The objective of this study was to determine the soil organic carbon stock (T-SOC stock) in different mountain soils in the Babia Góra National Park (BNP). Environmental factors, such as the topography, parent material, and vegetation, were examined for their effect on carbon stock. Fifty-nine study plots in different BNP locations with diverse vegetation were selected for the study. In each study plot, organic carbon stock was calculated, and its relationships with different site factors were determined. The results reveal that the SOC stocks in the mountain soils of the BNP are characterized by high variability (from 50.10 to 905.20 t ha − 1 ). The general linear model (GLM) analysis indicates that the soil type is an important factor of soil organic carbon stock. Topographical factors influence soil conditions and vegetation, which results in a diversity in carbon accumulation in different mountain soils in the BNP. The highest carbon stock was recorded in histosols (>550 t C ha − 1 ), which are located in the lower part of the BNP in the valleys and flat mountain areas.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important indicator of soil quality; an elevated percentage of SOC indicates very high-quality soil, physically as well as chemically. As such, the principal objective of the present study was to determine the concentration of SOC at different depths, as well as its accumulation through the entire soil profile. The Carrizal-Chone system (SCCH) area was stratified by agricultural use. Sixty-three soil samples were taken from different depths of up to a maximum of 150 cm. The physical and chemical properties of the soil were determined. SOC was determined by the Walkley and Black method. The following results are highlighted: (1) 21 different varieties of soil management were identified; (2) the largest area was livestock grazing land, which had the greatest concentration of SOC; (3) the type of soil with the greatest SOC sequestration capacity was silty clay loam; (4) the area cultivated with corn presented the highest accumulation of total carbon; and (5) the highest concentration of SOC was found in the top 40 cm, with a tendency to decrease with depth. It is concluded that soil management influences the concentration and accumulation of SOC in the topsoil layers and the entire soil profile.

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Ensuring that the post-harvest process yields good quality cocoa is a relevant research question. However, the literature currently lacks detailed studies of producers’ criteria for post-harvest technology selection. There is therefore a need for research that examines technology choice based on several criteria. This is the aim of our paper. We defined a cocoa post-harvest technology selection model to assist small producers in Ecuador. To do so, we employed the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assess the following criteria: quality, processing cost and technology adoption capability. By considering only quality, we first performed a preliminary assessment of nine post-harvest technologies yielded by all possible combinations of fermentation and drying methods. Under the criterion “quality”, results show that no post-harvest technology is preferable to another. This implies that quality differences between producers do not derive from technology choice but rather from the rigour with which producers perform fermentation and drying processes. After adding the criteria “processing cost” and “technology adoption capability”, we performed the analysis again. This multi-criteria approach offered a better way to approximate small farmers’ real needs when selecting technology for cocoa post-harvest. Although quality was the highest-valued criterion, high scores attributed to some technologies in the other two criteria offset scores for quality. Thus, processing cost and technology adoption also emerged as relevant factors for small holders.

Forests are key ecosystems for climate change mitigation, playing a pivotal role in C and N land sequestering and storage. However, the sustainable management of forests is challenging for foresters who need continuous and reliable information on the status of soil conditions. However, the monitoring of soils in temperate evergreen forests, via satellite data, is jeopardized by the year round prevailing heavily dense canopy. In this study, the Sentinel-2 spectral imagery derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) proved to be a reliable tool to determine the C/N ratio in two managed pine-dominated forests, in southern Poland. Results showed a strong negative correlation between NDVI values and the on-site C/N ratios measured at the upper soil horizons in 100 and 99 randomly distributed sampling points across the Kup (r2 = −0.8019) and Koniecpol (r2 = −0.7281) forests. This indicates the feasibility of using the NDVI to predict the microbial driven soil C/N ratio in evergreen forests, and to foresee alterations in the vegetation patterns elicited by microbial hindering soil abiotic or biotic factors. Spatial/temporal variations in C/N ratio also provide information on C and N soil dynamics and land ecosystem function in a changing climate.