Articles | Volume 2, issue 1 
            
                
                    
            
            
            https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-79-2016
                    © Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under 
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
                the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-79-2016
                    © Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under 
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
                the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
World's soils are under threat
Luca Montanarella
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
                                            
                                    
                                            European Commission – DG JRC, Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy
                                        
                                    Daniel Jon Pennock
                                            College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive,  Saskatoon SK S7N 5A8, Canada
                                        
                                    Neil McKenzie
                                            CSIRO Agriculture Flagship, B.E. Butler Laboratory, GPO Box 1666, Canberra, ACT 2601, Canberra, Australia
                                        
                                    Mohamed Badraoui
                                            INRA, Rabat, Morocco
                                        
                                    Victor Chude
                                            National Programme for Food Security, 127 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria
                                        
                                    Isaurinda Baptista
                                            Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Agrário (INIDA) – São Jorge dos Órgãos CP 84, Praia, Cabo Verde
                                        
                                    Tekalign Mamo
                                            Ministry of Agriculture, P.O. Box 62347, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
                                        
                                    Martin Yemefack
                                            International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Yaoundé, Cameroon
                                        
                                    Mikha Singh Aulakh
                                            Banda University of Agriculture & Technology, Banda, 210001, Uttar Pradesh, India
                                        
                                    Kazuyuki Yagi
                                            National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba 305-8604, Japan
                                        
                                    Suk Young Hong
                                            National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk, South Korea
                                        
                                    Pisoot Vijarnsorn
                                            Chaipattana Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
                                        
                                    Gan-Lin Zhang
                                            State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
                                        
                                    Dominique Arrouays
                                            INRA, InfoSol Unit, US 1106, 45075, Orléans, France
                                        
                                    Helaina Black
                                            Ecological Sciences Group, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, Scotland, UK
                                        
                                    Pavel Krasilnikov
                                            Eurasian Center for Food Security, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
                                        
                                    Jaroslava Sobocká
                                            National Agricultural and Food Centre – Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia
                                        
                                    Julio Alegre
                                            Departamento de Suelos, National Agrarian University, La Molina, Peru
                                        
                                    Carlos Roberto Henriquez
                                            Centro de Investigaciones Agronómicas, Facultad de Ciencias Agroalimentarias, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa Rica
                                        
                                    Maria de Lourdes Mendonça-Santos
                                            EMBRAPA – Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation/The National Centre of Soil Research (Embrapa Solos), Rua Jardim Botânico, 1024, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
                                        
                                    Miguel Taboada
                                            Instituto de Suelos and CONICET, CIRN, INTA, Nicolás Repetto y De los Reseros S/N,  CP 1686 Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
                                        
                                    David Espinosa-Victoria
                                            Colegio de Postgraduados, Mexico City, Mexico
                                        
                                    Abdullah AlShankiti
                                            International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dubai, United Arab Emirates
                                        
                                    Sayed Kazem AlaviPanah
                                            Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
                                        
                                    Elsiddig Ahmed El Mustafa Elsheikh
                                            Department of Soil & Environment Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Republic of the Sudan
                                        
                                    Jon Hempel
                                            USDA-NRCS National Soil Survey Center,100 Centennial Mall, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA
                                        
                                    Marta Camps Arbestain
                                            Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey Agriculture, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
                                        
                                    Freddy Nachtergaele
                                            Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy
                                        
                                    Ronald Vargas
                                            Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy
                                        
                                    Related authors
Jeppe Aagaard Kristensen, Thomas Balstrøm, Robert J. A. Jones, Arwyn Jones, Luca Montanarella, Panos Panagos, and Henrik Breuning-Madsen
                                    SOIL, 5, 289–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-289-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-289-2019, 2019
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                In a world of increasing pressure on our environment, large-scale knowledge about our soil resources is in high demand. We show how five decades of collaboration between EU member states resulted in a full-coverage soil profile analytical database for Europe (SPADE), with soil data provided by soil experts from each country. We show how the dataset can be applied to estimate soil organic carbon in Europe and suggest further improvement to this critical support tool in continental-scale policies.
                                            
