Soil, the living terrestrial skin of the Earth, plays a central role in supporting life and is home
to an unimaginable diversity of microorganisms. This review explores key drivers for …

Salinization is one of the most serious land degradation problems facing world. Salinity
results in poor plant growth and low soil microbial activity due to osmotic stress and toxic …

Climate change scenarios forecast increased aridity in large areas worldwide with
potentially important effects on nutrient availability and plant growth. Plant nitrogen and …

The microbial response to summer desiccation reflects adaptation strategies, setting the
stage for a large rainfall-induced soil CO2 pulse upon rewetting, an important component of …

Soil moisture strongly affects the dynamics of soil organic matter and is an important
environmental variable in all models predicting changes in soil carbon stocks from site to …

Until recently, the common view of the terrestrial nitrogen cycle had been driven by two core
assumptions—plants use only inorganic N and they compete poorly against soil microbes …

Microorganisms have a variety of evolutionary adaptations and physiological acclimation
mechanisms that allow them to survive and remain active in the face of environmental stress …

The influence of biochar on nitrogen (N) transformation processes in soil is not fully
understood. This study assessed the influence of four biochars (wood and poultry manure …

Often referred to as the “building blocks of proteins”, the 20 canonical proteinogenic amino
acids are ubiquitous in biological systems as the functional units in proteins. Sometimes …

The episodic nature of water availability in arid and semiarid ecosystems has significant
consequences on belowground carbon and nutrient cycling. Pulsed water events directly …