Soil & Environmental Health最新文献

{"title":"Harmonizing soil health assessment: converging indicators but divergent evaluation methods","authors":"Nándor Csikós,&nbsp;Annamária Laborczi","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100239","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100239","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent European initiatives, including the Soil Monitoring Law and Mission Soil, increasingly require harmonization of soil health assessment frameworks. However, it remains unclear how current scientific approaches provide sufficient methodological convergence to support such harmonization. Based on a targeted Scopus search and manual classification of 62 peer-reviewed studies published between 2008 and 2026, we show that convergence is emerging in conceptual framing and indicator selection, but not in the procedures used to benchmark, combine, and interpret indicators. The analysis covered conceptual dimensions, indicator-category frequencies, co-occurrence patterns, and reported aggregation or evaluation procedures. Indicator-based approaches occurred in 94% of the reviewed studies, and a recurrent physico-chemical assessment core emerged across the literature. Function/ecosystem based and policy-oriented perspectives occurred in 87% and 65% of studies, respectively. In contrast, evaluation procedures remained heterogeneous, with threshold-based benchmarking representing the most common configuration. Explicit aggregation or evaluation procedures were identified in 42 studies, with 14 of them using threshold logic. This asymmetry creates a critical gap between monitoring and assessment. While common indicators are becoming available, there is still no widely accepted framework for translating measurements into comparable evaluations of soil health. We suggest that future harmonization efforts should focus less on identifying new indicators and more on developing transparent and reproducible principles for aggregation, benchmarking, and interpretation capable of integrating ecological and policy-relevant dimensions of soil health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 4","pages":"Article 100239"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149141130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rhizosphere nutrient solubilization and phosphate transporter upregulation drive CaCO3-enhanced arsenic accumulation in calcicolous Pteris vittata","authors":"Yongduo Guan,&nbsp;Songge Deng,&nbsp;Shufen Xiao,&nbsp;Chenjing Liu,&nbsp;Lena Q. Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100238","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100238","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Being a calcicolous plant, As-hyperaccumulator <em>Pteris vittata</em> grows well and effectively accumulates arsenic (As) in lime-rich substrates. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, <em>P. vittata</em> was grown for 2 months in a contaminated neutral soil containing 100 mg kg⁻¹ As and/or 1% CaCO₃. Besides As-induced growth promotion, CaCO₃ increased <em>P. vittata</em> biomass by 48% to 11.5 g plant⁻¹ in the As + CaCO₃ vs. As treatment. Consistent with its better growth, <em>P. vittata</em> showed 43–125% better nutrient acquisition, with Ca, Fe and Mn contents in the fronds reaching 9210, 4009 and 68.2 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. Probably due to the increased root biomass, CaCO₃ enhanced dissolved organic carbon by 123% in <em>P. vittata</em> rhizosphere over bulk soil, while maintaining a neutral pH. Subsequent to the increased rhizosphere solubilization, the P and As contents in <em>P. vittata</em> fronds were enhanced by 81–104% to 3729 and 3942 mg kg⁻¹ in the As + CaCO₃ vs. As treatment, respectively. Correspondingly, the 2.3–3.3 fold upregulation of P-transporters <em>PvPht1;3/1;4</em> supported the enhanced P and As uptake by <em>P. vittata</em> roots. Overall, CaCO₃ boosts plant growth and As accumulation in <em>P. vittata</em> via nutrient solubilization in rhizosphere and upregulation of P-transporters in plants, providing practical strategies for improving phytoremediation of As-contaminated soils.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 4","pages":"Article 100238"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149200127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synergistic adsorption of glyphosate and calcium on ferrihydrite: Molecular insights into herbicide fate in soils","authors":"Mengqi Zhang,&nbsp;Wei Zhao,&nbsp;Xuewen Li,&nbsp;Hongju Ma,&nbsp;Xionghan Feng,&nbsp;Wenfeng Tan,&nbsp;Xiaoming Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100218","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100218","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hebicide glyphosate and calcium cation (Ca) commonly coexist in calcareous soils and aquatic environments, where their interfacial interactions with Fe (oxyhydr)oxide influence the environmental fate of glyphosate. