Shih-Hao Jien

National Pingtung University of Science and Technology · Department of Soil and Water Conservation

Air pollutants pose risks to human health, especially in densely populated cities. We compared the interception of suspended particles and metal elements by four sidewalk tree species with different leaf surface wettability (based on contact angle), leaf area and phenology, in Taipei, Taiwan. Suspended particles were enriched 2.0-2.5 times in throu...

Urban forests are key to mitigating the Urban Heat Island Effect, which contributes to temperature increases in urban areas. However, the trees in these forests are usually under stress because urban soil is typically degraded. Biochar/compost amendments help with soil management by improving the physiochemical properties and bacterial communities...

Soil degradation is a crucial problem, particularly in tropical and subtropical areas. Prevention or reduction of soil erosion requires strategies based on thorough rapid vegetation cover (VC) and favorable soil quality in subtropical and tropical areas. This study applied wood biochar (WB) and rice husk biochar (RHB) in a mudstone soil, which is w...

This paper describes examples of actions taken for the connectivity between soil and society to inspire soil awareness in Taiwan, particularly by the practices of university social responsibility (USR) including workshops of soil survey education in Taiwan (WOSSET) carried out from 2015 to 2019, the Farmers Academy, soil profiles diagnoses for crop...

Background Phosphorus (P) is the limiting nutrient in many mature tropical forests. The ecological significance of declining P stocks as soils age is exacerbated by much of the remaining P being progressively sequestered. However, the details of how and where P is sequestered during the ageing in tropical forest soils remains unclear. Results We e...

Combining biochar with chemical fertilizers or compost not only improves the shortcomings of biochar’s lack of fertility, but also extends the benefits of the compost. The application of biochar composite materials will be a future agricultural management strategy. In this study bagasse compost was mixed with wood biochar (w/w) at rates of 0% (B),...

Soil aggregates are among crucial factors for determining both the quality and erosion resistance of soils. Biochar is a soil amendment that has seen increasing use to improve specific soil properties, mainly the physical structure and the preserving capacity of water and nutrients, as well as sequestration of soil organic carbon. In this study, we...

As a temperature-sensitive transition zone, the subtropical alpine region responds quickly to global warming. However, little is known about soil microbial communities at the treeline, where changes in vegetation in response to global warming are anticipated. Barcoded pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was used to investigate the bacterial communi...

Biogeographic separation has been an important cause of faunal and floral distribution; however, little is known about the differences in soil microbial communities across islands. In this study, we determined the structure of soil microbial communities by analyzing phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles and comparing enzymatic activities as well...

Biochar has been proven as a soil amendment to improve soil environment. However, mechanistic understanding of biochar on soil physical properties and microbial community remains unclear. In this study, a wood biochar (WB), was incorporated into a highly weathered tropical soil, and after 1 year the in situ changes in soil properties and microbial...

Background: Loss of nutrients and organic carbon (OC) through leaching or erosion may degrade soil and water quality, which in turn could lead to food insecurity. Adding biochar to soil can effectively improve soil stability, therefore, evaluating the effects of biochar on OC and nutrient retention and leaching is critical. Methods: We conducted a...

Placic (Bsm) horizons are commonly found in different types of soils worldwide, but are very rare in Ultisols. The formation of Bsm horizon and podzolization are different processes in pedogenesis. This study collected five podzolic Ultisols containing Bsm horizons from the subalpine forests in Taiwan to illustrate the morphological characteristics...

The effects of biogeographical separation and parent material differences in soil bacterial structure and diversity in offshore islands remain poorly understood. In the current study, we used next-generation sequencing to characterize the differences in soil bacterial communities in five offshore subtropical granite islands (Matsu Islets, MI) of ma...

Riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC), responsible for riverine productivity, is rarely documented in subtropical small mountainous rivers (SMRs) where high rainfall and steep slopes are the main features. This study investigated the DOC export at eight sites in three Taiwan SMRs to characterize the dynamics and controlling factors of DOC transpo...

