A Handbook of Tropical Soil Biology. Sampling and Characterization of Below-ground Biodiversity, by Fatima M. S. Moreira, E. Jeroen Huising and David E. Bignell. Eartscan, 2008, hardback 9781844076215 $85.00. This practical handbook describes sampling and laboratory assessment methods for the biodiversity of a number of key functional groups of soil organisms, including insects, earthworms, nematodes, fungi and bacteria. The methods have been assembled and the protocols drafted by a number of scientists associated with the UNEP-GEF funded Conservation and Sustainable Management of Below-Ground Biodiversity Project, executed by the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Institute of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The methods provide a standardized basis for characterizing soil biodiversity and current land uses in terrestrial natural, semi-natural and agroecosystems in tropical forests and at forest margins. The aim is to assess soil biodiversity against current and historic land use practices both at plot and landscape scales and, further, to identify opportunities for improved sustainable land management through the introduction, management or remediation of soil biota, thus reducing the need for external inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. The book also contains extensive advice on the handling of specimens and the allocation of organisms to strain or functional group type.
Guidelines for surveying soil and land resources. Edited by N.J. McKenzie, M.J. Grundy, R. Webster, A.J. Ringrose-Voase. CSIRO Publishing, 2008. ISBN: 9780643090910. Guidelines for Surveying Soil and Land Resources promotes the development and implementation of consistent methods and standards for conducting soil and land resource surveys in Australia. These surveys are primarily field operations that aim to identify, describe, map and evaluate the various kinds of soil or land resources in specific areas. The advent of geographic information systems, global positioning systems, airborne gamma radiometric remote sensing, digital terrain analysis, simulation modelling, efficient statistical analysis and internet-based delivery of information has dramatically changed the scene in the past two decades. This authoritative guide incorporates these new methods and techniques for supporting natural resource management. Soil and land resource surveyors, engineering and environmental consultants, commissioners of surveys and funding agencies will benefit from the practical information provided on how best to use the new technologies that have been developed, as will professionals in the spatial sciences such as geomorphology, ecology and hydrology. Click here for more details.
Geomorphometry. Edited by Tomislav Hengl and Hannes I. Reuter
Elsevier Science 2008. ISBN: 978-0-12-374345-9. A title in the Developments in Soil Science series. Geomorphometry is the science of quantitative land-surface analysis. It draws upon mathematical, statistical, and image-processing techniques to quantify the shape of earth’s topography at various spatial scales. The focus of geomorphometry is the calculation of surface-form measures (land-surface parameters) and features (objects), which may be used to improve the mapping and modelling of landforms to assist in the evaluation of soils, vegetation, land use, natural hazards, and other information. This book provides a practical guide to preparing Digital Elevation Models (DEM) for analysis and extracting land-surface parameters and objects from DEMs through a variety of software. It further offers detailed instructions on applying parameters and objects in soil, agricultural, environmental and earth sciences. This is a manual of state-of-the-art methods to serve the various researchers who use geomorphometry. Click here for more details.
Soil Analysis in Forensic Taphonomy: Chemical and Biological Effects of Buried Human Remains, by Mark Tibbett and David O. Carter (eds). CRC Press, Hardback, 2008. $99.95. ISBN: 9781420069914. Soil Analysis in Forensic Taphonomy: Chemical and Biological Effects of Buried Human Remains is the first book to concentrate entirely on the telling impact of soil and its components on the postmortem fate of human remains. Examining the basic physicochemical composition of the soil as it relates to forensic science and taphonomy, leading experts from across the world: Offer an introduction to the nature, distribution, and origin of soil materials in forensic comparisons; Discuss the action of biological soil components, including invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria;Address rates and processes of decomposition and time of death estimates; Detail methods for characterizing and fingerprinting soils; Provide extensive information on the decomposition of hair. Edited by Mark Tibbett, a soil microbiologist and David Carter, a forensic scientist, this unique resource provides an up-to-date overview of fundamental scientific principles and methods used in forensic taphonomy from a soils-based perspective. It provides an understanding of the processes at work, as well as practical methods and advice for those involved with active investigation.
