Soil amendment with biochar is evaluated globally as a means to improve soil fertility and to mitigate climate change. However, the effects of biochar on soil biota have received much less attention than its effects on soil chemical properties. A review of the literature reveals a significant number of early studies on biochar-type materials as soil amendments either for managing pathogens, as inoculant carriers or for manipulative experiments to sorb signaling compounds or toxins. However, no studies exist in the soil biologyliterature that recognize the observed largevariations ofbiochar physico-chemical properties. This shortcoming has hampered insight into mechanisms by which biochar influences soil microorganisms, fauna and plant roots. Additional factors limiting meaningful interpretation of many datasets are the clearly demonstrated sorption properties that interfere with standard extraction procedures for soil microbial biomass or enzyme assays, and the confounding effects of varying amounts of minerals. In most studies, microbial biomass has been found to increase as a result of biochar additions, with significant changes in microbial community composition and enzyme activities that may explain biogeochemical effects of biochar on element cycles, plant pathogens, and crop growth. Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms through which biochar affects microbial abundance and community composition. The effects of biochar on soil fauna are even less understood than its effects on microorganisms, apart from several notable studies on earthworms. It is clear, however, that sorption phenomena, pH and physical properties of biochars such as pore structure, surface area and mineral matter play important roles in determining how different biochars affect soil biota. Observations on microbial dynamics lead to the conclusion of a possible improved resource use due to co-location of various resources in and around biochars. Sorption and therebyinactivation of growth-inhibiting substances likelyplaysa rolefor increased abundance of soil biota. No evidence exists so far for direct negative effects of biochars on plant roots. Occasionally observed decreases in abundance of mycorrhizal fungi are likely caused by concomitant increases in nutrient availability,reducing theneedfor symbionts.Inthe shortterm,therelease ofavarietyoforganic molecules from fresh biochar may in some cases be responsible for increases or decreases in abundance and activity of soil biota. A road map for future biochar research must include a systematic appreciation of different biochar-types and basic manipulative experiments that unambiguously identify the interactions between biochar and soil biota.

http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/pictures/publ/SoilBiolBiochem%2043,%201812–1836,%202011%20Lehmann.pdf

Biochar effects on soil biota – A review

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides access to information on a variety of topics related to the environment and strives to inform citizens of health risks. The EPA also has an extensive library network that consists of 26 libraries throughout the United States, which provide access to a plethora of information to EPA employees, scientists, and researchers. The EPA implemented a reorganization project to digitize their materials so they would be more accessible to a wider range of users, but this plan was drastically accelerated when the EPA was threatened with a budget cut. It chose to close and reduce the hours and services of some of their libraries. As a result, the agency was accused of denying users the “right to know” by making information unavailable, not providing an adequate strategic plan, and discarding vital materials. This case study explores the background of the digitization project, the practices implemented, and the critiques of the project.

/pdf/the-environmental-protection-agency-3gx4opzrjm.pdf

The Environmental Protection Agency

 Many atmospheric chemicals occur in the gas phase as well as in liquid cloud droplets and aerosol particles Therefore, it is necessary to understand the distribution between the phases According to Henry's law, the equilibrium ratio between the abundances in the gas phase and in the aqueous phase is constant for a dilute solution Henry's law constants of trace gases of potential importance in environmental chemistry have been collected and converted into a uniform format The compilation contains 17 350 values of Henry's law constants for 4632 species, collected from 689 references It is also available at http://wwwhenrys-laworg 

/pdf/compilation-of-henry-s-law-constants-version-4-0-for-water-58il9q0ogv.pdf

Compilation of Henry's law constants (version 4.0) for water as solvent

The use of equilibrium expressions for sorption to natural particles in fate and transport models is often invalid due to slow kinetics. This paper reviews recent research into the causes of slow sorption and desorption rates at the intraparticle level and how this phenomenon relates to contaminant transport, bioavailability, and remediation. Sorption kinetics are complex and poorly predictable at present. Diffusion limitations appear to play a major role. Contending mechanisms include diffusion through natural organic matter matrices and diffusion through intraparticle nanopores. These mechanisms probably operate simultaneously, but the relative importance of each in a given system is indeterminate. Sorption shows anomalous behaviors that are presently not well explained by the simple diffusion models, including concentration dependence of the slow fraction, distributed rate constants, and kinetic hysteresis. Research is needed to determine whether adsorption/desorption bond energies may play a role alon...