Transport of riverine dissolved carbon (including DOC and DIC) is a crucial process linking terrestrial and aquatic C reservoirs, but has rarely been examined in subtropical small mountainous rivers (SMRs). This study monitored DOC and DIC concentrations on a biweekly basis during non-event flow periods and at 3 h intervals during two typhoon event...

To mitigate food shortage due to global warming, developing sustainable management practices to stabilize soil organic matter (SOM) and sequester more carbon (C) in the cultivated soils is necessary, particularly in subtropical and tropical areas. A short-term (56 days) incubation experiment was conducted to evaluate the influences of rice husk bio...

Phytoremediation is an economical and viable method for reducing cadmium (Cd) in polluted soils. Cd is transported from the roots to the stem. Binding of Cd by organic acids and amino acids and its subsequent transportation through plants via xylem vessels has been verified. However, the roles that proteins play in Cd transport are still unclear. R...

The badland soils originated from mudstone in southwestern Taiwan are inhospitable for plant growth because of their high salinity and poor physicochemical properties. Thorny bamboo is one of the few plants that can survive in these soils. To investigate the responses of the soil bacterial communities to plant cover, bare soils and soils from thorn...

Typhoons episodically trigger landslides and export large quantities of particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC) to the ocean from high-standing islands of the western North Pacific. On landslide scars, new soils are forming and organic carbon (OC) re-accumulates; however, these young soils may remain vulnerable to recurrent erosion....

Biochar promotes the storage of organic carbon (OC) in soils. Organic carbon is unevenly distributed in soils among different particle-size fractions showing different structures, functions, and stability. The objective of this study was to investigate the biochar-soil interactions and the redistribution of soil C in different soil fractions based...

Climate change gives rise to rapid degradation of rural soils in sloping subtropical and tropical areas and might further threaten environmental sustainability. In this study, we conducted an integrated evaluation of the effects of wood biochar (WB) application mixed with a green waste dreg compost (GWC) on runoff quality, soil losses, and agricult...

Small mountainous rivers (SMRs) are important conveyors of the land-to-ocean organic carbon export. However, relatively few studies have focused on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) compared to particulate organic carbon. In a long-term project (2002 to 2014), stream DOC was monitored in three neighboring subtropical small mountainous rivers of Taiwan...

Afforestation results in changes of vegetation and soil properties, which in turn could affect the soil bacteria that play critical roles in the biogeochemical cycles in forest ecosystems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to elucidate the impacts of afforestation on soil bacterial communities. Using the barcoded pyrosequencing technique,...

Afforestation results in changes of vegetation and soil properties, which in turn could affect the soil bacteria that play critical roles in the biogeochemical cycles in forest ecosystems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to elucidate the impacts of afforestation on soil bacterial communities. Using the barcoded pyrosequencing technique,...

In high-standing islands of the Western Pacific, typhoon-triggered landslides occasionally strip parts of the landscape of its vegetative cover and soil layer and export large amounts of biomass and soil organic carbon (OC) from land to the ocean. After such disturbances, new vegetation colonizes the landslide scars and OC starts to re-accumulate....

Red soils developed above the reef limestones are commonly observed in the world. Their characteristic properties of high contents in clays and iron-oxides, reddish hue are usually classified themselves as Inceptisols, Alfisols, Ultisols or Mollisols in Soil Taxonomy. The genetic contexts between the soils and beneath limestone have been revealed...

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...

4-Dibromodiphenyl ether (BDE-3) and 4,4′-dibromodiphenyl ether (BDE-15) are two of the major polybrominated diphenyl ethers used as flame-retardant additives in computer main boards and in fireproof building materials. In this study, we evaluated the potential of three low-cost adsorbents, black tea, green tea, and coconut palm leaf powders, to ads...

A previous study has demonstrated that Danshui River has almost the highest dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) yield in the world and exports most of the DIN in the form of ammonium unlike the world’s large rivers. However, the DIN sources are poorly constrained. In this study, the contributions of major sources in the Taipei metropolitan area to t...

