term paper on soil science

Introduction to Soil Science

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Amber Anderson, Iowa State University

Copyright Year: 2023

Publisher: Iowa State University Digital Press

Language: English

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Getting started
• Soil physical properties
• Soil erosion
• Soil chemistry
• Soil management
• Soil Fertility
• Case studies
• Soil Geography

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This textbook introduces readers to the basics of soil science, including the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils; soil formation, classification, and global distribution; soil health, soils and humanity, and sustainable land management.

About the Contributors

Dr. Amber Anderson , Iowa State University

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Sustainable soil use and management: An interdisciplinary and systematic approach

a School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Nanthi S. Bolan

b Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

Daniel C.W. Tsang

c Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

Mary B. Kirkham

d Department of Agronomy, Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, United States

David O'Connor

Soil is a key component of Earth's critical zone. It provides essential services for agricultural production, plant growth, animal habitation, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and environmental quality, which are crucial for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, soil degradation has occurred in many places throughout the world due to factors such as soil pollution, erosion, salinization, and acidification. In order to achieve the SDGs by the target date of 2030, soils may need to be used and managed in a manner that is more sustainable than is currently practiced. Here we show that research in the field of sustainable soil use and management should prioritize the multifunctional value of soil health and address interdisciplinary linkages with major issues such as biodiversity and climate change. As soil is the largest terrestrial carbon pool, as well as a significant contributor of greenhouse gases, much progress can be made toward curtailing the climate crisis by sustainable soil management practices. One identified option is to increase soil organic carbon levels, especially with recalcitrant forms of carbon (e.g., biochar application). In general, soil health is primarily determined by the actions of the farming community. Therefore, information management and knowledge sharing are necessary to improve the sustainable behavior of practitioners and end-users. Scientists and policy makers are important actors in this social learning process, not only to disseminate evidence-based scientific knowledge, but also in generating new knowledge in close collaboration with farmers. While governmental funding for soil data collection has been generally decreasing, newly available 5G telecommunications, big data and machine learning based data collection and analytical tools are maturing. Interdisciplinary studies that incorporate such advances may lead to the formation of innovative sustainable soil use and management strategies that are aimed toward optimizing soil health and achieving the SDGs.

Graphical abstract

• • Soil degradation impedes achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
• • Soil plays a fundamental role for biodiversity conservation.
• • Soil researchers ought to prioritize the multifunctional value of soil health.
• • A framework for interdisciplinary research in soil sustainability is presented.
• • Information management and knowledge sharing may drive sustainable behavior change.

1. Introduction

Soil, commonly viewed as a non-renewable resource due to the extremely slow pace of its regeneration, is under serious threat from modern society ( Amundson et al., 2015 ). Soil degradation occurs due to factors such as water erosion, wind erosion, salinization, and deforestation ( Carlson et al., 2012 ; Celentano et al., 2017 ; Rojas et al., 2016 ). Activities that introduce polluting substances, such as heavy metals, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are further causing wide-spread soil degradation. Globally, it is estimated that ~24 billion metric tons of soil are lost through factors such as erosion each year ( UNCCD, 2017 ) and that ~30% of the world's soils are now in a degraded state ( FAO, 2011 ). In China, ~19% of agricultural soil and ~ 16% of all soils exceed national soil quality standards ( MEP, 2014 ). Soil degradation threatens the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ( Bouma, 2019 ). To help address soil degradation, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization declared 2015–2024 as the International Decade of Soils, aiming to raise public awareness of soil protection. Since then, there has been a burgeoning trend of scientific literature and public debate on soil.

Soil is primarily viewed as a critical component of agricultural production in traditional wisdom. In more recent years, the scientific community has increasingly recognized that soil is also an essential component for environmental protection ( Obrist et al., 2017 ), climate change mitigation ( Le Quere et al., 2018 ), ecosystem services ( Bahram et al., 2018 ), as well as land use and planning ( Gossner et al., 2016 ). There is also a growing recognition that soil health relates not only to the classical biogeophysical processes that are traditionally studied by soil scientists, but also information management, knowledge sharing, and human behavior ( Bampa et al., 2019 ; Bouma et al., 2019 ). Interdisciplinary studies (see Section 2.3 ) are required to understand better the coupling of complex human-nature systems linked to soil management ( Bouma and Montanarella, 2016 ). However, current knowledge on soil processes is scattered across various disciplines, lacking comprehensive views on the sustainable management of soil resources ( Vogel et al., 2018 ).

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established 17 goals to be achieved by 2030, which are named the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include, among others, no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, clean water and sanitation and climate action ( UN, 2015 ). The SDGs have become a central theme of global development and international collaboration. Considerable progress has been made in recent years toward reaching the SDGs. For example, the proportion of the global population with access to safe drinking water and the percentage of children receiving vaccinations have both risen considerably. However, many challenges still exist, such as: 821 million people remain undernourished, representing a 5% increase between 2015 and 2017; investment in agriculture from governmental sources and foreign aid has dropped; and, atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) continue to rise ( UN, 2019 ), exacerbating the current climate crisis. Governments from local to national levels need to develop integrated programs addressing these sustainability challenges ( Bryan et al., 2018 ).

In the ongoing actions toward reaching the United Nations SDGs, the soil science community has somewhat underplayed the potential role it could play, partly due to the scattered nature of soil knowledge mentioned above. If researchers from wider disciplines were to collaborate more with soil scientists, it may help progress approaches to achieving the SDGs in a manner more effective than acting alone. Therefore, the profile of the soil science discipline may need to be raised, especially the interdisciplinary components that support food security, climate change mitigation, biodiversity, and public health, in order to better design comprehensive strategies toward realizing the SDGs.

In the present paper, we do not reiterate the importance of the interaction between soil science and agronomy covering crop productivity, which has been discussed in other existing publications ( Sanchez, 2002 ; Tisdale et al., 1985 ). Instead, we focus on the interdisciplinary nature of soil and sustainable soil use and management and linkages with soil science with social science, climate science, ecological science, and environmental science.

2. The interdisciplinary nature of sustainable soil use and management

2.1. sustainable development goals (sdgs).

Soil plays a pivotal role in the United Nations SDGs, most notably SDGs 2, 3, 6, 12, 13, and 15 ( Bouma and Montanarella, 2016 ; Keesstra et al., 2016 ). Most people in poverty live in rural areas where crop production is a vital source of income. In these areas, soil health is a decisive factor for productivity and income levels. Among other roles, soil provides the basis for food production and ecosystem services ( Bender et al., 2016 ; Oliver and Gregory, 2015 ). Moreover, as soil biodiversity is related to lower crop diseases and pests, the ecological services offered by healthy soil systems are important in reducing poverty and ending hunger. Soil also affects water quality, GHG emissions, and other important environmental considerations in regard to the SDGs ( Bharati et al., 2002 ; Franzluebbers, 2005 ). An overview of the identified relationships between soil and the relevant SDGs are illustrated in Fig. 1 .

The relevance of soil to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It is imperative to disseminate soil science knowledge to policy makers and practitioners who design and implement SDG programs (see Section 3 ). Effective action needs to be taken by the soil science community to help develop suitable indicators that are not only scientifically sound, but also practical for small hold farmers and other stakeholders. Scientific research needs to be specifically directed toward realizing the SDGs, rather than to just understand soil science. The influence of human behavior must be factored into this complex human-nature system. It is also necessary to include the impacts of socio-economic activity on soil health when carrying out sustainability assessments, thus allowing more informed decision making ( Vogel et al., 2018 ).

2.2. The soil health concept

Soils have a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological properties that are attributable to the parent material (e.g., geologic origin and depositional processes), environmental factors (e.g., climate conditions, topography) as well as anthropogenic influences (e.g. farming practice, surface disturbance, pollutant emissions). Because soil plays such a critical role in multiple natural and anthropogenic systems, such soil properties will affect ecosystem services, environmental quality, agricultural sustainability, climate change, and human health. This multi-functional aspect makes traditional soil quality evaluation systems, which have tended to focus on soil fertility and agricultural production ( Doran and Parkin, 1994 ), no longer fully appropriate. Most recently, the “soil health” concept has been the subject of increasing research attention (see Fig. 2 ). This holistic approach accounts for non-linear mechanistic relationships between various physical, chemical, and biological properties. Moreover, the soil health holistic concept is advantageous over traditional soil quality assessments because it considers ecosystem services as well as agricultural production, i.e., both nature and human driven objectives ( Kibblewhite et al., 2008 ).

Number of research articles listed in the Web of Science database ( www.webofknowledge.com ) when soil AND sustainability and “soil health” were searched as topics (searched on 3rd March 2020).

Doran and Zeiss (2000) defined soil health as “the capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health” Their definition has been well received by the scientific community, as evidenced by the article being cited ~1500 times according to Google Scholar. The authors argued that soil health is a holistic concept which portrays soil as a living system (i.e., the capacity of soil to function as a living system), while soil quality describes a soil's capacity for a specific use (i.e., fitness for different uses). The outcomes of soil use and management decisions are reflected in soil health ( Doran and Safley, 1997 ).

Assessing soil health involves the selection of indicators, quantification or qualitative scoring, and providing a final index with appropriate weighting and integration ( Rinot et al., 2019 ). Biophysical indicators are particularly relevant for assessing soil health. This is because healthy soil is manifested through a variety of soil functions that are reliant upon biological processes, e.g. carbon transformation, nutrient cycling, maintaining soil structure, and regulating pests and disease ( Kibblewhite et al., 2008 ). Scientists have explored the use of soil microorganisms ( Nielsen et al., 2002 ; Van Bruggen and Semenov, 2000 ), enzyme activities ( Ananbeh et al., 2019 ; Janvier et al., 2007 ), earthworms and nematodes ( Neher, 2001 ), as well as other biological indicators to assess soil health. Similarly, soil structure, compaction and moisture retention have been used as physical indicators of soil health.

