Articles | Volume 25, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1377-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1377-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
09 Apr 2025
Research article |
| 09 Apr 2025
| 09 Apr 2025
Soil conditioner mixtures as an agricultural management alternative to mitigate drought impacts: a proof of concept
Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Edda Kunze
Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Huiying Li
Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Matthias C. Rillig
Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Related authors
Pedro Henrique Lima Alencar, Saskia Arndt, Kei Namba, Márk Somogyvári, Frederik Bart, Fabio Brill, Juan Dueñas, Peter Feindt, Daniel Johnson, Nariman Mahmoodi, Christoph Merz, Subham Mukherjee, Katrin Nissen, Eva Nora Paton, Tobias Sauter, Dörthe Tetzlaff, Franziska Tügel, Thomas Vogelpohl, Stenka Valentinova Vulova, Behnam Zamani, and Hui Hui Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-428, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-428, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
As climate change escalates, the Berlin-Brandenburg region faces new challenges. Climate change-induced extreme events are expected to cause new conflicts to emerge and aggravate existing ones. To guide future research, we co-develop a list of key questions on climate and water challenges in the region. Our findings highlight the need for new research approaches. We expect this list to provide a roadmap for actionable knowledge production to address climate and water challenges in the region.
Pedro Henrique Lima Alencar, Saskia Arndt, Kei Namba, Márk Somogyvári, Frederik Bart, Fabio Brill, Juan Dueñas, Peter Feindt, Daniel Johnson, Nariman Mahmoodi, Christoph Merz, Subham Mukherjee, Katrin Nissen, Eva Nora Paton, Tobias Sauter, Dörthe Tetzlaff, Franziska Tügel, Thomas Vogelpohl, Stenka Valentinova Vulova, Behnam Zamani, and Hui Hui Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-428, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-428, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
As climate change escalates, the Berlin-Brandenburg region faces new challenges. Climate change-induced extreme events are expected to cause new conflicts to emerge and aggravate existing ones. To guide future research, we co-develop a list of key questions on climate and water challenges in the region. Our findings highlight the need for new research approaches. We expect this list to provide a roadmap for actionable knowledge production to address climate and water challenges in the region.
Rosolino Ingraffia, Gaetano Amato, Vincenzo Bagarello, Francesco G. Carollo, Dario Giambalvo, Massimo Iovino, Anika Lehmann, Matthias C. Rillig, and Alfonso S. Frenda
SOIL, 8, 421–435, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-421-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-421-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The presence of microplastics in soil environments has received increased attention, but little research exists on the effects on different soil types and soil water erosion. We performed two experiments on the effects of polyester microplastic fiber on soil properties, soil aggregation, and soil erosion in three agricultural soils. Results showed that polyester microplastic fibers affect the formation of new aggregates and soil erosion and that such effects are strongly dependent on soil type.
Amandine Erktan, Matthias C. Rillig, Andrea Carminati, Alexandre Jousset, and Stefan Scheu
Biogeosciences, 17, 4961–4980, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4961-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4961-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Soil aggregation is crucial for soil functioning. While the role of bacteria and fungi in soil aggregation is well established, how predators feeding on microbes modify soil aggregation has hardly been investigated. We showed for the first time that protists modify soil aggregation, presumably through changes in the production of bacterial mucilage, and that collembolans reduce soil aggregation, presumably by reducing the abundance of saprotrophic fungi.
Cited articles
Coban, O., De Deyn, G. B., and van der Ploeg, M.: Soil microbiota as game-changers in restoration of degraded lands, Science, 375, abe0725, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe0725, 2022.
Cribari-Neto, F. and Zeileis, A.: Beta Regression in R, J. Stat. Softw., 34, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v034.i02, 2010.
Daliakopoulos, I. N., Tsanis, I. K., Koutroulis, A., Kourgialas, N. N., Varouchakis, A. E., Karatzas, G. P., and Ritsema, C. J.: The threat of soil salinity: A European scale review, Sci. Total Environ., 573, 727–739, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.08.177, 2016.
Davison, A. C. and Hinkley, D. V.: Bootstrap methods and their application, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802843, 1997.
Diacono, M. and Montemurro, F.: Long-term effects of organic amendments on soil fertility. A review, Agron. Sustain. Dev., 30, 401–422, https://doi.org/10.1051/agro/2009040, 2010.
Dueñas, J. F.: juan-duenas/NHESS: Soil conditioner mixtures as an agricultural management alternative to mitigate drought impacts: a proof-of-concept, Version v.1.0.4, Zenodo [data set/code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14961846, 2025.