Land Change Science in the Tropics – Changing Agricultural Landscapes, by Millington, Andrew; Jepson, Wendy (Eds.) Springer, 2008, XVIII, 274 p. 50 illus., Hardcover, ISBN: 978-0-387-78863-0. Land use and land-cover change research over the past decade has focused mainly on contemporary primary land-cover conversions in the tropics and sub-tropics, with considerable resources dedicated to the explanation and prediction of tropical deforestation and often ignoring the dynamism in the world’s agro-pastoral landscapes. This collection integrates cutting-edge research in the social, biogeophysical, and geographical information sciences to understand the human and environmental dynamics that change the type, magnitude and location of land uses and land covers in the changing countryside. Our contributors are from across the globe and draw on diverse empirical pan-tropical case studies and disciplinary influences. The research reported examines land-use and land-cover change in Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Malawi, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Senegal and Thailand. Each chapter in this book advances one of three themes: (i) adaptations and change in settled agricultural zones, (ii) agricultural intensification, and (iii) markets and institutions. This book describes the monitoring of land-cover changes, explains the processes through which land is altered, and describes the development of spatially-explicit models to predict land change. This book illustrates how practitioners have integrated knowledge from the three scientific realms – social, biophysical, and GIScience – that underpin land-change science.
Quickening the Earth: Soil Minding and Mending in Ireland. J.F. Collins, School of Biological and Environmental Science, UCD, Dublin, 2008. This book documents the ways and means adopted by generations of Irish farmers to maintain and restore soil fertility over many centuries. All available natural materials were used: calcareous corals, clays, gravels, sands and shells; burnt lime; stable manures, composts, and seaweed/kelp. Separate chapters are also devoted to lime-burning; paring/burning/subsoil roasting; and to the shorter histories of warping/watering; salt/guano imports and bone treatment/products. As well as documenting advances in soil and agricultural sciences, and drawing material from the husbandries and the economic/social sciences, this book highlights the contributions made by Irish writers to the knowledge of soils and especially to the problem of soil acidity. Though focussed on Ireland, the research is likely to be of interest to those working in many disciplines including soil management, chemistry, fertility and pedology. E-mail: james.collins@ucd.ie Price $40.00; packaging and posting extra.
Soils in the Humid Tropics and Monsoon Region of Indonesia, by K.H. Tan. CRC Press, 2008. ISBN 10: 1420069071 Highlighting the vast differences in tropical climate, from hot and humid to cool and arctic, this book explores the climate, soil zones, and altitudinal variation in soil formation. The author explores the changes in geomorphology, especially in climate and vegetation above sea level, that have yielded zones of different soils. The book makes accessible hard-to-find information translated from Dutch archives. Informally divided into two parts, it begins with coverage of the development of soil science in Indonesia. The author reviews the geography and geomorphology of the archipelago, climate, vegetation, and mineralization and humification processes as factors of soil formation. The second part examines the major soils, their genesis, properties, taxonomy, land use, and evaluation. The discussion moves from lowlands, to uplands, then mountains, and concludes with andosols found in the mountains as well as in the lowlands. Focused and timely, this book knits new knowledge with old but important information that has been previously difficult to access.
Principles of Soil Conservation and Management, by H. Blanco & R. Lal. Springer, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-4020-8708-0. Principles of Soil Management and Conservation comprehensively reviews the state-of-knowledge on soil erosion and management. It discusses in detail soil conservation topics in relation to soil productivity, environment quality, and agronomic production. It addresses the implications of soil erosion with emphasis on global hotspots and synthesizes available from developed and developing countries. It also critically reviews information on no-till management, organic farming, crop residue management for industrial uses, conservation buffers (e.g., grass buffers, agroforestry systems), and the problem of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and in other regions. This book uniquely addresses the global issues including carbon sequestration, net emissions of CO2, and erosion as a sink or source of C under different scenarios of soil management. It also deliberates the implications of the projected global warming on soil erosion and vice versa. The concern about global food security in relation to soil erosion and strategies for confronting the remaining problems in soil management and conservation are specifically addressed.
