Plant-induced soil changes: Processes and feedbacks PDF Download

Author: N. van Breemen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792352167
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This book by soil scientists and ecologists reviews how and why plants influence soils. Topics include effects on mineral weathering, soil structure, and soil organic matter and nutrient dynamics, case studies of soil-plant interactions in specific biomes and of secondary chemicals influencing nutrient cycling, the rhizosphere, and potential evolutionary consequences of plant-induced soil changes. This is the first volume that specifically highlights the effects of plants on soils and their feedbacks to plants. By contrast, other texts on soil-plant relationships emphasize effects of soil fertility on plants, following the strongly agronomic character of most research in this area. The aspects discussed in this volume are crucial for understanding terrestrial ecosystems, biogeochemistry and soil genesis. The book is directed to terrestrial ecologists, foresters, soil scientists, environmental scientists and biogeochemists, and to students following specialist courses in these fields.

Author: K. H. Hartge
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781486307272
Category : Soil physics
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
Soils are the porous skin of the Earth with variable and complex structures composed of solid, liquid and gaseous phases. This textbook (based on the 4th, German language edition) introduces the reader gently but comprehensively to soil physical processes. The authors discuss both the origin and dynamics of soil physical properties and functions -- including volume-mass relations of the solid, water and gas phases, grain and pore size distributions, permeability and storage capacity for water, gases and heat -- and finally soil deformation and strength in relation to mechanical and hydraulic stresses resulting in structural changes through compaction, kneading, slaking and soil crusting.

Author: L. Brussaard
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 148329028X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 846

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Book Description
Some pioneers in soil research such as Müller and Kubiëna were as much biologists as they were soil scientists and the legendary biologist Charles Darwin was foresighted in recognizing the earthworms as instrumental in reworking the soil, thereby forming what he called "vegetable mould". Still, soil science has largely been the realm of physicists and chemists over the past decades. Whatever the reason, this picture is rapidly changing. Until recently, research on the transport and transformation of elements in soil was often concerned with either soil biota/plant relationships or with soil structure/plant relationships, if the biota were considered at all, but very few studies explicitly took the interrelationships between soil structure and soil biota into account. The conference on Soil Structure/Soil Biota Interrelationships, held at Wageningen, The Netherlands, 24-28 November 1991, was meant to bridge that gap, focussing on methods of research, organized in three levels: features, processes and effects. The proceedings of the conference are testimony of the need to intertwine the biological, morphological, physical and chemical disciplines in soil research to understand better and forecast soil properties and processes as related to land use for agricultural and other purposes.This book should be of particular interest to soil scientists and ecologists who feel the need for a cross-disciplinary approach in soils research. It should also be a rich source of teaching material for courses in soil science and soil ecology at graduate level and above, with ample reference to studies on land use as related to agriculture and the environment.

Author: Bobby A. Stewart
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9781566701730
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Soil Structure offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of soil structure and its relevance to wide ranging investigations in environmental sciences. Topics covered in Soil Structure include soil structure determination, soil fabric genesis and functions, strength and stress distribution, fabric changes in plastic clays, the effects of organic matter and earthworms, air slaking, and hydraulic conductivity changes. The book also discusses litter decomposition and matter transport, the characterization of pore organization, monitoring via a neutron activated tracer, various influences on growth and phosphorus supply of plants and on water uptake by plants, the effects of acidification, and much more. Improved procedures for measuring and calculating the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of structured soils are also given.

Author: Jacob Bear
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401136289
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 807

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Book Description
This volume contains the invited lectures presented during the NATO/ASI conducted in Pullman, Washington, July 9-18, 1989. This is the third in a series of NATO/ASIs on transport phenomena in porous media. The first two, which took place at Newark, Delaware in 1982 and 1985, are devoted to various topics related to the Fundamentals of Transport Processes in Porous Media. The contents of the books resulting from previous NATO/ASIs are given at the end of this book. Transport of extensive quantities such as mass of a fluid phase, mass of chemical species carried by a fluid phase, energy and electric charge in porous media, as encountered in a large variety of engineering disciplines, is an emerging interdisciplinary field. The groundwater flow, the simultaneous flow of gas, oil and water in petroleum reservoirs, the movement and accumulation of pollutants in the saturated and unsaturated subsurface zones, thermal energy storage in reservoirs, land subsidence in response to charges in overburden loads, or to pumping of fluids from underground formations, wave propagation in seismic investigations or as produced by earthquakes, chemical reactors, water flow through sand filters and the movement of fluids through kidneys, may serve as examples of fields in which the theory of transport in porous media is employed.