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their co-adsorption on mineral surfaces remain poorly understood. Here, we combined batch adsorption experiments, zeta potential analysis, in situ attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, P K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, and surface complexation modeling to investigate the co-adsorption behavior of glyphosate and Ca on ferrihydrite and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. The results demonstrated a synergistic co-adsorption of glyphosate and Ca on ferrihydrite across a wide range of glyphosate concentrations (0.0-2.0 mM) and pH values (4.0-10.0), which was driven by both electrostatic interactions and the formation of ternary surface complexes. Compared with the Ca-free system at pH 5.0 in the presence of 2.0 mM glyphosate, the addition of 1.0 mM Ca increased glyphosate adsorption by ∼20%. At pH 5.0, the Ca-induced enhancement in glyphosate adsorption followed a glyphosate/Ca stoichiometric ratio of ∼1.5. Spectroscopic, electrochemical, and modeling analyses further revealed that, at pH 5.0, glyphosate was predominantly adsorbed on ferrihydrite via bidentate and monodentate phosphonate-mediated Fe-O-P inner-sphere complexes, whereas Ca simultaneously coordinated with the phosphonate and carboxyl groups of one glyphosate molecule, thereby forming glyphosate-bridged ternary complexes. These findings provide direct molecular evidence for the interfacial configuration and cooperative adsorption of glyphosate and Ca on ferrihydrite, offering mechanistic insights into glyphosate retention, mobility, and environmental behavior in Fe- and Ca-rich soils.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100218"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148554582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Managing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives in soil: Fate, transformation and treatment for emerging pollutant governance","authors":"Kunlong Hui,&nbsp;Panting Zhang,&nbsp;Haohao Li,&nbsp;Jinhang Song","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) remain priority soil contaminants, but remediation design and post-treatment verification are still dominated by the 16 parent PAH and total-concentration endpoints. This review argues that such endpoints are insufficient for aged contaminated soils, where weathering, sequestration, mass-transfer limitation, derivative formation, exposure availability, and soil-function recovery all jointly control PAH residual risk. Evidence for PAH derivatives provides a quantitative basis for this concern: 188 environmental PAH-derivative compounds (polycyclic aromatic compounds-PAC) have been compiled, including 44 nitrated, 36 oxygenated, 56 alkylated, and 52 halogenated PAH derivatives, whereas only 11 occurrence studies reported their soil concentrations. Available soil records identify dozens of derivatives and show concentration ranges from sub-μg/kg levels to site-specific hot-spot values near 1000 μg/kg, so upper-bound values should not be treated as typical soil concentrations. We synthesized the fate, accessibility, transformation, and treatment evidence within a PAC-management framework. Physical and extraction-based methods are useful for source reduction and transfer control but require secondary-stream management. Thermal technologies offer strong destruction potential, yet soil-function costs depend on temperature window, heating severity, and matrix response. Chemical oxidation, electrochemical, photocatalytic, and plasma-assisted systems can enhance transformation or delivery but require verification of incomplete oxidation and derivative formation. Biological and nature-based strategies better support soil recovery but are slower and accessibility-limited. We propose derivative-aware monitoring that integrates parent PAH, selected derivative panels, bioaccessibility/exposure-fraction assays, porewater/leachate and off-gas/condensate endpoints, ecotoxicity assays, suspect and non-target screening, and field validation. Future remediation should move from parent-PAH removal toward risk-based PAC management linking contaminant fate, accessible exposure, transformation products, toxicity response, soil function, and site-specific governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100225"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nutrient recovery from landfill leachate as struvite and carnallite: environmental safety and agronomic performance in tropical soils","authors":"Jerusa Schneider,&nbsp;Jorge Luiz da Paixão Filho,&nbsp;Dailto Silva,&nbsp;Adriano Luiz Tonetti","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100221","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Landfill