Philip Heilman, Steven R. Archer, C. Jason Williams, Russell L. Scott, David C. Goodrich, Chandra Holifield Collins, Adam T. Naito, Guillermo E. Ponce-Campos
{"title":"The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed","authors":"Philip Heilman, Steven R. Archer, C. Jason Williams, Russell L. Scott, David C. Goodrich, Chandra Holifield Collins, Adam T. Naito, Guillermo E. Ponce-Campos","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20643","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20643","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW) Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network common experiment addresses the aspirational practice of brush management (BM) to reverse the prevailing condition of woody plant encroachment (WPE) and increase perennial native grass production. Across the western United States, the decision to implement BM includes consideration of management objectives, cost, and the expected impact on a diverse suite of ecosystem services. Maintaining or restoring grass cover will help meet the LTAR sustainable production, economic, and social goals, and averting degradation will meet environmental goals. This common experiment, focused on hydrologic and erosion impacts of BM, aims to inform land management decisions on three major plant communities in the Southwestern United States: creosote bush (<i>Larrea tridentata</i>), mesquite (<i>Prosopis velutina</i>), and pinyon–juniper (PJ, <i>Pinus</i> and <i>Juniperus</i> spp.). On the WGEW, applying tebuthiuron pellets to creosote bush increased grass cover and reduced runoff and erosion. The 2016 BM experiment on the Santa Rita Experimental Range applied a commonly used liquid herbicide cocktail but achieved only 7% mortality on mesquite, probably because of the timing of the aerial application. Experiments manipulating rainfall amount and intensity on plots receiving fire, chemical, or mechanical BM treatments on PJ communities aim to improve process representation in simulation models. The deliverables of these BM experiments will be to (i) improve the performance of runoff and erosion models, (ii) enhance our ability to identify areas most at risk from reduced hydrologic function and soil erosion after shrub proliferation, and (iii) better predict how landscapes will respond to BM interventions. Ranchers, land management agencies, and watershed conservation organizations will benefit from training and availability of improved tools to focus treatments on areas where greatest net benefits might be realized.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"53 6","pages":"1037-1047"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jeq2.20643","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142501654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ariel Freidenreich, Marty R. Schmer, Makki Khorchani, Girma Birru, Virginia L. Jin, Tala Awada, Rhae A. Drijber, Andrew Suyker, S. Carolina Córdova, Tyler Smith, Tim Kettler, Sandra Christofferson, Xiangmin Sun, Lidong Li
{"title":"The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment at Platte River/High Plains Aquifer","authors":"Ariel Freidenreich, Marty R. Schmer, Makki Khorchani, Girma Birru, Virginia L. Jin, Tala Awada, Rhae A. Drijber, Andrew Suyker, S. Carolina Córdova, Tyler Smith, Tim Kettler, Sandra Christofferson, Xiangmin Sun, Lidong Li","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20648","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20648","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Platte River/High Plains Aquifer (PR/HPA) region is characterized by cropland, pastures, and grasslands that are faced with changing climatic conditions and agricultural intensification. The PR/HPA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) site is located in Eastern Nebraska with the goal of improving resilience, sustainability, and profitability of agroecosystems through enhancing ecosystem services and environmental quality, developing strategies for efficient agricultural production, and mitigating and adapting to climate change. To meet this goal, a common experiment and five ancillary experiments have been developed to evaluate prevailing regional practices in grain crop production systems compared to alternative practices in rainfed and irrigated systems. These experiments reflect different geographic regions and cropping systems within PR/HPA. The common experiment is at a plot scale under sub-drip irrigation. The prevailing practice is a corn–soybean rotation with a fixed N fertilizer rate. The alternative practice is a corn-winter wheat-relay cropped soybean rotation with temporally variable N rates using fertigation. There is also an auxiliary alternative practice, a corn–soybean rotation with temporally variable N rates using fertigation with fall manure application after soybean harvest. This document describes the regional characteristics, cropland LTAR experiments, stakeholder engagement, and future plans for the PR/HPA cropland experiments.