Agricultural ecology, or agroecology, deals in general with the structure and function of agroecosystems at different levels of resolution. In this text/reference, the authors describe in terms of agroecology the tropical environments of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin and Central America, focusing on production and management systems unique to each region.

Sediments and Ecohyraulics is comprised of papers submitted to the 6th International Conference on Cohesive Sediments (INTERCOH 2005) held in Saga, Japan, September 2005. The papers are divided into two major categories. The first is basic processes, including erosion, settling, flocculation, and consolidation. The second major catagory is application of the understanding of cohesive sediments to address specific issues, including waterway and part management, fluid mud behavior, and contaminiated sediment management.
*Provides an up-to-date resource of the present knowledge of cohesive sediment transport processes
*Contains practical solutions on cohesive transport problems
*Presents information on managing cohesive sediments

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This volume shares new data relating to Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), with emphasis on experiences in Eastern and Southern Africa. The book is a collection of research by authors from over 30 institutions, spanning the public and private sectors, with specific knowledge on agricultural development in the region discussed. The material is assembled to answer key questions on the following five topic areas: (1) Climate impacts: What are the most significant current and near future climate risks undermining smallholder livelihoods? (2) Varieties: How can climate-smart varieties be delivered quickly and cost-effectively to smallholders? (3) Farm management: What are key lessons on the contributions from soil and water management to climate risk reduction and how should interventions be prioritized? (4) Value chains: How can climate risks to supply and value chains be reduced? and (5) Scaling up: How can most promising climate risks reduction strategies be quickly scaled up and what are critical success factors? Readers who will be interested in this book include students, policy makers, and researchers studying climate change impacts on agriculture and agricultural sustainability.

This book discusses how research efforts have established an organic link between pedology and edaphology of five pedogenetically important soil orders as Alfisols, Mollisols, Ultisols, Vertisols and Inceptisols of tropical Indian environments. The book highlights how this new knowledge was gained when research efforts were complemented by high resolution mineralogical, micro morphological and age-control tools. This advancement in basic and fundamental knowledge on Indian tropical soils makes it possible to develop several index soil properties as simple methods to study their pedology and edaphology. More than one-third of the world's soils are tropical soils. Thus the recent advances in developing simple and ingenuous methods to study pedology and edaphology of Indian tropical soils may also be adopted by both graduate students and young soil researchers to aid in the development of a national soil information system to enhance crop productivity and maintain soil health in the 21st century.

Soil Carbon Storage: Modulators, Mechanisms and Modeling takes a novel approach to the issue of soil carbon storage by considering soil C sequestration as a function of the interaction between biotic (e.g. microbes and plants) and abiotic (climate, soil types, management practices) modulators as a key driver of soil C. These modulators are central to C balance through their processing of C from both plant inputs and native soil organic matter. This book considers this concept in the light of state-of-the-art methodologies that elucidate these interactions and increase our understanding of a vitally important, but poorly characterized component of the global C cycle. The book provides soil scientists with a comprehensive, mechanistic, quantitative and predictive understanding of soil carbon storage. It presents a new framework that can be included in predictive models and management practices for better prediction and enhanced C storage in soils.

This is the first handbook that covers all aspects of bio-inoculants used in degraded lands to improve soil fertility and crop productivity as well as for the remediation of polluted lands. It discusses all novel sustainable approaches for the reclamation of problematic soils. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this book explores the recent uses of plant microbe interactions in ecological and agricultural revitalization beyond normal agriculture practices and offers practical and applied solutions for the restoration of degraded lands for food, fodder, fuel and fiber security. Provides a single comprehensive platform for soil scientist, agriculture specialists, ecologists, and others.

The IUPAC Series on Analytical and Physical Chemistry of Environmental Systems provides the scientific community with a critical evaluation of the state of the art on physicochemical structures and reactions in environmental systems, as well as on the analytical techniques required to study and monitor these systems. The series is aimed at promoting rigorous analysis and understanding of physicochemical functioning of environmental systems.

Soil, water and air are the major environmental media. Few pollutants and nutrients are restricted to only one medium. Thus what happens in soil environments has subsequent impacts on water and air.

