IUSS Alert 4 (August 2005)
Information for and from the global soil science community
Authors wanted
The IUSS endeavours to produce and publish a number of brochures (in paper and PDF formats) which explain how Soil Science fits in to current problems and debates, on the following themes:
- Soils and Climate Change
- Soils and Food Production
- Soils and Human Health
- Soils and Water
- Soils and Poverty Alleviation
- Soils and Land Use Planning
The brochures (800 words, some pictures, graphs or tables) should be written in plain English and are meant to communicate the importance of soil science to the general public, decision makers, and for colleagues in other disciplines. If you are willing to write such brochure please contact Stephen Nortcliff at
IUSS DOKUCHAEV award and the LIEBIG award
Closing date for nominations: 30th September
Two awards are presented by IUSS at the World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS):
IUSS Dokuchaev Award for basic research in soil sciences
IUSS Liebig Award for applied research in soil sciences
The deadline date for receipt of the nominations is 30th September. Send your nomination to Winfried Blum at Further details here
IUSS Bulletin 107 - Deadline
Deadline for contributions for IUSS Bulletin 107 is 15th September. Please send any information (meetings, reports, articles, announcements, good ideas, new books, etc.) for the Bulletin to and
New Books from the Soil Science Society of America
Phosphorus: Agriculture and the Environment
J.T. Sims & A.N. Sharpley (ed.) 1121 pages $155. A thorough discussion by 78 experts, sections include: Production and characteristics, reactions and cycling, plant nutrition and crop management, animal nutrition, management practices, phosphorus and the environment. More details here
Chemical Processes in Soils
M.A. Tabatabai & D.L. Sparks (ed.) 723 pages $90. Essential, detailed coverage of soil chemistry for those in the agricultural, environmental and earth sciences. More details here
Spatial news - Visual excitement
Google has now Google Earth, which enables users to virtually go anywhere on the planet and see places in photographic detail. It is a 3D model of the real world, based on real satellite images combined with maps. You can zoom from space to street level instantly and then pan or jump from place to place, city to city, country to country. You need to download some software at http://earth.google.com It is brilliant, and it's free. But who is going to put the soil map underneath?
Another exciting development is advanced GPS-photo link software. It automatically maps photos and locates them on aerial and satellite images and street or topographic maps. It works with any GPS and any digital camera and links your photos to their location without having to connect the two devices. Click here for more details.
If you have information to share please send it to and it will be include it in the next IUSS Alert.
Please forward this alert to your friends and colleagues. If you do not wish to receive IUSS Alerts please hit the reply button and write REMOVE in the subject line