 52%, which was 9%–16% larger than under N fertilization. In summary, long‐term cropland management increases SOC by enhancing microbial necromass accumulation, and optimizing microbial necromass accumulation and its contribution to SOC sequestration requires site‐specific management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fate of organic carbon deposited in floodplain sediments is an important control on the magnitude and direction of the carbon flux from anthropogenically accelerated erosion and channelization of the riverine network. Globally, carbon deposition rates and mean residence time (MRT) within different geomorphic settings remains poorly constrained. We sampled soil profiles to 0.8 m depth from two geomorphic zones: active channel belt (ACB) and lowland floodplain, under long‐term pasture adjacent to the river Culm in SW England, UK. We evaluated sedimentation rates and carbon storage using fallout radionuclide 137Cs, particle size and total carbon analyses. Variation in decomposition was assessed via empirical (soil aggregate size, density fractionation combined with natural abundance 13C analysis) and modelling simulation (using the RothC model and catchment implications explored using a floodplain evolution model). Sedimentation and carbon accumulation rates were 5–6 times greater in the ACB than the floodplain. Carbon decomposition rates also varied with geomorphic setting. In floodplain cores, faster decomposition rates were indicated by greater 13C‐enrichment and subsoils dominated by mineral‐associated soil organic carbon. Whereas, in the ACB, carbon was less processed and 13C‐depleted, with light fraction and macroaggregate‐carbon throughout the cores, and RothC modelled decomposition rates were 4‐fold less than lowland floodplain cores. Including the ACB in floodplain carbon MRT calculations increased overall MRT by 10%. The major differences in the balance of sedimentation and decomposition rates between active and inactive floodplains suggests the relative extent of these contrasting zones is critical to the overall carbon balance. Restoration projects could enhance soil carbon storage by maximizing active floodplain areas by increasing river channel complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which soil erosion is a net source or sink of carbon globally remains unresolved but has the potential to play a key role in determining the magnitude of CO2 emissions from land‐use change in rapidly eroding landscapes. The effects of soil erosion on carbon storage in low‐input agricultural systems, in acknowledged global soil erosion hotspots in developing countries, are especially poorly understood. Working in one such hotspot, the Indian Himalaya, we measured and modelled field‐scale soil budgets, to quantify erosion‐induced changes in soil carbon storage. In addition, we used long‐term (1‐year) incubations of separate and mixed soil horizons to better understand the mechanisms controlling erosion‐induced changes in soil carbon cycling. We demonstrate that high rates of soil erosion did not promote a net carbon loss to the atmosphere at the field scale. Furthermore, our experiments showed that rates of decomposition in the organic matter‐rich subsoil layers in depositional areas were lower per unit of soil carbon than from other landscape positions; however, these rates could be increased by mixing with topsoils. The results indicate that, the burial of soil carbon, and separation from fresh carbon inputs, led to reduced rates of decomposition offsetting potential carbon losses during soil erosion and transport within the cultivated fields. We conclude that the high rates of erosion experienced in these Himalayan soils do not, in isolation, drive substantial emissions of organic carbon, and there is the potential to promote carbon storage through sustainable agricultural practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural grass cultivars bred for increased forage yield commonly have extensive root systems. As roots are an important input of organic matter into the soil, it follows that such cultivars could lead to important increases in soil organic carbon (SOC), but this, and the mechanisms involved, are poorly understood with little empirical field evidence. We assessed the effect of two cultivars, Lolium perenne L. cv. "AberMagic" and L. perenne L. × Festuca pratensis Huds. cv. "Prior", in comparison with mixed‐species permanent pasture ("Pasture") in a field experiment on temperate alluvial soil in the southwest UK. Root and SOC stocks, and specific plant‐derived lipids as mechanistic biomarkers for shoot and root inputs of C, were measured on intact 1‐m volumetric soil cores collected on four dates in 2013–2015. Total grass yields were greater for both grass cultivars (40–43 Mg ha−1) than Pasture (39 Mg ha−1), and by 2015 root stocks in the upper 0.1 m were significantly greater by more than 4.7 Mg ha−1. At 0.1–0.3 m depth, SOC stocks (per 0.1‐m depth) were significantly greater under the two grass cultivars (24–50 Mg ha−1) compared to Pasture (18–32 Mg ha−1). In the full 1‐m profile, mean SOC stocks were 137, 133 and 110 Mg ha−1 for AberMagic, Prior and Pasture, respectively, matching root biomass distribution. Odd‐chain n‐alkane concentrations were significantly greater for shoots than roots (274 vs. 64 mg kg−1, respectively), and roots had significantly greater concentrations than shoots of even‐chain hydroxy fatty acids (1829 vs. 305 mg kg−1, respectively) and diacids (317 vs. 93 mg kg−1, respectively). This confirmed lipids as candidate biomarkers for distinguishing shoot and root inputs into the soil, with roots being the dominant source of SOC. Based on the observations of increased forage yield and SOC stock, high‐yielding forage grass cultivars can contribute to future strategies for climate‐smart agriculture in grassland‐dominated temperate regions. Highlights: Selected root traits for increased depth, density and diameter may increase SOC in grassland.The effect of two high‐yielding forage grass cultivars were assessed in a field trial.Fast‐growing, high‐yielding cultivars enhanced root and SOC stocks compared to typical pasture.Lipid biomarkers confirmed that root inputs were the predominant C input to soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

But this is far from the full value that could be extracted from a dataset, if the ingenuity of other researchers, perhaps combined with other datasets, could be applied to the dataset. Data articles should give sufficient information to enable other scientists, whether soil scientists or those in related disciplines, to properly use the datasets in their own research. These datasets are sometimes re-used or integrated with other datasets by the original researchers or selected collaborators. [Extracted from the article]