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Division 1. |
Soil in Space and Time |
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Lay Description
Division 1 is the
"What." It looks at the soil as a body and how
it was formed, the extent of it global coverage,
and the many complex interactions and
interactions with the biosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere, and lithosphere. This division
focuses its attention on the "what" of the
pedosphere and the extent of its current
understanding. It is the medium and experimental
material that is being investigated. It is why
we are a Union of soil scientists in a common
bond of interests.
Technical
Description
Soils in time and
space is a Division that deals with the "body"
of soil in a landscape context. It quantifies
pedogenic processes responsible for spatial
diversity in soil cover with landscape,
geomorphic and geographic patterns. It includes
the scaling of soil morphology from micro to
macro levels of generalization, calibration of
morphology to pedogenic processes, and
integration of this pedosphere knowledge with
that of the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere,
and hydrosphere. Only through the knowledge of
morphogenesis is it possible to develop rational
multiple working hypotheses of soil formation,
soil chronology, soil morphology, and geographic
distribution patterns. Without this linkage
there is little opportunity to extrapolate our
knowledge base on soil attributes beyond
immediate locals where it was derived. Using a
morphogenic bias, it is possible to catalogue
and classify the population of soil attributes
and generate multiple-use interpretations with
spatial or tabular representations using GIS,
and other state-of-the-science technologies.
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Commission 1.1
- Soil Morphology |
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Soil is a
continuous natural body that has spatial and
temporal dimensions (soil cover or pedosphere).
Primary organic and inorganic constituents are
organized into secondary polyhedral structural
units that in turn are assembled into vertical
and lateral horizons that comprise soils unique
to the environment under which they are formed.
The morphogenetic properties that comprise soils
are the essential elements of soil
classification, interpretation, and land
quality. They result from current and
paleohistory of soil environments and in turn
record many of the environmental signatures that
result. Morphogenetic properties are dynamic and
anisotrophic in response to other state factor
perturbations. The study of the soil cover
structures develops knowledge about soil
properties and dynamics; its permits the
understanding of the genesis of the soil covers.
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Commission 1.2
- Soil Geography |
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Soil geography is
a study of the soil cover and its many
morphogenetic attributes as a function of
climate, geology, relief, vegetation, human
activities, and history (natural and
anthropogenic). It is that component of the
division that serves as a vehicle to transfer
soils knowledge gained in C 1.1, especially as
it impacts ecosystem sustainability, food
security, land carrying capacity, human health,
and the global biosphere. Different types of
maps, at different scales, represent soil
distribution covers of significance to these
utilitarian priorities and the field of soil
science as a whole.
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Commission 1.3
- Soil Genesis |
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This commission
quantifies the fundamental physical, chemical,
biological, and mineralogical processes (pedogenic)
of gains, losses, translocations, and
transformations occurring in soils from micro to
macro scales to explain and understand profile
formation. Utilizes fundamental knowledge gained
from other disciplines to model dynamics and
processes responsible for soil behavior at the
landscape or ecological scale. This information
is integrated with that of other scientific
databases to quantify environmental interactions
under which soils formed in both modern and
paleo times.
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Commission 1.4
- Soil Classification |
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Soil
classification is that commission within the
division that categorizes the infinite number of
morphogenetic attributes of the pedoshpere so
the attributes used to classify soils permits
the greatest number, most precise, and most
significant statements about soil behavior and
genesis. Classification systems are hierarchical
so the knowledge base and interpretational
inferences become more specific from the higher
categories to lower ones. Taxonomic names are
given to the categories and constituent classes
so the relationships between soil attributes
(horizons, pedon(s), cartographic units,
generalized soil associations, soil covers,
etc.) can best be remembered for a specific
objective. Classification allows scientists to
communicate and share knowledge about the "body"
that soil scientist's study.
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Commission 1.5
- Pedometrics |
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By pedometrics
the Commission means the application of
mathematical and statistical methods for the
study of the distribution and genesis of soils.
The goal of pedometrics is to achieve a better
understanding of the soil as a phenomenon that
varies over different scales in space and time.
This understanding is important, both for
improved soil management and for our scientific
appreciation of the soil and the systems
(agronomic, ecological and hydrological) of
which it is a part. For this reason much of
pedometrics is concerned with predicting the
properties of the soil in space and time, with
sampling and monitoring the soil and with
modelling the soil's behaviour. Pedometricians
are typically engaged in developing and applying
quantitative methods to apply to these problems.
These include geostatistical methods for spatial
prediction, sampling designs and strategies,
linear modelling methods and novel mathematical
and computational techniques such as wavelet
transforms, data mining and fuzzy logic.