2.3. Interdisciplinary research

The sustainability of soil systems is affected by their bio-physico-chemical properties, and the soil use and management decisions made by farmers ( Doran and Zeiss, 2000 ). These two aspects can be broadly categorized into natural and anthropogenic processes. Complex dynamics are involved in the coupled human-nature systems, rendering many challenges for the study of soil systems from any single disciplinary lens. We must develop an interdisciplinary approach to address these challenges ( Totsche et al., 2010 ). It should be noted that interdisciplinary approaches differ from multidisciplinary approaches, in that they integrate insights on a common problem (e.g. climate change) from different disciplines (e.g. soil science and climate science) to construct a comprehensive understanding of the issue. In comparison, multidisciplinary approaches involve gaining separate insights on a common problem from the perspectives of different disciplines ( Repko and Szostak, 2020 ).

As many of the problems surrounding soil sustainability are complex and broad, they cannot be sufficiently addressed by one single discipline, thus interdisciplinary studies are needed ( Klein and Newell, 1997 ). Based on a published framework that interconnected disciplinary lines for another topic ( Hammond and Dubé, 2012 ), here we propose a general framework for developing an interdisciplinary perspective on sustainable soil use and management ( Fig. 3 ). We propose that five broad issues have a root in soil science and are linked to at least one other discipline. The issues themselves are also interconnected. Take management and behavior as an example, which is directly linked to soil science and social science. At the same time, soil fertility and soil pollution are also involved, which are directly linked to agronomy and environmental science, respectively. Another example is soil carbon (or soil organic matter) which is directly linked to both soil science and climate science while also affecting soil biodiversity linked to ecology, and soil fertility linked to agronomy. In a sense, the network shown on Fig. 3 forms a complex six-disciplinary system, which can be used for studying soil sustainability.

A framework for interdisciplinary research in soil sustainability linking soil science with social science, environmental science, ecology, climate science, and agronomy.

3. Soil and social science

3.1. knowledge transfer.

A myriad of scientific knowledge exists regarding best practice for soil management. However, there has been a general lack of adoption by farmers ( Bouma, 2019 ). This can be attributed to obstacles that hinder the distribution of relevant scientific information. Scientific evidence from in-depth studies is often scattered within various disciplines that use technical jargon that is little understood by the social scientists or journalists who are engaged in information transmittal and knowledge sharing. Modern electronic information sharing techniques, including social media tools (e.g., Twitter and Facebook), make mass information distribution easier ( Mills et al., 2019 ), but they can also make it difficult for lay people to distinguish between evidence-based reliable information and inaccurate or even misleading information. A parallel example occurred during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, during which large amounts of misinformation were transmitted across social media. Scientists felt the need to publish a joint statement to denounce such rumors ( Calisher et al., 2020 ).

Information management and knowledge sharing may help to fill the gap between knowledge generation and its useful application. This is particularly important for the application of soil science. A variety of soil information management and knowledge sharing mechanisms exist, including training workshops (online or offline), websites, social media, advisory services. In Australia, the New South Wales local government uses webinars to disseminate soil science information to a geographically disperse community of practice (CoP) ( Jenkins et al., 2019 ). Grain advisors, however, were reported to be guiding farmers to historically established “rules of thumb” for calculating nitrogen fertilizer needs, rather than the latest evidence-based science on soil water and nitrogen management ( Schwenke et al., 2019 ). Another Australian local government decided to share soil information and knowledge using a website coupled with training workshops. The type of information shared may include soil properties and landscape characteristics obtained from field assessment studies. Such initiatives show that centralized knowledge sharing can bring significant tangible benefits ( Imhof et al., 2019 ). However, a 10-year follow-up survey showed that while training workshops could be effective in the short term, behavioral change was not sustained in the long term. It was suggested that continuing professional development to upskill farm advisors and the CoP may render a more persistent uptake of knowledge at the farm level ( Andersson and Orgill, 2019 ).

In Europe, both private and public sector advisors, operating on national, provincial or local levels offer science communication to farmers ( Ingram and Mills, 2019 ). In Switzerland, sustainable soil management knowledge was successfully shared among farmers via social learning in a video format ( Fry and Thieme, 2019 ). A study in the English East Midlands suggested that soil advisors ought to incorporate hands-on practical knowledge ( Stoate et al., 2019 ). This concurs with another study in Australia, which showed that establishing a network of senior ex-governmental soil scientists and farmers enabled effective soil knowledge transfer ( Packer et al., 2019 ).

As precision agriculture incentivizes the use of sensing technologies to collect soil data, it becomes increasingly important to form public-private partnerships to collect, store, and use the huge amounts of geographically referenced soil data generated ( Robinson et al., 2019 ). The emerging fifth generation of wireless technology for digital cellular networks (5G), big data, and machine learning offer data collection and analysis techniques that may enable a new generation of soil information sharing tools. Within the 5G system, an internet of things (IoT) can be established with low latency, enabling real time soil measurement and response. For instance, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing can be coupled with soil amendment delivery in precision agricultural practice ( Kota and Giambene, 2019 ; Morais et al., 2019 ). Big data applications with machine learning also provide predictive power, facilitating smart farming to save energy, water, and cost, while increasing crop yields ( Wolfert et al., 2017 ).

3.2. Farmer behavior

The sustainability of soil use and management is ultimately reliant on the real-world behavior by practitioners, most particularly farmers. Therefore, there is a growing interest to integrate social components and farmer behavior with the ecological component of soil management ( Amin et al., 2019 ). In modern society, with the fast-growing use of various types of information technology, farmer behavior can be influenced by different network-based approaches. For instance, a study in Europe found that farmers formed a learning network by sharing information and soil knowledge on the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter. This platform has a limited length for each message (280 characters for non-Asian languages), making it easy for time-constrained farmers to follow ( Mills et al., 2019 ). In the US, an integrated network-based approach enabled a quarter of respondents to adopt cover crops for weed control, and respondents also increased their follow-up usage from information shared on Twitter (22%), YouTube (23%), and web sites (21%) ( Wick et al., 2019 ).

Farmer behavior and farming practice is also directly affected by professional advisors. In Australia, farmers apply the recommendations of professional crop advisors to select suitable fertilizer dosages. However, attitudes concerning financial risk, soil heterogeneity, and local climate conditions can affect their perception and adoption of such advice ( Schwenke et al., 2019 ). In Europe, a knowledge gap regarding sustainable soil management was identified as a major issue among both farmers and soil advisors. As the current trend of privatization and decentralization of advisory services continues, there is an increasing need to educate those who provide advisory services, thus enabling effective empowerment of farmers ( Ingram and Mills, 2019 ). Governments ought also to provide workshops that encourage farmers to adopt greater soil testing, so that they can then make informed soil management decisions ( Lobry de Bruyn, 2019 ).

Lack of education and awareness creates an obstacle for sustainable soil use and management, especially in developing countries. For example, it was found that farmer perception strongly correlates to adoption rates for conservation agriculture (r = 0.81; p < 0.05) ( Mugandani and Mafongoya, 2019 ). It has been reported that concerns over soil type, weed control, and weather conditions were the main inhibiting factors when English farmers consider reduced tillage practice. The authors suggested that enhanced adoption of sustainable soil management practice will require improved communication between the soil research community and farmers ( Alskaf et al., 2020 ).

3.3. Stakeholders

The creation, dissemination and usage of soil sustainability knowledge involves a wide range of stakeholders, such as scientists, farmers, land managers, advisory services, commercial product suppliers, regulators, funding agencies, educators, students, as well as the general public ( Knox et al., 2019 ; Tulau et al., 2019 ). Different stakeholders will have different concerns. Farmers and crop advisors are primarily concerned about local soil knowledge, while regulators and scientists are more concerned about policy, scientific solutions and the wider environment ( Bampa et al., 2019 ). There is also a dynamic interaction and potential gap between awareness and perception, i.e., what can be done and what is worth doing ( Krzywoszynska, 2019 ). Based on an analysis in England, Krzywoszynska (2019) argued that interactions between soil researchers and end users are multifaceted and that these actors must work together on both knowledge generation and knowledge sharing to enhance sustainable behavior.

Scientists and governments are pivotal stakeholders in promoting sustainable soil use and management practices. Their action can enhance the robustness of scientific knowledge creation and broaden its applicability by incorporating evidence into policy instruments. In Scotland, soil risk maps are created by scientists, policy makers and industrial representatives working in close collaboration ( Baggaley et al., 2020 ). Similarly, in Australia, soil constraints maps have been produced for site-specific management ( van Gool, 2016 ). Such tools can help mitigate constraints to achieving climate-driven genetic yield potential of agricultural crops. Models that incorporate learnings from stakeholder engagement can also render strong predictive power ( Inam et al., 2017 ). Traditionally, the main channel of soil knowledge generation has been government funded. However, there has been a general decreasing trend in the provision of government funds for soil data collection in many developed countries, while privately funded collection of soil information has increased dramatically ( Robinson et al., 2019 ). Under this situation, it is even more important to bring in additional stakeholders to create and share soil knowledge. The Soil Knowledge Network (SKN) in Australia demonstrated that ex-governmental soil scientists can exert long-lasting positive impacts by coaching new generations of early career soil scientists ( McInnes-Clarke et al., 2019 ).

