Due to many challenges (i.e. climate change, energy, water and land shortage, high demands on food, land grabbing, etc.), agriculture production potential is expected to be seriously affected; thus, increasing food insecurity and hunger in many already affected regions (especially in Africa). In this context, sustainable agriculture is highly recommended as an eco-system approach where soil, water, plants, environment and living organisms live in harmony. Innovative technologies and research should be developed to ensure sustainable agriculture and productivity using modern irrigation systems, improved varieties, improved soil quality, etc. In the meantime, the preservation of natural environment should be based on resource conservation technologies and best management practices.

"Sustainable Agricultural Development," not only raises the serious ethical and social issues underlying these huge environmental problems, but also aims at presenting successful experiences from all over the world in relation with sustainable farming, sustainable management of water and land resources, and innovative processes in livestock production. It also aims at providing inputs to decision making processes and encouraging the transfer of relevant know-how, technologies and expertise to different countries where similar agro-climatic conditions may exist; thus saving precious resources and promoting sustainable agricultural development as a relevant approach to tackle the food security challenge.

Finally, this book focuses on the paradigmatic and policy dimensions and call for an innovative approach by analyzing the key themes in a complex and interrelated manner.

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It is a truism that we can no longer freely pick areas with the most suitable ground conditions for building purposes. Soils must often be improved in order to take the loads from buildings, roads and other objects. This volume contains papers covering a range of relevant topics and issues.

This book presents the study of limnogeomorphology, in which past proxy data such as lacustrine sediments with information on landform development can be linked to modern observed data acquired by instruments, including hydro-geomorphological and sedimentary data. Traditionally, in the field of earth sciences, it has been thought that geophysical studies dealing mainly with the present process were not smoothly linked to geological studies that originated from historical studies. Although such earth-surface process studies are closely related to those on historical landform development in the field of geomorphology, they have been studied separately. Those two geomorphology studies correspond to process geomorphology (dynamic geomorphology) and historical geomorphology. There have been some attempts to combine them; however, they lacked past quantitative records available for further analyses. In the study of limnogeomorphology, proxy data can be converted to quantitative information to be utilized in future environmental discussions. This book also covers information not only on large lake-catchment systems, but on small systems. Those include long-term and short-term and large-scale and small-scale environmental changes in east Eurasia such as Lake Baikal, Lake Khuvsgul, Lake Biwa, and small lakes in Japan, Mongolia, China, and Korea.

Drawing on contributions from more than thirty scholars and experts in the field, this book examines the role of business as an enabler, as an inhibitor, and ultimately as a co-actor in global sustainability transformations expected over the next few decades. The Role of Business in Global Sustainability Transformations employs several theoretical perspectives and provides abundant examples and cases to discuss a variety of emerging concepts, phenomena, and trends shaping business sustainability. Weaving through the chapters, the editors present core tensions and sources of inertia towards transformative change, and acknowledge that envisioning multiple solutions and pathways are possible and desirable. They advocate for the need to align visions, actions and time horizons between policy, society and business in addressing the interlinked socio-ecological challenges that our society currently faces. This book will be an important resource for scholars and professionals working in the field of sustainability and sustainable business, and a vital educational text for students interested in this discipline.

Few processes are as important for environmental geochemistry as the interplay between the oxidation and reduction of dissolved and solid species. The knowledge of the redox conditions is most important to predict the geochemical behaviour of a great number of components, the mobilities of which are directly or indirectly controlled by redox processes. The understanding of the chemical mechanisms responsible for the establishment of measurable potentials is the major key for the evaluation and sensitive interpretation of data. This book is suitable for advanced undergraduates as well as for all scientists dealing with the measurement and interpretation of redox conditions in the natural environment.

