Nils Borchard

German Agricultural Society e.V.

Kooperative Modelle bieten einen Lösungsansatz zur Planung, Beantragung und Umsetzung von gemeinschaftlichen Maßnahmen zum Schutz und der Förderung von Biodiversität. Erfolgreich etablierte Kooperativen aus Brandenburg zeigen die Vorteile: Flexibilität, Risikominderung, Wissenstransfer und die Berücksichtigung von naturschutzfachlichen Anforderunge...

Die Zukunft der Landwirtschaft liegt in einer nachhaltigen Bewirtschaftung, die sowohl ökologische als auch wirtschaftliche Ziele verfolgt. Innovative Konzepte bieten vielversprechende Ansätze, um die Biodiversität zu schützen und gleichzeitig die wirtschaftlichen Interessen der Landwirte zu berücksichtigen. Durch eine Kombination verschiedener För...

Permafrost-agroecosystems include all cultivation and pastoral activities in areas underlain by permafrost. These systems support local livelihoods and food production and are rarely considered in global agricultural studies but may become more relevant as climate change is increasing opportunities for food production in high latitude and mountaino...

"There are no scientifically justified obstacles to protecting biodiversity in all its beauty and diversity. There are only six years left to achieve the biodiversity targets by 2030. We must work together now to get there in time." In the 10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science 2024, 64 scientists have further developed their well-founded and div...

"Es gibt wissenschaftlich keine begründeten Hindernisse, die Biodiversität in ihrer Schönheit und Vielfalt zu schützen. Es bleiben nur noch sechs Jahre, um die Biodiversitätsziele bis 2030 zu erreichen. Dafür müssen wir jetzt gemeinsam anpacken." (Vorwort 10MustKnows24) In den 10 Must-Knows aus der Biodiversitätsforschung 2024 haben 64 Wissenschaf...

The European Commission has set targets for a reduction in nutrient losses by at least 50% and a reduction in fertiliser use by at least 20% by 2030 while ensuring no deterioration in soil fertility. Within the mandate of the European Joint Programme EJP Soil 'Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils', the objective of thi...

Innovationen in der Landwirtschaft stehen vor komplexen Anforderungen und Zielkonflikten. Um diesen Herausforderungen gerecht zu werden, sind drei wichtige Punkte zu beachten: • Vielfältige Anforderungen. Die Entwicklung neuer Verfahren, Produkte und Technologien ist erforderlich, um den verschiedenen maßgeblichen Anforderungen von Ernährungssicher...

Permafrost-agroecosystems are highly heterogenous socio-ecological systems that include animal husbandry practices (such as reindeer and yak herding) and crop cultivation in areas that contain permafrost. These systems affect food security, culture and livelihoods and are particularly sensitive to permafrost degradation processes, surface stability...

We are racing to manage a phenomenally increasing volume of organic wastes from urban, industrial and agricultural entities. Composting is one of the preferred ways to convert biodegradable wastes into nutrient-rich soil conditioners. The age-old technique of composting process is being improved with innovative scientific means. Biochar, a widely s...

Accelerated global warming in the cold-climate boreal and Arctic regions facilitates intensification and expansion of agriculture. However, current boreal and Arctic governmental policies targeting agricultural development differ among regions creating the risk for serious consequences for provision of goods and ecosystem services. On June 29th, 20...

Agroecological approaches and smart and precision farming technologies can potentially increase productivity of smallholder agriculture while maintaining the ecosystem`s capacity to deliver ecosystem services supporting resilience and sustainability of related agri-food systems. Science-based understanding of agroecological mechanisms and methods a...

Black carbon (BC) plays an important role in terrestrial carbon storage and can sustainably improve soil fertility. However, the accurate quantification of BC remains critical to fully unravelling the functions and dynamics of BC in soil. In this study, we explored the potential of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to identify, characterize a...

Bioenergy can produce at least 25% of the global energy demand to combat climate change through reducing emissions in the energy sector. However, information on the bioenergy production potential of woody species and their suitability for silviculture on various soils in the humid tropics is limited. This slightly revised version of a short note pu...

