Guanglong Tian

Biosolids Utilization and Soil Science Section of MWRD-Environmental Monitoring and Research Chicago USA; "Current Research" Consortium with Argonne National Laboratory, MWRD, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, UIC, UIUC

Millions of acres of farmland in the midwestern United States (US) are artificially drained, and this contributes to the export of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from agricultural land to surface water. Using a 36-acre tile-drained farm field, effects of P-sorbing media in combination with a denitrifying bioreactor system constructed with woodchip...

Reforestation is an important step towards recovering soil quality and wildlife habitats that are degraded due to deforestation. However, little is known about how soil C and N compositions in subtropical forests evolve after decades of reforestation. This study comprehensively evaluated the differences in soil C and N fractions in 40‐ and 80‐year‐...

Reforestation can alter the chemical composition of soil organic matter (SOM) and humification; however, information on how specific plant types impact SOM lability and humification is not well documented. In this study, we used solid‐state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, photometric analysis, and chemical fractionation to examine carb...

Vegetation in southeastern Taiwan plays an important role in rehabilitating badland soils (high silt and clay content) and maintaining the soil microbial community. The establishment of thorny bamboo (Bambusa stenostachya Hackel) may have had a profound impact on the abundance and community structure of soil microorganisms. However, little is known...

The nitrogen (N) release from composted and un-composted biosolids and plant available N (PAN) of the biosolids were quantified to evaluate if composting can contribute to stabilize biosolids N and reduce the nitrate ( NO 3 - ) leaching potential in biosolids-amended soil. Biosolids were composted at >55°C for 21 days after mixing the biosolids...

Pharmaceutical and personal care product compounds (PPCPs) comprise a large and diverse group of chemical compounds, including prescription and over‐the‐counter drugs and cleaning agents. Although PPCPs in the effluent and biosolids of water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) are currently not regulated, public interest has led the Metropolitan W...

Continuous research into the availability of phosphorus (P) in forest soil is critical for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. In this study, we used sequential chemical extraction and 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-NMR) to evaluate the form and distribution of inorganic P (Pi) and organic P (Po) in Casuarina forest s...

Reforestation with different types of plants can affect soil biochemical activity and microbial community structure. However, little is known about the mechanism by which reforestation affects soil microbial community. We investigated soil microbial communities and biochemical properties in moso bamboo and Japanese cedar plantations in central Taiw...

Wildfire often causes tremendous changes in ecosystems, particularly in subalpine and alpine areas, which are vulnerable due to severe climate conditions such as cold temperature and strong wind. This study aimed to clarify the effect of tree re-planting on ecosystem services such as the soil microbial community after several decades. We compared t...

Purpose This study quantified the above- and belowground carbon (C) stocks across a chronosequence of spruce (Picea asperata) plantations established on cutovers and explored the turning point after which the increase in biomass C slowed or biomass C decreased for guiding forest management. Materials and methods We assessed above- and belowground p...

Background Soil organic carbon (SOC) and carbon (C) functional groups in different particle-size fractions are important indicators of microbial activity and soil decomposition stages under wildfire disturbances. This research investigated a natural Tsuga forest and a nearby fire-induced grassland along a sampling transect in Central Taiwan with th...

Nitrogen (N) limited mangrove forest may have a high potential for microbial N2 fixation. Previous research has focused on soil nitrogenase activity in pristine mangrove forests with little anthropogenic impact. This research was designed to evaluate the magnitude of nitrogenase activity of mangrove soils in a high anthropogenic N-loading environme...

Although the effects of gap formation resulting from thinning on microclimate, plant generation and understory plant community have been well documented, the impact of thinning on soil microbial community and related ecological functions of forests particularly in subalpine coniferous region is largely unknown. Here, the effects of thinning on soil...

Badland soils—which have high silt and clay contents, bulk density, and soil electric conductivity— cover a large area of Southern Taiwan. This study evaluated the amelioration of these poor soils by thorny bamboo, one of the few plant species that grows in badland soils. Soil physiochemical and biological parameters were measured from three thorny...

Mangrove is one of the dominant plants in tropical and sub-tropical estuarine ecosystems. The understanding of growth and nitrogen (N) assimilation rates of mangrove at different water salinities can be beneficial for evaluating the response of mangroves to increased anthropogenic N loading into these systems. We investigated the effect of salinity...

Forest management often results in changes in soil microbial communities. To understand how forest management can change microbial communities, we studied soil microbial abundance and community structure in a natural Chamaecyparis (NCP) forest, a disturbed Chamaecyparis (DCP) forest, a secondary (regenerated) Chamaecyparis (SCP) forest and a second...

Traditional manual tillage using hand tools is widely used by local farmers in hilly and mountainous regions in China and many South-east Asian countries. Manual tillage could result in severe soil erosion, redistributing slopes from upslope areas (erosion) to lower slopes (deposition). This soil redistribution process may potentially affect the so...