4. Soil and climate science

4.1. soil organic carbon.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) has been recognized as a critical indicator of soil health, because it reflects the level of soil functionality associated with soil structure, hydraulic properties, and microbial activity, thereby integrating physical, chemical and biological health of soil ( Vogel et al., 2018 ). Recently, increasing attention has been placed on SOC beyond the traditional sphere of soil science. This is because it is a key component of Earth's carbon cycle, thus having huge implications for the current climate crisis ( Kell, 2012 ) and SDG13: Climate action. Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon pool, holding an estimated 1500–2400 GtC and permafrost (i.e. frozen soil) storing 1700 GtC ( Le Quere et al., 2018 ). A global initiative known as ‘4 per 1000’, which aims to increase soil organic carbon by 0.4% per year, would result in an additional carbon storage of 1.2 GtC per year if successful ( Paustian et al., 2016 ; Rumpel et al., 2018 ). In Australia, surface soils provide a significant reservoir of carbon, holding ~19 billion metric tons. However, most of these soils (~75%) contain <1% SOC, suggesting huge additional capacity for carbon sequestration. An annual 0.8% increase in carbon storage across all Australian surface soils would fully offset the nation's GHG emissions ( Baldock et al., 2010 )

Soil properties and vegetation are affected by the climatic condition ( Bond-Lamberty et al., 2018 ). For example, global warming may accelerate soil erosion due to its impact on microorganisms and plant and animal species ( Garcia-Pichel et al., 2013 ). Moreover, different soil types and land use systems are unevenly sensitive to temperature changes. Soil carbon that is normally recalcitrant in semi-arid regions is vulnerable to rising temperature ( Maia et al., 2019 ). Therefore, soil management practice in these areas may have a tremendous effect on carbon cycling.

Organic fertilizer applications can improve soil functionality and significantly increase SOC levels. Thus, applying organic amendments, including biosolids and composts, to agricultural land can increase carbon storage and contribute significantly to offsetting GHG emissions. Studies have shown that manure can potentially increase crop yields and soil organic contents in comparison with mineral fertilizers ( Jing et al., 2019 ). A 37-year field study showed that organic fertilization increased soil carbon input by 25% to 80%, although levels of carbon retention ranged from only 1.6% for green manure to 13.7% for fresh cattle manure ( Maltas et al., 2018 ). Similarly, Bolan et al. (2013) demonstrated that biosolid applications likely result in higher levels of carbon sequestration compared to other management strategies including fertilizer application and conservation tillage. This was attributed to an increased microbial biomass, and Fe and Al oxide-induced immobilization of carbon ( Bolan et al., 2013 ). In comparison with open-air systems, the use of organic fertilizers for indoor greenhouse soils may have a greater positive influence on soil functionality due to its effect on porosity and pore connectivity ( Xu et al., 2019 ). It should be noted that organic fertilizers may not increase crops yields to the levels achievable with inorganic fertilizers. This issue can be overcome by supplementing organic fertilizers with inorganic ones ( Maltas et al., 2018 ).

A variety of conservation farming practices can increase SOC levels, while also increasing crop productivity and decreasing water demand ( Kumar et al., 2019 ; Mehra et al., 2018 ). Crop residue return to surface soils can have a positive effect on soil carbon sequestration ( Chowdhury et al., 2015 ; Li et al., 2019b ). For example, chopping and returning wheat straw and corn stover can increase SOC levels by 14.5% in a double-cropping system ( Zhao et al., 2019 ). Reduced tillage and non-tillage practices can also increase soil SOC levels ( Chatskikh et al., 2008 ; Lafond et al., 2011 ). For example, a 22-year study showed that with no tillage, mulch treatment had a significantly positive effect on carbon retention ( Kahlon et al., 2013 ). Integrated methods have the potential to achieve even more significant increases in SOC levels. For example, SOC data collected over 35 years in a semi-arid region of China showed that carbon levels were enhanced (by 453% to 757%) using a combination of best practice cultivation, mulching, and planting methods ( Guoju et al., 2020 ). Different land uses also affect SOC, not only in terms of concentration, but also the fractions of SOC that are vulnerable to mineralization ( Ramesh et al., 2019 ). For example, labile and humified SOC fractions have been reported to be more prone to mineralization in arable lands than in grasslands ( Ukalska-Jaruga et al., 2019 ).

Accurate quantification of SOC remains a challenge because of high spatial heterogeneity in soils. For instance, features such as hedgerows and fences can influence SOC due to their impact on soil moisture and bulk density ( Ford et al., 2019 ). Soil compaction by agricultural machinery reduces macropores and creates water ponding ( Mossadeghi-Björklund et al., 2019 ), which can affect SOC. There are also discrepancies between SOC estimates using regional versus local parameters, particularly for in woodland soils containing large amounts of decaying organic matter (e.g., Histosols) and low-input high-diversity ecosystems ( Ottoy et al., 2019 ).

4.2. Biochar as a mitigation

Biochar is a carbon rich product that is produced by the burning of biomass with a limited supply of oxygen (i.e., pyrolysis) ( Lehmann and Joseph, 2009 ; Wang et al., 2020c ). It typically possess a stable fixed carbon structure with high porosity, a high specific surface area and a high alkalinity. These characteristics enable biochar to enhance soil moisture content, sorb polluting substances and increase soil pH ( Andrés et al., 2019 ). Moreover, biochar is considered carbon negative because the carbon within its structure, which is captured from the atmosphere during biomass formation, is more recalcitrant in the natural environment than carbon in biomass that has not been pyrolized. Because of its carbon negativity and beneficial properties for soil management, biochar has been proposed as a possible technology to help mitigate climate change ( Woolf et al., 2010 ). Numerous studies have explored the usage of biochar in croplands ( Laird et al., 2010b ), while recent studies have also examined its application in other systems, such as alpine grassland ( Rafiq et al., 2019 ).

At the current carbon price, applying biochar to soil is not commercially viable unless there is an additional benefit to farmers. Therefore, researchers have conducted extensive research on the benefits biochar for agricultural and environmental purposes. One of the most researched areas is the use of biochar to increase crop yields. A recent meta-analysis found that in comparison with inorganic fertilizer alone, biochar can increase crop yields by 11% to 19% (95% confidence intervals) ( Ye et al., 2020 ). Biochar has also been put forward as a sustainable technique for remediating soils degraded by contaminants, especially heavy metals ( Hou, 2020 ; O'Connor et al., 2018c ; Song et al., 2019 ). The sustainability of biochar is increased if the biomass feedstock is a biological waste that would otherwise be burned or discarded at landfill, thus avoiding air pollution or the consumption of landfill space. However, while a myriad of studies have shown biochar applications have positive effects on soil, it should be noted that such effects may diminish after 3– 5 years ( Dong et al., 2019 ). Biochar effectiveness and longevity may be enhanced by the invention of engineered biochars ( O'Connor et al., 2018b ).

4.3. Soil greenhouse gases

Soils act as significant sources of various greenhouse gases (GHGs), including CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O. Reducing the emission of such GHGs is one of the greatest challenges for sustainable farming ( de Araújo Santos et al., 2019 ) and the achievement of SDG13: Climate action. Soil CO 2 emissions are affected by agricultural practice (e.g. tillage and fertilizer application), as well as the soil properties (e.g. soil texture). For sandy soils, greater macroporosity tends to be associated with higher CO 2 emissions, while microporosity is associated with lower emissions, which likely related to their respective tortuosity levels ( Farhate et al., 2019 ; Tavares et al., 2015 ). The use of lime to treat low pH soils may also relate to CO 2 emissions. Therefore, sustainable management of low pH grasslands may involve the use of low liming dosage rates, which provide almost the same result as higher rates ( Bolan et al., 2003 ; Kunhikrishnan et al., 2016 ; Lochon et al., 2019 ). A study in Denmark showed that reduced tillage practice can decrease net GHG emissions by 0.56 Mg CO 2 -eq. ha −1 per year; moreover, the use of disc coulters that minimally disturb soil can reduce net GHG emissions by 1.84 Mg CO 2 -eq. ha −1 per year ( Chatskikh et al., 2008 ).

Atmospheric N 2 O accounts for ~6% of radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic activity, which largely stems from soil systems ( Davidson, 2009 ). Therefore, emission of N 2 O from agricultural soil is particularly concerning. Davidson (2009) estimated that 2% of nitrogen in manures and 2.5% of nitrogen in fertilizers used by farmers over the period of 1860–2005 was converted to atmospheric N 2 O. In China, emissions derived from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers account for ~7% of the nation's annual GHG budget. By implementing new technology and best management practices that minimize nitrogen use in soil management, it is feasible to reduce GHG emissions by 102–357 Tg CO 2 -equivalent in China alone ( Zhang et al., 2013 ). Soil amendment with more sustainable alternatives to synthetic nitrogen (e.g., biochar) may help reduce N 2 O emissions from soil ( Senbayram et al., 2019 ).

Methane emissions from soil represent another major factor for climate change. An early study found that the application of rice straw to paddy fields increased CH 4 emissions by a factor of 1.8 to 3.5 ( Yagi and Minami, 1990 ). Recently, methane emissions from permafrost (permanently frozen soil) has drawn attention from the climate science community, owing to its critical role in carbon cycling ( Schuur et al., 2015 ). As climate change occurs, rising temperature in the polar regions causes permafrost to thaw and microbial activity to increase ( Hollesen et al., 2015 ). This leads to increased methane and CO 2 emissions from organic-rich Arctic soils ( Schuur et al., 2013 ). As these gases are associated with increased global warming potential, their emission increases the levels of permafrost thaw, thus forming a positive feedback loop. It is imperative to understand these processes in a quantitative way. As the climate change crisis worsens, it may be necessary to take mitigating measures involving soil management in areas associated with high methane fluxes.

5. Soil biodiversity and ecology

5.1. soil biodiversity.

