Alfred E. Hartemink – författare

This book narrates how the study of the soil became a science and institutionalized in the USA between 1860 and 1960. The story meanders through the activities, ideas, publications, and correspondence of people who influenced the progressions, that led to the budding and early blossoming of American and international soil science. Interwoven is a tale of two farm boys who grew up 900 km apart in the Midwest USA in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Emil Truog and Charles Kellogg met in the late 1920s and shared a natural connection to the soil. Both were practical pioneers and believed that understanding soils was crucial to helping people on the land make a better living. The USA is a big country, its soil science is geographically intertwined, and the cradle of its history primes back to a few people.

“Soil Science Americana is an intellectual biography, not of one individual but of a new scientific field from its emergence to its complete coming of age.”

— Louise O. Fresco, President, Wageningen University and Research

“In a lively, personal voice, Hartemink traces the roots of modern soil science in the United States…creating a book that will engage both the expert and non-expert in the underappreciated field of soil science.”

— Jo Handelsman, Director, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery

“The intellectual master piece is of interest to soil scientists, general public and the policy makers, and will remain pertinent for generations to come.”

— Rattan Lal, World Food Prize Laureate 2020, The Ohio State University

Sandy soils cover approximately 900 million ha worldwide, and there are extensive areas of sandy soils under cultivation. Most sandy soils have high water permeability, low water-holding capacity, low ability to retain and exchange nutrients, weakly developed soil structure and they may be prone to erosion by wind. As irrigation is required for obtaining good crop yields, there is a risk of substantial leaching of nutrients and pesticides, and ground water depletion. Due to global pressure on land resources, marginal soils such as sandy soils are taken into production or cultivated more intensely. Sandy soils – as a group of soils with specific characteristics and ecological limitations – have received limited research attention. This books presents the main papers from the Global Conference on Sandy Soils which was held in June 2023 in Madison, USA. This book focuses on novel and exciting aspects of research on sandy soils which is presented into three sections: Distributionand Assessment, Soil Carbon and Soil Health, and Water and the Environment. It presents a global glimpse on what recent progress has been in the study of sandy soil and their properties and management.

Few topics cut across the soil science discipline wider than research on soil carbon. This book contains 48 chapters that focus on novel and exciting aspects of soil carbon research from all over the world. It includes review papers by global leaders in soil carbon research, and the book ends with a list and discussion of global soil carbon research priorities.

Chapters are loosely grouped in four sections:§ Soil carbon in space and time§ Soil carbon properties and processes§ Soil use and carbon management§ Soil carbon and the environment

A wide variety of topics is included: soil carbon modelling, measurement, monitoring, microbial dynamics, soil carbon management and 12 chapters focus on national or regional soil carbon stock assessments. The book provides up-to-date information for researchers interested in soil carbon in relation to climate change and to researchers that are interested in soil carbon for the maintenance of soil quality and fertility. Papers in this book were presented at the IUSS Global Soil C Conference that was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

This book is about digital soil morphometrics which is defined as the application of tools and techniques for measuring, mapping and quantifying soil profile properties, and deriving depth functions of soil properties. The book is structured along four research topics: (i) Soil profile properties, (ii) Soil profile imaging, (iii) Soil depth functions, and (iv) Use and applications. The pedon is at the heart of digital soil morphometrics.  The use of digital soil morphometrics exceeds the pedology  and soil classification purpose that it currently serves – it is used in rapid soil assessment that are needed in a range of biophysical studies.

Digital soil morphometrics has the potential to enhance our understanding of soils and how we view them. The book presents highlights from The IUSS Inaugural Global Workshop on Digital Soil Morphometrics held in June 2015 in Madison, USA.

Digital Soil Mapping is the creation and the population of a geographically referenced soil database. It is generated at a given resolution by using field and laboratory observation methods coupled with environmental data through quantitative relationships. Digital soil mapping is advancing on different fronts at different rates all across the world. This book presents the state-of-the art and explores strategies for bridging research, production, and environmental application of digital soil mapping.It includes examples from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The chapters address the following topics: - evaluating and using legacy soil data - exploring new environmental covariates and sampling schemes - using integrated sensors to infer soil properties or status - innovative inference systems predicting soil classes, properties, and estimating their uncertainties - using digital soil mapping and techniques for soil assessment and environmental application -protocol and capacity building for making digital soil mapping operational around the  globe.