Soil Memory: Soil as a Memory of Biosphere-Geosphere-Anthroposphere Interaction, by V.O. Targulian, S.V. Goryachkin (eds.). Moscow, 2008 692 p. (In Russian with the extended English introduction and summary). The concept of soil memory is one of the promising areas in the development of pedology. Its core is the perception of soils and earth’s soil cover, or pedosphere, as particular carriers and accumulators of information on the evolution and interaction of all the Earth spheres. Soil and pedosphere are considered to be a memory of interactions in the biosphere-geosphere-anthroposphere. Basic concept and empiric developments of soil memory (the ability to record factors and processes of pedogenesis in soil solid phase) are elucidated in the special scientific monograph for the first time. The memory of different models of pedogenesis and its combination with sedimentation is analyzed in application to the natural and anthropogenic environments. Potential information capacity of the main hierarchical levels of soil memory from the level of individual soil particles up to the level of soil cover as well as the problem of polymorphism and isomorphism of memory in respect of environment are discussed. Special chapters are in concern with detail analysis of mineral and biogenic memory carriers, such as sand and silt particles, clay minerals, secondary carbonates, Mn-Fe nodules, cutans, soil porosity, humus, biomorphic particles, etc. You can order and read more about this book here.
Digital Soil Mapping with Limited Data, Hartemink, Alfred E.; McBratney, Alex; Mendona-Santos, Maria de Lourdes (Eds.) 2008, XXIV, 445 p. 109 illus., 55 in color., Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-8591-8. There has been considerable expansion in the use of digital soil mapping technologies and development of methodologies that improve digital soil mapping at all scales and levels of resolution. These developments have occurred in all parts of the world in the past few years and also in countries where it was previously absent. There is almost always a shortage of data in soil research and its applications and this may lead to unsupported statements, poor statistics, misrepresentations and ultimately bad resource management. In digital soil mapping, maximum use is made of sparse data and this book contains useful examples of how this can be done. This book focuses on digital soil mapping methodologies and applications for areas where data are limited, and has the following sections (i) introductory papers, (ii) dealing with limited spatial data infrastructures, (iii) methodology development, and (iv) examples of digital soil mapping in various parts of the globe (including USA, Brazil, UK, France, Czech Republic, Honduras, Kenya, Australia). The final chapter summarises priorities for digital soil mapping.
Biophysico Chemical Processes of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Soil Environments, A. Violante, P.M. Huang, G. M. Gadd (Eds), John Wiley & Sons. 2008. ISBN 978-0-471-73778-0
This volume, which consists of 15 Chapters, is organized into three sections dealing with: (i) Fundamentals on Biotic and Abiotic Interactions of Trace Metals and Metalloids with Soil Components, (ii) Transformations and Dynamics of Metals and Metalloids as Influenced by Soil-Root-Microbe Interactions, and (iii) Speciation, Mobility and Bioavailability of Trace Metals and Metalloids, and Restoration of Contaminated Soils. This book, contributed by a multidisciplinary group of soil and environmental scientists, provides the scientific community with a critical evaluation of the state-of-the-art on the fundamentals of reactions and processes of these elements in soil environments. The book is an important guide to scientists interested in environmental sciences, soil chemistry and mineralogy, soil biochemistry, soil microbiology, and plant nutrition and physiology for understanding the biophysico-chemical processes of these pollutants in soil environments. The latest advances in spectroscopy to study various aspects of heavy metal and metalloid interactions with soil inorganic and organic components are reviewed.
The Nature and Properties of Soils. Nyle C. Brady and Ray R. Weil. 2008. 14 ed. Pearson-Prentice Hall. 990 pp. ISBN: 13-978-0-13-227938-3.