This book presents the most relevant articles selected from the annals of the symposium. In the last few years, Brazilian Geomorphology has experienced a series of epistemological and methodological innovations expressed by the incorporation of the complexity paradigm, by the progressive break with the climate paradigm, by the emergency role of new theories, and by the advances in methodological fields favored by the adherence to geochronological techniques and in function of the increasingly widespread use of geotechnologies. Furthermore, the Anthropocene/Technogene emerge claims to be more than only a temporal cuts, but as conceptions of a science engaged with social and environmental issues. The National Symposium of Geomorphology, in the maturity of its 13th edition, constitutes a portrait and an important sample of Brazilian geomorphological production, aggregating works carried out in the most diverse types of landscapes of Brazil. The book provides an overview of the current scientific production of Brazilian Geomorphology, highlighting the diversity of landscapes and geoheritage in Brazil, the complexity of the morphogenetic and morphodynamic processes responsible for shaping its surface, and the various abundant methodologies used in geomorphological studies in tropical areas.

This text details the plant-assisted remediation method, "phytoremediation," which involves the interaction of plant roots and associated rhizospheric microorganisms for the remediation of soil contaminated with high levels of metals, pesticides, solvents, radionuclides, explosives, crude oil, organic compounds and various other contaminants. Each chapter highlights and compares the beneficial and economical alternatives of phytoremediation to currently practiced soil removal and burial practices.

Every spring, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst welcomes all ''Soils Conference" Scientific Advisory Board members with open arms as we begin the planning process responsible for bringing you quality conferences year after year. With this "homecoming" of sorts comes the promise of reaching across the table and interacting with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, each of them bringing their unique perspective in support of a successful Conference in the fall. This year marks the 20 DEGREES DEGREES anniversary of what started as a couple of thoughtful scientists interested in developing partnerships that together could fuel the environmental cleanup dialogue. Since the passage of the Superfund Law, regulators, academia and industry have come to realize that models that depend exclusively on ''command and control" mandates as the operative underpinning limit our collective ability to bring hazardous waste sites to productive re-use. It is with this concern in mind that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection privatized its cleanup program in 1993, spurring the close-out of over 20,000 sites and spills across the Commonwealth to date, in a manner that is both protective of human health and the environment while also flexible and responsive to varied site uses and redevelopment goals. So we gather together again, this year, to hear our collective stories and share success and challenges just as we share stories at a family gathering. Take a read through the stories contained in these proceedings.

This symposium on 'Boron in Soils and Plants' completes a quartet of reviews of the behaviour in soils and plants of four trace elements, copper, manganese, zinc and boron, selected for their importance in agriculture. The series had its genesis in a suggestion from Professor Robin Graham of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute that it would be appropriate in 1981 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the publication in 1931 of the first definitive evidence for the essentiality of copper in plants. The previous decade had seen a resurgence of interest in copper deficiency and toxicity in agriculture and an expansion of our understanding of the behaviour of copper in soils and plants. We therefore decided to promote a review of our understanding of the behaviour of copper in soils and plants by inviting appropriate authors to prepare reviews of 14 topics for publication in a book and presentation at a Golden Jubilee International Symposium on 'Copper in Soils and Plants'. Posters of current research were also displayed and published. Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia was chosen as the venue because of its then current research on copper, the importance of copper in Western Australian agriculture, and the presence in Perth of many international nutritionists due to the fortuitous scheduling in 1981 of the 'Fourth International Symposium on Trace Element Metabolism in Man and Animals'.

Observational and numerical modelling studies of the hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and light extinction were undertaken in the marine environment around Cape Bolinao in the Lingayen Gulf (NW Philippines). This text reports on the results of these studies, and offers conclusions.

From the research results and discussions presented in this book it becomes clear that a profound understanding of the various interrelationships of the nutritional aspects allows the implementation of specific management strategies to improve stability and productivity of forest ecosystems. In particular the effects of environmental changes as related to the impacts of air pollution, global change and land use on nutrient uptake and cycling processes in forest ecosystems are dealt with in detail. The book is divided into six main issues and each topic contains reviews as well as selected results of recent studies.

