A legacy effect refers to the impacts that previous conditions have on current processes or properties. Legacies have been recognized by many disciplines, from physiology and ecology to anthropology and geology. Within the context of climatic change, ecological legacies in drylands (eg vegetative patterns) result from feedbacks between biotic, soil, and geomorphic processes that operate at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Legacy effects depend on (1) the magnitude of the original phenomenon, (2) the time since the occurrence of the phenomenon, and (3) the sensitivity of the ecological–soil–geomorphic system to change. Here we present a conceptual framework for legacy effects at short‐term (days to months), medium‐term (years to decades), and long‐term (centuries to millennia) timescales, which reveals the ubiquity of such effects in drylands across research disciplines.

In the European Union, the maintenance of soil quality is a key point in agricultural policy. The effect of additions of dairy cattle (Bos taurus) manure (DCM) during a period of 11 years were evaluated in a soil under irrigated maize (Zea mays L.) monoculture. DCM was applied at sowing, at wet‐weight rates of 30 or 60 Mg ha⁻¹yr⁻¹ (30DCM or 60DCM). These were compared with a mineral‐N treatment (300 kg N ha⁻¹, MNF), applied at six to eight emerged leaves and with a control (no N, no manure). Treatments were distributed in a randomized block design. Factors analysed were stability against wetting stress disaggregation, porosity, soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions and earthworm abundance, studied eight months after the last manure application. The application rate of 30DCM increased aggregate stability and the light SOC fraction, but not the pore volume, nor the earthworm abundance, compared with MNF. The DCM rates did not result in unbalanced agronomic advantages versus MNF, as high yields (12–16 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) were obtained. In Mediterranean environments, the use of DCM should be encouraged mainly because of its contribution to the light SOC fraction which protects dry macro‐aggregates from implosion (slaking) during the wetting process. Thus, in intensive agricultural systems, it protects soil from physical degradation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organic fertilizers (manures and slurries) applied repeatedly over many cropping seasons favourably influence nutrient recycling, maintenance of soil organic matter (SOM), and improve soil quality parameters such as soil aggregation and porosity. These aspects are particularly relevant in Mediterranean environments characterized by low SOM. This study was set up in a subhumid Mediterranean area where two different trials, devoted to winter cereals, were fertilized with dairy cattle manure (DCM) or pig slurry (PS) for a period of 12 years. One objective of this research was to evaluate the impacts of these fertilization practices on aggregate stability and SOM fractions, when compared with a mineral N fertilizer and a control (no-N) treatment. Porosity and pore shape were also studied in PS plots. The use of DCM significantly increased water stable aggregates by up to 16.4–18.0 %. Slurry addition did not affect aggregation but it increased the area occupied by pores >65 µm. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and light organic fraction (0.05–0.2 mm) increased with DCM incorporation but in PS treatments the SOC increment was non-significant. Data from DCM and PS together showed a positive and significant linear relationship between SOC (p < 0.05, R² = 0.60), SOC light fraction (p < 0.01, R² = 0.75) and SOC light fraction at 0.05–0.2 mm size (p < 0.01, R² = 0.83), with water-stable aggregate. The use of animal residues (DCM or PS), applied according to an N criterion, increased available phosphorus and potassium soil content while improving yields. The enrichment of soil nutrients with DCM and PS use requires further research in order to avoid potential environmental impacts.

Soil micromorphology, using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), was used to describe detailed soil morphological and compositional changes and determine mineral weathering pathways in acid sulfate soils (ASS) from the following 2 contrasting coastal environments in Barker Inlet, South Australia: (i) a tidal mangrove forest with sulfidic material at St Kilda, and (ii) a former supratidal samphire area at Gillman that was drained in 1954 causing sulfuric material to form from sulfidic material. Pyrite framboids and cubes were identified in sulfidic material from both sites and are associated with sapric and hemic materials. Gypsum crystals, interpreted as a product of sulfide oxidation, were observed to have formed in lenticular voids within organic matter in the tidal mangrove soils at St Kilda. Sulfide oxidation was extensive in the drained soil at Gillman, evidenced by the formation of iron oxyhydroxide pseudomorphs (goethite crystallites and framboids) after pyrite and jarosite, and of gypsum crystals. Gypsum crystals occur where a local source of calcium such as shells or calcareous sand is present. Sporadic oxidation episodes are indicated by the formation of iron oxide and jarosite coatings around coarse biogenic voids. These observations indicate that mineral transformation pathways are strongly influenced by soil physico-chemical characteristics (i.e. oxidation rate, Eh, pH, soil solution chemistry, mineralogy, and spatial distribution of sulfides). This information has been used to illustrate the interrelationships of pyrite, carbonate, gypsum, jarosite, and organic matter and help predict soil evolution under changing hydro-geochemical, redoximorphic, and thermal conditions in soils from coastal environments.