Sustainable soil management practice can improve or conserve soil biodiversity, which represent a significant proportion of Earth's total biodiversity ( Bahram et al., 2018 ) and is pertinent to the achievement of the United Nations' SDGs (e.g., SDG15: Life on land). Among other factors, soil microbial communities are affected by the availability of nutrients corresponding to the type of soil management practice ( Bolan et al., 1996 ; Lauber et al., 2009 ; Leff et al., 2015 ). For example, the use of soluble fertilizers (e.g., monocalcium phosphate), less soluble organic fertilizer (e.g., sugarcane filter cake) or nearly insoluble rock phosphate ( Arruda et al., 2019 ) have different impacts on soil microbial communities. Soil management practices also affect soil hydraulics, which affects plant and microbial biodiversity and ecosystem resilience ( Alley et al., 2002 ; Anderegg et al., 2018 ). A study in India reported that integrating crop residue return with green manure application and no-tillage in a rice-wheat double cropping system increased SOC levels by 13%, the microbial biomass by 38%, the basal soil respiration rate by 33%, and the microbial quotient by 30% ( Saikia et al., 2020 ). Certain soil amendments are associated with increased soil biodiversity. For example, biochar amendment of a Mediterranean vineyard soil decreased the mineralization of both SOC and microbial biomass, while the functional microbial diversity and biodiversity of soil micro-arthropods were maintained ( Andrés et al., 2019 ). Soil properties and biodiversity are also affected by plant root systems within the rhizosphere ( Dey et al., 2012 ).

Larger species in soil are also an important aspect of soil biodiversity as well as being influential on soil properties ( Bardgett and van der Putten, 2014 ; Wu et al., 2011 ). Earthworms (Oligochaeta) are a particularly important soil species due to their creation of soil macro-pores (>0.3 mm) and channels (burrows) that increase water and gas infiltration rates ( Bartz et al., 2013 ; Bhadauria and Saxena, 2010 ). Thus earthworm activity can render soil environments that are more amenable to microbial activity and diversity ( Eriksen-Hamel et al., 2009 ). Conservation tillage practices that involve crop residue return to surface soils can increase earthworm numbers by hundreds of thousands per hectare ( Barthod et al., 2018 ; Giannitsopoulos et al., 2020 )

5.2. Ecosystem services

Soils provide vital ecosystem services, rendering both economic and societal benefits ( Adhikari and Hartemink, 2016 ; Dominati et al., 2010 ; Pavan and Ometto, 2018 ; Su et al., 2018 ). Monetary valuation methods have been put forward to account for the natural capital of this resource ( Robinson et al., 2014 ). In this way, a national-scale study in the UK suggested that an additional £18 billion GBP of ecosystem services could be achieved under an optimal policy scenario. This value takes into account major ecosystem services, such as agricultural production, carbon sequestration, recreational usage, and wildlife diversity ( Bateman et al., 2013 ). However, some scholars have argued that systematic monetarization is unnecessary. For example, Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods can provide decision makers with semi-quantitative information that takes into account the multifunctionality of soil ecosystem services ( Baveye et al., 2016 ).

Living organisms in soil have a direct impact on agricultural productivity and ecosystem services. For instance, the microbial community is essential for the natural decontamination of polluted soils. Therefore, monitoring biological indicators is necessary for managing soil ecosystems effectively. Some of the most important soil biota indicators include microsymbionts, decomposers, elemental transformers, soil ecosystem engineers, soil-borne pests and diseases, and microregulators ( Barrios, 2007 ). Soil invertebrates also play a significant role in soil ecosystem services ( Lavelle et al., 2006 ).

In Europe, a large number of monitoring programs and field studies have been conducted since the 1990s, to gain data for optimizing ecosystem services ( Pulleman et al., 2012 ). The data shows that spatial heterogeneity within soil systems translates into the uneven distribution of ecosystem services ( Aitkenhead and Coull, 2019 ). Governments may intervene to restore or improve ecological services in limited soil systems. In China, for example, the government has made subsidies available to farmers to protect natural woodlands and convert steep agricultural cropland into other land uses, such as grassland or woodland ( Liu et al., 2008 ). If farmland is degraded to an extent that it is abandoned, soil treatments may help bring about natural revegetation and the recovery of ecosystem services ( Li et al., 2019a ). For example, the recovery of severely degraded land can be facilitated by the use of soil amendments such as biochar ( O'Connor et al., 2018c ).

6. Soil and environmental science

6.1. soil pollution.

Contaminants are an issue for many agricultural sites ( Bolan et al., 2014 ; Khan, 2016 ; O'Connor et al., 2019b ; Wilcke, 2000 ), which hinders efforts toward the achievement of the United Nations' SDGs (e.g., SDG3: Good health and well-being). Soil contaminants include heavy metals, such as cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn), and organic pollutants, such as pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). As an emerging contaminant, microplastics in the soil environment have also drawn attention in recent years ( Bradney et al., 2019 ; Jia et al., 2020 ; O'Connor et al., 2020 ; Wang et al., 2020a ). Assessment of their fate and transport is critical for understanding the environmental risk ( Corradini et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2019a ).

A global map of soil pollution is urgently needed to understand better the situation globally, but few countries are investing in national-scale investigations ( Hou and Ok, 2019 ). Elevated levels of soil pollutants can result from a wide variety of anthropogenic activities, ranging from metal mining to fossil fuel burning ( Zhang et al., 2020b ). The spatial redistribution of these pollutants involves inter-phase transfer such as dissolution from soil to water, volatilization from soil to air, and deposition from air to soil ( O'Connor et al., 2019a ; Zhang et al., 2019 ). Anthropogenic soil pollution in under-developed regions where industrial activities are less intensive can also occur due to traffic and mining related emissions, etc. For instance, a recent study in a suburban area of Central Asia showed that Pb, Zn, and Cu can accumulate to high levels in soils because of road traffic up to 200 m away ( Ma et al., 2019 ).

The remediation of contaminated soil is an important research field interlinking soil science and environmental science. Traditionally, remediation practitioners focused on either physical cleanup methods, such as soil excavation and disposal at landfill ( Qi et al., 2020 ), or chemical treatment methods, such as in situ chemical oxidation ( O'Connor et al., 2018a ). In recent years, nature-based solutions, such as phytoremediation and green stabilization, have gained attention among the scientific research community ( Wang et al., 2019b ; Wang et al., 2020b ; Zhang et al., 2020a ). For example, microbial strains from unique natural environments are being harvested, cultured, and exploited to render economic and environmentally friendly solutions for soil decontamination ( Atashgahi et al., 2018 ; Bunge et al., 2003 ).

6.2. Soil erosion

Soil erosion, a major land degradation process, is caused by the weathering effects of water and wind ( Lal, 2003 ). For land covered by native vegetation, natural erosion rates will tend to balance with soil production rates. However, typical agricultural tillage practice can disrupt this balance, causing levels of soil erosion to be one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of soil formation ( Montgomery, 2007b ). Soil systems that experience net soil erosion can suffer the loss of fertile surface soils, removal of soil organic carbon, and reduced agricultural productivity, thus rendering a high environmental and economic cost globally ( Montgomery, 2007a ; Pimentel et al., 1995 ). Because heavy metals tend to bind strongly to eroded soil particles, the widespread distribution of soil pollutants is also often associated with soil erosion ( Xiao et al., 2019 ).

Soil erosion not only causes damage to the land where it occurs, but also jeopardizes local aquatic systems due to excessive sediment loading ( Boardman et al., 2019 ). Soil erosion models have been developed to predict impacts of water quality on a catchment-scale ( Fu et al., 2019 ). It can also cause damage to nearby housing due to increased surface runoff and landslides. Because of such impacts, many governments are taking largescale mitigating action, such as revegetation with native species and woodland restoration ( Teng et al., 2019 ).

6.3. Soil leaching

During heavy rainfall, irrigation, or recharge events, large volumes of water may come into contact with various substances as soil pore spaces fill ( O'Connor and Hou, 2019 ). In this process, there are complex interactions between gaseous, liquid, and solid phases for soil nutrients, potentially toxic elements, and organic pollutants. If soil nutrients or contaminants are leached from surface soils, they can transport into the subsurface via the vertical migration of infiltration water. This can lead to large scale groundwater pollution involving substances such as ammonia ( Jia et al., 2019 ). Leached nutrients in surface runoff may also enter nearby surface water bodies, causing eutrophication ( Maguire and Sims, 2002 ). Soil leaching may be particularly prominent in the autumn-winter season due to reduced plant activity ( Welten et al., 2019 ).

Soil leaching potential is exacerbated by common physical farming practices, including the installation of deep drainage ( Nachimuthu et al., 2019 ). The potential for soil leaching is also affected by soil management practices that alter the chemical composition of soil. For instance, liming is a common farming method to increase soil pH and reduce flocculation. However, recent studies have suggested that soil particle surfaces become more negatively charged as soil pH increases. Therefore, liming activity may lead to soil-bound harmful substances, such as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), leaching from soil and entering groundwater systems ( Oliver et al., 2019 ). In New Zealand, intensified agricultural production on steep landscapes, which is encouraged by the government's policy to significantly increase agricultural exports, has involved the replacement of perennial pastures with winter forage crops. This has increased the use agrochemicals, including glyphosate and diazinon, which not only pose an environmental risk in themselves, but also facilitate the leaching of organic carbon and nitrogen ( Chibuike et al., 2019 ). The reporting of such unintended consequences reinforces the importance of comprehensive assessments for sustainable soil use and management. It should be noted that certain soil amendments, such as biochar, have been shown to reduce soil nutrient leaching potential ( Laird et al., 2010a ).

Soil leaching can increase the spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients, which makes soil management more difficult. For instance, intensively farmed cropland tends to be subject to high nitrogen input levels. However, plant-animal-soil systems are not efficient in utilizing large amounts of nitrogen, with only 15–35% being embedded in agricultural products. A large percentage of the surplus nitrogen is returned to localized spots via animal urinary excretions, resulting in elevated nitrogen hotspots.

7. Summary, challenges and future directions

The international community's commitment to achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) hinge on soil health. However, neither the scientific community nor policy makers have paid sufficient attention to soil in their SDG efforts. Soil scientists have not been adequately involved in the discussion on SDG targets and indicators ( Bouma et al., 2019 ). Consequently, while there are four SDG targets that specifically mention soil, and others that indirectly relate to soil, only one explicit soil indicator has been established ( Bouma et al., 2019 ). The lack of involvement by soil scientists may be due to their strong focus on pure soil science, rather than conducting cross-disciplinary and elaborate discussions on big picture soil related issues with other stakeholders. To help provide effective SDG solutions, it is imperative to encourage interdisciplinary soil research among soil scientists and researchers in fields relating to social science, climate science, ecology, and environmental science. When national and local governments form policies according to the United Nations SDGs, soil scientists need to be encouraged to play a more active role, and their advice needs to be sought by decision makers. For instance, by nominating soil scientists to key steering committees.

