The increased microbial activity in the soils after biochar incorporation was demonstrated by an increase in MBC content throughout incubation duration, except for the date of 21 d (Fig. 3). The presence of hyphae at the interface between the biochar and the soil particles (Fig. 4d) also further proved the facilitation of microbial activities by biochar incorporation into the soils. Barthés and Roose (2002) indicated that soil loss correlated negatively with stable macroaggregate BLZ945 cost (> 0.2 mm) content (r = 0.99, p < 0.01) in topsoils under a given simulated rainfall intensity (60 mm h− 1). Moreno-de las Heras (2009) found that

the addition of organic matter to form stabilized soil aggregates reduced the potential of soil erosion. As a whole, this study showed that the incorporation of biochar into highly weathered soil clearly improved the physical properties of the soil, and reduced the potential for soil erosion. Annabi et al. (2011) further indicated that organic amendments that were more resistant to mineralization showed improved stabilization of macroaggregates than organic additives that decomposed

easily. Biochar prepared from the waste wood of white lead trees through Akt inhibitor slow pyrolysis is an acid-neutralizing material for highly weathered soils, and is a potential source of nutrients. The persistent characteristics of the biochar ensure long-term benefits for the soils. Our incubation experiments showed that wood biochar not only improved the chemical and biological properties of the soil, including increasing soil pH, CEC, BS, and microbial second activity, but also improved the physical properties of the soil, such as Bd, Ksat, aggregate stability, and erosion resistance. These results suggest that the addition of wood biochar effectively improved poor soil characteristics in highly-weathered soil, and reduced soil losses. The results of this study

could be used to avoid rapid soil degradation in subtropical and tropical regions. The authors would like to thank the National Science Council of the Republic of China, Taiwan for financially supporting this research under contract no. NSC 94-2313-B-020-016. “
“The authors regret that the paper published by Torri et al. (2012) contains some typing errors: i.e. “
“The publisher regrets that there were errors in the affiliation information and Table 1 caption. The correction affiliation is mentioned above and the correct text for Table 1 is represented below. aCoarse sand = 250–2000 μm, Fine sand = 50–250 μm, Silt = 2–50 μm, Clay = < 2 μm. The publisher would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. "
“Dan H. Yaalon passed away in the morning of Jan 29, 2014. I lost a dear friend, loyal colleague, and a sound professional authority.