leachate is a complex, nutrient-rich waste stream with high potential for resource recovery through chemical precipitation. This study assessed the environmental safety and agronomic performance of struvite (MgNH₄PO₄·6H₂O) and novel struvite–carnallite (KMgCl₃·6H₂O) mineral association, both being recovered from landfill leachate. A greenhouse experiment was conducted using lettuce grown in a highly P-fixing tropical soil Ultisol, comparing increasing doses of the recovered materials with a commercial NPK fertilizer. The double-dose struvite treatment (2S) corresponded to supplying twice the recommended P rate to assess the upper agronomic response. The 2S treatment produced the highest shoot dry mass to 13.7 g, representing a 105% increase relative to the NPK treatment, and resulted in the greatest foliar concentrations of P and N (6.55 and 50.4 g kg^-1). The struvite–carnallite treatment (2SC) resulted in the highest K concentrations in the shoots and roots (74.7 and 19.9 g kg^-1 ), demonstrating the agronomic relevance of carnallite formation during leachate treatment. Although Na accumulation reached 4337 mg kg⁻¹ in the roots, no visual phytotoxicity or biomass reduction was observed. Concentrations of toxic metals in plant tissues (Cd &lt; 0.19 mg kg⁻¹; Pb &lt; 1.13 mg kg⁻¹) remained below regulatory thresholds, confirming the purity and environmental safety of precipitation-based mineral recovery. A strong linear relationship between soil P availability and shoot dry mass (R² = 0.826, p = 0.002) indicates that the recovered minerals function effectively as slow-release P sources, capable of reducing P-fixation in weathered tropical soils. This study provides the first evidence of carnallite formation during nutrient recovery from landfill leachate, demonstrating that struvite-based fertilizers are sustainable, low-risk alternatives for tropical soil. These findings support waste valorization strategies to reduce dependence on imported mineral fertilizers in weathered soils.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100221"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148554585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil exposure and human health: One Health framework for managing microbial and chemical hazards","authors":"Bonface Ombasa Manono","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100224","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100224","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil contact is a public health paradox: it can expose people to environmental microbiota that may support immune regulation, but it can also transmit pathogens and persistent contaminants. This perspective examines how soils in high-contact settings, including schoolyards, childcare centers, residential gardens, urban farms, and parks, can be evaluated without confusing soil health with human exposure safety. Using One Health len, the paper synthesizes evidence across three linked domains: beneficial microbial exposure, pathogen dynamics, and chemical or particle contaminant transfer. The domains are then organized into a five-step exposure-context framework consisting of evaluating intended use and receptors, reconstructing site history, selecting targeted tests, interpreting exposure pathways, and choosing a management endpoint. The framework adds value to existing soil health and risk assessment approaches by treating microbial benefits as conditional, not automatic, and by requiring health-protective screening before benefits are considered. Four decision endpoints are proposed: unrestricted use, conditional use with controls, remediation before use, or access restriction/alternative land use. For high-risk sites, decisions should be supported by pathway-specific evidence such as bioaccessible metal fractions, PFAS source and depth profiles, pathogen indicators, dust loading, crop uptake, mixture assessment, spatial analysis, and uncertainty evaluation. The framework also identifies mechanisms by which soil microbiota may influence immune regulation, pathogen suppression, contaminant mobility, contaminant bioavailability, and antimicrobial resistance. It also clarifies terminology: soil safety is context-dependent, receptor-specific, so it cannot be inferred from soil fertility alone. This approach helps managers protect children, gardeners, workers, and other exposed groups while preserving safe opportunities for contact with biodiverse soils.