Phytohormone research is a crucially important area of plant sciences. Phytohormones are one of the key systems integrating metabolic and developmental events in the whole plant and the response of plants to external factors. Thus, they influence the yield and quality of crops. During the last decade we have slowly begun to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying phytohormone action, largely as a result of the rapid developments that have been made internationally in the field of plant molecular genetics. Putative receptor proteins for ethylene (1993- 95), brassinosteroids (1997) and cytokinins (2001) have been identified and the genes that encode them cloned. Primary response genes and elements of hormonal signal transduction have also been identified for most known phytohormones. There is now little doubt that phytohormones, like their animal counterparts, function as signal molecules and create a signalling network in the whole plant organism. The in vivo activity of hormones depends, among other things, on their rate of biosynthesis and metabolism, and on their transport into and out of target cells. Consequently, genes and enzymes involved in these processes are of particular interest. In recent years a number of genes encoding enzymes for the synthesis, modification and degradation of different phytohormones have been cloned and identified, as have genes encoding proteins involved in phytohormone transport and its regulation. Some classes of phytohormone have been shown to participate in stress reactions and can increase the resistance of plants to unfavorable environmental factors.

Until now no overview of the Quaternary deposits of northeastern Europe has been available. This book fills the gap. It presents the state of research on Quaternary stratigraphy and geology, with emphasis on glacial deposits, discusses the general scientific ideas and gives an overview of the methods of investigation, some of which have rarely been applied elsewhere. It has become apparent that the region covered has many environmental problems, and a proper understanding of the Quaternary deposits is a basic requirement for dealing with them. The same is true for civil engineering. In the formerly glaciated areas almost all construction sites for roads and houses will encounter glacial deposits. This volume provides an authoritative and fascinating overview for anyone planning to venture into this field. In its 53 regional chapters the book covers Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic and eastern Germany. From the text it becomes clear that not all the stratigraphical schemes are yet fully compatible or comprehensible. There can be no doubt, however, that the east was subjected to very extensive ice advances during the earlier Pleistocene. Also, in contrast to western Europe, there was a significant Early Weichselian ice advance, although not as extensive as the last, Late Weichselian event. The book is illustrated by 421 figures and 74 colour plates (mostly photographs). There are 23 tables, a detailed index and a list of over 1000 references, providing a unique collection of northeastern European geoscience literature, much of which has so far escaped the attention of western scientists. The volume, composed of contributions by 60 scientists, completes the trilogy on glacial deposits of northern Europe. Together with its two companion volumes, the Glacial deposits in North-West Europe and the Glacial Deposits in Great Britain and Ireland, it represents an invaluable source of information for the geoscientist, the advanced student or the amateur.

This book brings together many of the world s leading experts in the fields of Antarctic terrestrial soil ecology, providing a comprehensive and completely up-to-date analysis of the status of Antarctic soil microbiology.

Antarctic terrestrial soils represent one of the most extreme environments on Earth.Once thought to be largely sterile, it is now known that these diverse and often specialized extreme habitats harbor a very wide range of different microorganisms.

Antarctic soil communities are relatively simple, but not unsophisticated. Recent phylogenetic and microscopic studies have demonstrated that these communities have well established trophic structuring and play a significant role in nutrient cycling in these cold and often dry desert ecosystems. They are surprisingly responsive to change and potentially sensitive to climatic perturbation.

Antarctic terrestrial soils also harbor specialized refuge habitats, where microbial communities develop under (and within) translucent rocks. These cryptic habitats offer unique models for understanding the physical and biological drivers of community development, function and evolution."

This new edition of Soil Erosion Research Methods retains the themes and layout of the first edition. However, most chapters have been revised and some additional chapters have been added. There are new chapters on modeling wind and water erosion. Extensive revisions and updating have been done in chapters dealing with assessment of erosivity and erodibility, erosion, crop productivity, measuring sediment yield from river basins and field plot techniques. There is extensive updating of current statistics on the global magnitude of soil erosion by water and wind and on denudation rates. Several new authors have made significant improvements in revising and updating available information.