The low hilly topography of G reen I sland, a volcanic island off southeastern T aiwan, includes an altitudinal sequence of sub‐horizontal benches. We examined eight profiles along this sequence, ranging from pale brown loamy coral sand on the lowest bench that fringes the coast at an elevation of about 10 m to deep, intensely red and acid clay on...

Soil color variation, clay illuviation, and translocation of Fe and Mn are influenced by hydrological conditions. Soil profile imaging has been considered to predict the distribution of clay, Fe and Mn oxides, and hydrological conditions. Ten Ultisol and Alfisol profiles were selected at elevations ranging from 15 m to 40 m a.s.l. at Chungli Terrac...

Serpentine-derived soils have high concentrations of Cr and Ni from the parent materials and pose a risk to human health and environmental quality. The use of pXRF is a viable and effective technique for digital soil morphometrics. Soil digestion by aqua regia (AR) is a common method for screening heavy metals in contaminated soils. To provide in s...

Because of frequent tectonic activities due to arc-continent collision, multi-level marine terrace are present along the coast of the Taiwan Island. They are suitable sites for constructing tropical soil chronoseqeunces. This study investigated soils along a transect on reef terraces on the Kenting Peninsula, the southmost tip of Taiwan, in order t...

The increased frequency of extreme rainfall events and changes in rainfall characteristics in recent years have changed the rainfall erosivity index of the Universal Soil Loss Equation, thereby indirectly affecting the estimation of soil erosion. In this study, Lan-yang Watershed was used as the research site. By using 10-min rainfall data of 12 pr...

Bulk density (Bd) is an important soil property to be considered to directly affectsoil porosity, available water content and water conductivity in determining crop productivity. Due to time-consuming sampling procedure in-situ, Bd is usually absence in soil database. This study aims to establish a pedotransfer function (PTF) to predict Bd for high...

Food demand and soil sustainability have become urgent concerns because of the impacts of global climate change. In subtropical and tropical regions, practical management that stabilizes and prevents organic fertilizers from rapid decomposition in soils is necessary. This study conducted a short-term (70d) incubation experiment to assess the effect...

Soil and dust ingestion rates by children are among the most critical exposure factors in determining risks to children from exposures to environmental contaminants in soil and dust. We believe this is the first published soil ingestion study for children in Taiwan using tracer element methodology. In this study, 66 children under 3 years of age we...

Fluvial sediment export from small mountainous rivers in Oceania has global biogeochemical significance affecting the turnover rate and export of terrestrial carbon, which might be speeding up at the recognized conditions of increased rainfall intensity. In this study, the historical runoff and sediment export from 16 major rivers in Taiwan are inv...

Invasive white leadtrees (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit) are contributing to the destruction of coastal ecosystems and biodiversity in humid subtropical and tropical regions. Sudden clearcutting of invasive tress can lead to substantial soil loss, which subsequently reduces the efficiency when indigenous vegetation is restored. Soil samples (...

Soil classification is a fundamental part of geography textbooks for senior high schools in Taiwan. However, few studies have evaluated the accuracy and consistency of the soil classification schemes presented in these textbooks. This study begins by reviewing the historical development of soil classification science in the 19th century. The histor...

Food demand and soil sustainability have become urgent issues recently because of the global climate changes. This study aims to evaluate the application of a biochar produced by rice hull, on changes of physiochemical characteristics and erosion potential of a degraded slopeland soil. Rice hull biochar pyrolized at 400°C was incorporated into the...

This study develops a real-time soil moisture sensor based on stainless planar electrodes to measure the capacitance changes of soil in the presence of water and an electrokinetic ion trap mechanism to move and attract ions in water for reducing ion effects on the sensor. As rain falls on -ground soil, its water content increases together with that...

Maintaining of soil quality on slopelands by applying organic amendments has been considered as a common agricultural management method in Taiwan. However, over use of organic amendments due to rapid decomposition of soil organic matter is wasting and might pollute water body at catchments or down streams. Therefore, decomposition- resistant rice h...

