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This book is a concise, yet comprehensive modern introduction to soil science and describes the development of soils, their characteristics and their material composition as well as their functions in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Soil functions include the delivery of goods and services for the human society, such as food, clean water, and the maintenance of biodiversity. The book is profusely illustrated with many coloured figures and tables to accompany the text and ease its understanding. Particularly the chapter on soil classification, based on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), features numerous colour pictures of typical soil profiles to facilitate understandin...
Soil degradation has serious global impacts on agronomic, economic, and sociopolitical conditions, however, statistics regarding the degree of these impacts has been largely unreliable. This book aims to standardize the methodology for obtaining reliable and objective data on soil degradation. It will also identify and develop criteria for assessing the severity of soil degradation, providing a realistic scenario of the problem.
Soil quality is threatened by many human-induced activities, but can also be improved by good land management. In the relatively short history of mankind on earth, the landscape and soils of the world have been drastically modified from their "natural " state. Landscapes altered by man's activities are termed "Anthroscapes" which are inextricably linked to culture and history. The challenges for today's scientists are to devise and implement sustainable land management strategies in order to preserve the land for the benefit of future generations. This book is a valuable compendium of the research experiences so far gained in studies of the context and concept of the "Anthroscape" and highlights the potential future contributions of such research to sustainable development.
This Encyclopedia of Agrophysics will provide up-to-date information on the physical properties and processes affecting the quality of the environment and plant production. It will be a "first-up" volume which will nicely complement the recently published Encyclopedia of Soil Science, (November 2007) which was published in the same series. In a single authoritative volume a collection of about 250 informative articles and ca 400 glossary terms covering all aspects of agrophysics will be presented. The authors will be renowned specialists in various aspects in agrophysics from a wide variety of countries. Agrophysics is important both for research and practical use not only in agriculture, bu...
"Molecular Environmental Soil Science at the Interfaces in the Earth's Critical Zone" presents contributions from the 1st International Symposium of Molecular Environmental Soil Science at the Interfaces in the Earth's Critical Zone held in Hangzhou, China. It introduces new ideas, findings, methods, and experience on above new and emerging subject areas. A broad range of topics are covered: the role of mineral colloids in carbon turnover and sequestration and the impact on climate change, biogeochemical interfacial reactions and dynamics of vital and toxic elements, ecotoxicology of anthropogenic organics, environmental nanoparticles and their impacts, and ecosystem health. The book will be a valuable reference for researchers in soil chemistry, environmental chemistry, mineralogy, microbiology, ecology, ecotoxicology, and physics. Jianming Xu is a Professor at the Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, China. Pan Ming Huang is a Professor at the Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) has become important in rice farming systems because this process diminishes the need for expensive chemical fertilizers which have been associated with numerous health and environmental problems. The extensive exploitation of BNF would provide economic benefits to small farmers, avoiding all malign influences of chemical fertilizers. Meanwhile, advances in biotechnology have brought rice genetics to the threshold of new opportunities for increasing rice production. This volume focuses, in six different sessions, on the role of BNF in the improvement of rice production in the light of the current state of the art of BNF technology transfer and diffusion. New ideas on BNF technology in research, extension information and inoculant technology are also included, together with the socio-economic impacts of using BNF in rice farm systems.
Landscapes of the Islamic World presents new work by twelve authors on the archaeology, history, and ethnography of the Islamic world in the Middle East, the Arabian peninsula, and central Asia. The focus looks beyond the city to engage with the predominantly rural and pastoral character of premodern Islamic society.
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In view of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection of the European Commission and the draft of the European Soil Protection Framework Directive, a symposium on the topic «Strategies for legislating soil protection in the European Union» was held in March 2007 at the Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. At the centre of the symposium were reports on EU thematic soil protection strategies and the soil protection framework presented in the draft by six different European countries (Spain, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Austria, and Germany), providing an overview of the state of soil protection laws in these member states. The conference transcript includes these individual reports as well as th...
This book elaborates how water, soil, and waste may be managed in a nexus and how this approach may help combat global change. In addition to providing a brief account on nexus thinking and how it may help us tackle issues important to the world community such as food security, the book presents the environmental resource perspective of three main aspects of global change: climate change, urbanization, and population growth. Taking as its point of departure the thematic discussions of the Dresden Nexus Conference (DNC 2015) held in March 2015, the book presents the perspectives of a number of thought leaders on how the nexus approach could contribute to sustainable environmental resource management. The first chapter provides an introduction to the issues and consent of the book. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on climate change adaptation. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the role of urbanization as a main driver of global change. The last two chapters of the book present ideas on how the nexus approach may be used to cope with population growth and increased demand for resources.