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Applied Sciences
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Soil Quality in Different Environments
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Soil Quality in Different Environments

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 4887

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Giulia Maisto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Biologia, Universita' degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Interests: soil contamination; soil bacterial and fungal biomass; soil microarthropods; soil DNA; soil functionality; gas exchange; soil quality index
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil provides the main foundation for terrestrial ecosystems. Over recent decades, a significant increase in soil-degradation processes, driven or exacerbated by human activity, has occurred. In particular, soils are affected by climate change, pollution, agriculture and fires that negatively impact their quality.

Many organisms quickly respond to soil abiotic properties. Therefore, the integration of abiotic and biotic properties could provide useful information for the evaluation of soil quality and, in turn, preserving it. To date, fundamental challenges for better understanding the relationships between soil-organism distributions or functions and soil abiotic properties are still present. Research involved in the study of soil quality is welcome in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Giulia Maisto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Structural and functional diversity
  • Soil contamination
  • Soil bacterial and fungal biomass
  • Soil microarthropods
  • Soil DNA
  • Soil functionality
  • Gas exchange
  • Soil quality index

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6654 KiB  
Article
Role of Seasonality and Fire in Regulating the Enzymatic Activities in Soils Covered by Different Vegetation in a Mediterranean Area
by Valeria Memoli, Lucia Santorufo, Giorgia Santini, Paola Musella, Rossella Barile, Anna De Marco, Gabriella Di Natale, Marco Trifuoggi and Giulia Maisto
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(18), 8342; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11188342 - 08 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1266
Abstract
As they quickly respond to environmental conditions, soil enzymes, involved in nutrient cycles, are considered good indicators of soil quality. The Mediterranean area is a peculiar environment for climatic conditions and for fire frequency. Therefore, the research aimed to evaluate the role of [...] Read more.
As they quickly respond to environmental conditions, soil enzymes, involved in nutrient cycles, are considered good indicators of soil quality. The Mediterranean area is a peculiar environment for climatic conditions and for fire frequency. Therefore, the research aimed to evaluate the role of seasonality and fire on enzymatic activities (i.e., hydrolase, dehydrogenase, and β-glucosidase) in soils covered by herbs, black locust, pine, and holm oak. In addition, the main soil abiotic properties that drive the enzymatic activities were also investigated. In order to achieve the aims, surface soils were collected in unburnt and burnt areas and characterized for water and organic matter contents, pH, concentrations of C and N, and available fractions of Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, and Pb. The results highlighted that the soil enzymatic activities were mainly affected by seasonality more than by fire; in unburnt soils, their main drivers were nutrient availabilities, whereas, in burnt soils they were pH, water and organic matter contents, C and N concentrations, and both nutrient and metal availabilities. Finally, holm oak, as compared with herbs, pine, and black locust, conferred higher stability to soils that were affected by seasonality and fire. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Quality in Different Environments)
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19 pages, 987 KiB  
Article
Developmental History of Soil Concepts from a Scientific Perspective
by Katsutoshi Mizuta, Sabine Grunwald, Wendell P. Cropper, Jr. and Allan R. Bacon
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 4275; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11094275 - 09 May 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3105
Abstract
Various soil concepts have emerged since the beginning of the twentieth century, with some shared similarities. These concepts have contributed to a rise in the awareness of protecting limited soil resources, but not every idea has equally gained widespread attention from scientists. The [...] Read more.
Various soil concepts have emerged since the beginning of the twentieth century, with some shared similarities. These concepts have contributed to a rise in the awareness of protecting limited soil resources, but not every idea has equally gained widespread attention from scientists. The purpose of this study was to document the developmental history of 10 soil concepts from 1900 to 2018 and investigate their growth/decline. Articles containing words related to the selected soil concepts in titles, abstracts, or publication contents available in the Web of Science were examined. “Soil production” was the oldest concept, found in a paper published in 1910, followed chronologically in the literature by soil care, fertility, conservation, quality, health, protection, security, sustainability, and resilience. Most of the concepts were initially found in non-soil-science journals that predated publications in soil science journals, which implies slowness of the soil science community’s adoption. The statistical publication trend for each concept over time was analyzed and interpreted based on diffusion of innovation theory. The results suggest that all of the soil concepts experienced a statistically positive/upward shift (p < 0.01) over time. In particular, soil concepts cited in soil science journals tended to maintain their momentum and communal value over time in soil science research, except the soil care concept. Applications of soil concept research based on collaboration between scientists of different nationalities, affiliations, and research expertise would further increase the possibility of citation frequency and foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Quality in Different Environments)
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