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"53 6","pages":"939-947"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jeq2.20648","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142467168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soil lead, zinc, and copper in two urban forests as influenced by highway proximity","authors":"Maryam Foroughi, Raymond R. Weil","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20642","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20642","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Heavy metals emitted by vehicles have the potential to accumulate in soil near roadways, threatening the health of soil, plants, animals, and humans. This study evaluates Pb, Zn, and Cu levels in forest O-horizons, mineral soil, and earthworms near busy roadways in the metro-Washington, DC area. The study sites comprised road-edge environments within urban parks. Six transects were sampled in each park, collecting mineral soil at 1- to 30-m distances from the road edge and dividing it into eight depth increments (0–30 cm). O-horizon plant litter and earthworm samples were also collected at these locations. All samples underwent total Pb, Zn, and Cu X-ray fluorescence analysis. Generally, Pb concentrations (in upper 0–10 cm) were 1–4.8 times higher at 3 m compared to 30 m from the road, with less consistent gradients for Zn and Cu. Concentrations peaked near the soil surface, with lower levels in the O-horizon above and deeper soil layers. Leaded vehicle fuel was phased out by the early 1980s, but legacy Pb contamination persisted in roadside forests, averaging 365 mg kg<sup>−1</sup> in the upper 10 cm within 3 m of the roadway (< EPA action level of 1200 mg kg<sup>−1</sup> for non-play areas). Zinc, often present in vehicle tires, accumulated in earthworms to 192–592 mg kg<sup>−1</sup>, concentrations exceeding those in the soil, while Pb and Cu were less concentrated in earthworms than in either O-horizon or mineral soil. Factors such as plant uptake, erosion, wind, soil texture, and metal solubility influence how heavy metals redistribute and bioaccumulate in the O-horizon, mineral soil, and soil fauna.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"54 1","pages":"275-288"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11718127/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142467166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thomas VanderYacht, Liseth Salinas, Tilden Remerleitch, Nikolina Walas, Tin Ho, Gabriel Trueba, Jay P. Graham
{"title":"Lack of wastewater treatment in a small town drives the spread of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli in irrigation waters","authors":"Thomas VanderYacht, Liseth Salinas, Tilden Remerleitch, Nikolina Walas, Tin Ho, Gabriel Trueba, Jay P. Graham","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20641","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20641","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is a critical and growing global challenge, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Ecuador has made great progress in connecting households to piped water supplies; however, the collection and treatment of domestic wastewater has lagged. This infrastructural gap may be accelerating the spread of ABR into surface waters used downstream for irrigation. We studied the contributions of a small town in Ecuador to the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing <i>E</i>scherichia <i>coli</i> in a glacial stream used for irrigating crops. The study analyzed water samples upstream (<i>n</i> = 60) and downstream (<i>n</i> = 60) of the town of Píntag as well as 30 lettuce samples irrigated by surface waters downstream of the town. A subset of third generation cephalosporin resistant <i>E. coli</i> (3GCR-EC) isolates (<i>n</i> = 58) were sequenced to characterize antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenic lineages. Our results showed that there was nearly a three-log increase in mean <i>E. coli</i> colony forming units in the downstream samples versus upstream. At the upstream sites above the town of Píntag, 6.7% of water samples were positive for 3GCR-EC compared to 100% of samples collected at the downstream sites. Additionally, 70.1% of sequenced 3GCR-EC isolates collected at downstream sites carried <i>bla</i><sub>CTX-M</sub> genes and 3.4% belonged to pandemic lineages ST131 and ST10. As countries develop household piped water infrastructure, attention should focus on how the lack of domestic wastewater collection and treatment may accelerate the spread of ABR in waterways and the food system.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"53 6","pages":"1116-1126"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jeq2.20641","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142467156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shuchi Liao, Uriel Garza-Rubalcava, Linda M. Abriola, Heather E. Preisendanz, Linda S. Lee, Kurt D. Pennell
