When it comes to wildfires in Europe, people usually think about southern countries, such as Spain, Portugal or Italy. However, parts of northern and northeastern Germany have been classified by the European Union as top regions at risk of wildfires. The state of Brandenburg has more than one million hectares of forest, which is equal to 37% of the state area. Dry and sandy soil means poor growth conditions, and only undemanding plants may be cultivated with reasonable effort. That's why monoculture pine forests make up 78% of all woods in this area. Precipitation easily permeates the sandy soil while fires burn the extremely dry ground, fueled by liquid resin, needles and forest litter that does not decompose. This is particularly problematic since Brandenburg was a battleground of the final phase of World War II and a military training ground for more than 100 years. The region was contaminated by hundreds of thousands of tons of unexploded artillery grenades and bombs. About 36% of the entire state and 50% of the woodland is still heavily polluted with old weapons posing major risks to the civilian population and particularly to fire fighters. Early wildfire detection is crucial under these circumstances, and generations of human fire spotters worked for decades using a dense network of watchtowers. Due to extremely high maintenance costs of these watchtowers and due to difficult labor legislation, the automatic remote surveillance system FireWatch was introduced in 2001. Today human fire spotting is history; 108 sensors are operating successfully and have proven to be technologically efficient. Plenty of detailed statistics haven been collected for decades giving evidence that the burnt area per hectare of a fire has been reduced tremendously since the installation of FireWatch and that the system has clearly outperformed the human spotter from a long-term perspective.

Since 2005, the application of nano carbon (NC) in agriculture and environmental remediation has received considerable attention with most of the research focusing on plant growth and heavy metal absorption. However, little is known about the potential effects of NC on soil erosion and nutrient loss. In this study, rainfall simulation tests were conducted on a soil plot (1 m x 1 m, located in a semi-arid loess region of northwestern China), in which a mixture (5-cm below the soil surface) of NC (0, 0.1%, 0.5%, 0.7% and 1.0% on a mass base) and sandy soil (same as the one in the plot) was embedded as three bands (5 cm wide, 1 m long and 5 cm thick) at the three positions (top, middle and bottom of the plot), respectively. Before the rainfall simulation test, a mixed solution of potassium bromide (1.0 mol/L KBr), potassium nitrate (1.0 mol/L KNO3), monopotassium phosphate (1.0 mol/L KH(2)PQ(4)) was sprayed on the soil surface. Results showed that the sandy soil on the Loess Plateau with 0.7% NC addition (36.47 kg/hm(2) on a mass basis) could improve soil water runoff, sediment yield, and nutrient loss in the semi-arid loess region of northwestern China, in addition to preventing soil water from deep percolation. Therefore, NC may have a great potential in soil erosion control on the Loess Plateau of China.

Thermal conductivity dry out curves (TCDCs) representing the relationship between thermal conductivity and pore water saturation have been measured for two sandy soils under elevated temperatures. Experiments were conducted using an evaporative technique in a temperature-controlled oven at temperatures up to 75 degrees C for concurrent thermal conductivity, temperature, and volumetric water content measurements. Thermal conductivity of both sands at low to intermediate saturations (S similar to 0.1-0.5) increases appreciably at elevated temperature. Maximum thermal conductivity occurs at 75 degrees C and around the point of critical saturation (S-c similar to 0.1-0.13), where thermal conductivity is about twice that at room temperature (similar to 23 degrees C). This is attributed to the influence of latent heat transfer from vapor diffusion at air-water interfaces, which have a maximum surface area within this saturation regime. A new empirical model is proposed for predicting thermal conductivity dry out curves at elevated temperatures. Modeled TCDCs show good agreement with experimental results. Performance of the model is evaluated by comparison with existing models for TCDCs at elevated temperatures.

