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Title Soil health and intensification of agroecosystems / edited by Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi and Birl Lowery
Published London : Academic Press, 2017

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Front Cover; Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems; Copyright Page; Contents; List of Contributors; Preface; 1 Fundamentals and Functions of Soil Environment; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Soil Properties and Interrelationships; 1.2.1 Soil Physical Environment; 1.2.2 Components of the Total Soil-Water Potential; 1.2.3 Water Movement and Governing Forces; 1.2.4 Soil Structure and Water Pathways; 1.2.5 Soil Temperature; 1.2.6 Soil Aggregate Formation and Structure; 1.3 Soil Biological Environment; 1.3.1 Soil-Plant Relationship; 1.3.2 Soil-Root Interface and Nutrient Cycling
1.3.2.1 Nitrogen cycle1.3.2.2 Carbon Cycle; 1.3.2.3 Water cycle; 1.3.3 Soil Environment and Microbial Diversity; 1.4 Soil Chemical Environment; 1.4.1 Soil Nutrient Capacity and Supply; 1.4.2 Nutrient Cycling; 1.4.3 Nutrient Pathways and Mechanisms; 1.5 Conclusions; References; 2 Climate Variability Effects on Agriculture Land Use and Soil Services; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Climate Variables and Temporal Trends; 2.2.1 Temperature; 2.2.2 Precipitation; 2.2.3 Extreme Events in Precipitation; 2.2.4 Meteorological Variables (Solar Radiation, Wind, Humidity); 2.3 Patterns of Agriculture Land Use
2.3.1 Crop Distribution and Agroclimatology2.3.1.1 Temperature effects; 2.3.1.2 Precipitation effects; 2.3.2 Interaction Between Climate Change and Soil Productivity; 2.4 Role of Soil Services in Mitigating Effects of Climate Variability; 2.5 Implications of Soil Health to Offset Climate Variability; 2.6 Conclusions; References; 3 Soil Health Concerns Facing Dryland Agroecosystems; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Soil Health in Dryland Agroecosystems; 3.2.1 Difficulty of Enhancing Soil Health in Areas with Increasing Temperatures and Decreasing Precipitation
3.2.2 Examples of Summer Fallow Effects on Decline of Soil Organic Carbon3.2.3 Cropping Systems to Reduce the Length of the Summer Fallow Period; 3.2.4 Loss of SOC Significantly Reduces Water Available for Transpiration (T) by Plants in Dryland Areas; 3.2.5 Large Decline in Area of Cultivated Summer Fallow in Dryland Areas of the United States; 3.3 Can SOC Depleted from Dryland Soils be Restored?; 3.3.1 Restoring Organic Carbon Requires Restoring Plant Nutrients; 3.3.2 Strategies for Increasing Water Storage in Dryland Areas to Increase Productivity; 3.4 Conclusions; References
4 Conservation Agriculture Systems to Mitigate Climate Variability Effects on Soil Health4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Agriculture Conservation Practices in Row Cropping Systems; 4.2.1 No-Tillage, Conservation-Tillage, and Soil Biophysical Health; 4.2.2 Conservation Systems and Soil Structure Dynamics; 4.2.3 Conservation Agriculture Systems and Water Processing; 4.3 Crop Rotation Effects on Soil Health; 4.3.1 Soil Aggregate Formation Process; 4.3.2 Crop Rotation and Soil Biology; 4.3.3 Crop Rotation and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks; 4.3.4 Soil Water and Nutrient Movement
Summary Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems examines the climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how the existing paradigms must be revised in order to establish sustainable production. The increased demand for food and fuel exerts tremendous stress on all aspects of natural resources and the environment to satisfy an ever increasing world population, which includes the use of agriculture products for energy and other uses in addition to human and animal food. The book presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate. The book explores the introduction of sustainable agroecosystems that promote biodiversity, sustain soil health, and enhance food production as ways to help mitigate some of these adverse effects. New agroecosystems will help define a resilient system that can potentially absorb some of the extreme shifts in climate. Changing the existing cropping system paradigm to utilize natural system attributes by promoting biodiversity within production agricultural systems, such as the integration of polycultures, will also enhance ecological resiliency and will likely increase carbon sequestration
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed March 22, 2017)
Subject Soil biology.
Soil management.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Agriculture -- General.
Soil biology
Soil management
Form Electronic book
Author Al-Kaisi, Mahdi M., editor
Lowery, Birl, editor
ISBN 9780128054017
0128054018