The importance to preserve soil and water have is increasingly recognized. Agricultural practices and ecological trends both affect and are affected by soil physical properties. The more frequency of natural disasters, as landslides and thunderstorms addresses the importance to integrate soil characteristics in predictive models. Soil physics research has grown considerably specially in the use of innovative sensors, soil databases, and modeling techniques have been introduced into soil water relationship and environmental monitoring. Those advances are thoroughly dispersed in articles and conference proceedings In this volume, the authors will bring together the effectiveness of many new field and lab sensors and examine the current state-of-the-art in modeling and data analysis. It also includes innovative approaches and case studies in tropical soils. Future directions in soil physics research are given by key researchers in this discipline.

Humic Substances color all waters more or less brown. Their concentrations exceed all carbon of living organisms by at least one order of magnitude. Opposite to former paradigms, they participate in almost any metabolic pathway. They protect against UV-irradation, enable indirect photolysis and, thus, purify hazardous chemicals, they provide inorganic and organic nutrients, may form cryptic genes with DNA and dampen metabolic fluctuations. More recently they can increase adverse effects of hazardous chemicals and they can directly interfere with organisms. The book tries to relate effects to structural features.

Agroforestry reserach and development in Australia has been largely fragmented and many of the research results have never been published and are unknown. The purpose of this volume is to comprehensively review all of the research that has taken place in the field of agroforestry in Australia, including previously unpublished results, providing readers with the latest technical and economic information about using trees in agriculture for the control of salinity and erosion, for shelter and shade, and for the production of timber, fodder and minor forest products. The book provides information concerning planted trees within all of these categories and includes special review of the management of native vegetation on farms. These papers also examine research needs where appropriate. This book stems from the National Australian Conference on 'The Role of Trees in Sustainable Agriculture' which took place in Albury, Victoria, Australia in October, 1991. Each national review paper is based upon a summary of six or more state review research and development papers, prepared specifically for the national conference. The book thus provides readers with a comprehensive overview of agroforestry rsearch in Australia, which is introduced and summarised in the first chapter.

The soil is the medium through which pollutants originating from human activities, both in agriculture and industry, move from the land surfaces to groundwater. Polluting substances are subject to complex physical, chemical and biological transformations during their movement through the soil. Their displacement depends on the transport properties of the water-air-soil system and on the molecular properties of the pollutants. Prediction of soil pollution and restoration of polluted soils requires an under standing of the processes controlling the fate of pollutants in the soil medium and of the dynamics of the contaminants in the un saturated zone. Our book was conceived. as a basic overview of the processes governing the behavior of pollutants as affected by soil constituents and environmental factors. It was written for the use of specialists working on soil and unsaturated zone pollution and restoration, as well as for graduate students starting research in this field. Since many specialists working on soil restoration lack a back ground in soil science or a knowledge of the properties of soil pollutants, we have included this information which forms the first part of the book. In the second part, we discuss the partitioning of pollutants between the aqueous, solid and gaseous phase of the soil medium. The retention, transformation and transport of pollutants in the soils form the third section."

This book addresses an important topic of food security in South Asia with specific reference to climate change. Of the 1 billion food insecure people in the world, more than 30% are in South Asia. The problem of food insecurity may be exacerbated by the projected climate change especially because of the water scarcity caused by rapid melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and increase in variability in monsoonal rains and frequency of extreme events. Furthermore, large populations of Bangladesh and other coastal regions may be displaced by sea level rise. Thus, this volume addresses recommended land use and soil/water/crop/vegetation management practices which would enable land managers to adapt to climate disruption by enhancing soil/ecosystem/social resilience. In addition to biophysical factors, this book also addresses the issues related to human dimensions including social, ethnical and political considerations.

The concept of using mathematical models to investigate crop growth and productivity has attracted much attention in recent years. A major reason is that modelling can allow an expert in one area to assess the impact of his ideas in the light of other advances in our understanding of crop performance. Whether or not many of the claims made for or the demands made of models can ever be satisfied, this role as a focus for quantitative definition of crop growth is an important one. One consequence is that the development and appraisal of such models requires the efforts of scientists from a wide range of disciplines. This NATO Advanced Research workshop was designed to bring together such a range of scientists to consider the wheat crop, and assess our understanding of the crop and our ability to model its growth and yield. The ideas and organization behind the workshop involved many people. The U. K. interest in a computer model of wheat growth was instigated by Dr. Joe Landsberg (then of Long Ashton Research Station, but now Director of CSIRO Division of Forest Research), who in 1979 started a modelling exercise as part of a collaborative study of the causes of yield variation in winter wheat, involving four research institutes supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Council. Dr.

