Soils are subject to varying degrees of direct or indirect human disturbance, constituting a major global change driver. Factoring out natural from direct and indirect human influence is not always ...straightforward, but some human activities have clear impacts. These include land‐use change, land management and land degradation (erosion, compaction, sealing and salinization). The intensity of land use also exerts a great impact on soils, and soils are also subject to indirect impacts arising from human activity, such as acid deposition (sulphur and nitrogen) and heavy metal pollution. In this critical review, we report the state‐of‐the‐art understanding of these global change pressures on soils, identify knowledge gaps and research challenges and highlight actions and policies to minimize adverse environmental impacts arising from these global change drivers. Soils are central to considerations of what constitutes sustainable intensification. Therefore, ensuring that vulnerable and high environmental value soils are considered when protecting important habitats and ecosystems, will help to reduce the pressure on land from global change drivers. To ensure that soils are protected as part of wider environmental efforts, a global soil resilience programme should be considered, to monitor, recover or sustain soil fertility and function, and to enhance the ecosystem services provided by soils. Soils cannot, and should not, be considered in isolation of the ecosystems that they underpin and vice versa. The role of soils in supporting ecosystems and natural capital needs greater recognition. The lasting legacy of the International Year of Soils in 2015 should be to put soils at the centre of policy supporting environmental protection and sustainable development.
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in surface waters have increased across much of Europe and North America, with implications for the terrestrial carbon balance, aquatic ecosystem ...functioning, water treatment costs and human health. Over the past decade, many hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon, from changing climate and land management to eutrophication and acid deposition. Resolution of this debate has been hindered by a reliance on correlative analyses of time series data, and a lack of robust experimental testing of proposed mechanisms. In a 4 year, four‐site replicated field experiment involving both acidifying and deacidifying treatments, we tested the hypothesis that DOC leaching was previously suppressed by high levels of soil acidity in peat and organo‐mineral soils, and therefore that observed DOC increases a consequence of decreasing soil acidity. We observed a consistent, positive relationship between DOC and acidity change at all sites. Responses were described by similar hyperbolic relationships between standardized changes in DOC and hydrogen ion concentrations at all sites, suggesting potentially general applicability. These relationships explained a substantial proportion of observed changes in peak DOC concentrations in nearby monitoring streams, and application to a UK‐wide upland soil pH dataset suggests that recovery from acidification alone could have led to soil solution DOC increases in the range 46–126% by habitat type since 1978. Our findings raise the possibility that changing soil acidity may have wider impacts on ecosystem carbon balances. Decreasing sulphur deposition may be accelerating terrestrial carbon loss, and returning surface waters to a natural, high‐DOC condition.
Soils are the largest terrestrial pool of organic carbon, with up to 50% of soil organic carbon (SOC) stored below 30 cm. Knowledge of the impact of land use on the mechanisms by which SOC is stored ...in subsoils is critical to developing and delivering strategies to mitigate climate change. We characterized SOC under arable, grassland, and deciduous woodland land uses in lowland England to determine how land use affects the mechanisms by which topsoil and subsoil SOC are protected. Soil organic matter (SOM) physical fractionation and ammonium oxalate extractable Al, Fe and Mn were analysed to elucidate protection mechanisms. Results revealed that the mineral‐free particulate organic matter (fPOM) fraction was significantly greater in both the topsoil and subsoil under woodland than under grassland or arable. The mineral‐associated organic carbon (MinOC) fraction was proportionally greater in the subsoil compared with topsoil under all land uses, with arable >grassland > woodland. These findings indicate that land use affects the extent to which SOC is protected, with woodlands containing a higher proportion of carbon that has less protection from decomposition. Subsoil SOC is protected from decomposition by organo‐mineral interactions with amorphous Al, Fe and Mn, and may be susceptible to future pH shifts as a result of land use change. This study highlights the need to consider the impact of land use change on SOC, given policy and public interest in woodland planting for climate change mitigation.
