Re-evaluation of the yield response to phosphorus fertilization based on meta-analyses of long-term field experiments.

Phosphorus (P) fertilizer recommendations in most European countries are based on plant-available soil P contents and long-term field experiments. Site-specific conditions are often neglected, resulting in excessive P fertilizer applications. P fertilization experiments including relevant site and soil parameters were evaluated in order to analyze the yield response.

Handling the phosphorus paradox in agriculture and natural ecosystems: Scarcity, necessity, and burden of P.

This special issue of Ambio compiles a series of contributions made at the 8th International Phosphorus Workshop (IPW8), held in September 2016 in Rostock, Germany. The introducing overview article summarizes major published scientific findings in the time period from IPW7 (2015) until recently, including presentations from IPW8. The P issue was subdivided into four themes along the logical sequence of P utilization in production, environmental, and societal systems: (1) Sufficiency and efficiency of P utilization, especially in animal husbandry and crop production; (2) P recycling: technologies and product applications; (3) P fluxes and cycling in the environment; and (4) P governance.

Impact of adjacent land use on coastal wetland sediments.

Coastal wetlands link terrestrial with marine ecosystems and are influenced from both land and sea. Therefore, they are ecotones with strong biogeochemical gradients. We analyzed sediment characteristics including macronutrients (C, N, P, K, Mg, Ca, S) and heavy metals (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Al, Co, Cr, Ni) of two coastal wetlands dominated by Phragmites australis at the Darss-Zingst Bodden Chain, a lagoon system at the Southern Baltic Sea, to identify the impact of adjacent land use and to distinguish between influences from land or sea.

Assessment of sampling and analytical uncertainty of trace element contents in arable field soils.

Assessment of trace element contents in soils is required in Germany (and other countries) before sewage sludge application on arable soils. The reliability of measured element contents is affected by measurement uncertainty, which consists of components due to (1) sampling, (2) laboratory repeatability (intra-lab) and (3) reproducibility (between-lab). A complete characterization of average trace element contents in field soils should encompass the uncertainty of all these components.

Environmental indicators to assess the risk of diffuse Nitrogen losses from agriculture.

Diffuse Nitrogen (N) loss from agriculture is a major factor contributing to increased concentrations of nitrate in surface and groundwater, and of N(2)O and NH(3) in the atmosphere. Different approaches to assess diffuse N losses from agriculture have been proposed, among other direct measurements of N loads in leachate and groundwater, and physically-based modelling. However, both these approaches have serious drawbacks and are awkward to use at a routine base.

Assessment of the predictive quality of simple indicator approaches for nitrate leaching from agricultural fields.

Diffuse N losses from agriculture are a major cause of excessive nitrate concentrations in surface and groundwaters. Leaching through the soil is the main pathway of nitrate loss. For environmental management, an anticipatory assessment and monitoring of nitrate leaching risk by indicator (index) approaches is increasingly being used.

Spatial and temporal variability of water repellency in a sandy soil contaminated with tar oil and heavy metals.

Water repellency can induce preferential flow and thus affect water flow and contaminant transport at hazardous waste sites. Since the spatial patterns of water repellency are mostly unknown, it is problematic to use numerical transport models to predict leachate composition. In this study, the spatial variability of soil water repellency was studied at an industrial site contaminated with tar oil, chromium, copper and arsenic.