Soil Organic Carbon and Feeding the Future: Basic Soil Processes (Advances in Soil Science)

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a highly reactive constituent of the soil matrix because of its large surface area, high ion exchange capacity, enormous affinity for water due to hygroscopicity, and capacity to form organo-mineral complexes. It is an important source and sink of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases depending on climate, land use, soil and crop management, and a wide range of abiotic and biotic factors, including the human dimensions of socioeconomic and political factors. Agroecosystems are among important controls of the global carbon cycle with a strong impact on anthropogenic or abrupt climate change.

This volume of Advances in Soil Sciences explains pedological processes set-in-motion by increases in SOM content of depleted and degraded soils. It discusses the relationship between SOM content and critical soil quality parameters including aggregation, water retention and transport, aeration and gaseous exchange, and chemical composition of soil air. The book identifies policy options needed to translate science into action for making sustainable management of SOM as a strategy for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

Features:

• Relates soil organic matter stock to soil processes, climate parameters, vegetation, landscape attributes
• Establishes relationships between soil organic matter and land use, species, and climate
• Identifies land use systems for protecting and restoring soil organic matter stock
• Links soil organic matter stock with the global carbon cycle for mitigation of climate change

Part of the Advances in Soil Sciences series, this volume will appeal to agricultural, environmental, and soil scientists demonstrating the link between soil organic matter stock and provisioning of critical ecosystem services for nature and humans.

Rattan Lal, PhD, is Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Iceland and IARI, New Delhi. He was President of the WASWAC (1987-1990), ISTRO (1988-1991), SSSA (2006-2008), and the IUSS (2017-2018). He researches soil C sequestration, conservation agriculture, soil health, soil erosion and C dynamics, soil structure, eco-intensification, soil restoration, and soils of the tropics. He has authored 1,020 journal articles, authored/edited more than 100 books, mentored 370 researchers, has h-index of 163, and total citations of 120,719. In a Stanford study (Ioannidis et al. 2019, 2020), he is ranked #111 globally among world’s top 2% of scientists, and #1 among scientists in Agronomy & Agriculture. Reuter Thompson ranked him #391 among the top 1000 climatologists. He holds IICA’s Chair in Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador in Sustainable Development. He is a member of the 2021 U.N. Food System Summit Science Committee and Action Track 3. He received the 2018 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize, 2018 Glinka World Soil Prize, 2019 Japan Prize, 2019 IFFCO Award, 2020 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award, the 2020 World Food Prize, and the 2021 Padma Shri Award, India.