The three major (solid) components of soil - minerals, organic components and microorganisms - together profoundly affect the physicochemical and biological properties of terrestrial systems. To date, there have been major scientific accomplishments in individual sub-disciplines, i.e., in the chemistry of soil minerals, the chemistry of soil organic matter and soil microbiology. However, minerals, organic matter and microorganisms should not be considered as separate entities but rather as a united system, with the components constantly in close association and interaction with each other in the terrestrial environment. These interactions have an enormous impact on terrestrial processes critical to environmental quality and ecosystem health.

Interactions between Soil Particles and Microorganisms provides the scientific community with a critical evaluation of state-of-the-art research on the interactions of soil minerals with organic components and microorganisms, with the goal of advancing the understanding of reactions and processes at the interface between chemistry and biology of soil and related environments. In view of the significance of these interactions, there is a need for an advanced treatise to focus on these interactions at the molecular and microscopic levels.

Key features:

• The first book to provide a comprehensive review of current research into the interactions of minerals, organic components and microorganisms in the soil

• Defines the impact that these interactions have on environmental quality and ecosystem health around the globe

• Provides a unique insight into the effects of mineral-organic component-microorganism interactions on pollutants in the soil, which is necessary for all environmental scientists working in this area

• Provides a basis for stimulating further research into the dynamics and mechanisms of environmental processes in nature

"This two-volume set in Burleigh Dodds Agricultural Science may represent one of the most important projects in their series focused on sustainable agriculture and recent advances in research on key crop and animal species. Many scholars and students today often rely on the web to locate open-source references in research and courses, yet the value of comprehensive books that review specific topics cannot be ignored. The compilation on soil health edited by Prof. Reicosky is an example of quality scholarship, clear and accessible writing, and comprehensive referencing on an emerging topic in agriculture and food production... descriptions of methods and data from a wide range of sources and interpretations by experts in the field contribute to the timeless value of books such as these in the series on agricultural sciences. They should be part of contemporary library collections and available to everyone." Prof. Charles Francis in Agronomy Journal "The books offer a valuable insight into the fundamentals of managing soil health... The broad range of fundamental information provided makes both volumes worth reading, not only for students and scientists, politicians and farmers but also for laypersons interested in soil health and sustainable agriculture."Applied Soil Ecology There has been growing concern that both intensive agriculture in the developed world and rapid expansion of crop cultivation in developing countries is damaging the health of soils which are the foundation of farming. At the same time we are discovering much more about how complex soils are as living biological systems. This volume reviews the latest research on soil science. After an overview of the role of soil as a provider of ecosystem services and in conservation agriculture, the book reviews soil structure and chemistry as well organic matter, soil microorganisms and fauna. The second part of the book discusses soil dynamics, from water and nutrient cycles to carbon capture and erosion mechanisms. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for soil scientists and agronomists as well as the farming community and government agencies responsible for monitoring soil health. It is accompanied by a companion volume looking at soil monitoring and management.

"This two-volume set in Burleigh Dodds Agricultural Science may represent one of the most important projects in their series focused on sustainable agriculture and recent advances in research on key crop and animal species. Many scholars and students today often rely on the web to locate open-source references in research and courses, yet the value of comprehensive books that review specific topics cannot be ignored. The compilation on soil health edited by Prof. Reicosky is an example of quality scholarship, clear and accessible writing, and comprehensive referencing on an emerging topic in agriculture and food production... descriptions of methods and data from a wide range of sources and interpretations by experts in the field contribute to the timeless value of books such as these in the series on agricultural sciences. They should be part of contemporary library collections and available to everyone." Prof. Charles Francis in Agronomy Journal "The books offer a valuable insight into the fundamentals of managing soil health... The broad range of fundamental information provided makes both volumes worth reading, not only for students and scientists, politicians and farmers but also for laypersons interested in soil health and sustainable agriculture."Applied Soil Ecology There has been growing concern that both intensive agriculture in the developed world and rapid expansion of crop cultivation in developing countries is damaging the health of soils which are the foundation of farming. At the same time we are discovering much more about how complex soils are as living biological systems. This volume reviews the latest research on soil monitoring and management. Part 1 starts by reviewing soil classification, sampling and ways of monitoring soil dynamics. Part 2 surveys key techniques for managing soil, from irrigation and fertiliser use to crop rotations, intercropping and cover crops. The final part of the book discusses ways of supporting smallholders in maintaining soil health in regions such as Africa, Asia and South America. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for soil scientists and agronomists as well as the farming community and government agencies responsible for monitoring soil health. It is accompanied by a companion volume looking at developments in soil science.