Author: M.R. Carter
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000114678
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
Soils comprise the largest pool of terrestrial carbon and therefore are an important component of carbon storage in the biosphere-atmosphere system. Structure and Organic Matter Storage in Agricultural Soils explores the mechanisms and processes involved in the storage and sequestration of carbon in soils. Focusing on agricultural soils - from tropical to semi-arid types - this new book provides an in-depth look at structure, aggregation, and organic matter retention in world soils. The first two sections of the book introduce readers to the basic issues and scientific concepts, including soil structure, underlying mechanisms and processes, and the importance of agroecosystems as carbon regulators. The third section provides detailed discussions of soil aggregation and organic matter storage under various climates, soil types, and soil management practices. The fourth section addresses current strategies for enhancing organic matter storage in soil, modelling techniques, and measurement methods. Throughout the book, the importance of the soil structure-organic matter storage relationship is emphasized. Anyone involved in soil science, agriculture, agronomy, plant science, or greenhouse gas and global change studies should understand this relationship. Structure and Organic Matter Storage in Agricultural Soils provides an ideal source of information not only on the soil structure-storage relationship itself, but also on key research efforts and direct applications related to the storage of organic matter in agricultural soils.

Author: Heiko Diestel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642776981
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Soil and water pollution have a serious impact on the environment, and soil scientists and hydrologists need fundamental help for the estimation of the consequences. The experiments described in this volume deal with the quantification of the morphology of interaggregate voids and of the flow through such voids as well as around impermeable inclusions. The diagrams given in the appendix can be used as references for such measurements. This work is put into the context of the international literature on the subject. An index and a glossary complete the volume. The subject of this work is of great interest to hydrologists and soil scientists working on the estimation of the consequences of soil and water pollution.

Author: Rattan Lal
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9780824753245
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 736

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Book Description
Principles of Soil Physics examines the impact of the physical, mechanical, and hydrological properties and processes of soil on agricultural production, the environment, and sustainable use of natural resources. The text incorporates valuable assessment methods, graphs, problem sets, and tables from recent studies performed around the globe and offers an abundance of tables, photographs, and easy-to-follow equations in every chapter. The book discusses the consequences of soil degradation, such as erosion, inhibited root development, and poor aeration. It begins by defining soil physics, soil mechanics, textural properties, and packing arrangements . The text continues to discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of soil structure and explain the significance and measurement of bulk density, porosity, and compaction. The authors proceed to clarify soil hydrology topics including hydrologic cycle, water movement, infiltration, modeling, soil evaporation, and solute transport processes. They address the impact of soil temperature on crop growth, soil aeration, and the processes that lead to the emission of greenhouse gases. The final chapters examine the physical properties of gravelly soils and water movement in frozen, saline, and water-repellant soils. Reader-friendly and up-to-date, Principles of Soil Physics provides unparalleled coverage of issues related to soil physics, structure, hydrology, aeration, temperature, and analysis and presents practical techniques for maintaining soil quality to ultimately preserve its sustainability.

Author: R.J. Wagenet
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000115127
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Interacting Processes in Soil Science focuses on coupled processes in soil. Topics covered in this important volume include the effects of inorganic salts upon water flow, modeling of sorption, transport and transformation of organic solutes, and the effects of microorganisms on silicate clay minerals. The book presents studies and approaches that can be extended and complemented by innovative work in the future. Interacting Processes in Soil Science will be an essential reference for all researchers and students in soil science, soil and water engineering, civil and environmental engineering, earth sciences, and hydrology.

Author: Rattan Lal
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000960048
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
Drought, a serious global issue, is being aggravated by climate change. Both pedological and agronomic droughts are major risk factors with adverse effects on agronomic productivity, food and nutritional security, and human wellbeing. This volume in the Advances in Soil Sciences series provides research information regarding case studies from diverse agro-ecoregions around the world and lists examples of effective management of drought at farm, state, national, regional, and global scales. Features: Considers processes, factors, and causes of pedological/agronomic droughts. Discusses effects of global warming on soil drought and describes management options to enhance drought resilience of agricultural soils. Focuses on specific case studies along with review of a variety of tools and techniques designed to mitigate drought and reduce its impact on agronomic productivity. Includes information on soil health and its effects on drought. In addition to highlighting the scientific accomplishments of Dr. Bobby A. Stewart, this book is a major contribution to the global issue of drought management and its dynamics in relation to soil properties under changing climate. It is reference material for researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers in soil science, agronomy, ecology and management of natural resources with specific focus on adaptation and mitigation of climate change, restoration of soil health, strengthening of biodiversity and promoting the strategy for advancing the “Sustainable Development Goals” or Agenda 2030 of the United Nations.