myResearchSpace

Musings on:Stewart CE, Paustian K, Conant RT, Plant AF, Six A. 2007. Soil carbon saturation: concept, evidence and evaluation. Biogeochemistry 86:19-31. On first glance I thought that this was too obvious to be significant - if carbon input fluxes (e.g. litter fall) are increased (in a single step), then of course soil carbon will increase, but ...

This one's from 21 May 2007: Davidson EA, Janssens IA (2006) Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature, 440:165-173. A useful article on the face of it, especially in light of Article 3.4 of Kyoto which allows for carbon credits on the basis of increased soil carbon storage. It provides a ...

Article for 23 April 2007:Kelleher BP, Simpson AJ, 2006. Humic substances in soils: are they really chemically distinct? Environ. Sci. Technol. 40, 4605-4611. For a long time it has been assumed that the humic substances are a distinct class of organic materials in soils and other natural systems, many workers believing them to be poorly ordered ...

Article for 26 March 2007:  Meir P, Cox P, Grace J. 2006.The influence of terrestrial ecosystems on climate. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:254-260. This is a review article that promised a stimulating discussion of the global function of soils and their response to one of the most significant (or at least newsworthy) ...

Article for 7 May 2007: Kennedy M, Droser M, Mayer LM, Pevear D, Mrofka D. 2006. Late Precambrian oxygenation: inception of the clay mineral factory. Science 311, 1446-1449. Quote: ''...the advent of soils sufficiently biotic for clay formation likely predated complex terrestrial ecosystems.''  Many articles emphasise the ...