Subordinate grasses invest more underground during drought — and it makes all the difference

Alberto Canarini (University of Bologna, Italy), Pierre Mariotte (Agroscope, Switzerland), Yolima Carrillo (Western Sydney University, Australia), Raúl Ochoa-Hueso (University of Cádiz, Spain), and Barbara Drigo (Adelaide University and CRC SAAFE, Australia) discuss their article: Enhanced belowground functioning is associated with higher plant resistance against drought: implications for ecosystem functions A long-standing puzzle in grassland ecology…

Extrafloral nectary tree-driven soil carbon sequestration

Yumei Pan, Xiaojuan Liu, Michael Staab, and Naili Zhang, Beijing Forestry University in China, discuss their article: Soil carbon sequestration: Facilitated effect of extrafloral nectary trees in a diverse subtropical forest Carbon: Crucial role in climate change mitigation Soil organic matter dynamics and carbon sequestration are critical for mitigating climate change. Forest soils, which account…

The rhizosphere: A hub for enhancing soil carbon storage

Qitong Wang and Huajun Yin, Chengdu Institute of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discuss their article: Rhizosphere as a hotspot for microbial necromass deposition into the soil carbon pool When it comes to soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, the rhizosphere – a zone of soil around plant roots – plays a pivotal yet…

Editor’s Choice: Volume 109 Issue 8

The Editor’s Choice for our August issue is “The fate and transit time of carbon in a tropical forest” by Carlos A. Sierra, Lina M. Estupinan-Suarez, & Ingrid Chanca. This research article provides an estimate of the transit time distribution of carbon in a Colombian tropical forest ecosystem using a data assimilation technique to parameterise a dynamic…

Celebrating Soil: A collection of the latest research

This post is from Journal of Ecology Executive Editor Richard Bardgett. The UN FAO report on the “State of Knowledge on Soil Biodiversity: Status, Challenges, and Potentialities” was released today, the day before World Soil Day. The report represents a truly global effort by soil scientists and ecologists worldwide and presents the best available knowledge on…