IUSS Alert - 39 (July 2008)
Information for and from the global soil science community
Soil Exhibition opened 19th July - Smithsonian, Washington, USA
There are more living creatures in a shovel full of rich soil than human beings on the planet. Yet more is known about the dark side of the moon than about soil. These are just a few of the fascinating facts visitors can learn at the National Museum of Natural History's new exhibition, 'Dig it! The Secrets of Soil' that opened at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The 460 square meter exhibition reveals the complex world of soil and how this ecosystem underfoot supports nearly every form of life on earth. 'Dig It!' includes interactive displays, hands-on models, videos, and 54 soil monoliths. For further information click here.
Soil atlas of Europe - For free
The Soil Atlas of Europe can be downloaded for free. The user has to download each page separately (128 pages in total). The PDF versions provide a better quality version compared with the JPEG files. There are 20 plates of maps which are included as 2-page PDF files, pages 40-79. User may navigate and select the files to download either by browsing the whole Atlas or by selecting one of the sections in the Contents. Each Page has a Title and belongs to one of the 7 sections of the Atlas (Introduction, The Soil of Europe, Soil Maps of Europe, European Soil: A Global perspective, A Soil Database of Europe, Key threats to soil in Europe , Additional Information). More info here.
Agriculture and the Environment - Recent indicators
This is the fourth volume of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) series 'Environmental Indicators for Agriculture' and is published as two reports: Environmental Performance of Agriculture: At a Glance - covering a summary of the main conclusions. Environmental Performance of Agriculture in OECD Countries since 1990 - providing complete coverage of the OECD agri-environmental indicators by environmental themes and across the 30 member countries since 1990. More about this: here.
IUSS Alerts are e-mailed to more than 12,000 people in over 100 countries. If you have information to share please send it to
Please forward the IUSS Alerts to your friends and colleagues.