BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Replacing paddy rice by upland systems such as maize cultivation is an on-going trend in SE Asia caused by increasing water scarcity and higher demand for meat. How such land management changes will feedback on soil C and N cycles and soil greenhouse gas emissions is not well understood at present. METHODS: A new LandscapeDNDC biogeochemical module was developed that allows the effect of land management changes on soil C and N cycle to be simulated.

Soil microorganisms drive cycling and storage of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) through decomposition of plant root and litter inputs. However, microbial activities vary greatly in time and space as well as with land management. The goal of this study was to address the seasonal role of microbial activity in soil C and N storage and cycling in harvested prairie and corn ecosystems.

Received for publication April 21, 2006. Increasing consumer demand for organic products has created a need for certified organic research sites. Our objective is to discuss the lessons learned from evaluating alternate cropping systems to establish a certified site in western Iowa.

Objective scientific characteristics of present reclamation systems of Belarus have been done. Structure of reclamation lands has been analyzed. Distribution of reclaimed lands according to the types of irrigation and drainage systems has been presented. Reasons of insufficient usage of reclamation systems have been discovered. Mistakes that had been made on large-scale reclamation building have been estimated. Review of realization of the Republican programme “Preservation and usage of reclaimed lands” for 2001-2005 has been made.

Public agencies sometimes seek outside guidance when capacity to achieve their mission is limited. Through a cooperative agreement and collaborations with the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), we developed recommendations for a conservation program for migratory species. Although NPS manages ∼36 million hectares of land and water in 401 units, there is no centralized program to conserve wild animals reliant on NPS units that also migrate hundreds to thousands of kilometers beyond parks.

Land managements and agricultural practices in China changed significantly during the past 25 years. Differences in soil fertility parameters between 1981 and 2006 in Jingzhou County, China were investigated, with the changes of land management and agricultural practices. The results showed that, from 1981 to 2006, soil pH and organic matter decreased by 3.35% and 32.2%, while total nitrogen (TN), available N (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) increased by 0.4 g kg⁻¹, 21 mg kg⁻¹, 8 mg kg⁻1, and 32 mg kg⁻¹, respectively.

Farmland birds have suffered a severe decline in recent years throughout Europe including Ireland. Agricultural intensification is believed to be the main cause and this has led to the introduction of agri-environmental schemes, of which set-aside is a part. Bird abundance and diversity were compared between set-aside and adjacent tillage or grassland at 18 locations.

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) is a highly invasive species in the Northern Great Basin that helps decrease fire return intervals. Fire fragments the shrub steppe and reduces its capacity to provide forage for livestock and wildlife and habitat critical to sagebrush obligates. Of particular interest is the greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), an obligate whose populations have declined so severely due, in part, to increases in cheatgrass and fires that it was considered for inclusion as an endangered species.