Abstract Background In the Mediterranean climate, plants have evolved under conditions of
low soil-water and nutrient availabilities and have acquired a series of adaptive traits that, in …

The field of soil ecology has relatively few fundamental unifying principles that can be used
to explain and predict patterns and processes in belowground ecosystems. Here we …

Several studies have shown multiple confounding factors influencing soil respiration in the
field, which often hampers a correct separation and interpretation of the different …

Variation between soils in the response to temperature of net nitrogen (N) mineralization
and nitrification was investigated in laboratory incubations. The soils, which were sampled …

The long-term effects of temperature on soil C mineralisation were investigated in two
experiments using 14C labelled wheat straw incubated in organic soils from five coniferous …

Temperature is a major environmental variable influencing microbial respiration in soils.
Thus, understanding how heterotrophic processes in soils may respond to potential …

The objective of this work was to investigate the usefulness of near infrared reflectance
spectroscopy (NIRS) in determining some C and N fractions of soils: labile compounds …

Soil organic carbon (SOC) actively participates in the global carbon (C) cycle. Despite much
research, however, our understanding of the temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon …

The dynamics of plant decomposition in the soil were analysed in an altitudinal transect from
65 to 3968m under tropical conditions. Six sites were studied, with a mean annual …

In addition to soil physiochemical factors enumerated in Chapter 1 (this Vol.), the availability
of nutrients to vegetation in natural ecosystems is also dependent on the nutrients being …