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Commission 1.6
- Paleopedology |
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The mission of the
Palaeopedology Commission is to promote
cooperative research by Soil and Environmental
Scientists, Quaternary Geologists to increase
our knowledge of past environments derived from
paleosols. In general, paleosols are recognized
as soils which have formed under different
environmental condition (in particular climate
and vegetation) from those of present day. The
study of paleosols is a multi-disciplinary
activity, which includes, in addition to Soil
Sciences, Earth, environmental, and Human
Sciences. The issues covered by Paleopedology
encompass the understanding of soil forming
processes, deep weathering and regolith
formation, soil mapping, soil conservation,
Quaternary geology, geological mapping,
neotectonics, and pedoarcheology. The method is
to compare the properties of dated paleosols and
paleosol sequences with those of modern soils
that are related to the known climate and other
environmental factors as a proxy for
interpreting past climatic and ecological
changes and hence predicting soil changes with
time. The motto of the
Commission is rerum cognoscere causas (to
know the cause of things).
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Division 2. |
Soil Properties and Processes |
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Lay
Description:
Division 2 is the
"How" or the fundamental science behind our
discipline, the understanding of fundamental
processes.
Technical
Description:
Division 2 is
concerned with the integration of physics,
chemistry, biology, mineralogy and pedogenesis
to understand fundamental soil properties and
processes that control transport, cycling,
speciation and bioavailability of elements or
molecules. These phenomena are studied at
multiple scales ranging from global to atomic.
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Commission 2.1
- Soil Physics |
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Soil physics deals
with the physical properties of the soil, with
emphasis on transport of matter and energy.
Major research thrusts include modeling
transport of inorganic, organic and microbial
contaminants, fractal mathematics, spatial
variability, geostatistics, computer-assisted
tomography, and remote sensing of soil physical
properties.
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Commission 2.2:
Soil Chemistry |
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Soil chemistry
deals with the chemical composition, chemical
properties, and chemical reactions of soils.
Major research thrusts include: application of
molecular scale in-situ techniques to elucidate
aqueous and surface chemical speciation and
mechanisms, kinetics of soil chemical phenomena;
rhizosphere chemistry; organic matter structure;
and soil chemical modeling.
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Commission 2.3:
Soil Biology |
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Soil biology is
concerned with soil inhabiting organisms, their
functions, reactions, and activities. Major
research thrusts are carbon sequestration,
nutrient cycling, microbial ecology,
bioremediation, and molecular soil biology.
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Commission 2.4
- Soil Mineralogy |
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Soil Mineralogy
deals with all kinds of minerals occurring in
soil environments especially rockborne and
soilborne ones. Important soil processes like
weathering and mineral neo-formation are major
tasks. The consequences of transport and
biological turnover on minerals and their
relevance to soil micro- and macro-structure is
studied. The relevance of soil minerals and
mineral-organic interactions are taken into
account in relations to environmental and
specifically soil fertility issues. Specific
attention is given to the use of advanced
analytical techniques to analyze mineral crystal
structure, surface properties, and
mineral-mineral as well as mineral-organic
components interactions from the molecular scale
up to the consequence for the landscape level.
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Commission 2.4
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Soil chemical,
physical and biological interfacial reactions |
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The Commission
deals with abiotic and biotic interactive
processes occurring in soil with the goal of
advancing the understanding on physical/chemical/biological
interfacial systems at the molecular to
field/landscape levels. Major research thrusts
include: (1) mineral and biological catalysis
and enzyme-mineral interactions leading to humus
and organo-mineral complex formation, (2)
surface reactions of micro- and macro-biota and
biomolecules with soil particles, (3) the effect
of soil abiotic and biotic interactive processes
on the structure, dynamics, and activities of
microbial communities, and (4) ecological
impacts of soil abiotic and biotic interactive
processes on (a) porosity formation by structure
or organization development and on (b)
biogeochemical transformation and transport of
chemical and biological components at different
spatial and temporal scales.
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Division 3. |
Soil Use and Management |
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Lay
Description:
Division 3 is the
"Why" it is important to society. It is the
application of our fundamental knowledge to
solve high priority social, economic, and
environmental challenges of major societal and
scientific interest. It can be considered the
applied segment of science.
Technical
Description:
"Soil Use and
Management" is a Division which focuses on how
we use the soil and how it links to the
knowledge base of Divisions 1 and 2 in order to
ensure that soils are used and managed in a
sustainable manner. The Division is concerned
with both soil use and management in terms of
agricultural production, forestry, grazing
lands, and the broader environmental context.
Activities to remediate degraded soil, arising
from the agricultural misuse of soil or
contaminations resulting from non-agricultural
activities are part of the scientific area of
this Division. The aim of this Division is to
ensure that through our knowledge and
understanding of soil properties and processes
and the distribution of soils within the
landscape soils and soil quality are maintained
and improved.