Mangrove forests capture and store exceptionally large amounts of carbon and are increasingly recognised as an important ecosystem for carbon sequestration. Yet land-use change in the tropics ...threatens this ecosystem and its critical 'blue carbon' (carbon stored in marine and coastal habitats) stores. The expansion of shrimp aquaculture is among the major causes of mangrove loss globally. Here, we assess the impact of mangrove to shrimp pond conversion on ecosystem carbon stocks, and carbon losses and gains over time after ponds are abandoned. Our assessment is based on an intensive field inventory of carbon stocks at a coastal setting in Thailand. We show that although up to 70% of ecosystem carbon is lost when mangroves are converted to shrimp ponds, some abandoned ponds contain deep mangrove soils (>2.5 m) and large carbon reservoirs exceeding 865 t carbon per hectare. We also found a positive recovery trajectory for carbon stocks in the upper soil layer (0-15 cm) of a chronosequence of abandoned ponds, associated with natural mangrove regeneration. Our data suggest that mangrove carbon pools can rebuild in abandoned ponds over time in areas exposed to tidal flushing.
Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is associated with pancreatic islet dysfunction. Loss of β-cell identity has been implicated via dedifferentiation or conversion to other pancreatic endocrine cell types. How ...these transitions contribute to the onset and progression of T2DM in vivo is unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the degree of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition occurring in α and β cells in vivo and to relate this to diabetes-associated (patho)physiological conditions. The proportion of islet cells expressing the mesenchymal marker vimentin was determined by immunohistochemistry and quantitative morphometry in specimens of pancreas from human donors with T2DM (n = 28) and without diabetes (ND, n = 38) and in non-human primates at different stages of the diabetic syndrome: normoglycaemic (ND, n = 4), obese, hyperinsulinaemic (HI, n = 4) and hyperglycaemic (DM, n = 8). Vimentin co-localised more frequently with glucagon (α-cells) than with insulin (β-cells) in the human ND group (1.43% total α-cells, 0.98% total β-cells, median; P < 0.05); these proportions were higher in T2DM than ND (median 4.53% α-, 2.53% β-cells; P < 0.05). Vimentin-positive β-cells were not apoptotic, had reduced expression of Nkx6.1 and Pdx1, and were not associated with islet amyloidosis or with bihormonal expression (insulin + glucagon). In non-human primates, vimentin-positive β-cell proportion was larger in the diabetic than the ND group (6.85 vs 0.50%, medians respectively, P < 0.05), but was similar in ND and HI groups. In conclusion, islet cell expression of vimentin indicates a degree of plasticity and dedifferentiation with potential loss of cellular identity in diabetes. This could contribute to α- and β-cell dysfunction in T2DM.
The construction of flooding and flood risk management are complex and there is potential for dissonance between individual and institutional understanding and experience of both. In this article, we ...start by investigating how flooding is managed and the change in paradigm from flood defence to more adaptive approaches, which embed resilience into flood risk management. Using analysis of semi‐structured interviews with members of the flood authorities in England, we explore how flood management authorities construct ‘flooding’ and establish that it is often defined by in‐the‐moment impacts. Whilst these in‐the‐moment impacts are understood to be devastating, there is less appreciation of long‐term human impacts of living at risk of flooding. We uncover how the construction of ‘flood risk management’ by the flood authorities is complicated by factors, such as the construction of resilience, availability of funding, technical expertise and responsibility fragmentation that the Floods and Water Management Act (2010) has created. We conclude that the differing constructions of flooding and flood risk management between flood management authorities in England hinder how flooding is managed. Therefore, we propose that a more nuanced understanding of flooding and flood risk management is essential for effective partnership working between flood risk management authorities and communities.