This book is devoted to the ichnology of insects, and associated trace fossils, in soils and paleosols. The traces described here, mostly nests and pupation chambers, include one of the most complex architectures produced by animals. Chapters explore the walls, shapes and fillings of trace fossils followed by their classifications and ichnotaxonomy. Detailed descriptions and interpretations for different groups of insects like bees, ants, termites, dung beetles and wasps are also provided. Chapters also highlight the the paleoenvironmental significance of insect trace fossils in paleosols for paleontological reconstructions, sedimentological interpretation, and ichnofabrics analysis. Readers will discover how insect trace fossils act as physical evidence for reconstructing the evolution of behavior, phylogenies, past geographical distributions, and to know how insects achieved some of the more complex architectures. The book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in ichnology, sedimentology, paleopedology, and entomology and readers interested in insect architecture.

Short Blurb (350 characters): Sand dunes are common aeolian landforms and are found on over ~40% of the Earth’s land surface. Distribution and characteristics of sand dunes in the northern hemisphere are the major focus. Standard Blurb (700 characters): Sand dunes are common aeolian landforms and are found on over ~40% of the Earth’s land surface. Distribution and characteristics of sand dunes in the northern hemisphere are the major focus. Practical advice on how to deal with migrating dunes and a description of proven practices are presented. The application of recently available high-resolution satellite data for mapping and change detection and a summary of advances in techniques for characterizing the mineralogy of sand is explained. The target audience of this book will be those working in the fields of arid land studies, geoinformatics, social sciences, and landscape ecology. Key Features: • Present a synthesis of past work, 'connect the dots' so that the work of physical geographers, geomorphologists, physicists and climatologists, hydrologists, and related fields can be made available within one book. • Exhaustively reviews the key recent research on the typology, distribution, formation and current status of sand dunes • Provides a synoptic overview of the current problems and prospects for controlling migrating sand dunes that threaten infrastructure, and encroaches on agricultural land and urban areas. • Demonstrates the utility of new advanced monitoring techniques such as high-resolution satellite imagery and specialized laboratory equipment to study the mineralogy and structure of dune sands

This book presents an exploration of linkages among soil-water, agriculture, and climate change with a special focus on thematic areas for assessment, mitigation, and management of natural resources under climate change conditions. This book covers advances in modelling approaches, including machine learning (ML)/ artificial intelligence (AI) applications; GIS and remote sensing; sensors; impacts of climate change on agriculture; subsurface water; contaminants; and socio-economic impacts, which are lacking in a more comprehensive manner in the previous titles. This book encompasses updated information as well as future directions for researchers working in the field of management of natural resources. The goal of this book is to provide scientific evidence to researchers and policymakers and end-to-end value chain practitioners which may help in reducing the overall adverse impacts of climate change on water resources and the related mitigation strategies. This book focuses on the knowledge, modern tools, and techniques, i.e., machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc. for soil-water, agriculture, and climate change. Further, nature-based solutions for management of natural resources with special targets on contaminants, extreme events, disturbances, etc. will be targeted. The book provides readers with the enhanced knowledge for application of engineering principles and economic and regulatory constraints to determine a soil-water, agriculture production action strategy, and select appropriate technologies to implement the strategy for a given data set at a site. It would also cover the application of laboratory, modeling, numerical methods for determination and forecasting of climate change impacts, agriculture production, pollution, soil health, etc. Overall, it provides hydrologists, environmental engineers, administrators, policy makers, consultants, and industrial experts with essential support in effective management of soils health, agricultural productions, and mitigation of extreme climatic events.