Information for and from the global soil science community
New IUSS Bulletin
Contributions for IUSS Bulletin 116 should be send in before the end of April! Any contribution is welcome: short articles (max. 1000 words), book reviews, reports from meetings and conferences, announcements, obituaries et cetera. Please send your contributions and click .
Another important deadline: Last day for Early-bird Registration of the 19th World Congress of Soil Science in Brisbane 1-6 August is 30 April 2010. Click here for registration.
Join the 'Our Gift to the Earth' project
The World A
ssociation of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWAC) is producing LANDCON e-LIBRARY: Our Gift to the Earth, a set of 4 DVDs offering a collection of technical papers/documents that will serve research and implementation in the fields of land, soil & water degradation, management, care, restoration, conservation, and improvement. The goal is to preserve valuable works for the long term and to enhance the visibility of works, authors, organizations and publishers. We invite you to submit digital works, including: (1) papers/articles from meetings, proceedings, books, magazines, bulletins; (2) whole books-documents; (3) PowerPoint presentations and (4) posters, brochures, flyers, paintings and other forms of art, calendars, maps, video-movies, audios (e.g. songs related to land, soil, water, river, forest, mountain), poems, photographs etc. Contributors will receive one complimentary set of DVDs and co-publishers will have their logos printed. Contact Samran Sombatpanit at
New Zealand Soil Carbon Conference
The second New Zealand Soil Carbon Conference is being held in Wellington, NZ from the 15-17th of September. We are pleased to offer participants a rich content of insightful keynote addresses, panels as well as intellectual and practical discussions. The wide variety of speakers will draw together the science and practical methods behind biological/carbon farming, and the benefits of building humus and soil carbon. This conference will address the challenges facing many of us at this present time along with some ideas for change through innovation. The New Zealand Soil Carbon Conference brings together an unprecedented range and calibre of participants, offering a unique opportunity for attendees to socialize, network and exchange ideas with peers from across the cutting edge of agricultural and scientific communities. For more information please go to www.soilcarbonconference.co.nz or email
Explore the world
Gapminder - Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view.Gapminder is a non-profit venture - a modern 'museum' on the Internet - promoting sustainable global development. The initial activity was to pursue the development of the Trendalyzer software and to unveil statistical time series by converting numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics. The current version of Trendalyzer is a web-service displaying time series of development statistics for all countries. It aims to keep the statistical content up-to-date and making time series freely available. It produces videos, Flash presentations and PDF charts showing major global development trends with animated statistics in colorful graphics. Gapminder has the intention of being a 'fact tank' that promotes a fact based world view. There are no soils data but there are various statistics on land use, water, climate and the environment; all downloadable and with splendid graphs that show both spatial patterns and trends over time. See www.gapminder.org
New Publications
Soil Biology and Agriculture in the TropicsSoil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics. Dion, Patrice (Ed.) Springer, 2010, XIII, 350 p., Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-05075-6. The relationships between soils, microbes and humans are of crucial relevance in the tropics, where plant stress and microbial activity are exacerbated. This volume of Soil Biology presents the living component of tropical soils, showing how it is shaped by environmental conditions and emphasizing its dramatic impact on human survival and well-being. Following an introduction to the specificities of tropical soils and of their microbial communities, the biological aspects of soil management are examined, dealing with land use change, conservation and slash-and-burn agriculture, the restoration of hot deserts, agroforestry and paddy rice cultivation. As they are of particular relevance for tropical agriculture, symbioses of plants and microbes are thoroughly covered, as are the biodegradation of pesticides and health risks associated with wastewater irrigation. Lastly, traditional soil knowledge is discussed as a key to our sustainable presence in this world.
Nutrient Uptake, Removal and Recycling by Crops. by Dr HLS Tandon.and Dr Y. Muralidharudu. 2010. ISBN: 81-85116-61-X. Pages 167+xvi. Fertiliser Development and Consultation Organisation, India, Email: or Price Price:US$ 60 (inclusive of airmail delivery). This compilation and analysis is probably the first one which is exclusively devoted to nutrient uptake, removal and recycling by crops. All major and micro plant nutrients are covered for over 180 crops. These include cereals, millets, grain legumes, crops yielding oils, sugar, fibre , fruits and nuts, vegetables, fodders and forages, pastures, stimulants, plantation crops, tubers, edible roots, those used as spices and for garnishing, medicinal and aromatic plants, industrial crops such as mulberry, cluster bean and rubber and finally, some forest tree species. The impact of soil-climate conditions, crop cultivar, season and soil fertility level/fertiliser application on nutrient uptake in relation to economic yield is discussed in relation to absolute yield, per tonne yield production basis and the N:P:K ratios in which these are absorbed with and without fertiliser application Where information is available, partitioning of the absorbed nutrients into various plant parts (both removed from the field and recycled) and their fate is dealt with. Two conclusions drawn are that (i) nutrient uptake estimated at harvest is not necessarily the maximum nutrient uptake by the crop and (ii) nutrient uptake cannot be equated with nutrient removal in most cases.
Soil and Water Conservation Advances in the United States. Ted M. Zobeck and William F. Schillinger, editors. ISBN 978-0-89118-852-0. Harcover, 320 pp. Have agricultural management efforts begun in the desperation of the Dust Bowl brought us to where we need to be tomorrow? Questions about the environmental footprint of farming make this book required reading. Approximately 62% of the total U.S. land area is used for agriculture, and this land also provides critical ecosystem functions. Authors from each region of the continental United States describe the progress of soil and water conservation to date and visualize how agricultural production practices must change in future years to address the newest challenges. Available here
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