                                            
                                        Johan Bouma and Luca Montanarella
                                    SOIL, 2, 135–145, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-135-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-135-2016, 2016
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                The recently accepted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a major challenge to the research community, including soil science. SDGs require a interdisciplinary research approach that forces every discipline to critically evaluate its core messages. Effective communication with the policy arena requires use of common policy concepts such as policy phases and distinction of drivers, pressures, and responses to change. To accomodate such needs, research practices will have to change.
                                            
                                            
                                        Saskia D. Keesstra, Johan Bouma, Jakob Wallinga, Pablo Tittonell, Pete Smith, Artemi Cerdà, Luca Montanarella, John N. Quinton, Yakov Pachepsky, Wim H. van der Putten, Richard D. Bardgett, Simon Moolenaar, Gerben Mol, Boris Jansen, and Louise O. Fresco
                                    SOIL, 2, 111–128, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-111-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-111-2016, 2016
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                Soil science, as a land-related discipline, has links to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which are demonstrated through the functions of soils and related ecosystem services. We discuss how soil scientists can rise to the challenge both internally and externally in terms of our relations with colleagues in other disciplines, diverse groups of stakeholders and the policy arena. To meet these goals we recommend the set of steps to be taken by the soil science community as a whole.
                                            
                                            
                                        C. Mulder, J.-P. Hettelingh, L. Montanarella, M. R. Pasimeni, M. Posch, W. Voigt, and G. Zurlini
                                    Biogeosciences, 12, 4113–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4113-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4113-2015, 2015
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                Spatial clustering of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition reveals that European C:N ratio varies more across soils of natural ecosystems with low pollution. It turns out surprisingly that such soils are the most affected by nitrogen accumulation and therefore most responsive to short-term N supply. While an inverse correlation between atmospheric nitrogen and soil C:N seems intuitive, we provide novel insights into the real magnitude and spatial distribution of this relationship since 1880.
                                            
                                            
                                        Ali Hosingholizade, Yousef Erfanifard, Seyed Kazem Alavipanah, Virginia García Millan, Saied Pirasteh, and Ali Nadir Arslan
                                    Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-G-2025, 611–617, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-G-2025-611-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-G-2025-611-2025, 2025
                            Ali Hosingholizade, Yousef Erfanifard, Seyed Kazem Alavipanah, Virginia García Millan, and Saied Pirasteh
                                    Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-M-6-2025, 133–137, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-6-2025-133-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-6-2025-133-2025, 2025
                            Ali Hosingholizade, Yousef Erfanifard, Seyed Kazem Alavipanah, Saied Pirasteh, and Virginia Garcia Millan
                                    ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., X-3-2024, 187–192, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-3-2024-187-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-3-2024-187-2024, 2024
                            Sergio Díaz-Guadarrama, Viviana M. Varón-Ramírez, Iván Lizarazo, Mario Guevara, Marcos Angelini, Gustavo A. Araujo-Carrillo, Jainer Argeñal, Daphne Armas, Rafael A. Balta, Adriana Bolivar, Nelson Bustamante, Ricardo O. Dart, Martin Dell Acqua, Arnulfo Encina, Hernán Figueredo, Fernando Fontes, Joan S. Gutiérrez-Díaz, Wilmer Jiménez, Raúl S. Lavado, Jesús F. Mansilla-Baca, Maria de Lourdes Mendonça-Santos, Lucas M. Moretti, Iván D. Muñoz, Carolina Olivera, Guillermo Olmedo, Christian Omuto, Sol Ortiz, Carla Pascale, Marco Pfeiffer, Iván A. Ramos, Danny Ríos, Rafael Rivera, Lady M. Rodriguez, Darío M. Rodríguez, Albán Rosales, Kenset Rosales, Guillermo Schulz, Víctor Sevilla, Leonardo M. Tenti, Ronald Vargas, Gustavo M. Vasques, Yusuf Yigini, and Yolanda Rubiano
                                    Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1229–1246, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1229-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1229-2024, 2024
                                    Short summary
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                                                In this work, the Latin America and Caribbean Soil Information System (SISLAC) database (https://54.229.242.119/sislac/es) was revised to generate an improved version of the data. Rules for data enhancement were defined. In addition, other datasets available in the region were included. Subsequently, through a principal component analysis (PCA), the main soil characteristics for the region were analyzed. We hope this dataset can help mitigate problems such as food security and global warming.
                                            