Slope is a part of soil topography formed due to elevation difference from two soil surface. Landslides is frequently occur in natural slope, it is because shear force is greater than shear strength in the soil. There are some factor that influence slope stability such as: rain dissipation, vibration from earthquake, construction and crack in the soil. Slope instability can cause risk in human activity or even threaten human lives. Every years in rainy season, landslides always occur in Indonesia. In 2016, there was some landslide occurred in Bali. One of the most damaging is landslide in Petang district, Badung regency. This landslide caused main road closed entirely. In order to overcome and prevent landslide, a lot of method have been practiced and still looking for more sophisticated method for forecasting slope stability. One of the method to strengthen soil stability is filling the soil pores with some certain material. Cement is one of the material that can be used to fill the soil pores because when it is in liquid form, it can infiltrate into soil pores and fill the gap between soil particles. And after it dry, it can formed a bond with soil particle so that soil become stronger and the slope as well. In this study, it will use experimental method, slope model in laboratory to simulate a real slope behavior in the field. The first model is the slope without any addition of cement. This model will be become a benchmark for the other models. The second model is a slope with improved soil that injects the slope with cement. Injection of cement is done with varying interval distance of injection point is 5 cm and 10 cm. Each slope model will be given a load until the slope collapses. The slope model will also be analyzed with slope stability program. The test results on the improved slope models will be compared with unimproved slope. In the initial test will consist of 3 model. First model is soil without improvement or cement injection, second model is soil with cement injection interval 5 cm and third model is soil with cement injection interval 10 cm. The result is the shear strength (4) value) the soil is increase from 32.02 to 47.57. The increase value of internal friction angle (4)) shows that an increase in shear strength of the cement improved soil. While, the value of cohesion (c) is zero indicating there is no cohesion in the soil. This is common for sand soil or sandy soil. The calculation of safety factor with GeoStructural Analysis obtained an increase of safety factor from 0.78 if the soil without cement injection to 1.07 and 1.17 if the soil is injected with cement at a distance of 10 cm and 5 cm.

On irrigated agricultural soils from semi-arid and arid regions, ammonia (NH3) volatilization and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission can be a considerable source of N losses. This study was designed to test the capture of N-15 loss as NH3 and N2O from previous and recent manure application using a sandy, calcareous soil from Oman amended one or two times with N-15 labeled manure to elucidate microbial turnover processes under laboratory conditions. The system allowed to detect N-15 enrichments in evolved N2O-N and NH3-N of up to 17% and 9%, respectively, and total N, K2SO4 extractable N and microbial N pools from previous and recent N-15 labeled manure applications of up to 7%, 8%, and 15%. One time manured soil had higher cumulative N2O-N emissions (141 mu g kg(-1)) than repeatedly manured soil with 43 mu g kg(-1) of which only 22% derived from recent manure application indicating a priming effect.

While more than half the land surface of Iraq consists of deserts covered mainly with sand dunes, little research has taken place to study the characteristics and the behaviour of sand dunes. The growth of economy, demography and building activities in Iraq necessitates carrying out geotechnical investigations for the dune sand. The purpose of the present work is to assess the suitability of sand dunes as subgrade layer for carrying roads and rail foundations. An extensive laboratory testing programme was carried out to study the geotechnical properties and the behaviour of sand dunes. Sand dune samples were collected from a region in Baiji area in Salah-Aldeen governorate, North of Iraq, in situ field density of the soil was measured by sand-cone test. The tests include moisture content, classification tests, compaction tests, relative density and direct shear test. Chemical tests and X-ray diffraction analyses were also carried out. Silica fume (SF) and lime-silica fume (L-SF) mix have been used for stabilising and their effects on the sand dunes were investigated. A grey-coloured densified SF is used. Four percentages are used for lime 0, 3, 6 and 9% and four percentages are used for SF 3, 6, 9 and 12% and the optimum percentage of SF is mixed with the percentages of lime. Several tests are made to investigate the soil behaviour after adding the lime, and SF. It was found that L-SF caused an increase in the angle of friction phi and cohesion c. Higher cohesion was reached; 10 kPa with higher percentage of 6% L + 12% SF. In addition, the angle of internal friction increases with increasing the maximum dry density, where the values of the angle of internal friction ranged between 35 degrees and 41 degrees.

A dynamic vegetation-sand-grazer model is proposed in this research, to study the effects of different grazing intensities on the growth of vegetation in arid and semi-arid areas. The model is established on the basis of three processes: the growth of vegetation, the deposition of aeolian sand, and the growth of grazers (some herbivores). The equilibrium of the model is obtained through stability analysis and this reveals that vegetation can survive in an environment of both sand burial and grazers. But we all know that overgrazing will cause desertification. Therefore numerical simulations are carried out to quantitatively demonstrate the variations of the equilibrium along with different grazing intensities and the relationships between grazing intensity and the three variables of vegetation cover, aeolian sand and grazers. During stability analysis and simulation, we obtain several critical points of the vegetation-sand-grazer system, such as grazers bringing in point, point of maximum volume of grazers, Hopf bifurcation point and the initial grazers with respect to the projection of separatrix on vegetation-aeolian sand plane. And based on these critical points, the process of desertification can be divided into four stages: healthy (no grazing and moderate grazing), passive desertification, active desertification (overgrazing), and ecosystem collapse. The new perspective in this research may promote the understanding of desertification process and may also provide useful information for the management of graziery.

