Soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration is closely related to soil quality and climate change. The objectives of this study were to estimate the effects of contemporary land use on SOC concentrations at 0–20 cm depths, and to investigate the dynamics of SOC in paddy-field soil and dry-land soil after their conversion from natural wetlands (20 and 30 years ago). We investigated the dissolved organic carbon (DOC), light fraction organic carbon (LFOC), heavy fraction organic carbon (HFOC), and other soil properties (i.e., moisture content, bulk density, pH, clay, sand, silt, available phosphorous, light fraction nitrogen, and heavy fraction nitrogen) in natural wetlands, constructed wetlands, fishponds, paddy fields, and soybean fields. The results indicated that the content of DOC increased 17% in constructed wetland and decreased 39% in fishponds, and the content of HFOC in constructed wetland and fishponds increased 50% and 8%, respectively, compared with that in natural wetlands at 0–20 cm. After the conversion of a wetland, the content of HFOC increased 72% in the paddy fields and decreased 62% in the dry land, while the content of DOC and LFOC decreased in both types. In the paddy fields, LFOC and HFOC content in the topmost 0.2 m of the soil layer was significantly higher compared to the layer below (from 0.2 to 0.6 m), and there were no significant differences observed in the dry land. The findings suggest that the paddy fields can sequester organic carbon through the accumulation of HFOC. However, the HFOC content decreased 22% after 10 years of cultivation with the decrease of clay content, indicating that paddy fields need to favor clay accumulation for the purpose of enhancing carbon sequestration in the paddy fields.

Slope failure triggered by soil erosion under rainfall remains one of the most difficult problems in geotechnical engineering. Slope protection with planting vegetation can be used to reinforce the soil and stabilize the slope, but the early collapse of the planting soil before the complete growth of plants becomes a major issue for this method. This paper has proposed a composite soil treatment and slope protection method using the geocell structures and the wheat straw reinforcement. The geocell structures improve the stability of the planting soil and provide a stable and fixed environment for the vegetation, while the wheat straw reinforces the soil and also increases the fertility. The authors have performed a total of 9 experiments in this work that are classified into three groups, i.e., the unsupported slopes, the geocell reinforced, and the geocell and wheat straw composite reinforced with a consideration of three different rainfall intensities. The progressive slope failure development during the rainfall was assessed, as well as the soil erosion, the slope displacement, and the water content. The results show that the slope failure increases as the rainfall continues, and the soil degradation increases with the intensity of rainfall. The soil treatment using geocell improves the slope stability, but the geocell and wheat straw composite reinforcement has the best erosion control and slope protection.

To tackle urban water issues, the Chinese government has promoted the construction of sponge cities in recent years. Thirty cities have been designated as experimental sites to serve as models for future sponge city construction, as more than 80% of the built-up urban areas in China must reach the standards of sponge cities by 2030. Greening plants play an important role in sponge cities, and water-use efficiency (WUE) is a vital index to determine whether plants could adapt to and grow healthily in environments with water deficits. In this study, WUE of greening plants was quantified by measuring the stable carbon isotope fractionation. Suitable plants for the green spaces in Guyuan sponge city, in northern China, were selected based on their WUE, and the main factors affecting WUE were studied in four habitats within the city. Plant species identity had the greatest effect on WUE, while habitat and plant life form had lower effect, illustrating that WUE is a relatively stable and reliable index for the classification of plant species. We can improve the WUE and ecological function of green spaces in sponge cities by using isotope technology to select suitable plant species with high WUE. To our knowledge, this study is the first to select plant species for sponge city by using this method, providing a quick and scientific method for the selection of greening plants for future sponge cities.

Anthropogenic activities strongly influence river habitat conditions and surrounding landscape patterns. A major challenge is to understand how these changes impact microbial community composition and structure. Here, a comprehensive analysis combining physicochemical characteristics in sediment with sequencing targeting the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was conducted to test the hypothesis that diverse habitat conditions induce dissimilarity of microbial community composition and structure in a regulated urban river. The results suggested that observed species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity had a decreasing variation along the land use intensified gradient, while beta diversity also revealed significant separation of microbial community structure between headwaters and urban reaches. Total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) and total organic carbon (TOC) in sediment were the dominant factors in structuring bacterial and archaeal community assemblages. Further analysis in dominant fecal-associated bacteria indicated that elevated nutrient concentrations may significantly (p < 0.05) increase the relative abundance of Clostridium and Acinetobacter in sediment. The findings highlight the pivotal roles of alpha diversity and fecal-associated bacteria in understanding the dynamics of microbial communities in a regulated urban river ecosystem.