[Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 103(2012), 19–30]

[doi: 10.1017/S1755691012000047]

The original version of this paper unfortunately contained errors.

Under ‘Materials and methods’ (section 1, page 20), the description of the total elemental concentration of the biochar (section 1.1) should read as follows: “The ash content and the total elemental composition of the biochar were determined by dry ashing a 1.5-g sample in a laboratory muffle furnace (Nabertherm Program Controller C19, Nabertherm, Lilienthal, Germany), by raising the temperature to 500°C within two hours and then maintaining it at 500°C for three hours. The ash was transferred into an Erlenmeyer flask with 100 ml 0.2 M HCl, boiled for 30 minutes, transferred quantitatively into a 100-ml measurement flask, adjusted to the volume with deionised water, and filtered through a filter paper (Whatman, Grade 589/3, blue ribbon, pore size 2 μm, GE Healthcare, UK). The total elemental concentrations of extracts were analysed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES; Thermo-Fisher iCAP3600 MFC Duo, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cambridge, UK).”

Revised Table 1 (page 20):

Table 1 Physicochemical properties of softwood biochar used in the experiment

ICP-OES=inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Ash and elemental composition analyses were conducted in triplicate; all other analyses in duplicate.