Just five years ago, it was generally believed that the number of food insecure people in the world was on continuous decline. Unfortunately, widespread soil degradation along with resistance to recommended agronomic practices, and little attempt to restore degraded soils have conspired with significant droughts (in regions that could least tolerate them) to swell the ranks of the food insecure to over a billion people. The U.N. Millennium Development Goals’ intent to halve hunger by 2015 will not be realized.

Food Security and Soil Quality brings together leading experts from across the world to provide a concise and factually supported exploration of the problem at hand and the critical steps needed to reverse it. Edited by Rattan Lal, and B.A. Stewart, two of the world’s most respected soil scientists, this important work —

• *Assesses farming systems and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, with special emphasis on land degradation
• *Examines concerns with and approaches to soil quality management in Brazil and China
• *Details achievable methods for improving soil quality for sustainable production
• *Provides an insightful comparison of temporal changes in agricultural systems productivity in Punjab, India and Ohio
• *Discusses the human dimension of the crisis including the influence of culture and spiritual beliefs

Pub. Date: June 2010 Publisher: CRC Press Format: Hardcover, 430pp
Item: 143980057

An evolving, living organic/inorganic covering, soil is in dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere above, the biosphere within, and the geology below. It acts as an anchor for roots, a purveyor of water and nutrients, a residence for a vast community of microorganisms and animals, a sanitizer of the environment, and a source of raw materials for construction and manufacturing. To develop lasting solutions to the challenges of balanced use and stewardship of the Earth, we require a fundamental understanding of soil—from its elastic, porous three-phase system to its components, processes, and reactions.

Handbook of Soil Sciences: Resource Management and Environmental Impacts, Second Edition is the second of two volumes that form a comprehensive reference on the discipline of soil science. Completely revised and updated to reflect the current state of knowledge, this volume covers interfacial interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological regimes within the soil; the factors that control the availability of plant nutrients and microelements; interdisciplinary aspects of soil science, including salinity, sodicity, and soil erosion; and soil databases for assessing worldwide soil resources.

Critical elements addressed in each section include:

Descriptions of concepts and theories
Definitions, approaches, methodologies, and procedures
Data in tabular and figure format
Extensive references

This cohesive handbook provides a thorough understanding of soil science principles and practices based on a rigorous, complete, and up-to-date treatment of the subject matter compiled by leading scientists. It is a resource rich in data, offering professional soil scientists, agronomists, engineers, ecologists, biologists, naturalists, and students their first point of entry into a particular aspect of the soil sciences.

Pub. Date: December 2011 Publisher: CRC Press Series: Handbook of Soil Science Series ISBN-13: 9781439803073 Edition Description: New Edition
Item: 143980307

An evolving, living organic/inorganic covering, soil is in dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere above, the biosphere within, and the geology below. It acts as an anchor for roots, a purveyor of water and nutrients, a residence for a vast community of microorganisms and animals, a sanitizer of the environment, and a source of raw materials for construction and manufacturing. To develop lasting solutions to the challenges of balanced use and stewardship of the Earth, we require a fundamental understanding of soil—from its elastic, porous three-phase system to its components, processes, and reactions.

Handbook of Soil Sciences: Properties and Processes, Second Edition is the first of two volumes that form a comprehensive reference on the discipline of soil science. Completely revised and updated to reflect the current state of knowledge, this volume covers the traditional areas of soil science: soil physics, soil chemistry, soil mineralogy, soil biology and biochemistry, and pedology. Contributors discuss the application of physical principles to characterize the soil system and mass and energy transport processes within the critical zone. They present significant advances in soil chemistry; describe how minerals are formed and transformed; and provide an introduction to the soil biota. They also examine geomorphology, land use, hydropedology, and subaqueous soils as well as the classification and digital mapping of soil.

Critical elements addressed in each section include:

Descriptions of concepts and theories
Definitions, approaches, methodologies, and procedures
Data in tabular and figure format
Extensive references

This cohesive handbook provides a thorough understanding of soil science principles and practices based on a rigorous, complete, and up-to-date treatment of the subject matter compiled by leading scientists. It is a resource rich in data, offering professional soil scientists, agronomists, engineers, ecologists, biologists, naturalists, and students their first point of entry into a particular aspect of the soil sciences.

EDITION:2nd Edition ISBN-13:9781439803059 PUBLISHER: CRC Press
Item: 143980305

Hydropedology is a microcosm for what is happening in Soil Science. Once a staid discipline found in schools of agriculture devoted to increasing crop yield, soil science is transforming itself into an interdisciplinary mulch with great significance not only for food production but also climate change, ecology, preservation of natural resources, forestry, and carbon sequestration. Hydropedology brings together pedology (soil characteristics) with hydrology (movement of water) to understand and achieve the goals now associated with modern soil science.

• ISBN-13: 9780123869418
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Publication date: 9/12/2012
• Pages: 858
• Product dimensions: 8.90 (w) x 6.00 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Soil and Environmental Chemistry emphasizes the problem solving skills students will need when they enter their chosen field. Combining valuable soil chemistry concepts into the “big picture” by discussing how other soil and environmental factors affect the soil chemical concepts being discussed makes the text relevant to today’s soil science curriculums.

- Use of computer modeling for water and soil chemistry provides students with the models used by practicing environmental chemists.
- Examples and complex problems with worked solutions included throughout the text.
- Examples based on real data provide exposure to the real problems and data students will face in their careers.

Pub. Date: January 2011 Publisher: Elsevier Science ISBN-13: 9780123849809 ISBN: 0123849802
Item: 012384980

Soil and Environmental Chemistry emphasizes the problem-solving skills students will need when they enter their chosen field. Combining valuable soil chemistry concepts into the “big picture” by discussing how other soil and environmental factors affect the soil chemical concepts being discussed makes the text relevant to today’s soil science curriculums.

This revised reprint provides edits to formulas, numbers, and text.

- Use of computer modeling for water and soil chemistry provides students with the models used by practicing environmental chemists.
- Examples and complex problems with worked solutions included throughout the text.
- Examples based on real data provide exposure to the real problems and data students will face in their careers.

ISBN-13: 9780124157972 Publisher: Elsevier Science Publication date: 8/11/2011 Pages: 496 Product dimensions: 6.10 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 1.20 (d)
Item: 012415797