Edeh, I. G., Mašek, O., and Buss, W.: A meta-analysis on biochar's effects on soil water properties – New insights and future research challenges, Sci. Total Environ., 714, 136857, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136857, 2020.
Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources: Soil Map of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1:1 000 000, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources), https://geoportal.bgr.de/mapapps/resources/apps/geoportal/index.html?lang=en#/geoviewer?metadataId=0a69e00d-4a6c-467e-90b3-9d76a538ef18 (last access: 26 March 2025), 2007.
Govindasamy, P., Mahawer, S. K., Mowrer, J., Bagavathiannan, M., Prasad, M., Ramakrishnan, S., Halli, H. M., Kumar, S., and Chandra, A.: Comparison of low-cost methods for soil water holding capacity, Commun. Soil Sci. Plan., 54, 287–296, https://doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2022.2112216, 2023.
Guenet, B., Gabrielle, B., Chenu, C., Arrouays, D., Balesdent, J., Bernoux, M., Bruni, E., Caliman, J.-P., Cardinael, R., Chen, S., Ciais, P., Desbois, D., Fouche, J., Frank, S., Henault, C., Lugato, E., Naipal, V., Nesme, T., Obersteiner, M., Pellerin, S., Powlson, D. S., Rasse, D. P., Rees, F., Soussana, J.-F., Su, Y., Tian, H., Valin, H., and Zhou, F.: Can N2O emissions offset the benefits from soil organic carbon storage?, Glob. Change Biol., 27, 237–256, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15342, 2021.
Joseph, S., Cowie, A. L., Van Zwieten, L., Bolan, N., Budai, A., Buss, W., Cayuela, M. L., Graber, E. R., Ippolito, J. A., Kuzyakov, Y., Luo, Y., Ok, Y. S., Palansooriya, K. N., Shepherd, J., Stephens, S., Weng, Z. (Han), and Lehmann, J.: How biochar works, and when it doesn't: A review of mechanisms controlling soil and plant responses to biochar, GCB Bioenergy, 13, 1731–1764, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12885, 2021.
Kemper, W. D. and Rosenau, R. C.: Aggregate Stability and Size Distribution, in: Methods of Soil Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 425–442, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssabookser5.1.2ed.c17, 1986.
Lehmann, J., Pereira da Silva, J., Steiner, C., Nehls, T., Zech, W., and Glaser, B.: Nutrient availability and leaching in an archaeological Anthrosol and a Ferralsol of the Central Amazon basin: fertilizer, manure and charcoal amendments, Plant Soil, 249, 343–357, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022833116184, 2003.
Lenth, R. V., Buerkner, P., Herve, M., Love, J., Riebl, H., and Singmann, H.: emmeans: Estimated Marginal Means, aka Least-Squares Means, The Comprehensive R Archive Network, https://doi.org/10.32614/CRAN.package.emmeans, 2021.
Orr, J. A., Vinebrooke, R. D., Jackson, M. C., Kroeker, K. J., Kordas, R. L., Mantyka-Pringle, C., Van den Brink, P. J., De Laender, F., Stoks, R., Holmstrup, M., Matthaei, C. D., Monk, W. A., Penk, M. R., Leuzinger, S., Schäfer, R. B., and Piggott, J. J.: Towards a unified study of multiple stressors: divisions and common goals across research disciplines, P. Roy. Soc. B-Biol. Sci., 287, 20200421, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0421, 2020.
Poulton, P., Johnston, J., Macdonald, A., White, R., and Powlson, D.: Major limitations to achieving “4 per 1000” increases in soil organic carbon stock in temperate regions: Evidence from long-term experiments at Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, Glob. Change Biol., 24, 2563–2584, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14066, 2018.
Qin, W., Hu, C., and Oenema, O.: Soil mulching significantly enhances yields and water and nitrogen use efficiencies of maize and wheat: a meta-analysis, Sci. Rep., 5, 16210, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16210, 2015.
R Core Team: R: a language and environment for statistical computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, https://www.R-project.org (last access: 27 March 2025), 2022.
Rahman, M. T., Guo, Z. C., Zhang, Z. B., Zhou, H., and Peng, X. H.: Wetting and drying cycles improving aggregation and associated C stabilization differently after straw or biochar incorporated into a Vertisol, Soil Till. Res., 175, 28–36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2017.08.007, 2018.
