Understanding and preventing soil erosion

Description

It’s been suggested that around 12 million hectares of agricultural land are affected by soil erosion each year. If the degradation of the world’s soil reservoir continues, many have estimated that this could lead to a 30% reduction in global food production by 2040.

Understanding and preventing soil erosion provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on understanding the mechanisms of soil erosion, as well as the best practices for measuring and modelling soil erosion risk in agricultural soils. The book also considers the range of agronomic practices and techniques available to mitigate future soil erosion, including the use of buffer strips, zero/no-tillage and soil stabilisers.

In its detailed assessment of soil erosion, the book succeeds in highlighting the potential future impact of degraded soils on the quality, security and longevity of our global food system if the problem of soil erosion isn’t effectively managed.

Table of contents

Part 1 Mechanisms

• 1.Advances in understanding soil erodibility: Karl Manuel Seeger, University of Trier, Germany;
• 2.Advances in understanding water-based soil erosion processes: Dennis Flanagan, USDA-ARS/Purdue University, USA;
• 3.Assessing the impact of climate change on soil erosion: Karl Auerswald, Technical University of Munich, Germany;

Part 2 Measuring soil erosion

• 4.Advances in proximal instrumental techniques for measuring soil erosion: Javier Casali, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Spain;
• 5.Advances in tracking sediment transport from agricultural soils: Tony Parsons, University of Sheffield, UK;
• 6.Advances in modelling soil erosion risk: Debu Misra, University of Alaska, USA;

Part 3 Mitigating soil erosion

• 7.Assessing the effectiveness of buffer strips in preventing wind/water-based soil erosion and its effects: Brian Kronvang, Aarhus University, Denmark;
• 8.The effects of zero/conservation tillage practices in preventing soil erosion: Mike Kucera, USDA-ARS, USA;
• 9.The use of soil stabilisers to prevent erosion: Guy Levy, Volcani Institute – Agricultural Research Organisation, Israel;