100th IUSS Alert
The IUSS Alerts were started in May 2005 and these monthly e-mail messages contain information on IUSS activities, conferences, new publications and other bits and announcements of interest to the global soil science community. It is e-mailed to over 12,000 soil scientists across the world and distributed by many national soil science societies. We offer the possibility for advertisements; for rates please contact
Elections IUSS Division and Commission chairs & vice chairs 2014-2018
You are kindly invited to vote for the IUSS Division and Commission chairs and vice chairs for the period 2014-2018. These are key position and determine largely the scientific activities of the IUSS. We have provided short bios of all the candidates. The voting is electronic, and here is the URL: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TXQX2KY Voting is only open for members of a national soil science society that is a paying member of the IUSS. The system will ask for your name, email address and national society and please be aware that you can only vote once. Voting closes 15th October 2013. We shall check the eligibility of each vote with the national societies, and will have the results available before the end of the year. Thank you and happy voting!
Conferences
20th World Congress of Soil Science will be held on Jeju Island, Korea, from June 8th to 13th, 2014. The theme of the conference is Soils Embrace Life and Universe, and the congress is also a celebration of 90 years. The website of the 20th World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS) is www.20wcss.org and you will find valuable information and announcement by the Organizing Committee. We cordially invite you to join us and be part of the 20th World Congress of Soil Science. We are looking forward to seeing you on Jeju Island. For further information see www.20wcss.org or e-mail Deadline for Abstract Submission: October 31, 2013
Soil Change Matters. 24-27 March 2014 in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. Paper submissions close 31st October 2013. We invite you to part of this international workshop that will bring together scientists, policy makers and land managers in a unique workshop environment. Soils change in response to land use, land management and climate. Understanding the mechanisms and rates of change in fundamental soil properties, and their extent across the landscape, is critical for management of soil and land to ensure enduring productivity and provision of ecosystem services. For all information on the workshop themes, preliminary program, registration, accommodation and paper submission please visit www.soilmatters.org
New Publications
Georges Aubert and the soils (1913-2006). By Christian Feller. 2013, IRD ( ). ISBN 978-2-7099-1751-3. Softcover, 72 pages. Price €10.00. Georges Aubert, one of the most famous pedologist of the XXth century, is widely recognized as one of the best specialists of soil diversity. His research on the soils began before the World War II. Aged only 24 years, he proposed at the 1937 French Congress for Development of Colonial Territories to launch a vast project aimed at studying of Mediterranean and tropical soils. The project encompassed educating numerous soil scientists both French and foreign, establishing soil research centers and laboratories in France and overseas, as well as developing investigation programs to understand the formation of the soils, their properties and diversity, and making inventories of them with a view to draw maps at different scales to allow for a rational agricultural utilization. This ambitious program was to be pursued all along Georges Aubert’s carrier with ORSTOM (nowadays IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement). In 1944, he created its Pedology section which he directed until his retirement in 1975. The present biography describes some aspects of Georges Aubert’s private life, his scientific career and his contributions to the French and the world science of pedology. Testimonies are provided by several of those who happened to best know him.
Soil Degradation. Series: Advances in GeoEcology, Vol. 42. Julia Krümmelbein, Rainer Horn & Marcello Pagliai (Editors). CATENA VERLAG GMBH, 35447 Reiskirchen, Germany, 2013. ISBN 3-923381-59-3, US ISBN 1-59326-263-9. Hardvocer, 352 pages. Price € 149.00. Soils are regularly exposed to different kinds of external loads, which can be described as static or dynamic and are always variable in loading time and magni¬tude. How far these external forces and soil management strategies coincide with the approach of sustainability of soils and their functions in a changing world with an intensely growing population is discussed controversially. Thus, various aspects of mainly mechanical soil degradation will be described in the book elucidating the various scale effects as well as the conse¬quences also for soil erosion and its quantification. Scale dependent processes of soil formation and impacts resulting in soil degradation from micro- to macroscale and the interactions between soil particles and chemistry on soil strength, soil erosion and landscape aspects are described in order to also derive countermeasures. These counter¬measures also include natural soil regeneration or amelioration approaches based on the quantified inter¬nal soil strength and the information about the actual mechanical sensitivity of the soil being threatened by soil compaction and deformation. Regional soil degradation studies from Spain, Chile, Brazil and Senegal document the necessary variations in regeneration approaches under various climatic and soil conditions.
Exercises in Soil Physics. GeoEcology textbook. Naftali Lazarovitch & Arthur W. Warrick (Editors). CATENA VERLAG GMBH, 35447 Reiskirchen, Germany, 2013. ISBN 978-3-923381-60-9 US ISBN 1-59326-264-7. Softcover, 352 pages, Appendix on CD. Price € 55.00. This book is designed to complement available soil physics and vadose zone hydrology texts by providing additional practice exercises. Material is included for beginning to grad¬uate level students and may be studied either independently or in conjunction with formal classes. More than 200 problems are presented with detailed answers. (from Preface). Chapter 1: The Solid Phase, Aziz Amoozegar; Chapter 2: Soil Water Relations, Markus Tuller; Chapter 3: Saturated Walter Flow, Paul A. Ferre; Chapter 4: Unsaturated Flow, Gary W. Parkin and David J. Fallow; Chapter 5: Field Water Processes, Alex Furman, Uri Shavit and Ravid Rozenzwieg; Chapter 6: Chemical Fate and Transport, Francis Casey and Leilah Krounbi; Chapter 7: Heat and Energy Transport, Colin S. Campbell, Douglas R. Cobos and Gaylon S. Campbell; Chapter 8: Soil Gasses and Transport, Scott B. Jones; Chapter 9: Soil Variability, Ole Wendroth; Appendix on CD.
Technogenic Soils of Poland. Edited by P. Charzynski, P. Hulisz and R. Bednarek. Polish Society of Soil Science, 2013. ISBN 978-83-934096-1-7 - Hardcover, 358 pages. This book presents the state of the art of knowledge about diverse technogenic soils in Poland. It includes many examples of soil studies conducted in urban, industrial, traffic, mining and military areas. The presented issues concern not only morphology and properties of technogenic soils, but also their genesis, functioning in the environment, classification and reclamation. The editors hope that this monograph will provide new information on technogenic soils and will contribute to improvement of classification of this group of soils. Book can be downloaded for free from here: https://sites.google.com/site/charzynskiprzemyslaw/home/publications
Technogenic Soils Atlas. Edited by P. Charzynski, M. Markiewicz and M. Switoniak. Polish Society of Soil Science, 2013. ISBN 978-83-934096-2-4 - Hardcover, 168 pages. This book provides an extensive database on urban, traffic, mining and industrial soils from the following countries: Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The main objective of this study was to present a great diversity of transformations in the investigated soils. The collected data will allow greater understanding of processes taking place in human-made ecosystems and will be a useful tool in soil-science teaching.