In the pursuit of high crop yields, modern intensive agricultural cropping systems have generally emphasised larger inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) than of potassium (K).China is the world's largest consumer of chemical fertilizers, with a strong reliance on imports of mineral K fertilizer up to 50 %. Inexpensive and renewable straw-K recycling is crucial for enhancing soil K fertility and carbon (C) sequestration. Here, national management networks for inorg...
Uncontrolled ore mining and smelting operations have led to the leaching of multi-metal contaminants, resulting in heavy metal contamination of surrounding soils. For paddy fields, heavy metal contamination could result in their accumulation in rice grains and pose a major threat to human hea...Naturally-occurring colloids and nanoparticles are crucial in transporting heavy metal contaminants in soil-water systems. However, information on particle-bound metals’ size distribution and elemental composition in paddy soils under redox-fluctuation is scarce. Here, Prof. Longhua WU from ...
The extensive use and long-term discharge of PFASs have resulted in their frequent detections in a variety of environmental media, including groundwater, surface water, soil, air, organisms and human blood, both in industrial and non-industrial areas.The co-occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) in groundwater has drawn increased attention in recent years. No studies have been conducted concerning the oxidative degradation of PFASs and/or CAHs by in situ thermally activated ...
Nitrogen (N), an essential element for organisms, is required for the synthesis of key cellular molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids.Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) driven by diazotrophs is a fundamental process underpinning the primary productivity of terrestrial ecosystems and plays a pivotal role in the global nitrogen cycle. However, the relationships between BNF function and soil diazotroph taxa with different nich...
Nanomaterials (NMs) have at least one dimension in the nanoscale range of 1–100 nm. Compared with traditional materials, NMs have larger specific surface areas, higher reactivity, unique structures, and extraordinary photoelectric properties. Soil is the primary sink for released nanomaterials (NMs), but the understanding of the impacts of NMs on the soil microbiome remains fragmented. Moreover, there is currently lack of systematic approaches to evaluate the microbial ecological risks of NMs. In this study, Prof. Ying TENG and hi...
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest carbon pool in terrestrial ecosystems and is closely associated with the global carbon cycle through decomposition and accumulation processes. SOC is crucial to changing soil physicochemical and biological properties, thus governing the soil ecosystem ...Iron oxides supposedly provide physicochemical protection for soil organic carbon (SOC) under anoxic conditions. Likewise, biochar can modulate the composition of soil microbial communities. However, how Fe oxides and microbial communities influence the fate of SOC with biochar amendment rema...