A big challenge for sustainable soil use and management is the inherent spatial heterogeneity of soil properties, from the micro to the global scale. This makes it difficult to predict non-linear relationships among various soil processes and system behaviors ( Manzoni and Porporato, 2009 ). For example, regional estimates of soil organic carbon stocks have differed by as much as 60% on different scales due to this heterogeneity ( Illiger et al., 2019 ). There is little known about the vertical distribution of organic carbon in the subsurface ( Balesdent et al., 2018 ). As large amounts of carbon are stored in deep soils ( Yu et al., 2019 ), it is essential to understand the status, as well as the mechanisms, of soil carbon cycling across the full extent of the lithosphere.

Spatial heterogeneity also exists in socioeconomic systems. Consider for example the size of typical farm holdings among different countries. In rural China, most farms are smallholdings of <0.5 ha. In Hungary, most farms are also relatively small, with 79% being <2 ha. In contrast, Danish farms tend to quite large, with 55% being larger than 20 ha ( Ingram and Mills, 2019 ). Such differences create challenges for knowledge transfer between countries. For instance, farm size may act as a barrier to the adoption of sustainable farming technology because of financial or technical constraints ( Alskaf et al., 2020 ).

It is important to describe long-term temporal trends in soil system behavior because many prominent issues, such as the climate crisis, require perceptive solutions based on long-term evidence. However, many existing studies, especially studies on emerging issues, are based on short-term findings. For instance, a recent pasture-system study suggested that various species could be planted to control nitrogen leaching associated with cow urine ( Welten et al., 2019 ). This promising finding, however, was based on less than one year of data. Longer-term studies are necessary to verify the effectiveness of such strategies. Greater efforts should be paid on the research and development of accelerated aging techniques ( Shen et al., 2019 )

Progress in sustainable soil use and management relies upon the development of suitable and holistic indicators for soil health that reflect the diverse processes involved, in a concise, quantifiable, reliable and meaningful way. To achieve this goal, soil health needs to be evaluated under site-specific conditions that account for the different processes of different geological, climatic, and societal conditions ( Vogel et al., 2018 ). This would be particularly valuable for aiding farmers with decision making and translating soil science into practical sustainable soil use and management practice. Moreover, to support policy making processes, it is necessary to map soil properties on a regional scale, or even on national and global scales. High resolution mapping and clustering of soil properties would enable targeted recommendations for sustainable soil management ( Donoghue et al., 2019 ). It should also be noted that while many existing soil sustainability studies have focused on the impacts of socioeconomic activities (i.e. soil management) on soil systems (i.e. soil health), studies regarding the impacts of soil systems on socioeconomic systems are less common ( Vogel et al., 2018 ).

Information management and knowledge sharing are critical for building collaborative governance and delivering sustainable solutions ( Bodin, 2017 ). In this new era of information, massive amounts of valuable information (and misinformation) are produced. This poses a challenge to both the knowledge creators, who struggle to make it visible in an ocean of information, and the knowledge users, who struggle to distinguish whether information is valuable or not. Emerging and advanced technologies, such as 5G, big data and machine learning present great opportunities for addressing these challenges. Interdisciplinary studies initiated by, or in collaboration with, communication engineers and computer scientists hold much potential in advancing our capability in sustainable use and management of soil resources.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1801300).

Editor: Jay Gan

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1: Introduction to Soil Science and Soil Formation

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• Page ID 14426

• Anna R. Schwyter & Karen L. Vaughan
• University of Wyoming via UW Open Education Resources (OER)

Learning Objectives

• To recognize the variety of sub-disciplines that exist within soil science
• To define “soil”
• To understand the primary soil forming factors and processes
• To learn the concepts and methods used for identifying and describing soils (color, structure, texture)

GOAL : To better understand the concepts of soil formation and applications of methods for describing and identifying soils

• 1.1: Introduction
• 1.2: Activity 1 - Soil Formation
• 1.3: Activity 2 - Soil Horizons
• 1.4: Activity 3 - Soil Color
• 1.5: Activity 4 - Soil Texture
• 1.6: Activity 5 - Soil Structure

Additional resources :

• Video link: Soils Sustains Life: https://youtu.be/vDL6F6GkAzI (length: 2:54)
• Video link: The Science of Soil: Why Study Soil? https://youtu.be/og3TUc9xQaE (length: 4:19)

Research Topics & Ideas: Environment

100+ Environmental Science Research Topics & Ideas

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. Here, we’ll explore a variety research ideas and topic thought-starters related to various environmental science disciplines, including ecology, oceanography, hydrology, geology, soil science, environmental chemistry, environmental economics, and environmental ethics.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the environmental sciences. This is the starting point though. To develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. Also be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to develop a high-quality research topic from scratch.

Overview: Environmental Topics

• Ecology /ecological science
• Atmospheric science
• Oceanography
• Soil science
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental economics
• Environmental ethics
• Examples  of dissertations and theses

Topics & Ideas: Ecological Science

• The impact of land-use change on species diversity and ecosystem functioning in agricultural landscapes
• The role of disturbances such as fire and drought in shaping arid ecosystems
• The impact of climate change on the distribution of migratory marine species
• Investigating the role of mutualistic plant-insect relationships in maintaining ecosystem stability
• The effects of invasive plant species on ecosystem structure and function
• The impact of habitat fragmentation caused by road construction on species diversity and population dynamics in the tropics
• The role of ecosystem services in urban areas and their economic value to a developing nation
• The effectiveness of different grassland restoration techniques in degraded ecosystems
• The impact of land-use change through agriculture and urbanisation on soil microbial communities in a temperate environment
• The role of microbial diversity in ecosystem health and nutrient cycling in an African savannah

Topics & Ideas: Atmospheric Science

• The impact of climate change on atmospheric circulation patterns above tropical rainforests
• The role of atmospheric aerosols in cloud formation and precipitation above cities with high pollution levels
• The impact of agricultural land-use change on global atmospheric composition
• Investigating the role of atmospheric convection in severe weather events in the tropics
• The impact of urbanisation on regional and global atmospheric ozone levels
• The impact of sea surface temperature on atmospheric circulation and tropical cyclones
• The impact of solar flares on the Earth’s atmospheric composition
• The impact of climate change on atmospheric turbulence and air transportation safety
• The impact of stratospheric ozone depletion on atmospheric circulation and climate change
• The role of atmospheric rivers in global water supply and sea-ice formation

Topics & Ideas: Oceanography

• The impact of ocean acidification on kelp forests and biogeochemical cycles
• The role of ocean currents in distributing heat and regulating desert rain
• The impact of carbon monoxide pollution on ocean chemistry and biogeochemical cycles
• Investigating the role of ocean mixing in regulating coastal climates
• The impact of sea level rise on the resource availability of low-income coastal communities
• The impact of ocean warming on the distribution and migration patterns of marine mammals
• The impact of ocean deoxygenation on biogeochemical cycles in the arctic
• The role of ocean-atmosphere interactions in regulating rainfall in arid regions
• The impact of ocean eddies on global ocean circulation and plankton distribution
• The role of ocean-ice interactions in regulating the Earth’s climate and sea level

Tops & Ideas: Hydrology

• The impact of agricultural land-use change on water resources and hydrologic cycles in temperate regions
• The impact of agricultural groundwater availability on irrigation practices in the global south
• The impact of rising sea-surface temperatures on global precipitation patterns and water availability
• Investigating the role of wetlands in regulating water resources for riparian forests
• The impact of tropical ranches on river and stream ecosystems and water quality
• The impact of urbanisation on regional and local hydrologic cycles and water resources for agriculture
• The role of snow cover and mountain hydrology in regulating regional agricultural water resources
• The impact of drought on food security in arid and semi-arid regions
• The role of groundwater recharge in sustaining water resources in arid and semi-arid environments
• The impact of sea level rise on coastal hydrology and the quality of water resources

Topics & Ideas: Geology

• The impact of tectonic activity on the East African rift valley
• The role of mineral deposits in shaping ancient human societies
• The impact of sea-level rise on coastal geomorphology and shoreline evolution
• Investigating the role of erosion in shaping the landscape and impacting desertification
• The impact of mining on soil stability and landslide potential
• The impact of volcanic activity on incoming solar radiation and climate
• The role of geothermal energy in decarbonising the energy mix of megacities
• The impact of Earth’s magnetic field on geological processes and solar wind
• The impact of plate tectonics on the evolution of mammals
• The role of the distribution of mineral resources in shaping human societies and economies, with emphasis on sustainability

Topics & Ideas: Soil Science

• The impact of dam building on soil quality and fertility
• The role of soil organic matter in regulating nutrient cycles in agricultural land
• The impact of climate change on soil erosion and soil organic carbon storage in peatlands
• Investigating the role of above-below-ground interactions in nutrient cycling and soil health
• The impact of deforestation on soil degradation and soil fertility
• The role of soil texture and structure in regulating water and nutrient availability in boreal forests
• The impact of sustainable land management practices on soil health and soil organic matter
• The impact of wetland modification on soil structure and function
• The role of soil-atmosphere exchange and carbon sequestration in regulating regional and global climate
• The impact of salinization on soil health and crop productivity in coastal communities

