IUSS Alert 1 (May 2005)
This is a new IUSS service: the IUSS Alert in which we inform our members on upcoming soil science activities, vacancies and any other information that should be distributed promptly amongst the global soil science community. Please e-mail it around! If there is any information that you would like to have included please send it to: and and we'll include it in the next IUSS Alert. Again, this is only for information for which speed is required - other information will go into the IUSS Bulletin that is published twice per year.
Editor-in-chief for the journal, Arid Land Research and Management
The Taylor & Francis Group, an international publisher of academic, peer-reviewed journals, is currently looking for an editor-in-chief for the journal, Arid Land Research and Management. I'm sad to announce that the journal's longtime editor, Dr. John Skuji, has recently passed away.
Arid Land Research and Management, currently in its 19th volume year, publishes 4 times per year and approximately 400 pages. This position includes a quarterly honorarium payment. Arid Land Research and Management is a common outlet and a valuable source of information for fundamental and applied research on soils affected by aridity. This journal covers land ecology, including flora and fauna, as well as soil chemistry, biology, physics, and other edaphic aspects. The journal emphasizes recovery of degraded lands and practical, appropriate uses of soils. Reports of biotechnological applications to land use and recovery are included. Full papers and short notes, as well as review articles and book and meeting reviews are published. All manuscripts are peer-reviewed for quality and acceptability before publication. Arid Land Research and Management is a cooperating journal of the International Society of Soil Science. Please go to the following link for additional information: www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/15324982.asp
If you are interested in being considered for editor-in-chief of the journal, or would like to suggest someone else for the position, please contact Andrew Moyer, Managing Editor, Taylor & Francis ( ).
Professorship of Soil Science Reading University (UK) Ref. S0509
Applications are invited for the Professorship of Soil Science in the Department of Soil Science which is a member of the School of Human and Environmental Sciences. The Professorship becomes vacant following the appointment from 1st April 2005 of Professor Peter Gregory as Director of SCRI, Dundee. The appointment will be from January 1, 2006.
Candidates should have an established international reputation in Soil Science and its applications in the management of Environmental Systems. Current foci of Departmental interest are in the broad fields of soil remediation, soil biology and biodiversity, soil spatial variability, soil biogeochemistry and soil-plant-atmosphere interactions, but new areas for development would be welcomed. The successful candidate will be expected to stimulate research in his or her own field and to lead innovative developments in research and teaching in the Department and with colleagues in cognate disciplines in the School and University.
Anyone requiring further details should contact Professor Stephen Nortcliff ( ). Application forms and further particulars are also available from www.reading.ac.uk/Jobs
Please return your letter of application and completed application form to the Personnel Office, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading, RG6 6AH, no later than the closing date of 24 June 2005
NSF Sponsored Workshop 'Frontiers in Exploration of the Critical Zone'
University of Delaware - Newark, Delaware, October 24-26, 2005
A National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored workshop dealing with frontiers in critical zone research will be held at the University of Delaware, October 24-26, 2005. The critical zone is the heterogeneous, near surface environment in which complex interactions involving rock, soil, water, air, and living organisms regulate the natural habitat and determine the availability of life-sustaining resources (NRC, 2001). The critical zone includes the land surface, vegetation, and water bodies, and extends through the pedosphere, unsaturated vadose zone, and saturated groundwater zone. The critical zone is the most heterogeneous portion of the Earth. An array of important physical, chemical, and biological interfacial processes and reactions occur in the critical zone over a range of spatial and temporal scales. These processes impact mass and energy exchange necessary for biomass productivity, chemical recycling, and water storage. They also control transport and cycling of contaminants including organics, metals, and radionuclides.
The workshop is limited to 100 participants. Limited funds are available for all participants, including graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, to attend this workshop.
Workshop organizing committee: Co-Chair Don Sparks (University of Delaware), Co-Chair Sue Brantley (The Pennsylvania State University), Mary Firestone (UC, Berkeley), Jon Chorover (University of Arizona), Dan Richter (Duke University) and Art White (USGS)
Further details see: http://ag.udel.edu/plsc/Conference/index.htm
For a list of other meetings see: www.iuss.org
Books reviewed in the IUSS Bulletin now all on the web
All books reviews by Hans van Baren since 1999 have been put on our website under: Soil Publications. Browse through these books by using CONTROL F. If you have a book that is relevant for the soil science community please send us a review copy and we will include it on the web and in the IUSS Bulletin. Send the book to: IUSS-ISRIC, PO Box 353, 6700 AJ, Wageningen, The Netherlands.