{"title":"Simulating PFAS transport in effluent-irrigated farmland using PRZM5, LEACHM, and HYDRUS-1D models","authors":"Shuchi Liao, Uriel Garza-Rubalcava, Linda M. Abriola, Heather E. Preisendanz, Linda S. Lee, Kurt D. Pennell","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20639","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20639","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Application of wastewater effluent to agricultural lands can serve as a sustainable approach to meet irrigation and nutrient needs for crop production. While nitrogen and phosphorous loadings can be effectively managed, concerns have been raised regarding the fate of emerging contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are widely detected in wastewater effluent. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the ability of three unsaturated flow and transport models, Pesticide Root Zone Model 5 (PRZM5), LEACHM, and HYDRUS-1D, to predict the distribution of PFAS in the soil profile at the Pennsylvania State University Living Filter site, which has received daily wastewater effluent applications for several decades. The models were modified to include adsorption at the air–water interface (AWI), which has been shown to be an important factor governing PFAS transport and phase distribution in the vadose zone. Simulations showed that PRZM5 did not accurately reproduce the observed perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) behavior, which was attributed to the “tipping bucket” approach used for water flow that results in the disappearance of AWI during water flow. In contrast, both LEACHM and HYDRUS-1D captured the observed retention of PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) over a 50-year simulation period. Due to differences in the approach used to calculate the AWI area, LEACHM predicted greater accumulation of PFOS and PFOA at the AWI compared to HYDRUS-1D. These findings indicate that mathematical models that directly account for unsaturated water flow and adsorption at the AWI are able to provide reasonable predictions of long-term PFAS leaching resulting from land application of wastewater effluent.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"54 1","pages":"54-65"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142467157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yu-Hua Zheng, Erika Carter, Shiqiang Zou, Clinton F. Williams, Alex T. Chow, Huan Chen
{"title":"Using syringe filtration after lab-scale adsorption processes potentially overestimates PFAS adsorption removal efficiency from non-conventional irrigation water","authors":"Yu-Hua Zheng, Erika Carter, Shiqiang Zou, Clinton F. Williams, Alex T. Chow, Huan Chen","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20640","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20640","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The adsorption process, known for its cost-effectiveness and high efficiency, has been extensively investigated at the laboratory scale for removing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from non-conventional irrigation water. However, a syringe filtration step is commonly used when quantifying PFAS removal during this adsorption process, potentially leading to PFAS retention onto the filters and an overestimate of adsorption removal efficiency. Here, we assessed the retention of three prevalent PFAS (i.e., perfluorooctanoic acid [PFOA], perfluorooctane sulfonic acid [PFOS], and perfluorobutanoic acid [PFBA]) on six syringe filters. When filtering distilled deionized water spiked with 1 µg/L and 100 µg/L of each PFAS, we observed the highest and lowest PFAS recovery percentages by mixed cellulose ester (MCE) (0.20 µm, 25 mm; 97 ± 11%, 101 ± 4.8%) and polytetrafluoroethylene (0.45 µm, 13 mm; 61 ± 37%, 80 ± 28%), respectively. Under the initial concentration of 1 µg/L and 100 µg/L, PFOS had recovery percentages of 55 ± 25% and 68 ± 24%, significantly lower than 96 ± 12% and 99 ± 5% for PFOA and 95 ± 8% and 97 ± 4% for PFBA, highlighting the importance of PFAS functional groups. PFAS recovery percentage increased with filtration volume in the order of 80 ± 28% (1 mL) < 85 ± 21% (5 mL) < 90 ± 18% (10 mL). Using MCE to filter treated municipal wastewater spiked with 1 µg/L and 100 µg/L of each PFAS, we found recovery percentages >90% for all three PFAS. Our study underscores the significance of syringe filter selection and potential overestimate of PFAS removal efficacy by the lab-scale adsorption processes.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"54 1","pages":"20-30"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11718135/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142467170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Philip Robertson, Brook Wilke, Tayler Ulbrich, Nick M. Haddad, Stephen K. Hamilton, Dean G. Baas, Bruno Basso, Jennifer Blesh, Timothy J. Boring, Laura Campbell, Kimberly A. Cassida, Christine Charles, Jiquan Chen, Julie E. Doll, Tian Guo, Alexandra N Kravchenko, Douglas A. Landis, Sandra T. Marquart-Pyatt, Maninder P. Singh, Christine D. Sprunger, Jason Stegink
{"title":"The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment at the Kellogg Biological Station","authors":"G. Philip Robertson, Brook Wilke, Tayler Ulbrich, Nick M. Haddad, Stephen K. Hamilton, Dean G. Baas, Bruno Basso, Jennifer Blesh, Timothy J. Boring, Laura Campbell, Kimberly A. Cassida, Christine Charles, Jiquan Chen, Julie E. Doll, Tian Guo, Alexandra N Kravchenko, Douglas A. Landis, Sandra T. Marquart-Pyatt, Maninder P. Singh, Christine D. Sprunger, Jason Stegink","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20638","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20638","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Agroecosystem Research site (KBS LTAR) joined the national LTAR network in 2015 to represent a northeast portion of the North Central Region, extending across 76,000 km<sup>2</sup> of southern Michigan and