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100224"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148656610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Socioeconomic indicators are more strongly associated with the global wastewater core microbiome than geography","authors":"Huizi Yang,&nbsp;Yan Chen,&nbsp;Jiawei Zhao,&nbsp;Tanjila Alam Prosun,&nbsp;Hamed Attaran Dovom,&nbsp;Faisal I. Hai,&nbsp;Guangming Jiang","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100222","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100222","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Municipal wastewater harbors microbial communities that are essential for treatment performance, which is increasingly valuable for population-level public health surveillance. However, the globally-persistent bacterial and archaeal taxa in raw wastewater influents and the large-scale factors associated with their distribution remain poorly understood. Here, we analyzed publicly available shotgun metagenomic sequencing reads from 662 raw influent wastewater samples, representing 220 city-level sampling locations across 97 countries between 2017 and 2019, to characterize the global bacterial and archaeal core microbiome. Taxonomic profiles were generated using a standardized bioinformatics workflow, and core taxa were identified using prevalence, mean relative abundance, and contribution to the dominant fraction of community abundance. We identified a compact core representing only 2.4% of detected genera yet accounting for 69% of total microbial abundance. The 55 core genera were exclusively bacterial and were dominated by Comamonadaceae, Moraxellaceae, and Pseudomonadaceae, with <em>Pseudomonas</em>, <em>Acidovorax</em>, and <em>Acinetobacter</em> among the most abundant genera. Biogeographical analyses showed that North America and Europe showed highly similar core microbiome compositions, whereas South America and Oceania were more distinct. Altitude showed the strongest and most consistent association among the examined geographic variables (R² = 0.121–0.193), whereas latitude showed no significant association with alpha diversity. Core microbiome composition was also associated with country-level socioeconomic indicators, providing statistical support for the socioeconomic filtering hypothesis. Structural equation modeling suggested that socioeconomic indicators explained genus-level abundance variation more strongly than geographic variables for over half of all core taxa (56%) and for 75% of taxa with substantial model explanatory power (R² &gt; 0.200). These findings provide a global baseline for interpreting large-scale variation in wastewater influent microbial communities and highlight the value of integrating microbiome profiling with geographic and socioeconomic context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100222"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in irrigated potato production: Interactive effects of cover crop, bedding timing, and irrigation","authors":"Matt Ball,&nbsp;Guillermo Hernandez-Ramirez,&nbsp;Willemijn M. Appels,&nbsp;Jonathan Neilson,&nbsp;Rezvan Karimi Dehkordi","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100219","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100219","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bedding, cover crop and irrigation all influence greenhouse gas emissions in cropland soils, particularly nitrous oxide (N₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). In potato production, bedding bundles fertilizer addition, tillage and bed formation. This study evaluated three bedding types - fall, spring and spring following a winter oat cover crop (S + CC) - combined with two irrigation rates (±20% of the AIMM recommended rate) and two N fertilization treatments on growing-season N₂O and CO₂ fluxes, soil N availability and potato yield in Lethbridge, Alberta across 2022–2024. Fall bedding raised soil ammonium and nitrate in the early spring prior to seeding. With intermittent rainfall in 2022, fall-bedded plots showed lower growing-season N₂O fluxes than spring-bedded plots. In 2023 and 2024, however, fall bedding consistently increased N₂O fluxes under more frequently moist conditions (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05) and S + CC was associated with the lowest sensor-observed soil moisture (diagnostic only; one sensor replicate per treatment) and produced the lowest area-based N₂O emission factors (EFarea) across treatments (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.01). Compared to fall bedding, S + CC reduced the 3-year mean EFarea by 36% and the yield-scaled N₂O intensity (per kg marketable tuber) by 34% in fertilized plots, while preserving yield. N₂O was unaffected by irrigation, likely because rates diverged only in the second half of each growing season and by just ±20% of the recommended rate. Fall bedding caused slightly higher growing-season CO₂ emissions than spring bedding only in 2023 (<em>P</em> = 0.029). Tuber yields showed no significant differences across most treatments (<em>P</em> &gt; 0.05), except for wetter irrigation increasing marketable harvest in 2024 (<em>P</em> = 0.031). These results support spring bedding with a winter oat cover crop as a promising mitigation practice for semi-arid irrigated potato production, achieving substantially lower N₂O EFarea than fall bedding without compromising marketable yield.