Spreading topsoil encourages ecological restoration on embankments: soil fertility, microbial activity and vegetation cover.

The construction of linear transport infrastructure has severe effects on ecosystem functions and properties, and the restoration of the associated roadslopes contributes to reduce its impact. This restoration is usually approached from the perspective of plant cover regeneration, ignoring plant-soil interactions and the consequences for plant growth. The addition of a 30 cm layer of topsoil is a common practice in roadslope restoration projects to increase vegetation recovery.

Responses of arthropod fauna assemblages to goat grazing management in northern Spanish heathlands.

Changes in arthropod fauna assemblages after different goat grazing treatments (breeds and stocking rates) and responses to grazing cessation were studied in a heath-gorse shrubland located in northern Spain. Three treatments (low grazing pressure and high grazing pressure with Cashmere breed and high grazing pressure with local Celtiberic breed) with three replicates were randomly allocated to nine plots. Fauna data were collected three times per year during 3 grazing yr (2003, 2004, and 2005) and three times during 2007, i.