Geochemical and biological processes that operate in the soil matrix and on the soil surface are important to the degradation of biosolids in soil. Due to the large surface area of soils it is assumed that the microbial ecology is associated with mineral soil surface area. The total mineral surface areas were determined for soils from eight differe...

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is the fastest growing vegetation in the world, and it is widely distributed from low- to medium-elevation mountains in Taiwan. To understand how microbial activity and microbial community change with the elevation in bamboo plantations, we investigated soil microbial biomass, enzymes, and composition of bacteria...

The effects of long-term reforestation on soil microbial communities and biomass are poorly understood. This study was conducted on two coniferous plantations: Cunninghamia konishii Hayata, planted 40 years ago (CONIF-40), and Calocedrus formosana (Florin) Florin, planted 80 years ago (CONIF-80). An adjacent natural broadleaf forest (BROAD-Nat) was...

Studying the influence of climatic and/or site-specific factors on soil organic matter (SOM) along an elevation gradient is important for understanding the response of SOM to global warming. We evaluated the composition of SOM and structure of humic acids along an altitudinal gradient from 600 to 1400 m in moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) plantat...

Land use in 2006. (JPG)

Land use in 1904. (JPG)

Land use in 1956. (JPG)

Bamboo, which has dense culms and root rhizome systems, can alter soil properties when it invades adjacent forests. Therefore, this study investigated whether bamboo invasions can cause changes in soil organic matter (SOM) composition and soil humification. We combined solid-state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and chemical analysis to examine the SOM in a J...

A field experiment was conducted from 2005 to 2008 in Fulton County, Western Illinois with biosolids from conventional wastewater treatment applied as corn fertilizer in a series of P rates (0, 163, 325, 488, 650 kg P ha(-1)) along with commercial P fertilizer - triple superphosphate P (TSP) as reference to assess biosolids-P plant availability and...

Mangrove forests as a coastal ecosystem can remove N in sewage effluent through the denitrification in mangrove soils. This research was designed to evaluate effects of temperature, salinity, nitrate, and organic carbon (OC) on denitrification enzyme activity (DEA). The test was conducted using an acetylene inhibition method in controlled laborator...

Labile organic matter plays a crucial role in a variety of forest functions, however, our understanding to its quality and quantity across various forests is limited, particularly primary forests. We investigated soil labile C and N (i.e. microbial biomass C and N, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON), associated ammonium, and nitrate)...

Aims The forestland understory vegetation reduces concentrated overland flow through infiltration improvement by roots and raindrop interception by surface cover. However, little has been done to quantify the linkages between understory vegetation cover, roots, and channel erosion, and such information can help assessing the role of the reforestat...

Purpose Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis), an important economic crop, is distributed from low- to medium-elevation mountains in Taiwan. Bamboo is a fast-growing herbaceous species with an extensive rhizome structure. With the hypothesis that the characteristics of soil organic matter and microbes might change after long-term bamboo plantation, we...

The goal of this work was to study changes in anaerobically stored digested sludge under different lengths of storage time to evaluate the quality of final product biosolids. The analyses of collected data suggest the organic matter degradation occurrence in the anaerobic environment of the lagoon approximately within the first year. After that, th...

Land application of biosolids is a process that increases the amount of soil C sequestration and may produce C credits in accordance with the definition of United Nations Climate Change Convention. A dynamic degradation rate model (DRM) provides insights on C sequestration due to microbial biomass, soil organic carbon (SOC), CO2 emission rates, res...

Background: The Chamaecyparis forest is a valuable natural resource in eastern Asia. The characteristics of soil humic substances and the influence of environmental factors in natural Chamaecyparis forests in subtropical mountain regions are poorly understood. The study site of a perhumid Chamaecyparis forest is in the Yuanyang Lake Preserved Area...

Leaching of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to groundwater can limit the land application of fertilizer, biosolids, and other soil amendments. Groundwater quality monitoring data collected over a 34-yr period at a 1790-ha site in Fulton County, Illinois, where strip-mined land was reclaimed with biosolids, were used to evaluate long-term impacts of...

Background: The Chamaecyparis forest is a valuable natural resource in eastern Asia. The characteristics of soil humic substances and the influence of environmental factors in natural Chamaecyparis forests in subtropical mountain regions are poorly understood. The study site of a perhumid Chamaecyparis forest is in the Yuanyang Lake Preserved Area...

Little is know on the impact of biosolids application on soil organic matter (SUM) stability, which contributes to soil C sequestration. Soil samples were collected in 2006 at plow layer from fields that received liquid and dry municipal biosolids application from 1972 to 2004 at the cumulative rate of 1416 Mg ha(-1) in mined soil and 1072 Mg ha(-1...

