Book Description
ETUDE DANS LES CONDITIONS NATURELLES DE L'EVOLUTION DE LA STABILITE STRUCTURALE DE SOLS LIMONEUX DU PLATEAU LORRAIN. ETUDE DE LA TENEUR EN POLYSACCHARIDES DE QUELQUES SOLS TYPES, DE L'EVOLUTION DE LA MATIERE ORGANIQUE ET DE SON INFLUENCE SUR LA STABILITE STRUCTURALE, ETUDE SUR MODELE DES LIAISONS ENTRE COMPOSES ORGANIQUES ET DIVERSES FRACTIONS MINERALES
Author: R. Duchaufour Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9401160031 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 476
Book Description
This book is the first of two volumes intended to replace the old and now out of print Precis de pedologie, the previous three editions of which were pro duced by the same publisher in 1960, 1965 and 1970. It was apparent that the term 'precis', which means that the text was neces sarily condensed and summarised, no longer corresponded with the present day situation, for pedology has developed considerably in the past 10 years and it now makes use of the most modern and varied research techniques. It has become an entirely separate discipline and has assumed, at least in certain countries, considerable importance. In addition, different schools of thought have developed and their sometimes contradictory viewpoints are presented at many international conferences, which, if valid conclusions are to be reached from them, required considerable space for discussion. Thus, even by being very concise it was no longer possible to deal with the whole of soil science within the space of one volume, so that a two volume format became a necessity. As soil science is known to have two fundamentally distinct aspects, it has been easy to determine the contents of each volume and also to give each an identity and unity, as well as enabling a different kind of presentation to be made in each case.
Author: L. Brussaard Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 148329028X Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 846
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: H. Barth Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9400934513 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 620
Book Description
PH. BOURDEAU Directorate-General Science. Research and Development. Commission of the European Communities. Brussels. Belgium We are living on a unique planet, the only one in the solar system where life exists. The very existence of life has modified the physical and chemical environment of the earth, its atmosphere and oceans, in a way that makes life sustainable. This system with its complex cybernetic mechanisms has been named GAIA by Lovelock. Man has always interfered with it on a more or less limited scale. This interference is now reaching global proportions such as climate modifications resulting from CO and trace gas 2 accumulation in the atmosphere or the destruction of stratospheric ozone, not to speak of global radioactive contamination. GAIA will probably prevail as a living system but it probably does not give much importance to man's survival as such, and it is man that has to take care of his own survival. In the ecosystem of Planet Earth, soils are the thin interface between lithosphere and atmosphere which constitutes the essential substrate for the terrestrial biosphere, the productivity of which far exceeds that of the oceans, even though the latter cover a much larger area than the continents. Soils themselves are complex systems. They develop through weathering of minerals, are colonised by living organisms which in turn modify their substrate making it suitable for other organisms. This induces a primary ecological succession which eventually reaches a climax, in equilibrium between climate, soil and the biological communities.
Author: Marc Pansu Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3540312110 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 996
Book Description
This handbook is a reference guide for selecting and carrying out numerous methods of soil analysis. It is written in accordance with analytical standards and quality control approaches. It covers a large body of technical information including protocols, tables, formulae, spectrum models, chromatograms and additional analytical diagrams. The approaches are diverse, from the simplest tests to the most sophisticated determination methods.
Author: Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 146124790X Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
The world population in 1950 was 2. 5 billion and is more than 5 billion today. The agriculture community, however, has responded remarkably well to meeting the increased need for food and fiber. While the population growth during this period averaged almost 2% annually, the production of grain increased at an even faster rate. From 1950 to 1973, grain production increased 3. 1% annually, but slowed to about 2% from 1973 to 1984. There fore, as a whole, the world has more grain per capita available today than ever before. Several countries that were food importers just a few years ago are food exporters today. The world carry-over stocks today are the highest in years. While the major concern just a few years ago was whether the world could produce adequate food, the problem for many countries today is how to export their surpluses. Although the world as a whole has surplus food supplies, there are millions of people without adequate food to exist, and there are additional millions who have a bare subsistence diet at best. The average daily calorie supply for the developed countries is more than 3,300 per person, while the average for the developing countries is only about 2,200. The major global food produc tion problems have shifted from Asia to Africa, where malnutrition, poverty, and starvation are attracting world attention.
Author: A.E. Hall Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3642673287 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 357
Book Description
The semi-arid zones of the world are fragile ecosystems which are being sub stantially modified by the activities of mankind. Increasing human populations have resulted in greater demands on semi-arid zones for providing human susten ance and the possibility that this may enhance desertification is a grave concern. These zones are harsh habitats for humans. The famines that resulted from drought during the late 1960's and the 1970's in the African Sahel illustrated the unreliability of present agricultural systems in this zone. Large fluctuations in ag ricultural production have occurred in semi-arid zones of Australia, North Ameri ca, and the Soviet Union due to periodic droughts, even though considerable ag ricultural technology has been devoted to agricultural development in these zones. The challenge to mankind is to manage these different semi-arid zones so that pro ductivity is increased and stabilized, and environmental deterioration is decreased. Irrigation can be used to increase and stabilize agricultural production in semi-arid zones as discussed in Volume 5 of this series, Arid Zone Irrigation. The present volume, Agriculture in Semi-Arid Environments, focuses on dryland farming in semi-arid zones, and is relevant to the large areas of the world where rainfall is limiting and where water is not available for irrigation. This volume is designed to assist agricultural development in these areas and consists of reviews and analyses of available information by scientists working in Africa, Australia, and at the U ni versity of California.
Author: Jean-Marc Bollag Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 100044466X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 433
Book Description
This book describes the interactions between soil minerals and microorganisms to more specialized areas such as the formation of desert varnishes. It is helpful for scientists and students who want to extend their knowledge of and research into soil biochemistry.
Author: Armand Guckert
Author: R. Duchaufour
Author: L. Brussaard
Author: H. Barth
Author: Marc Pansu
Author: 
Author: A.E. Hall
Author: Jean-Marc Bollag
Author: 
Author: