Shpeed dating

I learned about a couple cool new soils studies this week in a TERRIBLE speed date session this week.

The first study was on decomposers and how they interact with each other and their effects on plant & herbivore performance. The study looked at on particular fungus and one particular species of earthworm. The study looked at the effect these two species had, separately and in conjunction with one another, on winter wheat and aphids. The study found that while both decomposers increased nutrient uptake in both wheat and aphids, their effectiveness when both fungi and worms were present was much more than the sum of their totals. This shows that while decomposition is important in soil nutrient formation, the process (or diversity of them) by which it occurs is also important. This has some pretty interesting implications in both agriculture and land management, as far as soil additives to increase soil productivity.

The second study I heard about involved wildfires and legumes. Wildfires have become more prevalent and much more intense in recent years due to climate change. This study looked at how forest legumes are common pioneer species after fires. The quick reestablishment of these legumes can replace fixed nitrogen lost in wildfire. The abundance of forest understory legumes can be a good indicator of fixed N in soil. The study then concludes that forest understory legumes can also be a good indicator of a forest's carbon sequestration potential, based on the amount of fixed N in the soil. I REALLY like this study, because it involves fire.

The last study I heard about had to do with soil microbe's response to climate change. This study took two soils samples from an oak/grassland ecosystem, one in oak canopy, the other in open grassland, and transplanted them into each others location. The study then analyzed microbial activity over the next two years in the samples. They found that the open grassland soil, which was adapted to more extreme temperature swings and less moisture, did not have much alteration in microbial activity when placed in oak canopy. However, the oak canopy soil had several alterations occur when placed in an open grassland. Microbial mass and enzyme activity decreased significantly in this sample. The study found that this supported its hypothesis that soil microbial function is altered when subjected to a new climate. This is interesting, hopefully not in a terrible earth destroying way as climates continue the "change" (get really hot).

Isn't that all pretty boring? Like I said, TERRIBLE speed date session.

Basic soils and acid rain

Acid rain is a problem arising from sulfur dioxide air pollution mainly due to the burning of coal. This rainwater can have severely detrimental effects on vegetation and soils. Luckily some soils can counteract the effects of acid rain if their basic enough. Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is the main detrimental component of acid rain. Soils with a high CEC (basic soils) can remove the hydrogen ions from sulfuric acid, effectively neutralizing acidic rainwater before it arrives in streams and aquifers. The unfortunate result of this reaction is that there are less cations in the soil available as vegetative nutrients. So while water is protected, the process is still detrimental to soils.

Intro

Hi,
My name's Mark Troxel, and I'm from Parkdale, OR, which is just south of Hood River. I grew up surrounded by pear orchards and hay fields, so my initial experience with soil was mostly working and fertilizing fields and irrigation repair and maintenance. I'm a junior in the NR program at Cascades, and after having spent my freshman year in Corvallis I feel like this is definitely the place to get your degree. I'm taking this class firstly because Cascades NR majors got hosed this term and we don't have much choice, but I'm pumped to learn more about what soils actually do, as opposed to just learning what they are in the basic soils class. I've spent the last six years working for the Oregon Dept. of Forestry in the summertime and one thing I've noticed is that areas that have burned in wildfires in previous years (Providing they didn't completely torch off) are by far the healthiest part of our forests and rangelands. I'm sure there's some soil processes at work there, and I'd like to learn a LOT more about them.