Both the boreal and Arctic regions are facing substantial structural changes induced by accelerated warming. This also facilitates a rapid northward shift of the agricultural zone to historically forest dominant land cover. Expansion and intensification of agriculture into the boreal and Arctic regions, while supporting diversification of local eco...

Black carbon (BC) plays an important role in terrestrial carbon storage and can improve sustainably soil fertility. Nevertheless, the accurate quantification of BC remains a critical issue to fully unravel the functions and dynamics of BC in soil. In this work, we explored the potential of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to identify, charac...

Agriculture in the boreal and Arctic regions is perceived as marginal, low intensity and inadequate to satisfy the needs of local communities, but another perspective is that northern agriculture has untapped potential to increase the local supply of food and even contribute to the global food system. Policies across northern jurisdictions target t...

Link: https://rdcu.be/chuRF Under food security concerns and accelerated global warming, northern regions are becoming new agricultural frontiers. While diverse regional, national, and local policies support northern agricultural intensification and expansion through land use conversion, the scope and environmental consequences of northern agricul...

The global decline in invertebrate diversity requires urgent conservation interventions. However, identifying priority conservation areas for invertebrates remains a significant challenge. We hypothesized that aligning the conservation of invertebrate biodiversity with climate change mitigation offers a solution. As both soil carbon storage and inv...

Various studies have established that feedstock choice, pyrolysis temperature, and pyrolysis type influence final biochar physicochemical characteristics. However, overarching analyses of pre-biochar creation choices and correlations to biochar characteristics are severely lacking. Thus, the objective of this work was to help researchers, biochar-s...

Various studies have established that feedstock choice, pyrolysis temperature, and pyrolysis type influence final biochar physicochemical characteristics. However, overarching analyses of pre-biochar creation choices and correlations to biochar characteristics are severely lacking. Thus, the objective of this work was to help researchers, biochar-s...

Soil is the most important terrestrial carbon (C) reservoir but is greatly impacted by land use change (LUC). Previous analyses of LUC impacts on soil C have focused on biophysical variables, leaving aside the influence of socioeconomics. The aim of our study was to determine global soil organic carbon (SOC) change patterns after LUC and to assess...

The EJP SOIL aims to align and boost research, training and capacity building through joint programming activities co-funded by the European Commission and national research programs. This will reduce current fragmentation and help to find synergies in order to make a leapfrog in research on good agricultural soil management in three main areas: cl...

The sorption capacity and affinity of biochar for metals are both important attributes that determine biochar's suitability as a soil amendment for contaminant mitigation, yet few analyses have considered both characteristics simultaneously. We present a systematic review of literature published between 2010 and 2018 to test the hypothesis that sor...

Mangrove organic carbon is primarily stored in soils, which contain more than two-thirds of total mangrove ecosystem carbon stocks. Despite increasing recognition of the critical role of mangrove ecosystems for climate change mitigation, there is limited understanding of soil organic carbon sequestration mechanisms in undisturbed low-latitude mangr...

Although carbon (C) stored deep in soils of tree-dominated land use systems in the tropics represents a large reservoir of organic matter its vulnerability to land use change has been hardly assessed. To fill this gap, we sampled Acrisols down to 3 m under three different land use systems; namely, recent cacao agroforestry (< 2 years old; not deepe...

Bachelor thesis of Ms Katja Maerten

Charcoal additions considerably alter the chemical and physical properties of soil. However, direct and indirect charcoal-induced effects on soil biota, particularly on meso- and micro-invertebrates are scarcely assessed. This pilot study aimed to investigate abundances of meso- and micro-invertebrates, particularly free-living nematodes, in soil a...

Soils hold the largest pool of organic carbon (C) on Earth; yet, soil organic carbon (SOC) reservoirs are not well represented in climate change mitigation strategies because our database for ecosystems where human impacts are minimal is still fragmentary. Here, we provide a tool for generating a global baseline of SOC stocks. We used partial least...

Among strategies suggested to decrease agricultural soil N2O losses, the use of nitrifcation inhibitors such as DMPP (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate) has been proposed. However, the efciency of DMPP might be afected by soil amendments, such as biochar, which has been shown to reduce N2O emissions. This study evaluated the synergic efect of a woody...