northern Indiana. Regional cropping systems are dominated by corn (<i>Zea mays</i>)–soybean (<i>Glycine max</i>) rotations managed with conventional tillage, industry-average rates of fertilizer and pesticide inputs uniformly applied, few cover crops, and little animal integration. In 2020, KBS LTAR initiated the Aspirational Cropping System Experiment as part of the LTAR Common Experiment, a co-production model wherein stakeholders and researchers collaborate to advance transformative change in agriculture. The Aspirational (ASP) cropping system treatment, designed by a team of agronomists, farmers, scientists, and other stakeholders, is a five-crop rotation of corn, soybean, winter wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>), winter canola (<i>Brassicus napus</i>), and a diverse forage mix. All phases are managed with continuous no-till, variable rate fertilizer inputs, and integrated pest management to provide benefits related to economic returns, water quality, greenhouse gas mitigation, soil health, biodiversity, and social well-being. Cover crops follow corn and winter wheat, with fall-planted crops in the rotation providing winter cover in other years. The experiment is replicated with all rotation phases at both the plot and field scales and with perennial prairie strips in consistently low-producing areas of ASP fields. The prevailing practice (or Business as usual [BAU]) treatment mirrors regional prevailing practices as revealed by farmer surveys. Stakeholders and researchers evaluate the success of the ASP and BAU systems annually and implement management changes on a 5-year cycle.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"53 6","pages":"893-903"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jeq2.20638","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142467169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Franziska Busch, Otávio dos Anjos Leal, Nina Siebers, Nicolas Brüggemann
{"title":"Biochar captures ammonium and nitrate in easily extractable and strongly retained form without stimulating greenhouse gas emissions during composting","authors":"Franziska Busch, Otávio dos Anjos Leal, Nina Siebers, Nicolas Brüggemann","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20634","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20634","url":null,"abstract":"<p>During composting of organic waste, nitrogen is lost through gaseous forms and ion leaching. Biochar has been shown to capture mineral nitrogen (N<sub>min</sub>: NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> and NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>) from compost, which we hypothesize reduces N<sub>2</sub>O formation. However, associating N<sub>min</sub> captured by biochar with the dynamics of N<sub>2</sub>O and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during composting remains unstudied and was the aim of this work. We composted (outdoor for 148 days) together kitchen scraps (43.3% dw, where dw is dry weight), horse manure (40.9% dw), and wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L) straw (15.8% dw) without (Control) or with biochar (Bc, 15% compost dw). The biochar consisted of hardwood and softwood pieces pyrolyzed at 680°C and exhibited 60% of particles with 4–8 mm. We monitored compost GHG (CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O) emissions, N<sub>min</sub> content in compost and biochar particles (sequential extractions), and biochar surface transformations (SEM-EDX and <sup>13</sup>C-NMR spectroscopy) along composting. Biochar did not significantly reduce or increase GHG emissions and N<sub>min</sub> content (mg kg<sup>−1</sup>) in compost. However, the final NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> amount (g compost pile<sup>−1</sup>) in the Bc treatment was significantly higher (54%) compared to the Control, indicating lower NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> losses. Despite the high aromaticity and minimal contribution of carboxyl C to the biochar structure, biochar retained NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>, mainly in easily extractable form (55%), in the first 2 weeks of composting and mainly in strongly retained form (75%) in the final compost. The NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> content in biochar increased continuously during composting. In the final compost, the NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> content extracted from biochar was 164 (37%, easily extractable), 80 (19%, moderately extractable), and 194 mg NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>–N kg<sup>−1</sup> (44%, strongly retained). Although N<sub>min</sub> retention in biochar was not accompanied by lower N<sub>2</sub>O emissions, contradicting our hypothesis, we demonstrated the efficacy of biochar to recover N<sub>min</sub> from organic waste without stimulating GHG emissions.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"53 6","pages":"1099-1115"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jeq2.20634","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142391005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Khorchani, M. Schmer, A. Freidenreich, T. Awada, G. Birru, S. Christofferson, R. Drijber, G. Erickson, V. Jin, R. McDermott, A. Suyker, A. Watson, B. Woodbury, Y. Xiong, J. Hiller, X. Sun, L. Li