The 14th edition is thoroughly updated and expanded to include all the important advances in soil science. The book is accompanied by a companion website available at no extra charge. This website includes practice quizzes with feedback for every chapter, color version of the photographs in the book and annotated hot links to hundreds of relevant soils websites. New features in the 14th edition: In addition to more than 350 two color illustrations, the number of color plates has been increase to 111 high quality full color images that illustrate pedological phenomena, nutrient deficiencies, soil landscapes and soil management practices.
More information click http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_brady_natureandp_14/
The soil Science Society of America has produced a colourful children book on soils, entitled Soil Get the inside scoop. From this book: Go underground into the living world of soil. Explore how soil is part of our life the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the houses we live in, and how it even helps to control our climate and protect our rivers and streams. Find out how a soil becomes a soil, why some soils are good for growing things and others are not, why you can pour sand but not clay. Then, take an around-the-world trip and dig into dry soils, wet soils, deep soils, and even frozen soils. Along the way, meet the scientists who work with soil every day. And find out why they think soil is so much fun. Click here for a PDF with the table of contents, more details see www.soils.org
Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. W. Chesworth, editor. Springer, 2008, xxvi + 902 p. ISBN 978-1-4020-3994-2. Hardcover. Electronic publication: ISBN 978-1-4020-3995-9; Print and electronic bundle: ISBN 978-1-4020-5127-2.
Over 120 contributors have collaborated with the volume editor and an advisory board of 9 soil scientists to compose this new encyclopedia, which could be regarded as the second edition of the one compiled by R.W. Fairbridge and Ch.W. Finkl and published in 1979 the one I still use. The series contains already 10 encyclopedias while 6 others are forthcoming. It is a pleasure to glance through the subject index and get lost in reading the various entries with related entries mentioned in the practical list of cross-references. The encyclopedia brings together in an alphabetic order approximately 190 longer articles (some of them are 10 pages or even longer), together with some 430 definitions of common terms used in soil science, as a glossary. The book emphasizes the study of soils as an integrated part of the earth sciences, and it does this without ignoring the agricultural, environmental and technological aspects of the subject. Throughout the text, the World Reference Base for soil resources (WRB) terms are used, but correlations to Soil Taxonomy occur also. Such content will help soil and other scientists to speak the same language a need in the 21st century. The work involved in putting together an encyclopedia of this size is huge and takes a long time, this has resulted in the fact that there are not many references to publications of the present century. The book, which is presented as a compendium of knowledge, is profusely illustrated with many (colour)photographs, figures and tables. The price is probably too high for an individual scientist, but the university library should certainly obtain a copy!
Price: USD 499.00; EUR 399.00, GBP 317.00; plus taxes where applicable, for the book. For electronic copies see the website. Orders to: Springer Customer Service, Haberstrasse 7, D-69162 Heidelberg, Germany. Fax: +49-6221-345-4229. Email: orders@springer.de. In North America: Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA. Email: service@springer.ny.com. Website: springer.com.
Biophysico-Chemical Processes of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Soil Environments. A. Violante, P.M. Huang and G. M. Gadd, editors. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2008, 658 p. ISBN: 978-0-471-73778-0. Hardcover
Written by a multidisciplinary group of soil and environmental scientists, this book provides the scientific community with a critical qualitative and quantitative review of the fundamentals of the processes of pollutants in soil environments. The book covers pollutants’ speciation, mobility, bioavailability and toxicity, and impacts on development of innovative restoration strategies. In addition, the development of innovative remediation strategies for polluted soils is covered.
Price: GBP 71.50; EUR 94.50. Orders to: John Wiley & Sons, Distribution Centre, 1 Oldlands Way, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 9SA, UK. Email: cs-books@wiley.co.uk. Websites: www.wiley.com or www.wileyeurope.com.