Biochar can reduce both nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and nitrate (NO3-) leaching, but refining biochar’s use for estimating these types of losses remains elusive. For example, biochar properties such as ash content and labile organic compounds may induce transient effects that alter N-based losses. Thus, the aim of this meta-analysis was to assess...

In Europe forests cover currently about 39 % of terrestrial land, which is mainly managed (87%) in form of high forests and younger than 100 years. Changing demand on forest products since the Neolithic period affected intensity and type of forest management. Especially, agroforestry systems and coppicing were most important forest management syste...

Bioenergy can produce at least 25% of the global energy demand to combat climate change through reducing emissions in the energy sector. However, information on the bioenergy production potential of woody species and their suitability for silviculture on various soils in the humid tropics is limited. This review aims to identify tree species suitab...

The objective of this work was to investigate the chemical composition and the quantitative changes in soil organic matter (SOM) fractions in response to multiple historical inputs of charcoal that ceased >60 years ago. The topsoil (0–5 cm) and subsoil (5–20 cm) samples of charcoal enriched soils and the unamended reference soils were assessed for...

Conversion, drainage, and cultivation of tropical peatlands can change soil conditions, shifting the C balance of these systems, which is important for the global C cycle. We examined the effect of soil organic matter (SOM) quality and nutrients on CO2 production from peat decomposition using laboratory incubations of Indonesian peat soils from und...

Deforestation and draining of the peatlands in equatorial SE Asia has greatly increased their flammability, and in September–October 2015 a strong El Niño-related drought led to further drying and to widespread burning across parts of Indonesia, primarily on Kalimantan and Sumatra. These fires resulted in some of the worst sustained outdoor air pol...

Nitrogen (N) deposition to soils is globally rising, but its effect on soil organic carbon (SOC) turnover is still uncertain. Moreover, common theories of stoichiometric decomposition and microbial N mining predict opposing effects of N supply on SOC turnover. We hypothesized that the effect of N deposition on SOC turnover depends on initial soil n...

Latin American (LA) megacities are facing enormous challenges to provide welfare to millions of people who live in them. High rates of urbanization and limited administrative capacity of LA cities to plan and control urban growth have led to a critical deficit of urban green space, and therefore, to sub-optimal outcomes in terms of urban sustainabi...

The economic, political and geographic changes that occurred lately in Egypt depleted farmland in the valley and delta of the Nile river. The two main problems that causes farmland depletion are the urban sprawl and the expected shortage in Egypt water share of the Nile water due to the ongoing construction of the Ethiopian dam. Accordingly, it is...

Erratum: Revised Figure 5

Agriculture and land use change has significantly increased atmospheric emissions of the non-CO2 green-house gases (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Since human nutritional and bioenergy needs continue to increase, at a shrinking global land area for production, novel land management strategies are required that reduce the GHG footprint...

Biochar is the solid product that results from pyrolysis of organic materials. Its addition to highly weathered soils changes physico-chemical soil properties, improves soil functions and enhances crop yields. Highly weathered soils are typical of humid tropics where agricultural productivity is low and needs to be raised to reduce human hunger and...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the strongest greenhouse gas associated with agricultural soils. Current agricultural practices, based on the use of N fertilizers, can lead to environmental N losses, with some losses occurring as N2O emissions. Among the strategies suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to decrease N losses through agric...

There is potential for certain types of degraded land to be restored into sustainable forest and to produce biomass for renewable energy, if implemented under careful management. • Improved strategies are needed to increase the efficiency and sustainability of bioenergy production from forests and restored degraded land. • The first requisite step...

Mapping of soil water content (SWC) by electromagnetic induction (EMI) is an established method to obtain field-scale SWC information. However, the relationship between SWC and the apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measured with EMI is complex and affected by several confounding factors at the catchment scale such as variable porosity (ϕ) and...

While many studies have focused on the agronomic benefits of using biochar, few studies have analyzed its economic benefits in agriculture. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of biochar application in different concentrations with granular nitrogen fertilizers, to assess a possible strategy for profitable use of biochar in conv...

