CORE IDEAS: Contributions are mainly from the 2017 International Soil Physics Workshop in China. Soils are fundamental in supplying food, energy, water (FEW), and ecosystem services. Interdisciplinary (convergence) approaches are needed to address FEW challenges. Soils are foundational to sustaining the food, energy, and water (FEW) systems and provide many essential ecosystem services. Soil degradation is a major threat to food security in China and elsewhere in the world. It is critical to advance soil science to improve the FEW systems so that FEW supplies can be provided to human populations in a sustainable and resilient manner. To do so, we must understand interactions among soil physical, chemical, and biological processes, as well as the role, function, and contribution of soil physical processes to delivering FEW supplies and ecosystem services. Soil processes and crop production are strongly controlled by physical processes such as soil water flow, aggregate stability, compaction, heat regime, irrigation and drainage, soil aeration, etc. Recognizing the importance of soil physics to the nexus of FEW systems, the collection in this special section mainly includes research presented at the International Workshop of Soil Physics and the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water held on 3–5 Aug. 2017 at Shenyang, China. This special section covers diverse topics including fundamental soil physical properties and water flow, land use and agricultural management, soil organic carbon management, soil physical modeling, and transport of emerging contaminants. More future research using interdisciplinary (nexus or convergence) approaches should be undertaken to address challenges in many contemporary and emerging FEW issues.

The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of organic fertilizer on the availability of natural food (plankton and benthos) and water quality. Two fertilization protocols were adopted using inorganic and organic fertilizers with shrimp (stocked treatment) and their controls (unstocked treatment). Experimental units consisted of 12 circular fiberglass tanks (500 l) with estuarine sediment, individual aeration and no water exchange. In stocked treatments were used 40 juveniles/m², and they were fed with 35% crude protein marine shrimp ration, three times a day. Under the organic fertilization protocol, the plankton showed higher abundance of Nitzschia and rotifers, the phytobenthos consisted mainly of Nitzschia, Amphiprora and Oscillatoria, the epibenthos was represented mainly by nematodes and rotifers, and the macro-invertebrates were mainly oligochaetes. In relation to inorganic fertilization, the plankton was represented mainly by Coscinodiscus and rotifers, the phytobenthos consisted mainly of Amphiprora and Oscillatoria, the epibenthos was represented mainly by nematodes and rotifers, and the macro-invertebrates were mainly oligochaetes. Dissolved oxygen was higher for organic fertilizer (6.16 ± 0.98 mg/l) than for inorganic (5.92 ± 1.19 mg/l) while the other water quality parameters did not present significant differences. Survival was similar in the two fertilization regimes (96.6%). Final body weight was 11.89 ± 1.73 g for the inorganic fertilizers and 12.28 ± 1.71 g for organic fertilizer. It is concluded that wheat bran showed good performance in the water quality without exchange, in the availability of natural food, and in the growth and survival of the shrimps in the microcosms.