No-Till Farming Systems. World Association of Soil and Water Conservation, Special Publication No. 3. T. Goddart, M. Zoebisch, Y. Gan, W. Ellis, A. Watson and S. Sombatpanit, editors. WASWC, Bangkok, 2008, xxv + 540 p. ISBN 978-974-8391-60-1. Softcover.
This third publication of the WASWC forms an important contribution to the knowledge and use of no-till farming. It should be seen as a compendium on this management technique, which is gaining in importance around the world. It is estimated that on about 100 million hectares no-tillage is being practiced, mostly in North America, Latin America (mostly Brazil and Argentina) and Australia. It is not common in Europe, Asia and Africa. The book has 5 parts and 6 appendices. Part 1, Opening, has two papers. Lester Brown sketches the history and the growing importance of the development of the no-till practice. A progress report on no-tillage and conservation agriculture shows the development over time and in several regions of the world, especially South America. Part 2, No Tillage and Soil Fertility, has 5 papers; part 3, Impact, Adoption, Policy and Future Prospects, has 10 papers; and part 4, Research, Development and Implementation, has 15 papers. The closing part 5 has a paper entitled Critical Steps to No-Till Adoption, and the conclusions, written by the editors. There are 5 books presented in the appendix, plus an introduction of the Earth Hope Project about the developments in China’s Loess Plateau and its lessons for other regions of the world. An enclosed DVD contains a lot of useful information, e.g. the WASWC Newsletter from 2001 till March 2007 and other publications of the WASWC, some journal issues related to no-till management and an article about the history of crop production with and without tillage. The publication has many illustrative photographs, a large part in colour. The World Association of Soil and Water Conservation and the editors of this book must be congratulated with the appearance of this third, and most important, publication! Because of the financial support and sponsoring by many companies, institutions and societies, the price is remarkably low. It is therefore within the reach of many scientists, also in developing countries, where the need to use the information in this book is great. This book deserves to be read and used widely!
Price: between USD 18.00 and 20.00. Orders to: to cut down on costs, there are regional and national distributors. Please consult the websites of the WASWC (http://waswc.soil.gd.cn; or www.waswc.org) or contact Dr. Samran Sombatpanit at WASWC Thailand Office, 67/141 Amonphant 9, Soi Sena 1, Bangkok 10230, Thailand. Phone: +66-25703854; Phone/fax: +66-25703641. Email: sombatpanit@yahoo.com for more details.
Carbon Sequestration in Tropical Grassland Ecosystems. L. et Mannetje, M.C. Amazquita, P. Buurman and M.A. Ibrahim, editors. Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2008, 221 p. ISBN 978-90-8686-026-5. Hardcover.
The increasing scientific consensus on global warming, together with the precautionary principle and the fear of non-linear climate transitions is leading to increasing action to mitigate global warming. To help mitigate global warming, carbon storage by forests is often mentioned as the only or the best way to reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. This book presents evidence that tropical grasslands, which cover 50% of the earth’s surface, are as important as forests for the sequestration of carbon.
Results are reported of a large five year on-farm research project carried out in Latin America (Colombia, Costa Rica). Soil and vegetation carbon stocks of long-established pasture, fodder bank and silvopastoral systems on commercial farms were compared with those of adjacent forest and degraded land. The objective was to identify production systems that both increase livestock productivity and farm income and, at the same time, contribute to a reduction of carbon accumulation in the atmosphere. The project was carried out in four ecosystems: the Andean hillsides of the semi-evergreen forest in Colombia; the Colombian humid Amazonian tropical forest ecosystem; the sub-humid tropical forest ecosystem on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica; and the humid tropical forest ecosystem on the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica. The book is recommended reading for research and teaching scientists and policy makers with an interest to mitigating global warming.
Price: EUR 48; USD 72. Orders to: Wageningen Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 220, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands. Website: www.wageningenacademic.com. In North America: Enfield Publishing, P.O. Box 699, Enfield, NH 03748, USA. Fax: +1-603632-5611. Email: info@enfieldbooks.com. Website: www.enfieldbooks.com.
