Soil Conservation

This book provides guidelines for using a new approach of resampling the Cs-137 radionuclide tracer which is used to estimate soil erosion rates. The Cs-137 resampling approach will improve significantly the use of the Cs-137 method for assessment of soil erosion, because resampling the radionuclide repeatedly (at least two times, but more sampling campaigns are possible) allows to avoid several methodological difficulties associated with Cs-137 method, namely the problems with small-scale spatial heterogeneity, the question of representativeness of reference site, reference samples, and inappropriate time extent of evaluated period. All these methodological problems are very important for reliability and accuracy of erosion rates estimated by Cs-137 method. If using single sampling approach, the small-scale spatial heterogeneity can be overcome by high number of sampling points, but this is time and labour demanding solution increasing the expenses of the erosion research.

Soil biota is an important and fundamental part of terrestrial ecology. The soil organisms include all those life forms which pass significant proportion of their life within a soil profile. The range of organisms may vary from microscopic entities to a macro level organisms. These organisms are the hidden beauties which take up the task of food chain regulation, organic matter decomposition, and nutrient enrichment of soil. Soil organisms can be grouped into three classes viz; chemical engineers (bacteria,fungi and protozoans), biological regulators (small soil invertebrates like nematodes and mesofauna) and ecosystem engineers (large soil invertebrates and small mammals). These creatures are mainly regulated by certain physical and biological factors. The physicochemical characteristics of soil can determine its biological diversity which influences the regulatory services in an ecosystem.

Soil biota is an important and fundamental part of terrestrial ecology. The soil organisms include all those life forms which pass significant proportion of their life within a soil profile. The range of organisms may vary from microscopic entities to a macro level organisms. These organisms are the hidden beauties which take up the task of food chain regulation, organic matter decomposition, and nutrient enrichment of soil. Soil organisms can be grouped into three classes viz; chemical engineers (bacteria,fungi and protozoans), biological regulators (small soil invertebrates like nematodes and mesofauna) and ecosystem engineers (large soil invertebrates and small mammals). These creatures are mainly regulated by certain physical and biological factors. The physicochemical characteristics of soil can determine its biological diversity which influences the regulatory services in an ecosystem.

Provides a unique and comprehensive assessment of soil erosion throughout Europe, an important aspect to control and manage if landscapes are to be sustained for the future.