Evidence: method/soil

56 articles. Distilled findings; bold = already cited in the docs.

Regenerative agriculture and carbon sequestration (guide) — The article presents regenerative agriculture as a promising alternative to conventional farming, focused on restoring soil health, boosting biodiversity, and improving water cycles. Its core…
[cited] Peatland restoration for carbon storage (news) — A project at Speechley's Farm in the Great Fen, Cambridgeshire, aims to lock up more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon in peat soil by converting farmland into wetland. The Wildlife Trust bought the…
Soil bacteria reducing agricultural nitrous oxide (news) — Researchers from NMBU and IIASA, publishing in Nature, report that certain soil bacteria can consume nitrous oxide as it forms in soil, preventing it from escaping to the atmosphere. The team…
Fossil fuel subsidies and reform (news) — Governments worldwide continue to subsidize fossil fuels despite repeated pledges to phase them out, keeping prices artificially low and emissions rising. Estimates of the total vary widely, from…
Regenerative agriculture digital platform (news) — Berlin-based agritech startup Klim raised $22 million in a Series A round to expand its regenerative farming platform into international markets, including the UK and Poland. The platform helps…
Enhanced rock weathering for carbon removal (news) — Spreading finely crushed silicate rocks such as basalt over farmland, known as enhanced rock weathering, can draw CO₂ from the air as the rock reacts and forms stable minerals in the soil. The…
Biofertilizers for tomato cultivation (news) — The article describes biofertilizers, which use living microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and algae to improve nutrient availability and soil health for tomato plants. It presents them as an…
Plant-fungi chemical signaling in soil (news) — University of Toronto researchers found that the plant hormone strigolactone activates phosphate-metabolism genes and proteins in fungi, including baker's yeast and both wild and beneficial fungal…
Fungal conservation in global policy (news) — The UK and Chile led a push to have fungi recognised as a distinct kingdom of life in international conservation policy, announced at the COP16 UN biodiversity summit in Colombia. The Fungal…
Plant diversity and agricultural soil carbon (news) — A University of Helsinki study found that adding undersown plant species to barley fields increased plant biomass and improved interactions between plants and root microbes, both of which promote…
Organic fertilizers and soil carbon storage (news) — Researchers at Kansas State University found that soil treated with manure or compost stores more carbon than soil treated with chemical fertilizer or no fertilizer. Using synchrotron light at the…
Soil pH and microbial community composition (news) — A study published in Nature Microbiology analyzed global topsoil microbiomes and found that soil pH strongly correlates with microbial community composition. Soil pH also covaries with genes involved…
Soil carbon sequestration in regenerative agriculture (news) — Regenerative agriculture practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, and compost use are promoted as a way to store carbon in soil and address climate change. Many scientists caution that the…
Organic fertilizers and soil carbon storage (news) — A Kansas State University study found that soil treated with manure or compost stores more carbon than soil given chemical fertilizer or no fertilizer. Synchrotron imaging, which is non-destructive,…
Regenerative farming and soil carbon sequestration (news) — The article argues that regenerative farming, which focuses on restoring soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience, can improve crop yields and farm profitability while contributing to…
Great Barrier Reef climate threat (news) — A UNESCO and IUCN report warns that humanity is failing to protect coral reefs, with the Great Barrier Reef facing a closing window for rescue. The report identifies climate change, driven by rising…
Microbial responses to climate change (news) — The article argues that bacteria and archaea, the oldest and most abundant life forms, may be well positioned to benefit from climate change because warmer waters can boost their growth and…
Acoustic monitoring of soil health (news) — Flinders University researchers found that healthy soil produces a distinctive acoustic profile of crackles, pops and clicks from invertebrates, while degraded or cleared land yields mostly bland…
EU Nature Restoration Law (news) — The EU Nature Restoration Law has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force in 20 days. It requires restoring at least 20% of EU land and sea areas by…