This thesis encompasses a study of past precipitation patterns based on six cave stalagmites from different parts of the Indian Himalaya. This is the first speleothem study in the Indian Himalaya that shows a direct relationship between past precipitation and the collapse of civilization. The stalagmites examined were KL-3 from Jammu and Kashmir; TCS and BR-1 from Himachal Pradesh; and DH-1, SA-1 and CH-1 from Uttarakhand. Based on the high-resolution palaeoclimatic reconstruction (35 U/th dates, 5 AMS dates, 1,500 samples for 18O and 13C values) obtained for the duration of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (16.2-9.5 ka BP) and Mid-Holocene-Present (ca. 4.0 ka BP-Present), three major events were identified, namely the Older Dryas (OD), Bolling-Allerod (BA) period and Younger Dryas (YD) at ca. 14.3-13.9, 13.9-12.7 and 12.7-12.2 ka BP, respectively. The study showed a gradual reduction in the precipitation from 4 ka BP onwards for about a millennium with a peak arid period between 3.2 and 3.1 ka BP. According to the findings, the LIA (Little Ice Age) covers a time span from 1622-1820 AD, during which the climate was wetter than that in the post-LIA period (1820-1950 AD). In addition, this thesis supports the assumption that the WDs (Western Disturbances) contribute significantly to the total rainfall in the Himalaya region.

The Handbook of Irrigation Hydrology and Management examines and analyzes irrigated ecosystems in which water storage, applications, or drainage volumes are artificially controlled in the landscape and the spatial domain of processes varies from micrometers to tens of kilometers, while the temporal domain spans from seconds to centuries. The continuum science of irrigation hydrology includes the surface, subsurface (unsaturated and groundwater systems), atmospheric, and plant subsystems. Further, it presents numerous considerations including the selection of economically viable cropping patterns, land allocation by crop, water resource allocation by crop, irrigation scheduling, deficit management irrigation, optimizing crop yields, and more. Features: Offers water-saving strategies to increase the judicious use of scarce water resources Presents strategies to maximize agricultural yield per unit of water used for different regions Compares irrigation methods to offset changing weather patterns and impacts of climate change

As part of its efforts to improve fertilizer use and efficiency in West Africa, and following the recent adoption of the West African fertilizer recommendation action plan (RAP) by ECOWAS, this volume focuses on IFDC's technical lead with key partner institutions and experts to build on previous and current fertilizer recommendations for various crops and countries in West Africa for wider uptake by public policy makers and fertilizer industry actors.

Extensively revised, accessible, and up-to-date—the new edition of Tate’s classic soil microbiology text Now in its second edition, Soil Microbiology offers students a broad knowledge of the behavior and function of microbes in soil—all the essentials they will need in order to address the long-term stewardship of the earth’s soil resources. Designed for use as the core text for microbiology courses in the soil science curriculum, it explores the tremendous diversity of life found in soil ecosystems. With its amplified focus on the reclamation of contaminated and damaged soils, greenhouse gas production, and the sustainability of soil ecosystems, this book is an ideal resource for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, as well as a useful reference for professionals in soil and environmental science. Soil Microbiology, Second Edition features:

• A focus on new advances as well as environmental science aspects of soil microbiology
• Completely new chapters on the biological diversity of soil ecosystems, soil remediation, and soil systems management
• A strong emphasis on research in real-world settings as well as theoretical concerns

Soil erosion is a complex process that depends on soil properties, ground slope, vegetation, and rainfall amount and intensity. Erosion can be significantly reduced through sustainable agricultural practices and sustainable nutrient management techniques that allow farmers to maintain healthy, productive soil for crops without degrading the environment. There is an urgent need to plan and make necessary amendments to restore soil quality. Amelioration Technology for Soil Sustainability is an essential research publication that provides a current and practical exploration of hydrophobic soil amelioration to improve soil sustainability and crop yield within the field of agriculture. Highlighting topics such as ecological systems, impact analysis, and agriculture, this book is ideal for soil scientists, agriculturalists, farmers, environmentalists, managers, policymakers, professionals, researchers, and students.