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Chemistry

• The impact of cobalt mining on water quality and the fate of contaminants in the environment
• The role of atmospheric chemistry in shaping air quality and climate change
• The impact of soil chemistry on nutrient availability and plant growth in wheat monoculture
• Investigating the fate and transport of heavy metal contaminants in the environment
• The impact of climate change on biochemical cycling in tropical rainforests
• The impact of various types of land-use change on biochemical cycling
• The role of soil microbes in mediating contaminant degradation in the environment
• The impact of chemical and oil spills on freshwater and soil chemistry
• The role of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in shaping water and soil chemistry
• The impact of over-irrigation on the cycling and fate of persistent organic pollutants in the environment

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Economics

• The impact of climate change on the economies of developing nations
• The role of market-based mechanisms in promoting sustainable use of forest resources
• The impact of environmental regulations on economic growth and competitiveness
• Investigating the economic benefits and costs of ecosystem services for African countries
• The impact of renewable energy policies on regional and global energy markets
• The role of water markets in promoting sustainable water use in southern Africa
• The impact of land-use change in rural areas on regional and global economies
• The impact of environmental disasters on local and national economies
• The role of green technologies and innovation in shaping the zero-carbon transition and the knock-on effects for local economies
• The impact of environmental and natural resource policies on income distribution and poverty of rural communities

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Ethics

• The ethical foundations of environmentalism and the environmental movement regarding renewable energy
• The role of values and ethics in shaping environmental policy and decision-making in the mining industry
• The impact of cultural and religious beliefs on environmental attitudes and behaviours in first world countries
• Investigating the ethics of biodiversity conservation and the protection of endangered species in palm oil plantations
• The ethical implications of sea-level rise for future generations and vulnerable coastal populations
• The role of ethical considerations in shaping sustainable use of natural forest resources
• The impact of environmental justice on marginalized communities and environmental policies in Asia
• The ethical implications of environmental risks and decision-making under uncertainty
• The role of ethics in shaping the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable future for the construction industry
• The impact of environmental values on consumer behaviour and the marketplace: a case study of the ‘bring your own shopping bag’ policy

Examples: Real Dissertation & Thesis Topics

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various environmental science-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• The physiology of microorganisms in enhanced biological phosphorous removal (Saunders, 2014)
• The influence of the coastal front on heavy rainfall events along the east coast (Henson, 2019)
• Forage production and diversification for climate-smart tropical and temperate silvopastures (Dibala, 2019)
• Advancing spectral induced polarization for near surface geophysical characterization (Wang, 2021)
• Assessment of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter and Thamnocephalus platyurus as Tools to Monitor Cyanobacterial Bloom Development and Toxicity (Hipsher, 2019)
• Evaluating the Removal of Microcystin Variants with Powdered Activated Carbon (Juang, 2020)
• The effect of hydrological restoration on nutrient concentrations, macroinvertebrate communities, and amphibian populations in Lake Erie coastal wetlands (Berg, 2019)
• Utilizing hydrologic soil grouping to estimate corn nitrogen rate recommendations (Bean, 2019)
• Fungal Function in House Dust and Dust from the International Space Station (Bope, 2021)
• Assessing Vulnerability and the Potential for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Sudan’s Blue Nile Basin (Mohamed, 2022)
• A Microbial Water Quality Analysis of the Recreational Zones in the Los Angeles River of Elysian Valley, CA (Nguyen, 2019)
• Dry Season Water Quality Study on Three Recreational Sites in the San Gabriel Mountains (Vallejo, 2019)
• Wastewater Treatment Plan for Unix Packaging Adjustment of the Potential Hydrogen (PH) Evaluation of Enzymatic Activity After the Addition of Cycle Disgestase Enzyme (Miessi, 2020)
• Laying the Genetic Foundation for the Conservation of Longhorn Fairy Shrimp (Kyle, 2021).

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. To create a top-notch research topic, you will need to be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you’ll need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Need more help?

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your environmental science dissertation or research project, be sure to check out our private coaching services below, as well as our Research Topic Kickstarter .

Need a helping hand?

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A Term Paper on Soil Biodiversity

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Soils are the fundament of terrestrial ecosystems. Across the globe we find different soil types with different properties resulting from the interacting soil forming factors: parent material, climate, topography, organisms and time. Here we present the role of soils in habitat formation and maintenance in natural systems, and reflect on how humans have modified soils from local to global scale. Soils host a tremendous diversity of life forms, most of them microscopic in size. We do not yet know all the functionalities of this diversity at the level of individual taxa or through their interactions. However, we do know that the interactions and feedbacks between soil life, plants and soil chemistry and physics are essential for soil and habitat formation, maintenance and restoration. Moreover, the couplings between soils and major cycles of carbon, nutrients and water are essential for supporting the production of food, feed and fibre, drinking water and greenhouse gas balances. Soil...

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Soil Basics

What is soil?

In short, soil is a mixture of minerals, dead and living organisms (organic materials), air, and water. These four ingredients react with one another in amazing ways, making soil one of our planet’s most dynamic and important natural resources.

Soil is used by people in numerous ways. Because of this, it has many definitions. An engineer may view soils as a material upon which infrastructure is built, while a diplomat may refer to “soil” as a nation’s territory. From a soil scientist’s perspective, soil is:

The surface mineral and/or organic layer of the earth that has experienced some degree of physical, biological and chemical weathering.

Soils are limited natural resources. They are considered renewable because they are constantly forming. Though this is true, their formation occurs at extremely slow rates. In fact, one inch of topsoil can take several hundred years or more to develop. Soil formation rates vary across the planet: the slowest rates occur in cold, dry regions (1000+ years), and the fastest rates are in hot, wet regions (several hundred years).  Read more about how long it takes for soil to form.

How do soils form?

Soil Profiles - Dig down deep into any soil, and you’ll see that it is made of layers, or horizons. Put the horizons together, and they form a soil profile. Like a biography, each profile tells a story about the life of a soil.

Soil Changes with Age - As a soil ages, it gradually starts to look different from its parent material. That’s because soil is dynamic. Its components—minerals, water, air, organic matter, and organisms—constantly change. Some components are added. Some are lost. Some move from place to place within the soil. And some components are transformed into others.

CLORPT - Soils differ from one part of the world to another, and even from one part of a backyard to another. They differ because of where and how they formed. Over time, five major factors control how a soil forms. They are climate, organisms, relief (landscape), parent material, and time--or CLORPT, for short. Read more about CLORPT. 

What are the soil types?

To identify, understand, and manage soils, soil scientists have developed a soil classification or taxonomy system. Like the classification systems for plants and animals, the soil classification system contains several levels of detail, from the most general to the most specific. The most general level of classification in the United States system is the soil order ,  of which there are 12.

Each order is based on one or two dominant physical, chemical, or biological properties that differentiate it clearly from the other orders. Perhaps the easiest way to understand why certain properties were chosen over others is to consider how the soil (i.e., land) will be used. That is, the property that will most affect land use is given precedence over one that has a relatively small impact.

The 12 soil orders all end in "sol" which is derived from the Latin word "solum" meaning soil or ground. Most of the orders also have roots that tell you something about that particular soil. For example, "molisol" is from the Latin "mollis" meaning soft. Explore more about each soil order.

**Each state and territory in the United States has a representative soil, like a state flower or bird. Find your state soil ! 

What makes soil, soil?

Texture - The particles that make up soil are categorized into three groups by size:  sand, silt, and clay . Sand particles are the largest and clay particles the smallest. Although a soil could be all sand, all clay, or all silt, that's rare. Instead most soils are a combination of the three.

The relative percentages of sand, silt, and clay are what give soil its texture. A loamy texture soil, for example, has nearly equal parts of sand, silt, and clay.

Structure - Soil structure is the arrangement of soil particles into small clumps, called "peds". Much like the ingredients in cake batter bind together to form a cake, soil particles (sand, silt, clay, and organic matter) bind together to form peds. Peds have various shapes depending on their “ingredients” and the conditions under which the peds formed: getting wet and drying out, freezing and thawing--even people walking on or farming the soil affects the shapes of peds.

Ped shapes roughly resemble balls, blocks, columns, and plates. Between the peds are spaces, or pores, in which air, water, and organisms move. The sizes of the pores and their shapes vary from soil structure to soil structure.

A soil’s texture and structure tells us a lot about how a soil will behave. Granular soils with a loamy texture make the best farmland, for example, because they hold water and nutrients well. Single-grained soils with a sandy texture don’t make good farmland, because water drains out too fast. Platy soils, regardless of texture, cause water to pond on the soil surface.

Color - Color can tell us about the soil’s mineral content. Soils high in iron are deep orange-brown to yellowish-brown. Those with lots of organic material are dark brown or black; in fact, organic matter masks all other coloring agents.

Color can also tell us how a soil behaves. A soil that drains well is brightly colored. One that is often wet and soggy has an uneven (mottled) pattern of grays, reds, and yellows.

What do soils do?

Soils are amazing! Life as we know it would not exist without them, as they provide countless services that benefit all humans. Clean air and water, the clothes on our backs, habitat, and food for plants and animals are just a few things we can thank soils for. These 'goods and services' provided by soils are called ecosystem services . 

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How does soil life contribute to soil health.

What is healthy soil? Most of us can probably look at a freshly dug chunk of soil and intuitively make some assumptions about it. Cues such as a dark color, good earthy smell, crumbly structure, and living roots or organisms like earthworms are simple, informal assessments of a good and healthy soil (Figure 1). But how is healthy soil created? In this article, we explain how plants and soil organisms interact to compose and decompose organic matter, cycle nutrients, and build the structure of soils.

The importance of soils in providing plant nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) has long been recognized, but in terms of soil health, it is also critical to think about what feeds soil microorganisms. During photosynthesis, plants take up atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and water to produce glucose. In subsequent chemical reactions, plants synthesize organic molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats from glucose, N, P, K, and other nutrients. While this may seem like basic knowledge, it is important to remember that most other organisms in the soil ecosystem (and other ecosystems), whether microbes, earthworms, cattle, or humans, depend on these plant-derived organic molecules as their food source.