Peatlands provide important ecosystem services including carbon storage and biodiversity conservation. Remote sensing shows potential for monitoring peatlands, but most off-the-shelf data products ...are developed for unsaturated environments and it is unclear how well they can perform in peatland ecosystems. Sphagnum moss is an important peatland genus with specific characteristics which can affect spectral reflectance, and we hypothesized that the prevalence of Sphagnum in a peatland could affect the spectral signature of the area. This article combines results from both laboratory and field experiments to assess the relationship between spectral indices and the moisture content and gross primary productivity (GPP) of peatland (blanket bog) vegetation species. The aim was to consider how well the selected indices perform under a range of conditions, and whether Sphagnum has a significant impact on the relationships tested. We found that both water indices tested normalized difference water index (NDWI) and floating water band index (fWBI) were sensitive to the water content changes in Sphagnum moss in the laboratory, and there was little difference between them. Most of the vegetation indices tested the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), structure insensitive pigment index (SIPI), and chlorophyll index (CIm) were found to have a strong relationship with GPP both in the laboratory and in the field. The NDVI and EVI are useful for large-scale estimation of GPP, but are sensitive to the proportion of Sphagnum present. The CIm is less affected by different species proportions and might therefore be the best to use in areas where vegetation species cover is unknown. The photochemical reflectance index (PRI) is shown to be best suited to small-scale studies of single species.
Drought conditions are expected to increase in frequency and severity as the climate changes, representing a threat to carbon sequestered in peat soils. Downstream water treatment works are also at ...risk of regulatory compliance failures and higher treatment costs due to the increase in riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) often observed after droughts. More frequent droughts may also shift dominant vegetation in peatlands from Sphagnum moss to more drought-tolerant species. This paper examines the impact of drought on the production and treatability of DOC from four vegetation litters (Calluna vulgaris, Juncus effusus, Molinia caerulea and Sphagnum spp.) and a peat soil. We found that mild droughts caused a 39.6 % increase in DOC production from peat and that peat DOC that had been exposed to oxygen was harder to remove by conventional water treatment processes (coagulation/flocculation). Drought had no effect on the amount of DOC production from vegetation litters; however large variation was observed between typical peatland species (Sphagnum and Calluna) and drought-tolerant grassland species (Juncus and Molinia), with the latter producing more DOC per unit weight. This would therefore suggest the increase in riverine DOC often observed post-drought is due entirely to soil microbial processes and DOC solubility rather than litter layer effects. Long-term shifts in species diversity may, therefore, be the most important impact of drought on litter layer DOC flux, whereas pulses related to drought may be observed in peat soils and are likely to become more common in the future. These results provide evidence in support of catchment management which increases the resilience of peat soils to drought, such as ditch blocking to raise water tables.
It is increasingly clear that increases in dissolved organic carbon in upland waters in recent decades have often been dominated by acid deposition, but reasons for substantial variation in rates of ...change remain unclear. This paper focuses on the extent to which spatial properties, such as variation in soil properties, atmospheric deposition and climate, affect the sensitivity of DOC concentrations in soil water. The purpose is to i) examine evidence for differences in site average concentrations and trends in soil water DOC between sites with contrasting ecosystem properties, i.e. vegetation cover and soil type, and ii) identify the wider combination of site characteristics that best explain variation in these DOC metrics between sites. We collated soil water and deposition chemistry, soil chemistry and meteorological data from 15 long-term UK monitoring sites (1992–2010) covering a range of soils, vegetation, climate and acid deposition levels. Mineral soils under forests showed the greatest range of long-term mean DOC concentrations and trends. Regression analysis indicated that acid and sea-salt deposition, and soil sensitivity to acidification were the factors most strongly associated with spatial variation in mean DOC concentrations. Spatial variation in DOC trends were best explained by Al saturation and water flux. Overall, the sensitivity of DOC release from soil to changes in pollutant deposition could be related to the type of vegetation cover and soils chemistry properties, such as Al saturation, divalent base cation content and hydrological regime. The identification of the ecosystem properties that appear most influential in modifying DOC production and responses to long-term drivers, helps elucidate potential mechanistic explanations for differences in DOC dynamics across seemingly similar ecosystems, and points to the importance of DOC mobility in regulating its dynamics.
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•We gathered the longest long-term deposition and soil water chemistry records in the UK from 1992-2010 across 15 sites•Spatial pattern in average DOC concentrations is explained by spatial pattern in atmospheric deposition and soil buffering•Spatial pattern in long-term DOC trends is best explained by soil Al (+effect) and effective rainfall or leaching (-effect)•Analysis seeks to reconcile the spatial properties regulating DOC to help reconcile different trends in response to declining acid deposition
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