ARS | Publication request: Vital Soil: Function, Value and Properties.

Submitted to: Agricultural Systems
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: May 12, 2006
Publication Date: December 1, 2006
Citation: Franzluebbers, A.J. 2006. Vital Soil: Function, Value and Properties. Vol. 29 of Developments in Soil Science, Elsevier, Amstersdam, The Netherlands, pp. 240. ISBN0-0-444-51772-3. Agriculture Systems 91:242-244.2006.

Technical Abstract: This article is a review of the book, Vital Soil: Function, Value and Properties. Soil vitality has been defined as the ability of soil ecosystems to stay in balance in a changing world. The soil environment and the life that it supports developed over centuries and millennia, but careless human action can cause immediate destruction and dysfunction for years to come. The book aims for “a vision, one in which the state of the art and developments are presented”. Overall, this will be an informative reference piece especially for Europeans, but also for scientists from other parts of the world searching for a framework and diverse examples to describe soil responses to man-induced disturbances.