Data collected for 35 yr from a 1790-ha strip mine reclamation site in Fulton County, Illinois, where biosolids were applied from 1972 to 2004, were used to evaluate the impacts of long-term biosolids application on metal concentrations in groundwater. Groundwater samples were collected between 1972 and 2006 from wells installed in seven strip-mine...

Decomposition and nutrients release pattern of leaves, stems/vines and roots of leguminous plants (Pueraria phaseoloides and Centrosema brasilianum) and non-leguminous plants (Chromolaena odorata and Panicum maximum) were examined for a period of 98 days. The decomposition rate declined in the order P. maximum > C. odorata > P. phaseoloides > C. br...

The goal of this work was to study long-term behavior of anaerobically digested and dewatered sludge (biosolids) in a lagoon under anaerobic and aerobic conditions to determine the stability of the final product as an indicator of its odor potential. Field lagoons were sampled to estimate spatial and temporal variations in the physical-chemical pro...

We investigated soil organic matter in a forest of natural Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) under perhumid weather conditions in north central Taiwan. Humic substances along the transect from the summit and footslope to lakeshore were characterized by use of solid-state cross-polarization, magic-angle-spinning 13C nuclear magnetic resonance sp...

We used NMR spectroscopy to characterize humid acids extracted from soils that had received long-term application of 2 levels of biosolids to evaluate the soil organic matter (SOM) stability in biosolids-amended soils. The study also quantified fulvic acids (FAs), humic acids (HAs) and Fe/Al oxides. The soils were collected in 2004 from 7 fields, i...

A study was conducted in long‐term alley cropping plots established in 1989 at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria to determine the seasonal and yearly dynamics of dry matter and nutrient concentrations of hedgerow pruning under continuous cropping and response to fallow of 1–3 years. At one year aft...

The effects of Sokoto phosphate rock (PR) and plant residues on soil phosphorus (P) fractions and crop performance was studied in the field on an alfisol in the derived savanna of southwestern Nigeria. The plant residues studied were leaves of Dactyladenia barteri , Flemingia macrophylla , Gliricidia sepium , Leucaena leucocephala , maize ( Zea may...

Investigations on the impact of application of biosolids for land reclamation on C sequestration in soil were conducted at Fulton County, Illinois, where 41 fields (3.6-66 ha) received biosolids at a cumulative loading rate from 455 to 1654 dry Mg ha(-1) for 8 to 23 yr in rotation from 1972 to 2004. The fields were cropped with corn, wheat, and sor...

Field litterbag studies were conducted during the dry season between years 2000 and 2001 in typical semi-arid and arid agroecozones of West Africa to measure the dynamics of culturable bacterial and fungal communities in the topsoils. Five different agroforestry leaf litters namely Dactyladenia, Pterocarpus, Alchonea, Senna, and Gliricidia species...

In an effort to generate more information on the use of biosolids in the turf industry, a study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of biosolids with recommended organic sources in enhancing soil microbial populations and N availability in putting green sand rootzones. The treatments included four types of rootzones as follows: sand (control...

Resource-poor farmers in developing nations cultivate marginal lands, thereby exacerbating the problem of soil degradation through poor plant growth and ground coverage. An assessment of ground cover under such a practice will provide a guideline for soil conservation. Ground cover by leguminous cover crops (e.g., Mucuna pruriens, Pueraria phaseolo...

Field litterbag studies were conducted in the 2000 rainy season and the 2000/2001 dry season along the transect of West African major agroecological zones (agroeco-zones) to measure the decomposition of, and N and P release from 5 plant residues (leaves of woody species) with increasing quality: Dactyladenia barteri,Pterocarpus santalinoides,Alchor...

Although pasture maintains high soil carbon level, other better options may exist in the Neotropics, such as woody bamboo (Guadua angustifolia), in contributing to global C sequestration through increased soil carbon storage. A study was conducted in montane Ecuador to test a hypothesis that bamboo results in greater soil carbon levels than pasture...

3 Abstract: The low and declining productivity of many tropical soils are the major constraints limiting the realization of the improved genetic potential of crops that are now available. The need to take appropriate measures to check this decline in soil productivity is urgent as the rate of deterioration is on the increase and if not checked will...

The vast area of savanna ecology in Afiica plays a significant role in food production, making a study of soils in this zone very important. Therefore, soil physical and chemical properties of 14 soil profiles were studied in a derived savanna zone of southwestern Nigeria on 2 toposequences at 2 locations (Ibadan and Alabata), which were 20 kin apa...

A study was carried out on a previously eroded Oxic Paleustalf in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria to determine the extent of soil degradation under mound tillage with some herbaceous legumes and residue management methods. A series of factorial experiments was carried out on 12 existing runoff plots. The study commenced in 1996 after a 5-year natural...

Plant residues are being suggested as an amendment to enhance P release from rock phosphate, however, plant residue enhanced P release could depend on the residue quality, application rate and placement method. Effects of plant residue quality, application rate and placement method on solubility and P release from rock phosphate (PR) were studied i...