{"title":"The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at Platte River High Plains Aquifer","authors":"M. Khorchani, M. Schmer, A. Freidenreich, T. Awada, G. Birru, S. Christofferson, R. Drijber, G. Erickson, V. Jin, R. McDermott, A. Suyker, A. Watson, B. Woodbury, Y. Xiong, J. Hiller, X. Sun, L. Li","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20629","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20629","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) consists presently of 18 sites within the contiguous United States that are managed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and its partners. The LTAR network focuses on developing national strategies for more efficient, resilient, and profitable agricultural production systems, improved environmental quality, and enhanced rural prosperity. The Platte River High Plains Aquifer (PRHPA) LTAR site is managed jointly by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and USDA-ARS and is one of the LTAR sites that conduct research on both integrated cropping and grazing systems. The PRHPA region encompasses multiple land resource areas and diverse agricultural production systems. The PRHPA sites, predominantly located in eastern Nebraska, are designated as an integrated system focused specifically on the region's dominant production practices of row crop (corn and soybean), managed pastures, and beef cattle production. Here, we focus on C<sub>3</sub> cool-season smooth bromegrass (<i>Bromus inermis</i> Leyss.) pasture grazing systems under prevailing and alternative management practices for the region. The sites evaluate continuous and rotational grazing with and without pasture fertilization (prevailing practices). In an additional treatment, cattle are supplemented with dry distillers grains plus solubles, while manure supplies fertilization (alternative practice). Main measurements at the site evaluate plant and animal productivity, forage quality, greenhouse gas fluxes, and soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. This paper describes the regional characteristics of the PRHPA site, ongoing LTAR research related to pasture and livestock production, stakeholder engagement, and future research plans.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"53 6","pages":"948-956"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jeq2.20629","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142391015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Dinesh Panday, G. Philip Robertson, Debasish Saha
{"title":"Machine learning reveals dynamic controls of soil nitrous oxide emissions from diverse long-term cropping systems","authors":"Jashanjeet Kaur Dhaliwal, Dinesh Panday, G. Philip Robertson, Debasish Saha","doi":"10.1002/jeq2.20637","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jeq2.20637","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Soil nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) emissions exhibit high variability in intensively managed cropping systems, which challenges our ability to understand their complex interactions with controlling factors. We leveraged 17 years (2003–2019) of measurements at the Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)/Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) site to better understand the controls of N<sub>2</sub>O emissions in four corn–soybean–winter wheat rotations employing conventional, no-till, reduced input, and biologically based/organic inputs. We used a random forest machine learning model to predict daily N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes, trained separately for each system with 70% of observations, using variables such as crop species, daily air temperature, cumulative 2-day precipitation, water-filled pore space, and soil nitrate and ammonium concentrations. The model explained 29%–42% of daily N<sub>2</sub>O flux variability in the test data, with greater predictability for the corn phase in each system. The long-term rotations showed different controlling factors and threshold conditions influencing N<sub>2</sub>O emissions. In the conventional system, the model identified ammonium (>15 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup>) and daily air temperature (>23°C) as the most influential variables; in the no-till system, climate variables such as precipitation and air temperature were important variables. In low-input and organic systems, where red clover (<i>Trifolium repens</i> L.; before corn) and cereal rye (<i>Secale cereale</i> L.; before soybean) cover crops were integrated, nitrate was the predominant predictor of N<sub>2</sub>O emissions, followed by precipitation and air temperature. In low-input and biologically based systems, red clover residues increased soil nitrogen availability to influence N<sub>2</sub>O emissions. Long-term data facilitated machine learning for predicting N<sub>2</sub>O emissions in response to differential controls and threshold responses to management, environmental, and biogeochemical drivers.</p>","PeriodicalId":15732,"journal":{"name":"Journal of environmental quality","volume":"54 1","pages":"132-146"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11718152/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142391014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}