Mechanisms of Slow Sorption of Organic Chemicals to Natural Particles

Biological N2 fixation represents the major source of N input in agricultural soils including those in arid regions. The major N2-fixing systems are the symbiotic systems, which can play a significant role in improving the fertility and productivity of low-N soils. The Rhizobium-legume symbioses have received most attention and have been examined extensively. The behavior of some N2-fixing systems under severe environmental conditions such as salt stress, drought stress, acidity, alkalinity, nutrient deficiency, fertilizers, heavy metals, and pesticides is reviewed. These major stress factors suppress the growth and symbiotic characteristics of most rhizobia; however, several strains, distributed among various species of rhizobia, are tolerant to stress effects. Some strains of rhizobia form effective (N2-fixing) symbioses with their host legumes under salt, heat, and acid stresses, and can sometimes do so under the effect of heavy metals. Reclamation and improvement of the fertility of arid lands by application of organic (manure and sewage sludge) and inorganic (synthetic) fertilizers are expensive and can be a source of pollution. The Rhizobium-legume (herb or tree) symbiosis is suggested to be the ideal solution to the improvement of soil fertility and the rehabilitation of arid lands and is an important direction for future research.

Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis and Nitrogen Fixation under Severe Conditions and in an Arid Climate

Impacts of woodchip biochar additions on greenhouse gas production and sorption/degradation of two herbicides in a Minnesota soil.

Atrazine Desorption from Smectites

Claims have been made recently that glyphosate-resistant (GR) crops sometimes have mineral deficiencies and increased plant disease. This review evaluates the literature that is germane to these claims. Our conclusions are: (1) although there is conflicting literature on the effects of glyphosate on mineral nutrition on GR crops, most of the literature indicates that mineral nutrition in GR crops is not affected by either the GR trait or by application of glyphosate; (2) most of the available data support the view that neither the GR transgenes nor glyphosate use in GR crops increases crop disease; and (3) yield data on GR crops do not support the hypotheses that there are substantive mineral nutrition or disease problems that are specific to GR crops.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jf302436u

Glyphosate Effects on Plant Mineral Nutrition, Crop Rhizosphere Microbiota, and Plant Disease in Glyphosate-Resistant Crops

Adsorption of Atrazine on Smectites

Retention is one of the key processes affecting the fate of organic chemicals in the soil-water environment. Retention refers to the ability of the soil to hold a pesticide or other organic molecule and to prevent the molecule from moving either within or outside of the soil matrix. As such, retention refers primarily to the adsorption process, but also includes absorption into the soil matrix and soil organisms, both plants and microorganisms. Retention controls, and is subsequently controlled, by chemical and biological transformation processes. Retention strongly influences chemical transport to the atmosphere, groundwater, and surface waters. Not surprisingly, retention is a primary factor influencing the efficacy of soil-applied pesticides. The literature abounds with references on the retention of pesticides in soils (e.g., Bailey & White, 1964; Hamaker & Thompson, 1972; Green, 1974; Weed & Weber, 1974; Calvet, 1980). Adsorption is defined as the accumulation of a pesticide or other organic molecule at either the soil-water or the soil-air interface. Adsorption is often used to refer to a reversible process involving the attraction of a chemical to the soil particle surface and retention of the chemical on the surface for a time that depends on the affinity of the chemical for the surface. The distinction between true adsorption in which molecular layers form on a soil particle surface, precipitation in which either a separate solid phase forms on solid surfaces or covalent bonding with the soil particle surface occurs, and absorption into soil particles and organisms is difficult. In practice, adsorption is usually determined only by chemical loss from solution, thus adsorption is often replaced by the more general term, sorption. Sorption refers to a general retention process with no distinction between the specific processes of adsorption, absorption, and precipitation. The individual retention processes are highly complex. This complexity is primarily the result of soil heterogeneity and the soil's contiguity with biological, atmospheric, and water systems. Therefore, one of the keys to understanding the mechanisms of the retention process is the composition of the soil matrix.

William C. Koskinen

Papers

Impacts of woodchip biochar additions on greenhouse gas production and sorption/degradation of two herbicides in a Minnesota soil.

Atrazine Desorption from Smectites

Glyphosate Effects on Plant Mineral Nutrition, Crop Rhizosphere Microbiota, and Plant Disease in Glyphosate-Resistant Crops

Adsorption of Atrazine on Smectites

The Retention Process: Mechanisms