1,721,058 research outputs found
SUOLI di QUALITÀ per una VITA di QUALITÀ
Full text linkSuoli di qualità per una vita di qualità è il motivo conduttore di quello che rimarrà nella storia dell’Uomo come l’Anno internazionale dei suoli. In moltissimi Paesi del mondo il 2015 è stato un fiorire di iniziative e di attività tutte legate al suolo ed alla diffusione della sua conoscenza. Questo 40° congresso nazionale della Società Italiana della Scienza del Suolo, che abbiamo voluto organizzare in prossimità delle manifestazioni conclusive dell’Anno internazionale dei suoli e della Celebrazione della Giornata Mondiale del Suolo, rappresenta l’acme delle varie iniziative che la SISS ha posto in essere nel 2015
A new definition of soil to promote soil awareness, sustainability, security and governance
Full text linkIn these last decades, the awareness that soil is a very important resource for humans has noticeably increased. Many actions and initiatives to promote soil governance, aiming at sustainable soil management and soil security have been undertaken by several national and international institutions and in many countries. Analysis of the changes of soil perception over the centuries allows highlighting a perfect harmony between the evolution of soil awareness and the level of knowledge and technology achieved by humans during their history and evolution. Notwithstanding these many achievements, soils continue to be scarcely considered in politics and society. We suggest some thoughts and reflections that could lead to an up-to-date and effective definition of soil that directly focuses the public attention on its economic value. In our opinion, soil economic value could be the only aspect that truly attracts the attention of politicians and administrators, which could increase soil awareness and encourage soil sustainability, security and Sustainable Development Goals and finally promote soil governance
Pedotechnique application and soil security in intensive viticulture: an (im)possible link!
No full textSince ancient times Man and Soil have experienced interwoven links. Nowadays
soil scientists continue to stress such links highlighting the importance of soil to
provide man’s growing demand for food, water and energy, and also the soil’s im-
portance in providing ecosystem services that affect climate change, human health
and biodiversity.
In soil management for agricultural purposes, pedotechniques to tailor soils suita-
ble for table grapes cultivation in large-scale farming are used to get substantial fi-
nancial returns. However, farmers in tailoring soils for high income crops, fre-
quently do not take into account the fundamental objective of the pedotechnique, i.
e. to meet the needs of man, avoiding any undesirable environmental consequences
that may occur during handling of earthy materials. Indeed, we should consider that
any human intervention on the environment, could originate new soilscapes and
new soils whose security should be verified.
In this note, we report on an emblematic case study of pedotechniques application
in Sicily (Italy). After stressing the threats to soil security derived by the presence
of anthropogenically tailored soils for table grapes cultivation, we assess their eco-
nomic sustainability, taking into consideration only the internal factors and exclud-
ing the external economic contributions that are allocated to social sustainability.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the financial investment, results have been com-
pared with profitability data related to traditional crops without pedotechniques ap-
plication. Results highlight that the transformation of the soilscape, from one hand,
allows for considerable investment costs, on the other hand, the highest productivi-
ty and the consequent higher profitability of the cultivation, compared to the con-
ventional crops, allow to amortize the startup costs. We cannot ignore that this
transformation could trigger potentially a considerable decrease in quality of the
environment and in pedodiversity
Il Ruolo della Scienza del Suolo per gli Obiettivi dello Sviluppo Sostenibile - Guida all'Escursione del Primo Congresso Congiunto SISS-SIPe, Palermo 10 – 13 settembre 2018
No full textQuesta breve guida rappresenta una finestra dalla quale volgere uno sguardo sull’isola della Sicilia
cogliendone i principali aspetti storici, geografici, culturali, ambientali. Vengono qui riportati alcuni
contributi sintetici i) sulla Storia dell’Isola, che ha forgiato la cultura e la società siciliana, ii) sulle
principali caratteristiche geomorfologiche e pedologiche, iii) sull’agricoltura, iv) la diversità e
complessità dei paesaggi, v) sui boschi e i sistemi agroforestali, che caratterizzano molti paesaggi
siciliani, vi) sule peculiarità, endemismi e rarità della flora isolana, vii) sulla viticoltura, che
rappresenta un settore strategico dell’agricoltura isolana.
Nella seconda parte della guida, una breve descrizione dei paesaggi che saranno illustrati durante
il tragitto da Palermo alla Salina Calcara di Nubia (Trapani) meta dell’escursione scientifica e
culturale del congresso. Vengono riportati alcuni cenni della storia e l’organizzazione della salina e
le attività che caratterizzano ancora oggi la coltivazione sostenibile del sale.
Infine, i primi risultati del lavoro di studio sui suoli della Salina Calcara, condotto in collaborazione
tra il Gruppo di Lavoro “SUOLI IDROMORFI E SUBACQUEI” della Società Italiana della Scienza del
Suolo e la Società italiana di Pedologia. Il campionamento, la descrizione e la valutazione dei suoli
di salina sono l’oggetto principale dell’escursione.
Un sentito grazie a tutti gli autori che hanno collaborato all’edizione della guida
Soil genetic erosion: New conceptual developments in soil security
Full text linkIn the last decades, in some Mediterranean areas, pedodiversity decreased mainly due to pedotechnique application in large-scale farming that transformed original soils into Anthrosols. Supporting the consideration that soils can be considered as living systems, the original concept of 'soil genetic erosion' is re-proposed. Data, extrapolated and modeled from a Soil Information System in a study case representative of a Mediterranean landscape, predicted that most of the soil types would disappear in few years leading to a decrease of the soil diversity and originating soil genetic erosion. This circumstance is intentionally here told in form of a story where the fairy tale characters are some soils facing extinction in the landscape. Soil genetic erosion could result in a negative impact on the environment because it reduces the soil's security through a drastic reduction of the soil ecosystem services with a decrease of the immaterial benefit for the environment. The conviction that soils, as well as animals and plants, are living bodies, and pedodiversity is equally important as biodiversity in maintaining sustainability and ecosystem services, might truly attract the attention of the public opinion. Besides, focussing more on the soil economic dimension and strengthening the assignation of 'economic value' to the soil ecosystem services, also politicians and administrators could increase their interest in soil security. (C) 2019 International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation and China Water and Power Press. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V
Modeling soil organic carbon stock after 10 years of cover crops in Mediterranean vineyards: improving ANN prediction by digital terrain analysis.
Full text linkEstimate changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock after Agro Environment Measures adoption are strategically for national and regional scale. Uncertainty in estimates also represents a very important parameter in terms of evaluation of the exact costs and agro environment payments to farmers. In this study we modeled the variation of SOC stock after 10-year cover crop adoption in a vine growing area of South-Eastern Sicily. A paired-site approach was chosen to study the difference in SOC stocks. A total 100 paired sites (i.e. two adjacent plots) were chosen and three soil samples (Ap soil horizons, circa 0-30 cm depth) were collected in each plot to obtain a mean value of organic carbon concentration for each plot. The variation of soil organic carbon (SOCv) for each plot was calculated by differences between concentrations of the plot subjected to cover crops (SOC10) and the relative plot subjected to traditional agronomic practices (SOC0). The feasibility of using artificial neural networks as a method to predict soil organic carbon stock variation and the contribution of digital terrain analysis to improve the prediction were tested. We randomly subdivided the experimental values of SOC-stock difference in 80 learning samples and 20 test samples for model validation. SOCv was strongly correlated to the SOC0 concentration. Model validation using only SOCv as unique covariate showed a training and test perfection of 0.724 and 0.871 respectively. We hypothesized that terrain-driven hydrological flow patterns, mass-movement and local micro-climatic factors could be responsible processes contributing for SOC redistributions, thus affecting soil carbon stock in time. Terrain attributes were derived by digital terrain analysis from the 10 m DEM of the study area. A total of 37 terrain attributes were calculated and submitted to statistical feature selection. The Chi-square ranking indicated only 4 significant covariates among the terrain attributes (slope height, valley depth, protection index, surface area). Model validation using SOCv and the selected terrain attributes as predictors showed a training and test perfection of 0.889 and 0.921 respectively. Results confirmed that after 10 years of cover crop practices the SOC concentrations generally increased in the topsoil horizon and this increment is affected by the initial SOC concentration and terrain-driven factors
Un modello per la definizione dell’adattabilità dei suoli del tratto terminale del bacino del Belice (AG) allo smaltimento delle acque di vegetazione
No full textEditorial of the Special Issue Digital Soil Mapping, Decision Support Tools and Soil Monitoring Systems in the Mediterranean
Full text linkIn the digital era, the role of soil surveyors has evolved significantly. With legacy soil data now being recognized as valuable assets, thanks to the increased computational capacity of geographic information systems, the potential of soil spatial assessment has been greatly enhanced [1]. International calls have led to increased collaboration between scientists, and national research projects have been instrumental in advancing innovation in the soil-mapping domain [2].
Soil mapping in the Mediterranean region involves contributions from various authors and institutions [3]. Several prominent research institutions, governmental agencies, and academic organizations are known for their contributions to soil mapping and related research in the Mediterranean region [4,5]. These includes universities with agricultural or environmental, geology and natural science departments, geological surveys, research centers specializing in soil science, and regional or international organizations focused on environmental conservation and land management
Pedotechnique applications in large-scale farming: Economic value, soil ecosystems services and soil security
No full textSince ancient times Humans and Soil have experienced interwoven links. Nowadays soil scientists continue to stress such links highlighting the importance of soil in: i) satisfying the ever growing Human demand for food, water and energy, and ii) providing ecosystem services that mitigate climate changes, influence human health and improve biodiversity. Pedotechniques are recently used to generate soils suitable for table grape cultivation in order to increase productivity and grape quality, thus to get substantial financial returns. We show one emblematic study case of pedotechniques applied in Sicily (Italy). Aims of the investigation were: i) stressing threats to soil security derived by the generation of anthropogenic soils, ii) assessing the economic sustainability of pedotechniques and table grape production, taking into consideration only the internal factors and excluding the external economic contributions that are allocated to social sustainability and iii) stressing the role of soil science to focus on “economic value” to the soil ecosystem services and degradation processes. Results highlight that soil transformations allow for considerable investment costs. The highest productivity and the consequent higher profitability of the cultivation amortize the start-up costs. From the other side transformations could trigger considerable deterioration of both soil ecosystem services and environmental quality. In order to stress this last aspect and to define the relationships between pedotechnique application and soil security we have considered the five soil security dimensions (i.e. capability, condition, capital, connectivity and codification)
Land set-up systems in Italy: A long tradition of soil and water conservation sewed up to a variety of pedo-climatic environments
Full text linkLand set-up systems in Italy were and, in a few cases, still are integral parts of agricultural landscapes. The soils of Italy mirror a wide variety of climates and morphologies and derive from a great diversity of parent materials influenced by different soil temperature and moisture regimes. Furthermore, their development was influenced by several anthropogenic activities over time including land settings. Land set-up systems have been widely used throughout the Italian soilscape to regulate surface and underground water and to improve the physical soil features in a way that ensures mixed herbaceous and tree-crops cultivation. In recent times, new technologies have been introduced in agroforestry exploitation of the land, while the ancient but tested hydraulic soil systems have been abandoned. As a result, a great part of Italian soilscapes is prone to water erosion and floods, an unforeseen impact, which can be coun-terbalanced by good soil management practices. Moreover, new pedotechniques have been recently adopted, transforming soils and landscapes, but generating sometimes soil degradation issues. After presenting the main features characterizing Italian soils and land-scapes, we describe all the historical land set-up systems adopted over time, highlighting their positive functions in terms of both soil conservation and agricultural production. We also emphasise the mm importance of maintaining such land settings both as distinctive parts of cultural landscapes and strategies of soil conservation, and the need of developing new systems based on the principles of environmental sustainability
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