ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5693-9306
Current Organisation
University of Dundee
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Publisher: Geological Society of London
Date: 2004
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-04-2015
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2003
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-06-2013
Abstract: Accelerated soil erosion threatens sustainable food production by degrading the physical and biogeochemical functioning of arable field soils and lowering crop yields. Much less recognized is the potential for soil erosion to impinge on wider ecosystem services including the weed seedbank that underpins much of the bio ersity in temperate agro-ecosystems of northern Europe. This paper assesses the likely impact of soil erosion on the composition and abundance of the arable weed seedbank, and presents an overview of erosion mechanisms affecting arable land coupled with an outline of the main factors influencing arable weed seedbank abundance and composition. The information presented on both these sets of processes enables assessment of the likely impact of soil erosion on arable seedbank bio ersity at the field and landscape scales. Combining mean annual net erosion rates of c. 7 t ha −1 yr −1 and seedbank densities c. 2000 seeds m −2 , both figures broadly representative of UK conditions, produces an average annual loss of the field seed inventory of c. 0.5% yr −1 . Where seedbank abundance is otherwise relatively stable (i.e. losses through death, germination and weed control are largely balanced by gain through seed rain), average soil loss rates could export c. 10% of the arable weed seedbank in 20 years. Net erosion data conceal within-field sediment deposition within swales, foot slopes, buffer strips and hedgerows which provides a further dimension of spatial restructuring of weed assemblages. Seed size and shape also influence hydrodynamic behaviour through selective entrainment and preferential deposition. It is concluded that earth surface processes play an under-recognized role in structuring field-scale weed-based bio ersity in agro-ecosystems over decadal timescales.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2013
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 10-11-2013
Abstract: Abstract. Soil is a key asset of natural capital, providing a myriad of goods and ecosystem services that sustain life through regulating, supporting and provisioning roles, delivered by chemical, physical and biological processes. One of the greatest threats to soil is accelerated erosion, which raises a natural process to unsustainable levels, and has downstream consequences (e.g.~economic, environmental and social). Global intensification of agroecosystems is a recognised major cause of soil erosion which, in light of predicted population growth and increased demand for food security, will continue or increase. Transport and redistribution of biota by soil erosion has hitherto been ignored and thus is poorly understood. With the move to sustainable intensification this is a key knowledge gap that needs to be addressed. Here we highlight the erosion-energy and effective-erosion-depth continuum in soils, differentiating between different forms of soil erosion, and argue that nematodes are an appropriate model taxa to investigate impacts of erosion on soil biota across scales. We review the different known mechanisms of soil erosion that impact on soil biota in general, and nematodes in particular, and highlight the few detailed studies, primarily from tropical regions, that have considered soil biota. Based on the limited literature and using nematodes as a model organism we outline future research priorities to initially address the important interrelationships between soil erosion processes and soil biota.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for John Rowan.