Both the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and plant growth regulators (PGR) exert beneficial effects on plant growth even under stress, but combined effect of both of them has not been evaluated yet. Present investigation was aimed to determine the responses of 2 chickpea varieties (differing in drought tolerance) to 3 PGPR viz. Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus megaterium and PGR (SA and Putrescine) on physiology of chickpea grown in sandy soil. The PGR, Salicylic acid (SA) and Putrescine (Put) were sprayed on the seedling 20 days after germination. Results revealed, synergistic effects of PGPR and PGR on chlorophyll, protein and sugar contents. Addition of PGR to PGPR inoculated plants assisted the plant in osmoregulation and amelioration of oxidative stresses and in induction of new proteins. Combined application of PGR and PGPR decreased lipid peroxidation more effectively but increased the leaf area. It is inferred that PGPR and PGR work synergistically to promote growth of plants under moisture and nutrient deficit condition of sandy soil. Since, SA induces Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) in plants hence the addition of SA along with PGPR may render the plant more productive and better tolerant to diseases/pathogen attack.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) exist in herbaceous plants' rhizospheres from the Black Sea temperate zone. The AMF is significant for herbaceous plants during their life processes and stages; it has vital importance under the marginal climate conditions and protects plants against soil borne diseases. The aim of this research is to investigate the symbiotic status of AMF species with Cynodon dactylon (L.) PERS., within the temperate coastal regions of the Black Sea. In order to achieve this aim, 20 samples of Bermuda grass were collected from the study area. AMF spore abundance and diversity were determined in the study area during the 2016 dry season. Also, physical and chemical properties of the rhizosphere soils were analyzed, including the pH, CaCO3 content, organic carbon, available P, available K, soil texture, and total N. Furthermore, 12 arbuscular mycorrhyzal fungi species were diagnosed. Identified spores belonged to Ambispora, Dentiscutata, Funnelifornzis, Cetraspora, Claroideoglonius, Acaulospora, Scutellospora, Rhizoglomus, and Gigaspora genus. The diagnosed dominant AMF genus was Gigaspora. The soil of rhizosphere had low organic carbon, low available P, low available K, low total N, high CaCO3 content, almost neutral pH, and sandy soil. The symbiotic status of Cynodon dactylon with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi species demonstrated that the indigenous Cynodon dactylon carried substantial potential as a host plant for AMF species in sandy soils from Black Sea temperate coastal regions.

This study evaluated wheat production effects on carbon (C) fractions and soil organic C (SOC) molecular composition of a semiarid Plinthustalf in a trial established near Bethlehem. Treatments applied for 20 consecutive years included two straw management (unburned and burned), three tillage (no-tillage, ploughing and stubble mulch) and two weed control (chemical and mechanical) methods. Samples collected from 0-50mm depth of specific treatment combinations were analyzed for SOC, soil inorganic C (SIC), permanganate oxidizable C (POXC), cold (CWEC) and hot (HWEC) water extractable C, extractable humic substances (CEX), humic acids, fulvic acids (CFA) and SOC functional groups. Humification (HI) and polymerization (PI) indices and alkyl C/O-alkyl C ratios were calculated. No-tillage combinations demonstrated potential to reverse losses of soil C fractions in the 0-50mm layer. Increased POXC, CWEC, CEX and CFA revealed the labile nature of accumulated SOC in no-tillage, suggesting that SOC therein could be rapidly lost if no-tilled soils were again cultivated. Although the HI and PI were not always significant, their decrease in the no-tillage combinations suggest minimal decomposition, which is a benefit in Plinthustalfs with low storage capacity. Positive correlations between SIC and SOC fractions implied that an increase in SOC fractions protected SIC, resulting in its accumulation in no-tillage combinations. Functional groups seemed to mimic fractionated SOC fractions because O-alkyl C decreased with concomitant increase in alkyl, aromatic and carbonyl C. These responses highlighted that no-tillage combinations could be ideal to restore SOC quality in drought-prone agro-ecosystems dominated by sandy soils.