Soils contain thousands of species of organisms, and they all play a role in decomposing plant-made organic molecules. Roots and their exudates, decomposing plant materials, and living and dead organisms in the soil collectively form what we call soil organic matter. The carbon in soil organic matter gives it a rich, dark color. Soil organisms continuously break down organic matter, releasing some nutrients along with CO2 and using some for their own growth.

What specific roles do soil organisms have? Larger ones play roles as grazers and shredders, feeding on and breaking apart plant residues. Some dig and mix soil, or as in the case of earthworms, tunnel through the soil, leaving pores that allow for better air and water flow.

Fungi and bacteria feed on living plants, residues and root exudates, which contain sugars and amino acids and constantly leach out of living roots. Root exudates are a high-quality food for bacteria and fungi, and plants are thought to excrete them to attract microbes, possibly to benefit from their nutrient cycling abilities. In fact, most plants, including crops, have beneficial relationships with fungi that live on or inside their roots.

A well-known example are arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which penetrate plant roots (Figure 2). Their long, threadlike fungi hyphae grow into the soil, and because they are thinner than plant roots, they can access nutrients (especially P) and water in areas that plant roots cannot reach. They transport P and water back to plant roots in exchange for sugars from the plants. This beneficial relationship improves plant nutrition and drought tolerance. Having living roots in the ground year-round that can serve as hosts to AMF increases AMF survival and abundance.

Bacteria are the smallest but most numerous soil organisms. They concentrate around plant roots to feed off exudates, but they also break down other organic matter, usually simpler carbohydrates such as those found in fresh residue. Although the more complex, tough to decompose organic molecules such as lignin from woody plants are decomposed by fungi, some bacteria such as actinomycetes can digest cellulose and chitin — the carbohydrates that make up the cell walls of plants and fungi, respectively. Actinomycetes release an earthy scent that we associate with “good soil”. Some bacteria can fix N from the atmosphere, including Rhizobium species that live in the roots of leguminous plants and free-living ones, such as Azotobacter and Azospirillum.

Predatory microorganisms preying on bacteria and fungi also contribute to nutrient cycling. When protozoa eat other microbes, they release ammonium as a waste product. Nitrifying bacteria — for example, Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter species — further convert ammonium into nitrite and then nitrate, which can be taken up by plants. 

In the process of searching for food, water and habitat, plants and microbes provide structure to the soil. Fungi hyphae and plant roots stabilize soil particles by binding them into aggregates. A mucus-like exudate by AM fungi called glomalin is instrumental in forming aggregates, but many other microbial exudates also function as a sort of glue for soil particles.

Well-aggregated soils have more pores, allowing better air and gas exchange, water infiltration, and water storage. Spaces within aggregates are habitats for bacteria and other microbes. Aggregation can also increase the amount of organic matter in the soil, as organic matter that is bound inside of aggregates is less accessible to microbes and slower to be decomposed.

Having an active, abundant and diverse community of soil microbes will lead to soils where plant residues are decomposed faster, soil structure is improved, and plants are supported by beneficial relationships with microbes. The health of our soils reflects the health of the ecosystem within it.

Lowenfels, J. and Lewis, W. 2010. Teaming with microbes: The organic gardener’s guide to the Soil Food Web. Timber Press.

Soil Health Institute.  https://soilhealthinstitute.org/

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College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences

A team of psm graduate students learns more than science in publishing new paper.

Dept of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences - March 30, 2024

In a new pair of papers, PSM graduate students Becky Harkness, Jill Check and Lexi Heger show how choices made during design and implementation of samplers can influence the results-- and how recognizing this influence is crucial for researchers.

In It’s a trap! Exploring the application of rotating-arm impaction samplers in plant pathology PSM graduate students Becky Harkness, Jill Check and Lexi Heger describe how to design a project, plan the experiment, and process samples, and offer a thorough discussion of the factors influencing pathogen dispersal and how placement of the rotating-arm air samplers alters propagule capture, across many field systems and for any user type.

 “The air samplers discussed in our review paper, as well as its companion article ("It’s a trap! Part II: An approachable guide to constructing and using rotating-arm air samplers for plant pathologists" Plant Disease )  can be used to investigate pathogen dispersal and movement in any  ecosystem: Lexi deployed her air samplers in vineyards, Jill used hers in corn fields, and I used mine in the forest,” Becky says.

As well as the science, the team learned that these projects require years of working together. “We put a lot of time into creating something we felt would be useful to many researchers,” Becky says “yet everyone was helpful and remained friendly throughout the process.”

Like agriculture, graduate school requires  a lot  of resilience says Becky. “A huge part of investigating things no one has studied before is failure.” Something maybe they did not know would be part of the process.  “Part of graduate school is learning how to bounce back from failed experiments and rejected papers and not letting those experiences slow you down,” Jill adds.

While the review process was difficult, they had each other to commiserate with.” We went through many highs and lows with this manuscript and I think we are grateful we can just have fun when we get together now, rather than writing this!” Lexi says.

With this paper now behind them, these students look toward to the final months of their graduate school experience: Becky  is closing in on a 2025 graduation, focusing on phylogenetic and epidemiological investigations of Caliciopsis canker disease in North America, while daydreaming about postdoctoral positions in forest health or mycology.  Jill:  also Spring 2025, and starting a 6-month internship with Corteva in April. Jill is working on tar spot of corn and white mold of soybeans, dry beans and potatoes and aiming toward a dissertation “The epidemiology and management of field crop diseases of Michigan.” Lexi:  hopefully will be with us at least through 2025 as she pursues “Another day, another spore to trap: detection and management of Michigan’s destructive vineyard pathogens.”

“I have learned so much from the many diverse researchers we have in our department and made friends from all over the world,” Becky says. 

Jill:  The best part of graduate school is being surrounded by other students who are equally excited about science!

Lexi:  I think the best part of graduate school is being surrounded by people who are as “nerdy” as me and enjoy just being surrounded by knowledge/learning. Everyone here enjoys science and having conversations about that cool plant they bought or the newest sourdough recipe they learned. The people make the tough times better.

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Revolutionizing Agriculture The Innovations of Professor Haiying Tao in Soil Science and Precision Agriculture

I n the heart of America’s agricultural landscape, where vast fields stretch as far as the eye can see, lies the work of Professor Haiying Tao. With roots in China and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, Tao has dedicated her career to advancing the fields of soil science and precision agriculture. Through her groundbreaking research and innovative approaches, Tao is revolutionizing the way farmers manage their land, optimize fertilization practices, and adapt to the challenges of a changing climate.

Exploring Precision Agriculture: Precision agriculture, a transformative approach to farming, serves as the cornerstone of Tao’s research. By leveraging technology and data-driven methodologies, precision agriculture allows farmers to tailor their fertilizer application with unprecedented accuracy. Through grid-based systems and smart farm equipment, farmers can optimize fertilizer usage based on variables such as soil composition, topography, and climate conditions. Tao’s work in precision agriculture not only enhances crop yields but also promotes sustainability by minimizing environmental impact and reducing input costs for farmers.

Navigating the Complexities of Soil Fertility: Central to Tao’s research is the exploration of soil fertility and nutrient management. Through initiatives like the Fertilizer Recommendation Support Tool (FRST), funded by the USDA, Tao is contributing to a comprehensive national soil fertility database. By collating soil test data and fertilization trends from across the United States, FRST aims to modernize crop fertilization guidelines for the 21st century. Tao’s focus on essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is vital for ensuring crop health and optimizing yields in an ever-evolving agricultural landscape.

Empowering Farmers with Data-Driven Solutions: At the core of Tao’s mission is the empowerment of farmers with data-driven solutions. By developing software tools that generate variable rate recommendation maps, Tao aims to streamline the fertilization process for farmers. These tools allow farmers to input field data and receive tailored fertilization recommendations, optimizing efficiency and promoting sustainable practices. Through on-farm precision experimentation and collaboration with farmers, Tao bridges the gap between academic research and practical applications, empowering farmers to make informed decisions and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Addressing Challenges and Building Resilience: In an era marked by climate change, state regulations, and economic uncertainty, Tao’s research provides critical guidance for farmers navigating an increasingly complex agricultural landscape. By improving the accuracy and precision of nutrient recommendations, Tao’s work helps farmers adapt to extreme weather events and build resilience in their production systems. As Connecticut farms play a vital role in the state’s economy and food security, Tao’s efforts have far-reaching implications, benefiting farmers, consumers, and the environment alike.

Professor Haiying Tao’s contributions to soil science and precision agriculture represent a beacon of innovation in the field of agriculture. Through her tireless dedication and pioneering research, Tao is reshaping the way we approach soil fertility, fertilization practices, and sustainable farming. As farmers continue to face unprecedented challenges, Tao’s work offers hope and guidance for a more resilient and sustainable agricultural future. By empowering farmers with data-driven solutions and modernizing crop fertilization guidelines, Tao’s legacy will endure as a driving force behind the evolution of agriculture in the 21st century.

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March 29, 2024 | Mac Murray

Meet the Researcher: Haiying Tao, CAHNR

Tao’s innovations in soil science and precision agriculture are appreciated by farmers and the USDA alike

Haiying Tao conducts research in a field. (Contributed photo)

Haiying Tao ‘07 Ph.D. has pursued her interest in agriculture across two continents. She studied first at China Agricultural University, where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and then at UConn, where she received her Ph.D. in soil science. These days, you can find her in her office in the W. B. Young Building, if she’s not working on the Research and Education Farm off Agronomy Road or on private farms.  

Tao’s research is currently garnering more nationwide significance as part of the Fertilizer Recommendation Support Tool , or FRST (pronounced “first”). FRST is an online national soil fertility database funded and hosted by the USDA. When complete, it will include past and present soil test data from researchers across the United States, including phosphorous and potassium levels, locations, soil type, fertilization trends, and yield outcomes for specific crops.

As an assistant professor of soil nutrient management and soil health in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources , Tao teaches agriculture students the questions and methodologies that turn problems into solutions for farmers at all scales. Her research helps propel academic agricultural knowledge into real-world applications for the farmers who feed the country.  