On-farm soil testing for fertiliser efficiency (news) — The article argues that soil testing helps Irish farmers apply fertiliser more accurately, which cuts costs as fertiliser prices have risen and supports better grass growth. It cites Teagasc figures…
Olivine-inspired mineral carbon capture (news) — According to the article, Texas couple David and Jennifer Keith founded Reactive Surfaces after learning how the Arctic mineral olivine naturally absorbs CO2 through mineral carbonation. They are…
Soil carbon sequestration in Australian agriculture (news) — Soil scientist Professor Richard Eckard of the University of Melbourne argues that Australian agriculture's capacity to act as a carbon sink through soil sequestration may be overestimated in the…
Technology for monitoring soil health (news) — The article argues that soil health, which underpins food production, carbon storage, and biodiversity, is threatened by climate change, intensive farming, and land degradation. It describes how…
[cited] Soil degradation and carbon sequestration (news) — Marking World Soil Day, the article argues that about a third of the world's soils are degraded, with intensive agriculture (monocropping, over-tillage, and chemical inputs) identified as the main…
Continuous cropping obstacles in agriculture (news) — Continuous cropping obstacles (CCOs) occur when the same crop or a related species is planted repeatedly on one plot, reducing yield and quality and increasing disease and pest pressure, with losses…
Soil greenhouse gas emissions (news) — A first-of-its-kind study based on analysis of existing data estimates that soil-based greenhouse gas emissions contribute about 15 per cent of the global increase in climate warming. CO2 accounts…
European soil degradation assessment (news) — A joint report from the EU's Joint Research Centre and the European Environment Agency assesses the state of soils across 32 EEA member countries and six collaborating nations, confirming widespread…
[cited] Mixed cover crops for soil health (news) — Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences ran a field study comparing cover crop treatments grown between maize rows, known as living mulch. Legume and grass cover crops each improved parts of…
Predicting microbial species invasion success (news) — MIT physicists developed a formula that predicts whether a newly introduced species will establish itself in an ecosystem or die out. It was derived from hundreds of simulated scenarios using…
Mycorrhizal fungi conservation and carbon storage (news) — Scientists from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (Spun) published high-resolution biodiversity maps of Earth's mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems in the journal Science, finding that…
Global mycorrhizal fungi diversity mapping (news) — Researchers from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) published in Nature the first comprehensive global maps of mycorrhizal fungal diversity, based on DNA from roughly…
Natural weathering CO₂ removal (news) — An international team of Earth scientists, publishing in Nature Geoscience, proposes a "weathering continuum" that treats natural CO₂ removal by rock weathering on land and in the ocean as one…
[cited] Mycorrhizal fungi in forest restoration (news) — An international study led by the South China Botanical Garden proposes a "plant-mycorrhiza synergy" framework for forest restoration, arguing that traditional approaches focused on aboveground…
Soil carbon decomposition variability in climate models (news) (needs verification) — A study of 101 soil samples from across the U.S., incubated under identical temperature and moisture conditions, found that carbon decomposition rates differed by up to tenfold. The variation was…
Nitrogen fixation in Earth system models (news) (needs verification) — A new PNAS study finds that Earth system models have overestimated natural nitrogen fixation on land by about 50%, which matters because plant growth under high CO2 depends on available nitrogen.…
[cited] Microbial soil crusts for desertification (news) — Scientists in China are using lab-grown cyanobacteria and other microbes to form biological soil crusts that bind loose desert sand, and Chinese Academy of Sciences trials near the Taklamakan Desert…
Old-growth trees and soil fungal diversity (news) — A study in Biodiversity and Conservation found that the largest, oldest alerce trees in Chile's coastal forests host far more belowground fungal diversity than younger trees, with one 2,400-year-old…
Agroecology as climate adaptation in Malawi (news) — Smallholder farmers in Malawi, including households in Rumphi and Mzimba districts, are adopting agroecology to cope with erratic rainfall, soil degradation, and high fertilizer costs. The article…
