Agricultural soil organic carbon stocks in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula: Drivers and spatial variability.

Estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks under agriculture, assessing the importance of their drivers and understanding the spatial distribution of SOC stocks are crucial to predicting possible future SOC stocks scenarios under climate change conditions and to designing appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies. This study characterized and modelled SOC stocks at two soil depth intervals, topsoil (0-30 cm) and subsoil (30-100 cm), based on both legacy and recent data from 7245 agricultural soil profiles and using environmental drivers (climate, agricultural practices and soil properties) for agricultural soils in Catalonia (NE Spain). Generalized Least Square (GLS) and Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR) were used as modelling approaches to: (i) assess the main SOC stock drivers and their effects on SOC stocks; (ii) analyse spatial variability of SOC stocks and their relationships with the main drivers; and (iii) predict and map SOC stocks at the regional scale.

Individual traits as determinants of time to death under extreme drought in Pinus sylvestris L.

Plants exhibit a variety of drought responses involving multiple interacting traits and processes, which makes predictions of drought survival challenging. Careful evaluation of responses within species, where individuals share broadly similar drought resistance strategies, can provide insight into the relative importance of different traits and processes. We subjected Pinus sylvestris L.

Photosynthesis-dependent/independent control of stomatal responses to CO2 in mutant barley with surplus electron transport capacity and reduced SLAH3 anion channel transcript.

The mechanisms of stomatal sensitivity to CO2 are yet to be fully understood. The role of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic factors in stomatal responses to CO2 was investigated in wild-type barley (Hordeum vulgare var. Graphic) and in a mutant (G132) with decreased photochemical and Rubisco capacities.

Foliar sorption of emerging and priority contaminants under controlled conditions.

Agricultural irrigation water contains a variety of contaminants that can be introduced into the food chain through intake by irrigated crops. This paper describes an experiment under controlled conditions designed to simulate sprinkle irrigation with polluted water at two different relative humidities (40 and 90%). Specifically, shed lettuce-heart leaves were spiked with an aqueous solution containing organic microcontaminants, including pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, diclofenac, clofibric acid, and carbamazepine), fragrances (tonalide), biocides (triclosan), insecticides (lindane), herbicides (atrazine), phenolic estrogen (bisphenol A), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (phenanthrene and pyrene).

Uptake of microcontaminants by crops irrigated with reclaimed water and groundwater under real field greenhouse conditions.

The use of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation has emerged as a new strategy for coping with water scarcity in semiarid countries. However, the incorporation of the organic microcontaminants in such water into the diet through crop uptake poses a potential risk to human health. This paper aims to assess the presence of organic microcontaminants in different crops irrigated with groundwater and reclaimed water (secondary or tertiary effluents) in a greenhouse experiment.

Physiological and morphological adaptations in relation to water use efficiency in Mediterranean accessions of Solanum lycopersicum.

The physiological traits underlying the apparent drought resistance of 'Tomàtiga de Ramellet' (TR) cultivars, a population of Mediterranean tomato cultivars with delayed fruit deterioration (DFD) phenotype and typically grown under non-irrigation conditions, are evaluated. Eight different tomato accessions were selected and included six TR accessions, one Mediterranean non-TR accession (NTR(M)) and a processing cultivar (NTR(O)). Among the TR accessions two leaf morphology types, normal divided leaves and potato-leaf, were selected.

Seasonal changes of whole root system conductance by a drought-tolerant grape root system.

The role of root systems in drought tolerance is a subject of very limited information compared with above-ground responses. Adjustments to the ability of roots to supply water relative to shoot transpiration demand is proposed as a major means for woody perennial plants to tolerate drought, and is often expressed as changes in the ratios of leaf to root area (A(L):A(R)). Seasonal root proliferation in a directed manner could increase the water supply function of roots independent of total root area (A(R)) and represents a mechanism whereby water supply to demand could be increased.

Effects of long-term exposure to elevated CO(2) conditions in slow-growing plants using a (12)C-enriched CO(2)-labelling technique.

Despite their relevancy, long-term studies analyzing elevated CO(2) effect in plant production and carbon (C) management on slow-growing plants are scarce. A special chamber was designed to perform whole-plant above-ground gas-exchange measurements in two slow-growing plants (Chamaerops humilis and Cycas revoluta) exposed to ambient (ca. 400 micromol mol(-1)) and elevated (ca.

Tissue-water relations of two co-occurring evergreen Mediterranean species in response to seasonal and experimental drought conditions.

Tissue-water relations were used to characterize the responses of two Mediterranean co-occurring woody species (Quercus ilex L. and Phillyrea latifolia L.) to seasonal and experimental drought conditions.