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Commission 3.1
- Soil Evaluation and Land Use Planning |
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As soil is
increasingly acknowledged as a scarce and finite
resource it is essential that decisions related
to soil(s) use(s) are optimized taking account
of the nature and pattern of the soil and the
socio-economic conditions at a variety of
scales. Activities of this commission will
encompass the broad activities of soil
evaluation and land use planning and will
include related activities of data gathering and
management including remote sensing and
Geographical Information Systems.
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Commission 3.2:
Soil and Water Conservation |
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This commission
acknowledges that an essential element in many
soil management strategies is the need to
maintain the quality of the soil resource
through appropriate soil and land management
practices, including tillage. Frequently, the
conservation of soil is intimately coupled with
the management of surface waters through erosion
control. In addition to the prevention of
erosion by water and wind, this commission would
also concern itself with the efficient
management of soil water through irrigation,
drainage and the limitation of water loss from
the soil surface.
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Commission 3.3
- Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition |
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The management of
soil fertility is a major activity of a
substantial proportion of the world's soil
scientists. The inclusion of plant nutrition in
the title of this commission recognizes the
often very close relationship between those
managing soil fertility and those concerned
directly with plant nutrition. This commission
would concern itself with the identification of
technologies appropriate to the particular soil
conditions and combinations of soil conditions.
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Commission 3.4
- Soil Engineering and Technology |
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This commission is
concerned with engineering uses of soils both in
the agriculture and non-agriculture context.
Soil serve many purposes such as road beds and
fill material they are shaped and changed for
many uses, used for filter fields, sewage and
waste storage etc.
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Commission 3.5:
Soil Degradation Control, Remediation, and
Reclamation |
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Many soils of the
world are degraded, both because of agricultural
activity and through the pollution arising from
urban, industrial activity, and other human
activities. The purpose of this commission is to
use our knowledge and understanding of soil
properties and processes to ensure that
damaged/degraded soils may be remediated or
reclaimed and returned to productive use.
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Division 4. |
The Role of Soils in Sustaining Society and the
Environment |
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Lay
Description:
Division 4 is more
generalized and entails the transfer and
outreach of our knowledge base to segments of
our society where soils and soil science are
frequently misunderstood or sometimes under
appreciated. It takes the soils information
generated in the other three divisions along
with developing new scientific information and
addresses public literacy in soil science,
education, international conventions,
consequences of human activities on soil
ecosystems, policy issues, food security,
history of the discipline, etc. This division
might be considered the "capstone" division
because it must integrate our scientific body of
knowledge so scientists, policy makers, and
those specialists remote to soil science may
become more informed about the utility of this
most essential natural resource at the Earth's
surface. It is the scientific entity that
interacts well beyond traditional bounds.
Technical
Description:
There is a need to
provide soil science input in many
policy-related topics addressing environmental
and social concerns. This Division will provide
the soil science input in the decision-making
process and address special issues that will be
brought to the attention of the IUSS especially
in relation with the human and socio-economic
use of the soils.
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Commission 4.1
- Soils and the Environment |
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This Commission
will look at the soil as part of the ecosystem.
Human activities have a strong impact on the
ecosystems and the soil and environment
interactions in relation to humans are
particularly important. Soils, are a major
component of the biosphere at the interface
between the lithosphere, atmosphere and
biosphere, are investigated through several
international programs such as IGBP; in the same
way, the soil plays a considerable role in the
carbon sequestration (UN Convention on Climate
Change) and is the habitat for a number of
species covered by the Biodiversity Convention.
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Commission 4.2
- Soils, Food Security and Human Health |
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Soils are the
essential for food production in most countries.
Considering that one third of the land area is
presently used for agriculture, and the world
population is increasing, creating additional
pressure on agricultural land, providing enough
safe and nutritious food will be an ongoing
challenge. Among the concerns of this
commission, there is the maintenance and
conservation of agriculture lands, the role of
soils in a changing world in relationship to
human health.
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Commission 4.3
- Soils and Land Use Change |
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Soils play a large
role as source and sinks of greenhouse gases. In
a context of global sustainability, this
Commission will investigate how the source/sink
function of the soils can be managed and
controlled to mitigate the impact of climate
change. Land use change is of a major interest
to all, what is the effect of urbanization, lost
of productive land to other uses, forest
conversion, and other changes are of major
interest and these changes will fall under this
Commission.
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Commission 4.4
- Soil Education and Public Awareness |
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This commission
deals with how we present knowledge teaching and
the development of soil scientists a4s well as
anyone interested in soils from a learning
standpoint and the information we give to create
a general public awareness of soils. A well
informed public is needed so that the importance
of soils is understood by all.
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C4.5.
Commission 4.5: History, Philosophy, and
Sociology of Soil Science |
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This commission
deals with our past; it links the study of what
has happened in history and how soils can be
used to help explain the past changes. This
commission is not just a record of the history
but the use and understanding of soils
information and it relationship to human
development and history.
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