Trace elements in animal production systems. P. Schlegel, S. Durosoy and A.W. Jongbloed, editors. Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2008, 352 p. ISBN 978-90-8686-061-6. Hardcover.
This book deals with trace elements, such as cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc, which are essential to modern animal nutrition, but are increasingly detrimental to soil and water quality in today’s globalized production. The goal in finding a sustainable balance between trace element use in animal nutrition and its impact on the environment is addressed by focussing on the following questions: What is the trace element flow on farm, regional or national scale and which tools are available to influence the flow? What are today’s and future soil and water quality in relation to trace minerals? What are the trace mineral loading limits in soil and water from a health and legal standpoint? Which technologies exist to modify slurry trace element contents? What is today’s knowledge on quantitative and qualitative trace element requirements and recommended supplementation for ruminants, swine, poultry, fish and crustaceans? What is trace element bioavailability and how can it be determined? To which extent are trace minerals related to immune response? What are the future issues to be addressed in trace element nutrition? This book contains the peer-reviewed papers of the first International Symposium on Trace Elements in Animal Production Systems. It is a valuable resource for researchers and professionals in the life sciences of animal nutrition, soil and water quality, for actors in the feed industry and policy making.
Price: EUR 78.00; USD 117.00. Orders to: Wageningen Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 220, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands. Website: www.wageningenacademic.com. In USA and Canada: Enfield Publishing, P.O. Box 699, Enfield, NH 03748, USA. Fax: +1-603632-5611. Email: info@enfieldbooks.com. Website: www.enfieldbooks.com.
Micronutrient Deficiencies in Global Crop Production. B.J. Alloway, editor. Springer, 2008, xxvi + 354 p. ISBN 978-1-4020-6859-1. Hardcover.
A deficiency of one or more of the eight plant micronutrients (boron, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and zinc) will adversely affect both the yield and quality of crops. Micronutrient deficiencies in crops occur in many parts of the world, at various scales (from one to millions of hectares), but differences in soil conditions, climate, crop genotypes and management, result in marked variations in their occurrence. The causes, effects and alleviation of micronutrient deficiencies in crops in: Australia, India, China, Turkey, the Near East, Africa, Europe, South America and the United States of America, are covered, and these are representative of most of the different conditions under which crops are grown anywhere in the world. Links between low contents of iodine, iron and zinc (human micronutrients) in staple grains and the incidence of human health problems are discussed, together with the ways in which the micronutrient content of food crops can be increased and their bioavailability to humans improved. Detailed treatment of topics, such as: soil types associated with deficiencies, soil testing and plant analysis, field experiments, innovative treatments, micronutrients in the subsoil, nutrient interactions, effects of changing cropping systems, micronutrient budgets and hidden deficiencies in various chapters provides depth to the broad coverage of the book. This book provides a valuable guide to the requirements of crops for plant micronutrients and the causes, occurrence and treatment of deficiencies. It is essential reading for many agronomy, plant nutrition and agricultural extension professionals.
Price: EUR 139.95; GBP 107.50; USD 199.00. Orders to: Springer Customer Service, Haberstrasse 7, D-69162 Heidelberg, Germany. Fax: +49-6221-345-4229. Email: orders@springer.de. In North America: Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA. Email: service@springer.ny.com. Website: www.springer.com
Soil Essentials. Managing Your Farm’s Primary Asset. R. Hall. Landlinks Press, 2008, 192 p. ISBN 978-0643090521. Softcover.
This book is a practical reference for farmers and land managers covering soil issues commonly encountered at the farm level in different regions of Australia. Written in a straightforward style, it explains the principles of soil management and the interpretation of soil tests, and how to use this information to address long-term soil and enterprise viability. This publication demonstrates how minerals, trace elements, organic matter, soil organisms and fertilisers affect soil, plant and animal health. It shows how to recognise soil decline, and how to repair soils affected by nutrient imbalances, depleted soil microbiology, soil erosion, compaction, structural decline, soil sodicity and salinity. The major problem-soils sodic soils, light sandy soils, heavy clay soils and acid sulphate soils are all examined. With this information, Australian farmers and land managers will be able to consider the costs and financial benefits of good soil management.
