Approaches to Soil Health Analysis (Soil Health series, Volume 1)

Approaches to Soil Health Analysis A concise survey of soil health analysis and its various techniques and applications The maintenance of healthy soil resources provides the foundation for an array of global efforts and initiatives that affect humanity. Whether they are working to combat food shortages, conserve our ecosystems, or mitigate the impact of climate change, researchers and agriculturalists the world over must be able to correctly examine and understand the complex nature of this essential, fragile resource. These new volumes have been designed to meet this need, addressing the many dimensions of soil health analysis in chapters that are concise, accessible and applicable to the tasks at hand. Soil Health, Volume One: Approaches to Soil Health Analysis provides a well-rounded overview of the various methods and strategies available to analysists, and covers topics including: The history of soil health and its study Challenges and opportunities facing analysists Meta-data and its assessment Applications to forestry and urban land reclamation Future soil health monitoring and evaluation approaches Offering a far-reaching survey of this increasingly interdisciplinary field, this volume will be of great interest to all those working in agriculture, private sector businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic-, state-, and federal-research projects, as well as state and federal soil conservation, water quality and other environmental programs.

Dedication v Foreword xi Preface xv Volume 1: Approaches to Soil Health Analysis 1 Soil Health: An Overview and Goals for These Volumes 1 Douglas L. Karlen, Diane E. Stott, Maysoon M. Mikha, and Bianca N. Moebius-Clune 2 Evolution of the Soil Health Movement 21 Douglas L. Karlen, Mriganka De, Marshall D. McDaniel, and Diane E. Stott 3 The Utility and Futility of Soil Health Assessment 49 John F. Obrycki and Lumarie Pérez-Guzmán 4 Metadata: An Essential Component for Interpreting Soil Health Measurements 70 Jane M.-F. Johnson and Maysoon M. Mikha 5 Soil Health Assessment of Agricultural Lands 79 Diane E. Stott, Brian Wienhold, Harold van Es, and Jeffrey E. Herrick 6 Soil Health Assessment of Forest Soils 100 Deborah S. Page-Dumroese, Felipe G. Sanchez, Ranjith P. Udawatta, Charles (Hobie) Perry, and Grizelle González 7 A Risk-Based Soil Health Approach to Management of Soil Lead 139 Nicholas T. Basta, Alyssa M. Zearley, Jeffory A. Hattey, and Douglas L. Karlen 8 The Future of Soil Health Assessments: Tools and Strategies 169 Kristen S. Veum, Marcio R. Nunes, and Ken A. Sudduth Epilogue 199