Factors affecting ammonium capture by some Victorian lignites.

HighlightsVictorian lignites were assessed for their retention capacity using adsorption isotherms and N tracing. adsorption capacity of lignites increased (up to 3-fold) with pH, especially from pH 5 to 7.Biological immobilisation did not play a substantial role in the retention capacity of the lignites.

Divergent responses of soil organic carbon accumulation to 14 years of nitrogen addition in two typical subtropical forests.

Developing an understanding of the response of soil organic carbon (SOC) to N addition is critical to quantify and predict the terrestrial carbon uptake under increasing N deposition in the future. However, results from field studies on the response of SOC content and composition to N addition are highly variable across different ecosystems. The interpretation of SOC responses to N addition are often complicated by the differences in climate, soil substrate and other factors.

Impacts of land reclamation on tidal marsh 'blue carbon' stocks.

Tidal marsh ecosystems are among earth's most efficient natural organic carbon (C) sinks and provide myriad ecosystem services. However, approximately half have been 'reclaimed' - i.e.

Converting beach-cast seagrass wrack into biochar: A climate-friendly solution to a coastal problem.

Excessive accumulation of plant 'wrack' on beaches as a result of coastal development and beach modification (e.g. groin installation) is a global problem.

Biochemical suitability of crop residues for cellulosic ethanol: disincentives to nitrogen fertilization in corn agriculture.

Concerns about energy security and climate change have increased biofuel demand, particularly ethanol produced from cellulosic feedstocks (e.g., food crop residues).

Importance of mechanisms and processes of the stabilisation of soil organic matter for modelling carbon turnover.

This paper reviews current knowledge of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics with respect to physical protection, soil moisture and temperature, and recalcitrant carbon fractions (such as charcoal) in predominantly agricultural soils. These factors are discussed within the framework of current soil organic matter models. The importance of soil structure in the stabilisation of organic residues through physical protection has been documented previously in various studies.

Impact of remote protonation on 13C CPMAS NMR quantitation of charred and uncharred wood.

The impact of inefficient cross polarization (long TCH values), caused by long 13C-1H internuclear distances, on 13C CPMAS NMR spectra of charred and uncharred woods is determined by simultaneously fitting data from complementary variable spin lock and variable contact time experiments. As expected, the impact is minimal for uncharred woods, but is very significant for the charred woods. Quantification of the decrease in CPMAS signal intensity caused by both inefficient cross polarization and rapid T1rhoH relaxation is achieved using an advanced spin counting methodology, for which the term "spin accounting" is proposed.

Determination of T1rhoH relaxation rates in charred and uncharred wood and consequences for NMR quantitation.

The performance of three different techniques for determining proton rotating frame relaxation rates (T1rhoH) in charred and uncharred woods is compared. The variable contact time (VCT) experiment is shown to over-estimate T1rhoH. particularly for the charred samples, due to the presence of slowly cross-polarizing 13C nuclei.