Price: AUD 49.95. Orders to: CSIRO Publishing, P.O. Box 1139, Collingwood, Vic. 3066, Australia. Fax: +61-3-9662-7555. Email: publishing.sales@csiro.au. Website: www.publish.csiro.au. In North America: Stylus Publishing, P.O. Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605. Fax: +1-703-661-1501. Email: stylusmail@presswarehouse.com. In Europe: Eurospan, Turpin Distribution, Pegasus Drive, Stratton Business Park, Biggelswade, Bedfordshire SG18 8TQ, UK. Email: eurospan@turpin-dsitribution.co.uk. Website: www.eurospanbookstore.com.
Referentiel pedologique 2008 (in French), Association francaise pour l’etude du sol Denis Baize & Michel-Claude Girard (Eds). Quae. 2008. 436 p. ISBN-13 978-2-7592-0185-3. Price: 45 euros.
The Referentiel pedologique is a detailed typology of soils of France, Europe, Africa and other continents. This third edition, which has been entirely reworked, contains three new chapters covering soils in intertropical zones and their specific reference horizons, and two new tools: a rapid access key to the different chapters and an annexe of the possible correspondences between the references in the Referentiel pedologique and the categories in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. The Referentiel pedologique has been tried and tested in the field for some fifteen years now, and has become indispensable. It was designed to be accessible to non-specialists with some knowledge of the basic vocabulary of soil science, and is indispensable to anyone wanting to take account of the diversity of soil types. www.quae.com/livre/?GCOI=27380100883830&fa=description
Response of Crops to Limited Water: Understanding and Modeling Water Stress Effects on Plant Growth Processes, edited by L.R. Ahuja, V.R. Reddy, S.A. Saseendran, and Qiang Yu. ASA, CSSA, SSSA, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-89118-167-5.
Agriculture research today requires a whole-system quantitative approach, and farmers need simple management tools derived from robust models. Agricultural system modelers see a snarl of competing water demands, depleted aquifers, drought, and changing plant water requirements due to global warming and know where the answers lie: in achieving conservation of rain and irrigation water, preservation of groundwater quality, and increased water use efficiency in crop production. The first in the groundbreaking Advances in Agricultural Systems Modeling series from ASA-CSSA-SSSA, Response of Crops to Limited Water: Understanding and Modeling Water Stress Effects on Plant Growth Processes compiles the work of world experts, systematically presenting recent knowledge of water stress effects and emphasizing the knowledge synthesis that will move agriculture forward.
The Soils of Tomorrow – Soils Changing in a Changing World, by C. Dazzi and E. Costantini. Catena Verlag, 2008. Hardcover, 728 pp. ISBN 3923381562.
Man is considered the sixth factor of soil formation and his action can be so intense to completely modify the future evolution of the soils. The book reports selected papers from the 5th international congress of the European Society for Soil Conservation. The conference main goal was to promote exchange and discussion about the consequences of man pressure on soil and landscape, and to stimulate the awareness in the civil society. The book is arranged under eighth interrelated chapters: Soil and society, Soil erosion, Soil organic matter, Soil degradation and desertification, Soil pollution and contamination, Soil conservation and soil quality, Policies for environmental conservation in a global society, and new approaches and technologies for soil assessment. A key note on the related state of the art opens each chapter. The book offers reflections, analysis, facts, new data, suggestions and recommendations, to questions linked to the unbalanced relationships between man and soil. An editorial and a resolution summarize the main outcomes of the conference.
Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and ApplicationsGround penetrating radar: theory and applications. Edited By H. Jol, Elsevier, Hardbound, 544 pages, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0-444-53348-7.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a rapidly developing field that has seen tremendous progress over the past 15 years. The development of GPR spans aspects of geophysical science, technology, and a wide range of scientific and engineering applications. It is the breadth of applications that has made GPR such a valuable tool in the geophysical consulting and geotechnical engineering industries, has lead to its rapid development, and inspired new areas of research in academia. The topic of GPR has gone from not even being mentioned in geophysical texts ten years ago to being the focus of hundreds of research papers and special issues of journals dedicated to the topic. The explosion of primary literature devoted to GPR technology, theory and applications, has lead to a strong demand for an up-to-date synthesis and overview of this rapidly developing field. Because there are specifics in the utilization of GPR for different applications, a review of the current state of development of the applications along with the fundamental theory is required. This book will provide sufficient detail to allow both practitioners and newcomers to the area of GPR to use it as a handbook and primary research reference.
Environmental geochemistry: site characterization, data analysis and case histories. Edited by B. De Vivo, H. Belkin, A. Lima. Elsevier Hardbound, 350 pages, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0-444-53159-9. Contents: 1)Introduction. 2)The role of geochemistry in environment and health problems. 3)Regional Programs. FOREGS. Sampling methods for different media – Stream sediments, soils, waters. 4) Environmental impact of the disposal of solid by-products from waste incineration processes. 5)Household hazardous waste disposal as a pathway for environmental pollution. 6)Sampling methods for site characterization and waste disposal. 7)Site investigations of stream and groundwaters: How to avoid getting into deep water. 8) Methods of chemical analysis of organics and quality controls. 9)Data base management at regional scale. 10)Data analysis and treatment, at local scale, using GIS and GeoDAS. 11)Evaluation of background/baseline values. 12) Geochemical mapping of urban areas. Examples on the munipal soils of Napoli, Avellino, Caserta, Benevento and Salerno towns. 13) Thermodynamics of platinum, palladium, and rhodium with inorganic ligands in the environment. 14)Trace metals speciation and bioavailability in soil. 15)Environment pollution, epidemiology and Workers problems. 16)Medical Geology: Application to arsenic and fluorine poisoning in southwest Guizhou Province, China. 17)Contaminated land in Britain. 18)The US brownfields program: Case studies reflect progress and challenges. 19)Case history of site characterization in Italy: Bagnoli brownfield site.
Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, 3rd edition. By S. Smith and D. Read. Academic Press, Hardbound, 800 pages, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0-12-370526-6.
The roots of most plants are colonized by symbiotic fungi to form mycorrhiza, which play a critical role in the capture of nutrients from the soil and therefore in plant nutrition. Mycorrhizal Symbiosis is recognized as the definitive work in this area. Since the last edition was published there have been major advances in the field, particularly in the area of molecular biology, and the new edition has been fully revised and updated to incorporate these exciting new developments. Audience: Microbiologists, Applied Microbiologists, Biotechnologists, Soil mcrobiologists/scientists, Agricultural scientists, Plant scientists, Mycologists, Molecular Biologists.
Contaminant Geochemistry by Brian Berkowitz: Book CoverContaminant Geochemistry: Interactions and Transport in the Subsurface Environment. Brian Berkowitz, Ishai Dror & Bruno Yaron, Springer 2008 ISBN: 978-3-540-74381-1.
This book combines soil science, subsurface hydrology and environmental geochemistry, providing a comprehensive background for specialists interested in the protection and sustainable management of the subsurface environment in soils vadose zone, and ground water. Initially the reader is introduced to the characterization of subsurface environment, to selected geochemical processes, and the chemistry of selected contaminants in the soil and subsurface. The major focus of the book is on contaminant partitioning and reactions in porous media solid phases, soil solutions, and groundwater, accounting for their persistence and transformation in the subsurface, as they are transported from the land surface into groundwater. Case studies discussions are provided for each part of the book illustrating many of the subjects presented.
Updated 18th January 2011