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...

Soil physicochemical properties have been clearly improved and soil erosion potential has been obviously reduced by biochar application in the highly weathered soil. This study interprets alteration of soil aggregate size in terms of soil micromorphology and well explains improved mechanism of soil erosion after biochar application (Fig. 4). Fig. 4...

Placic (Bsm) and spodic (Bhs) horizons are common in subalpine or alpine forest soils in Taiwan. Bsm horizons are found more usually in finer textured soils than those with Bhs horizons. To understand the different formation processes in Bsm and Bhs horizons in a humid subtropical ecosystem, we identified micro‐morphological features by using scann...

This study aims to evaluate the effects of different cover ratios of erosion control geosynthetic mesh on the erosion potential along hillslopes. Simulated erosion tests were carried out under three slope gradients (36°, 46°and 61°) and two rainfall intensities (100 mm hr-1 and 150 mm hr-1). The C factors were also estimated for each mesh after det...

Chromium is easily trapped by Fe-oxyhydroxides when the two elements are weathered from serpentinites. Additionally, manganese oxides are the only known naturally occurring oxidant for Cr(III). To elucidate the effects of Fe and Mn oxides on Cr speciation from serpentine mine tailing, this study explored Cr(VI) generation from lithiogenic Cr that i...

A greenhouse experiment was used to test the applicability of [S,S]-Ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid (EDDS) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) at rates of 2.5 mmol kg(-1) and 5.0 mmol kg(-1), respectively, to increase the uptake of Cd by water spinach (Ipomoea aquatic Forsk) in soils with 2.5-30 mg Cd kg(-1). The addition of EDDS and NTA significantly i...

To provide a simple and fast alternative in measuring soil water content (SWC), a spectrometer was used to detect SWC because of different soil water contents, leading to different reflectance spectrums. Two commonly seen soil types in Taiwan are red soil and younger alluvial soil, which were used as test materials in this study. Fifty red soil sam...

Heavy metal contamination in rural soils severely threatens the food chain, and consequently, human health. The addition of organic amendments to contaminated soils is considered an effective method to immobilize heavy metals. However, the sequential decomposition of soil organic matter still poses a risk, the rerelease of heavy metals, to animals...

Red soil is an important rural soil in Taiwan. Long-term cultivation and unsuitable chemical fertilizer application accelerate soil degradation. Therefore, sustainable maintenance of soil quality and crop productivity is an urgent issue for agriculture now. This study used a forestry waste, woods of white leadtree (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de W...

Restoring indigenous plants is an urgent concern in coral reef landscapes severely invaded by white leadtrees (Leucaena leucocephala). The efficiency of restoration is largely influenced by the spatial heterogeneity of soils and selecting suitable species. In this study, we evaluated the relationships of soil properties with the mortality and growt...

With the increasing concern over global climate change, it has become vital to quantify global and local soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. In Taiwan, a total of 620 soil series for the rural soils and 69 soil series for the forest soils have been established, which may provide a clear scenario of a national scale SOC stock from the soil information...

We selected sites of natural broad-leaved forests and adjacent coniferous plantations (Cunninghamia konishii and Calocedrus formosana of 30 and 80years old, respectively) in central Taiwan to evaluate the effects of plantations on soil organic matter (SOM) characteristics and composition. SOM was characterized by chemical analyses, solid-state 13C...

To elucidate the properties of pedogenic Cr and Ni in serpentine soils in terms of mobilization, three pedons on the shoulder (Entisol), backslope (Inceptisol), and footslope (Alfisol) along a toposequence in eastern Taiwan were examined for metal partitioning and their geochemical origins. The analysis combined bulk soil analysis by selective sequ...

Liuchiu Island is an uplifted coral-reef island located off southwestern Taiwan. A total of four soil pedons, labeled as LC-1 and LC-2 from the Holocene terraces and LC-3 and LC-4 from the Pleistocene terraces, were sampled on the island for this work. These soils were siliceous, and were characterized by enrichment of clay and free iron (Fed). Acc...