Ground-level agrivoltaic mounting systems (news) — A pv magazine article presents a low-mounted ground-level agrivoltaic structure developed by BEC Energie Consult, positioned as an economically viable alternative to elevated agrivoltaic systems…
Biological soil crusts for desertification control (news) — Chinese Academy of Sciences trials near the Taklamakan Desert found that lab-grown cyanobacteria can form biological soil crusts that stabilize sand within 10 to 16 months. A 59-year record cited in…
[cited] Fungal biodiversity in protected areas (news) — A new study modeled the global ranges of nearly 2,900 mycorrhizal fungal species using 16.5 million soil-sample observations and found that more than half are less protected than they would be under…
No-till farming environmental trade-offs (news) (needs verification) — No-till farming sows crops directly into the residue of previous harvests without plowing, and supporters credit it with reducing erosion, retaining soil moisture, and cutting fuel use. The article…
Agrivoltaics for hop farming in Bavaria (news) (needs verification) — Hop farm closures in Germany have accelerated amid climate-driven heat, drought, and falling demand for beer, with about 40 per cent fewer hop farms than two decades ago. Fourth-generation grower…
Low-cost continuous soil pH sensing (news) (needs verification) — Researchers at CU Boulder's BEEM Lab developed a low-cost, printed electronic sensor that uses the pH-sensitive dye alizarin to continuously monitor soil pH. In a multimonth test buried in varied…
Regenerative sustainability and climate resilience (opinion) — The author argues that sustainability, defined as maintaining existing conditions, is no longer an adequate goal given accelerating climate and ecological degradation. He calls for regenerative…
Permafrost monitoring database (GTN-P) (reference) (needs verification) — The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) site describes a free central database of permafrost monitoring parameters, where researchers can find data, metadata, and site information. It…
Regenerative agriculture for climate resilience (study) — Researchers argue that regenerative agriculture, which improves soil health through practices such as crop rotation and cover cropping, can make crops more resilient to drought and extreme weather.…
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in drylands (study) — This research-needs article argues that drylands, which cover a significant share of Earth's land surface and receive low, variable rainfall, require better understanding of how biodiversity drives…
Geopolymer soil solidifier from construction waste (study) — Researchers at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan developed a geopolymer-based soil solidifier from two industrial waste streams: construction byproduct Siding Cut Powder and…
[cited] Multifunctional grassland restoration interventions (study) — A 1989 long-term grassland experiment in northern England tested whether combining restoration treatments improves the number of ecosystem services delivered at once. Single interventions mostly…
Drought-driven biomass carbon losses (study) — This Nature Communications study uses satellite L-band vegetation optical depth data, calibrated against benchmark biomass maps, to estimate live biomass carbon in northern temperate ecosystems from…
Regenerative agriculture soil health trial (study) — A two-year trial on a Gisborne vegetable farm tested regenerative agriculture practices, specifically cover crops and compost, against conventional methods across two sites. Researchers observed…
Regenerative agriculture promotion in Europe (study) — A study of 849 actor websites and interviews with 131 self-identified regenerative farmers across five European countries maps who promotes regenerative agriculture and what they emphasize.…
Physical indicators of soil health (study) (needs verification) — This Farm Progress column outlines physical soil health indicators that farmers can assess in the field, including ground cover, standing water, soil structure, plant root growth, and biopores. It…
Viral communities in peatland restoration (study) — Peatlands store up to one-third of global soil carbon, but human impacts are turning many of them from carbon sinks into carbon sources. This study sequenced soil metagenomes from seven UK peatlands…
Soil animal trophic diversity across biomes (study) — This study uses stable isotope analysis (13C/12C and 15N/14N) of 17,306 samples from 28 high-rank soil animal taxa across 456 sites in 19 countries. Trophic diversity was higher for microbial feeders…