Providing Growth Support at the Ground Level

There’s a reason why the middle of the country is often known as “America’s breadbasket” – a farmer’s ideal landscape is vast, open, and flat.  

These conditions are not always met in more coastal farmlands, which can include sections of varying soil composition, quality, and slope. Fortunately, precision agriculture techniques can enable farmers to tailor their fertilizer application across an entire field.  

Factoring in variables like topography, climate, management practices, and soil properties, precision agriculture divides a field into discrete sections using a grid system. This essentially creates a paint-by-numbers guide for smart farm equipment, which can then use this map to control how much fertilizer is applied to each square.  

In on-farm precision experimentation, Tao uses this and other modeling methods to help farmers test the success of various fertilizer application rates so they can develop the most efficient fertilization strategy for their whole field.   

Tao’s eventual goal with this research is to develop a software that can easily generate these strategies for farmers. The envisioned program will allow farmers to “simply input their field information in the app or software, and then the software will spit out the variable rate recommendation map,” Tao says.   

From there, farmers would upload the map into their existing sensing and smart fertilizing equipment “and then just drive and apply their fertilizers at the right rate and at the right place.”  

Updating Guidance for a New Generation of Farmers

With FRST, Tao is helping bring national crop fertilization guidelines into the 21 st century .

“If you look at the current recommendations, they are all based on very old research trials,” says Tao — the last such nationwide survey was in 1998. “But now, our climate is different, our soil characteristics are different, our [crop] varieties are different, our management practices are different. The whole system is somewhat different from 20 years ago.”  

Tao is specifically interested in fine-tuning the recommendations for nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium application — three essential nutrients replenished by fertilizing the soil — and providing new data to FRST.  

“We call them essential nutrients because without them, the crops will not be able to complete their life cycle — and they are not replaceable by any other elements,” she explains. “So, if crops are deficient in these nutrients, the yield and quality will be compromised. But how much is needed, and how much farmers should apply, is based on recommendations from land-grant universities.”  

Generating these fertilizing recommendations will not only help farmers achieve greater crop yields, but also allow them to reduce costs and improve soil health by ensuring that they apply only as much fertilizer as the crops require at any given location in any given year — no more, no less.  

According to research from UConn’s Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy, guidance and support from land-grant universities like UConn has become even more crucial in recent years, as climate change, state regulations, and difficult economic conditions all challenge domestic farmers. And, since Connecticut farms provide approximately 22,000 jobs (at last official count, which was in 2017) and account for 8% of state residents’ food purchases , protecting these farms benefits the whole state.  

While she performs her meticulous field experiments, Tao is glad to know she’s giving farmers one less thing to worry about as they look toward a changing future.  

“The goal is to improve the accuracy and precision of nutrient recommendations so that we can help producers adapt to extreme weather events and build resilience for climate-smart agriculture production systems,” she says.  

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Researchers find the more flood driving factors there are, the more extreme a flood is

by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

There are several factors that play an important role in the development of floods: air temperature, soil moisture, snow depth, and the daily precipitation in the days before a flood. In order to better understand how individual factors contribute to flooding, UFZ researchers examined more than 3,500 river basins worldwide and analyzed flood events between 1981 and 2020 for each of them.

The result: precipitation was the sole determining factor in only around 25% of the almost 125,000 flood events . Soil moisture was the decisive factor in just over 10% of cases, and snow melt and air temperature were the sole factors in only around 3% of cases.

In contrast, 51.6% of cases were caused by at least two factors. At around 23%, the combination of precipitation and soil moisture occurs most frequently.

However, when analyzing the data, the UFZ researchers discovered that three—or even all four—factors can be jointly responsible for a flood event.

For example, temperature, soil moisture, and snow depth were decisive factors in around 5,000 floods while all four factors were decisive in around 1,000 flood events. And not only that: "We also showed that flood events become more extreme when more factors are involved," says Dr. Jakob Zscheischler, Head of the UFZ Department "Compound Environmental Risks" and senior author of an article published in the journal Science Advances .

In the case of one-year floods, 51.6% can be attributed to several factors; in the case of five- and 10-year floods, 70.1% and 71.3% respectively can be attributed to several factors. The more extreme a flood is, the more driving factors there are and the more likely they are to interact in the event generation. This correlation often also applies to individual river basins and is referred to as flood complexity.

According to the researchers, river basins in the northern regions of Europe and America as well as in the Alpine region have a low flood complexity. This is because snow melt is the dominant factor for most floods regardless of the flood magnitude. The same applies to the Amazon basin, where the high soil moisture resulting from the rainy season is often a major cause of floods of varying severity.

In Germany, the Havel and the Zusam, a tributary of the Danube in Bavaria, are river basins that have a low flood complexity. Regions with river basins that have a high flood complexity primarily include eastern Brazil, the Andes, eastern Australia, the Rocky Mountains up to the US west coast, and the western and central European plains.

In Germany, this includes the Moselle and the upper reaches of the Elbe. "River basins in these regions generally have several flooding mechanisms," says Jakob Zscheischler. For example, river basins in the European plains can be affected by flooding caused by the combination of heavy precipitation, active snow melt , and high soil moisture.

However, the complexity of flood processes in a river basin also depends on the climate and land surface conditions in the respective river basin. This is because every river basin has its own special features. Among other things, the researchers looked at the climate moisture index, the soil texture, the forest cover , the size of the river basin, and the river gradient.

"In drier regions, the mechanisms that lead to flooding tend to be more heterogeneous. For moderate floods, just a few days of heavy rainfall is usually enough. For extreme floods, it needs to rain longer on already moist soils," says lead author Dr. Shijie Jiang, who now works at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena.

The scientists used explainable machine learning for the analysis. "First, we use the potential flood drivers air temperature , soil moisture , and snow depth as well as the weekly precipitation—each day is considered as an individual driving factor—to predict the run-off magnitude and thus the size of the flood," explains Zscheischler.

The researchers then quantified which variables and combinations of variables contributed to the run-off of a particular flood and to which extent. This approach is referred to as explainable machine learning because it uncovers the predictive relationship between flood drivers and run-off during a flood in the trained model.

"With this new methodology , we can quantify how many driving factors and combinations thereof are relevant for the occurrence and intensity of floods," adds Jiang.

The findings of the UFZ researchers are expected to help predict future flood events. "Our study will help us better estimate particularly extreme floods," says Zscheischler.

Until now, very extreme floods have been estimated by extrapolating from less extreme floods. However, this is too imprecise because the individual contributing factors could change their influence for different flood magnitudes.

Journal information: Science Advances

Provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

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Students’ Soil Health Week messages

Rylee Phillips and Toby Williams read their winning essays during the Soil Health Week Rally and Lobby Day on March 6. The contest was hosted by the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts. (AgriNews photo/Tom C. Doran)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Top honorees in the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ Soil Health Week Essay Contest presented their essays at the capitol.

Rylee Phillips, a Mulberry Grove fifth-grader representing the Bond County SWCD, and Toby Williams, of Toulon, a Stark County High School freshman representing Stark County SWCD, read their winning essays during the Soil Health Week Rally and Lobby Day on March 6.

The rally and lobby day was led by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Illinois Environmental Council, Illinois Soybean Association and AISWCD and part of a weeklong observance focusing on the importance of soil health.

Rylee Phillips’ Essay

If you want to hear how healthy soil makes healthy bodies, then listen to this. We would not be able to survive without soil.

Soil helps produce food and lifesaving medicines. Healthy soil also helps purify water. Another reason we could not live without healthy soil is because our oxygen comes from trees and other plants that grow.

First, soil helps produce food as well as medicines. Farmers need soil to grow their crops. If we did not have nutrient rich soil, then the farmers would not be able to grow their crops. Without crops, there would not be any fruits and vegetables for us to eat.

These foods help keep our bodies healthy and strong. Lifesaving medicines and vaccines are produced using healthy, rich soil. Without medicines, we would get sick and die.

Some of these medicines are created from plants and help fight heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and help with brain growth and development.

Second, soil purifies water so we can drink it without getting sick. For instance, soil carries an important biota that helps transform and decompose certain contaminants from the soil. This allows water to be filtered and then is safer for people to drink from natural springs.

Another reason healthy soil creates healthy bodies is it allows trees to grow strong. Trees produce oxygen. We need oxygen to survive on Earth. The healthier the soil is, the healthier and stronger the trees and other plants that grow in it will be. This makes it possible for us to live healthy lives.

In conclusion, healthy soil is an important factor for us to live. It helps do so many wonderful things that allow us to keep our bodies healthy.

Toby Williams’ Essay

Although soil is one of our most important and basic natural resources, it is often overlooked and taken for granted.

However, soil is all around us; it is part of earth and sustains the world. Plants feed and grow from the soil nutrients working up the human food chain to supplement us with our nutritional requirements.

Beyond nutrients, healthy soils foster a vibrant ecosystem of microorganisms. These microscopic friends play a pivotal role in degrading organic matter, releasing nutrients, and enhancing soil structure.

At the core of this connection lies the nutrient cycle, a delicate ballet between the soil and the plants that draw sustenance from it. A relationship exists within our bodies and the soils, where a diverse and thriving microbial biome contributes to optimal digestion, nutrient absorption, and immunity. The health of the soil mirrors the health of humans.

To sustain our bodies is to sustain our soils. Sustainable agricultural practices, renewable farming methods, and soil and water conservation become not just environmental efforts but investments in human health.

As we inhabit the Earth, we citizens hold the power to design a future where the richness of our soils reflects the health of our bodies — a future where soil fertility fertilizes the next generation of healthy individuals.

If we act now and ensure our soil is well-protected and maintained, this will help everyone maintain a happy and productive future. Our world is surviving, not thriving, and how long it lasts is up to us to make that difference.

Tom C. Doran

Field Editor