Rillig, M. C. and Lehmann, A.: Exploring the agricultural parameter space for crop yield and sustainability, New Phytol., 223, 517–519, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15744, 2019.
Rillig, M. C., Ryo, M., Lehmann, A., Aguilar-Trigueros, C. A., Buchert, S., Wulf, A., Iwasaki, A., Roy, J., and Yang, G.: The role of multiple global change factors in driving soil functions and microbial biodiversity, Science, 366, 886–890, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay2832, 2019.
Rillig, M. C., Lehmann, A., Rongstock, R., Li, H., and Harris, J.: Moving restoration ecology forward with combinatorial approaches, Glob. Change Biol., 30, e17361, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17361, 2024.
Rubin, R., Oldfield, E., Lavallee, J., Griffin, T., Mayers, B., and Sanderman, J.: Climate mitigation through soil amendments: quantification, evidence, and uncertainty, Carbon Manag., 14, 2217785, https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2023.2217785, 2023.
Samaniego, L., Thober, S., Kumar, R., Wanders, N., Rakovec, O., Pan, M., Zink, M., Sheffield, J., Wood, E. F., and Marx, A.: Anthropogenic warming exacerbates European soil moisture droughts, Nat. Clim. Change, 8, 421–426, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0138-5, 2018.
Schaller, J., Cramer, A., Carminati, A., and Zarebanadkouki, M.: Biogenic amorphous silica as main driver for plant available water in soils, Sci. Rep., 10, 2424, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59437-x, 2020.
Siedt, M., Schäffer, A., Smith, K. E. C., Nabel, M., Roß-Nickoll, M., and van Dongen, J. T.: Comparing straw, compost, and biochar regarding their suitability as agricultural soil amendments to affect soil structure, nutrient leaching, microbial communities, and the fate of pesticides, Sci. Total Environ., 751, 141607, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141607, 2021.
Silverstein, M. R., Segrè, D., and Bhatnagar, J. M.: Environmental microbiome engineering for the mitigation of climate change, Glob. Change Biol., 29, 2050–2066, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16609, 2023.
Tilman, D., Wedin, D., and Knops, J.: Productivity and sustainability influenced by biodiversity in grassland ecosystems, Nature, 379, 718–720, https://doi.org/10.1038/379718a0, 1996.
Troege, T. and Schulz, C.: Ergebnisse der Agrarstrukturerhebung 2016 für das Land Brandenburg, Zeitschrift für amtliche Statistik, 1, 44–66, ISSN 1864-5356, 2018.
Wagg, C., Bender, S. F., Widmer, F., and van der Heijden, M. G. A.: Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111, 5266–5270, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320054111, 2014.
Wahdan, S. F. M., Ji, L., Schädler, M., Wu, Y.-T., Sansupa, C., Tanunchai, B., Buscot, F., and Purahong, W.: Future climate conditions accelerate wheat straw decomposition alongside altered microbial community composition, assembly patterns, and interaction networks, ISME J., 17, 238–251, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01336-2, 2023.
Wang-Erlandsson, L., Tobian, A., van der Ent, R. J., Fetzer, I., te Wierik, S., Porkka, M., Staal, A., Jaramillo, F., Dahlmann, H., Singh, C., Greve, P., Gerten, D., Keys, P. W., Gleeson, T., Cornell, S. E., Steffen, W., Bai, X., and Rockström, J.: A planetary boundary for green water, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 3, 380–392, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00287-8, 2022.
Weil, R. R. and Brady, N. C.: The nature and properties of soils, 15th Global Edition, Pearson Education Limited, England, ISBN: 13: 9781292162232, 2017.
Yang, G., Roy, J., Veresoglou, S. D., and Rillig, M. C.: Soil biodiversity enhances the persistence of legumes under climate change, New Phytol., 229, 2945–2956, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17065, 2021.
Zarebanadkouki, M., Hosseini, B., Gerke, H. H., and Schaller, J.: Amorphous silica amendment to improve sandy soils' hydraulic properties for sustained plant root access under drying conditions, Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 935012, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.935012, 2022.
Short summary
We investigated the potential of adding mixtures composed of minimum dosages of several popular amendment types to soil. Our goal was to increase the resistance of agricultural soil to drought stress. We found that adding mixtures of three to five amendment types increased the capacity of soil to retain water, reduced soil erosion, and increased fungal abundance while buffering soil from drastic changes in pH. More research is encouraged to validate this approach.
We investigated the potential of adding mixtures composed of minimum dosages of several popular...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint