Soil research and international

co-operation in Europe

Ahmet R. Mermut

Chairman of the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies

Many Religions recognized the importance of soils and thier costoms evolved into a spiritual attachment to life-giving Earth.

Why do we know more about distant celestial objects than we do about the ground beneath our feet“.

Soil teem with life. Selman Waksman (1888 – 1973), Nobel Laureate, isolated streptomycin from the soil biota. Pedodiversity and biodiversity works may help similar results in the future. .

Recently we become conscious of the limitations soil resources and irreversible damaging effects on the environment brought about by humans. These must increase the

importance of basic and applied research in “soil science”.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Instrumental_Temperature_Record.svg

World GNDP Total: 57,937,460 (IMF); 58,133,309 (WB); 58,150,000 CIA

EUROSOIL (ECSSS)

1) Reading, Great Britain in 2000, 2) 4-12 September, 2004, in Freiburg, Germany, 3) 25-29 August 2008, Vienna, Austria, 4) 2012, 2-6 July 2012, Bari – Italy, 5) 2016, Istanbul Turkey.

Objective of the ECSSS The ECSSS aims to foster: 1) collaboration and co-operation

among the National Societies of Soil Science in Europe and

2) among European soil scientists in all branches of the soil sciences and their applications, and to give support to the above in the pursuit of their activities.

A Web Page for 2016 is Under Construction

Practical Research Priorities 1. Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change

2. Conservation Tillage,

3. Food Security,

4. Organic Farming,

5. Environmental Sustainability,

6. Bio-fuel or bio-energy,

7. Aerosols (dusts),

8. Ground Penetrating Radar, Precision Agric.

Summer Arctic Sea

Ice Boundary in 1979

North Pole

Climate change is a reality

Carbon is the source of life

CO2 + H2O + Energy Carbohydrate +O2 CO2 + H2O H2CO3 or H+ HCO3

- Inorganic form

Bio-mass Categories Primary methods Potent. CS (Gt C/year to increase CS Agricultural lands Management (H) 0.85- 0.90 Bio-mass croplands Manipulation (H) 0.5- 0.85 Grasslands Management (M) 0.5 Rangelands Management (M) 1.2 Forests Management (M) 1.0- 3.0 Desert and degraded L Manipulation (H) 0.80 - 1.30 Terrestrial sediments Protection (L) 0.70 - 1.70 Boreal peat- and wet-L Protection (L) 0.10 – 0.75

• TOTAL 5.65 -10.10 • Lands: H-high; M-medium; L-low

Estimates of potential carbon sequestration in different bio-mass categories

Measure nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonia (NH3), and water(H2O)

Conservation Tillage

1999 FAO has organized a meeting in Kazakhstan

Organic matter at two depths after 18 years of various tillage treatments of a soil from Ontario, Canada under corn. __________________________________________________ Tillage system Soil organic matter (tonnes per hectare) _________________________________________________ 0-15 cm 15-30cm 0-30 cm _________________________________________________ No till 86 65 151 Chisel plow 73 52 125 Disc 74 58 133 Moldboard plow 66 64 130 ____________________________________________

Borlaug (1997) points out two key problems for feeding the world: 1) Producing sufficient food sustainably and economically and, 2) Distribution of food.

FOOD SECURITY

This radar record shows the feature (to the left of “A”) that was interpreted to represent four crushed, stacked cars

Ground-Penetrating Radar Used to Uncover Mysteries beneath Our Feet (Soil Horizons 2013, 54).

Precision

Agriculture