Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment (4-Volume Set)

About this book

This Second Edition of Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment updates and expand the previous version to ensure coverage of topics relevant to current world problems such as population pressure, food security and global change.

Since publication of the previous edition there has been a huge change in our ability to carry out bioinformatics related to soil organisms and their functioning. Major developments in next generation DNA sequencing techniques have opened up the ability to identify both the diversity of microbial populations and their functioning. Furthermore, it is allowing the management of microbes within the soil. Imaging is changing our perceptions and improving our knowledge of soil aggregation. This also applies to remote and proximal sensing of laboratory and field soils, which is seeing rapid change. Soil physics is a core area of soil science, but new techniques and technology have increased our understanding of processes.

This reference work coves the entire field of soil science, bridging the gap between basic science and applications, and is designed to serve students and well as expert researchers. It is organized around four core topics, the main components of soil science – biology, chemistry, physics and landscape and management.

Soil science is becoming a crucial subject as world governments realize its importance in food production, water quality, flood control, greenhouse gas management, source of antibiotics and other drugs. As such this work is of interest not only to academics but to policy makers, government researchers and the geographical and environmental community who are not necessarily in research roles but need information on soil to support their core work.

Contents

1. Soil Biology - organic matter, and macro and meso organisms
2. Soil Biology - microbiology and biological processes
3. Soil Chemistry - major and minor elements
4. Soil Chemistry - cation exchange and surface processes related to minerals and organic matter
5. Soil Physics - hydrology and particle forces
6. Soil Physics - processes and sensing
7. Soil and Environment - pedology
8. Soil and Environment - natural events (e.g. erosion) and human management and spatial variation

Customer Reviews

Biography

Michael Goss is a soil scientist and worked for over 20 years in the UK (Letcombe Laboratory, Rothamsted Research and the James Hutton Research Institute), collaborating with colleagues in France, Germany, Portugal and Australia. In 1990 he joined the University of Guelph, Canada, as Research Chair in Land Stewardship and is Professor Emeritus in the School of Environmental Sciences. Michael is an Honorary Member and Fellow of the British Society of Soil Science. He was Editor-in-Chief of Soil Use and Management and part of the editorial team for 10 years until 2019. He has written over 175 academic papers, edited two books and co-written a University-level textbook (two editions) on water in plant production and a book on the management of arbuscular mycorrhizas.

Margaret Oliver was Reader in Spatial Analysis at the University of Reading until she retired, and was then awarded a visiting professorship. She continued to teach university courses at Reading, and short geostatistics courses at other universities abroad. Margaret became Co-editor-in-Chief of Precision Agriculture in 2005 for six years and was also an Associate Editor of Mathematical Geosciences. She was an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Soil Science before becoming Deputy Editor in 2011 for four years, and then Editor-in-Chief in 2015. Margaret is an Honorary Member of the British Society of Soil Science. She has written over 100 academic papers and has also made several contributions to books. She is a co-author of three textbooks and has edited two books. Margaret's research interests include the application of numerical and geostatistical methods to soil, other data and precision agriculture. She has an award named after her for young pedometricians.