Research

Research demonstrates that chemical contaminants found in wastewater and sewage sludge (aka biosolids) may accumulate in plants.  (EHN Source) 

The Alaska DOT wants a Rapid Wetlands Functional Assessment method that can be used on linear projects in the state. Currently, Alaska does not have a standardized rapid wetlands functional assessment method.

It is rare to see a blog post on soil science research

Arsenic contaminated drinking water is a huge problem in Bangladesh. Scott alerts us to the news that the critical source of the contamination has been discovered: ponds excavated to provide material for flood protection.

Prior to the Civil War, native soil fertility was so high it was a "problem" for early Illinois farmers.

How? Several ways, but especially important is that accumulated charcoal, a product of millenia of prairie fires, had stimulated nitrogen fixation. A ready supply of fixed nitrogen supported organic matter accumulation. Released by tillage, organic matter declined and nutrient availability spiked to levels not experienced since.

Fifteen years ago, Dutch, Danish and German scientists found that anammox reactions, rather than denitrification, were operating in a low-oxygen zone off the coast of Peru. Their assertion that anamox dominated on a global scale was widely accepted, and anammox replaced denitrification as the dominant pathway in N cycling models. Until now.

Many of the soils in Southcentral Alaska, west of Cook Inlet, are derived from volcanic ash parent material. Development projects in the region will rely upon wetland delineation for permitting, but evidence of observed soil characteristics that meet the regulatory standards for wetland soils (those with anaerobic conditions) may not be readily measurable or observable in soils of volcanic ash-derived parent material. These soils, when saturated, frequently present few or no observable hydric soil features as described in the USACE Alaska Supplement of the Wetland Delineation Manual.

Calling all experimental hydropedologists.

Bulk Density, a proxy for pore volume, is one of the more responsive and dynamic characteristics of soil. Much that is mediated by biology in soil is affected by the replenishment rate of atmospheric oxygen, which in turn is largely controlled by air-filled pore volume. Infiltration, seed germination, root extension: the list of soil performance characteristics intimately tied to bulk density is quite long. So when someone comes up with a new and promising way to measure bulk density, that is good news.

Mighty fascinating. One wonders at what point in history, ancient or modern, these various pathogens took hold.

The amount of carbon dioxide released from Australian savannah and grassland soils as temperatures rise may be lower than previously predicted by 20% when the relative contribution of black carbon is accounted for. Because sampling of black carbon worldwide is so sparse, and the values can vary widely, it is difficult to know how much of an effect black carbon could have on emissions estimates worldwide. (Source)

Invasive European earthworms can change the chemical nature of the carbon in North American forest litter and soils, potentially affecting the amount of carbon stored in forests, according to Purdue University researchers. (Source) Implied in the research is that invasive earthworms increase soil erosion potential.

Scientists in the US report (Open Access HTML) the first synthetic compound to catalyse a key step in the degradation of double bonds in aromatic rings.

Evolution isn’t just for living organisms.

New research suggests bacterial biofilms help preserve animal embryos and soft tissues in the fossil record.