Historically, large areas of forest in Europe were managed as coppice woodland to produce wood-based fuel for the smelting industry. We hypothesized that this practice produced a legacy effect on current forest ecosystem properties. Specifically we hypothesized that the historical form of coppicing may have produced a legacy of elevated stocks of s...

Current understanding of the variability in soil properties and their relationship to processes and spatial patterns in forested landscapes is limited due to the scarcity of datasets providing such information. Here we present a spatially highly resolved dataset ( http://teodoor.icg.kfa‐juelich.de/ibg3searchportal2/dispatch?metadata.detail.view.id=...

Ecosystem carbon (C) fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems are affected by varying environmental conditions (e.g., soil heterogeneity and weather) and land management. However, the interactions between soil respiration (Rs) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and their spatio-temporal dependence on environmental conditions and land management at field scal...

Biochar application to soil has the potential to increase soil productivity while reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. However, techniques for conditioning this material for maximizing its effects as a soil amendment require elucidation. We examined changes of organic matter associated with two biochars after 175...

The use of charcoal as a soil amendment is currently of great interest to sequester carbon and improve soil fertility, however, studies of siteswhere charcoal amendments to the soil have been made many years ago are lacking at the moment. In this study we investigated historical charcoal production sites in Germany that have not been in use for N60...

Polylepis woodland occurs in Peru’s tropical highlands at elevations between 3,500 and 5,000 m above sea level and Polylepis is the most common tree at timberline in South America. The objective of this study was to assess the total ecosystem carbon stock in a Polylepis incana woodland, i.e., aboveground biomass (canopy trees and understory), root...

The degradation of environmentally long-term aged (22 years) (14)C-labeled atrazine residues in soil stimulated by inoculation with atrazine-adapted soil from Belgium, the United States (U.S.), and Brazil at two different moisture regimes (50% WHCmax/slurried conditions) was evaluated. Inoculation of the soil containing the aged (14)C-labeled atraz...

Biochar applications to soils can improve soil fertility by increasing the soil's cation exchange capacity (CEC) and nutrient retention. Because biochar amendment may occur with the applications of organic fertilizers, we tested to which extent composting with farmyard manure increases CEC and nutrient content of charcoal and gasification coke. Bot...

Biochar addition to soil has been reported to reduce the microbial degradation of pesticides due to adsorption of the active compound. We investigated whether the addition of hardwood biochar alters the mineralization of (14)C-labeled atrazine in two atrazine adapted soils from Belgium and Brazil at different moisture regimes. Biochar addition resu...

Biochar application has been suggested for reducing toxic levels of metals in contaminated soils and enhancing nutrient retention in agro‐ecosystems. We studied sorption of copper (Cu(II)) and sulphate‐sulphur (SO4‐S) to charcoal, gasification coke and flash‐pyrolysis biochar in order to relate sorption to char properties. Furthermore, we investiga...

The slow alteration of the surface of charred biomass (biochar) over time may contribute to an improved nutrient retention and thus fertility of tropical soils. Here, we investigated soils from temperate climates and investigated whether a technical steam activation of biochar could accelerate its positive effects on nutrient retention and uptake b...

Mit diesem Artikel sollen bodenkundliche Methoden und Ergebnisse eines Forschungsvorhabens zur Beschreibung von Böden und chemischen Beeinflussungen durch den Menschen im semi-ariden Raum näher beschrieben werden. Die verschiedenen Gelände- und Labormethoden sollen vorgestellt und auf deren Anwendungsmöglichkeiten diskutiert werden. Die sich verän...

Im Nordosten Berlins wurden Böden in einem vor ca. 20 Jahren aufgebauten Stadtgebiet untersucht. Die Flächen werden seit der ersten Neu-Nutzung als Spielwiese genutzt. Die Böden wurden auf pH-Wert, el. Leitfähigkeit, Bodenarten, Humusgehalte, Trockenrohdichten, Wassergehalte und Nährstoffgehalte untersucht. Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass die B...