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100219"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148554584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Asymmetric exposure to MoS2 nanosheets triggers redox-mediated hormesis effect in plant roots: Insights from in situ chip tracking","authors":"Yilun Lan,&nbsp;Xiangyu Zhu,&nbsp;Wentao Yu,&nbsp;Kun Wang,&nbsp;Baohai Li,&nbsp;Baoliang Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100220","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100220","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rhizosphere is microscopically heterogeneous, yet the impacts of uneven distribution of nanomaterials on plant roots remain unclear. Here, using <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em> and MoS₂ nanosheets as the model plant and nanomaterial, we employed a microfluidic root chip housed in a Petri dish with moist dust-free paper to investigate root responses to spatially asymmetric exposure. We compared symmetric exposure (half dose delivered to each root side; a homogeneous scenario) with asymmetric exposure (full dose to one side; a heterogeneous scenario) of MoS₂ nanosheets over a 5-day period. Results showed that this spatial distinction alone is sufficient to elicit divergent plant growth and physiological responses in seedling roots. Real-time imaging revealed that symmetric exposure induced a classic dose-dependent toxicity from excess MoS₂ nanosheet-induced stress oxidative damage, whereas asymmetric exposure elicited a hormesis effect on root growth, with asymmetric exposure of 50 mg L⁻¹ MoS₂ nanosheets for 64 h increasing root length by 18% compared to symmetric exposure at 25 mg L⁻¹. Mechanistic investigations, integrating dynamic monitoring and inhibition experiments using fluorescence probes and an auxin reporter, showed that localized stimulation promoted root growth via Fe²⁺-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS). The data signaled that asymmetric exposure increased Fe²⁺ and ROS levels by 1.7-fold and 2.0-fold relative to symmetric exposure, leading to auxin accumulation in root tips. Our findings demonstrate that spatial heterogeneity is a critical consideration for evaluating and designing the application of redox-active nanomaterials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100220"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148554583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Extreme legacy phosphorus accumulation in agricultural soils of South Korea: A global comparison of plant-available phosphorus","authors":"Maria Isabel Bacus,&nbsp;Aleksandra W. Bielnicka,&nbsp;So Yeong Park,&nbsp;Seulbi Lee,&nbsp;Seo Young Ho,&nbsp;Pil Joo Kim,&nbsp;Benjamin L. Turner","doi":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100223","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.seh.2026.100223","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>South Korea has the second-highest phosphorus (P) surplus among OECD countries partially due to long-term overapplication of P fertilizer. However, the consequences for soil P accumulation under different cropping systems remain poorly understood because South Korea uses a unique soil-test P method (modified Lancaster P) that confounds international comparison. To address this issue, we first developed regression equations to convert plant-available P from the modified Lancaster method into two widely-used procedures (Mehlich-3 P and Olsen P) based on 118 agricultural soils under a variety of cropping systems. We then used these equations to convert thousands of modified Lancaster P data from the South Korean national soil database into Olsen P to compare with global datasets. The estimated Olsen P concentrations in Korea are the highest in greenhouse soils (233 ± 106 mg kg⁻¹), followed by orchard soils (158 ± 77 mg kg⁻¹), upland soils (a mixture of vegetables and fruits: 147 ± 86 mg kg⁻¹), and paddy soils (45 ± 37 mg kg⁻¹). These values are substantially greater than soils of other major agricultural regions of the world. These findings link the high national P imbalance in South Korea to an extreme accumulation of legacy P in agricultural soils, stressing the urgent need for a nationwide strategy to reduce P inputs, draw down legacy P reserves, and reduce the environmental impact on water bodies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":94356,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Environmental Health","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100223"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}