Description
Understanding Soils of Mountainous Landscapes: Sustainable Use of Soil Ecosystem Services and Management focuses on the patterns and processes of mountainous soils, including threats due to the fragile nature of mountain ecosystems, and the conservation and management of soil ecosystem services and restoration processes. The book covers a balanced approach to land and resource management, ensuring that environmentally and socio-culturally sound interventions are developed and applied in the complex geophysical, ecological, and social landscapes of the world's mountain systems. The book provides holistic understanding of mountain soils to help environmental and soil scientists gain insight and develop new problem-solving approaches.With obvious up- and downstream linkages (e.g., a large proportion of urban canters globally depend on water that originates in the mountains) as well as globalization (e.g., continental-scale impacts of air pollution and climate change on glaciers), the long-range success of conservation measures in mountain regions requires that the following discrete but interconnected interventions be pursued concurrently: (1) the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services, (2) empowerment of mountain communities (including family farming), and (3) elaboration of more thoughtful, context-specific policy environments for sustainable mountain development.- Offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of mountain soils including climate change, ecosystem services, and threats- Focuses on exploring the human and anthropogenic challenges associated with the sustainable management of soils in mountain landscapes- Includes content on biochar-mediated microbial community dynamics
Table of Contents
1. Overview of mountainous soil2. Soil-pedological and edaphological concepts3. Soil formation factors and processes: Components of soil4. Soil mediated distribution pattern5. Soil processes under changing climatic scenario6. Soil nutrient dynamics and vegetation pattern7. Soil ecosystem services8. Soil processes and agricultural practices9. Soil and indigenous practices10. Biochar-mediated microbial community dynamics11. Thermal properties of soil (soil temperature, soil aeration, gaseous exchange, the influence of soil temperature and air)12. Radioecology in mountainous soil13. Soil biological processes (Carbon cycle, biomass, soil organisms and micro-organisms)14. Soil water-plant interaction and relations in various ecosystem15. Plant Functional Traits and regeneration16. Global climate change, carbon flux and soil quality17. Soil and anthropogenic activities in mountain ecosystem18. Threats to mountainous soil19. Conservation and management of mountainous soil (remediation and management strategies)