                                            
                                        S. Hamzeh, M. Hajeb, S. K. Alavipanah, and J. Verrelst
                                    ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., X-4-W1-2022, 271–277, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-4-W1-2022-271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-4-W1-2022-271-2023, 2023
                            A. Hosingholizade, Y. Erfanifard, S. K. Alavipanah, H. Latifi, and Y. Jouybari-Moghaddam
                                    ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., X-4-W1-2022, 287–293, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-4-W1-2022-287-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-4-W1-2022-287-2023, 2023
                            S. K. Alavipanah, M. Konyushkova, S. Hamzeh, A. A. Kakroodi, A. Heidari, M. K. Firozjaei, and N. Mijani
                                    Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-4-W18, 51–56, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W18-51-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W18-51-2019, 2019
                            M. K. Firozjaei, S. Fathololuomi, S. K. Alavipanah, M. Kiavarz, A. Vaezi, A. Biswas, and A. Ghorbani
                                    Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-4-W18, 395–399, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W18-395-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W18-395-2019, 2019
                            M. K. Firozjaei, M. Makki, J. Lentschke, M. Kiavarz, and S. K. Alavipanah
                                    Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-4-W18, 401–405, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W18-401-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W18-401-2019, 2019
                            Jeppe Aagaard Kristensen, Thomas Balstrøm, Robert J. A. Jones, Arwyn Jones, Luca Montanarella, Panos Panagos, and Henrik Breuning-Madsen
                                    SOIL, 5, 289–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-289-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-289-2019, 2019
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                In a world of increasing pressure on our environment, large-scale knowledge about our soil resources is in high demand. We show how five decades of collaboration between EU member states resulted in a full-coverage soil profile analytical database for Europe (SPADE), with soil data provided by soil experts from each country. We show how the dataset can be applied to estimate soil organic carbon in Europe and suggest further improvement to this critical support tool in continental-scale policies.
                                            
                                            
                                        S. K. Alavi Panah, M. Kiavarz Mogaddam, and M. Karimi Firozjaei
                                    Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-4-W4, 17–22, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W4-17-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W4-17-2017, 2017
                            Johan Bouma and Luca Montanarella
                                    SOIL, 2, 135–145, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-135-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-135-2016, 2016
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                The recently accepted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a major challenge to the research community, including soil science. SDGs require a interdisciplinary research approach that forces every discipline to critically evaluate its core messages. Effective communication with the policy arena requires use of common policy concepts such as policy phases and distinction of drivers, pressures, and responses to change. To accomodate such needs, research practices will have to change.
                                            
                                            
                                        Saskia D. Keesstra, Johan Bouma, Jakob Wallinga, Pablo Tittonell, Pete Smith, Artemi Cerdà, Luca Montanarella, John N. Quinton, Yakov Pachepsky, Wim H. van der Putten, Richard D. Bardgett, Simon Moolenaar, Gerben Mol, Boris Jansen, and Louise O. Fresco
                                    SOIL, 2, 111–128, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-111-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-111-2016, 2016
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                Soil science, as a land-related discipline, has links to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which are demonstrated through the functions of soils and related ecosystem services. We discuss how soil scientists can rise to the challenge both internally and externally in terms of our relations with colleagues in other disciplines, diverse groups of stakeholders and the policy arena. To meet these goals we recommend the set of steps to be taken by the soil science community as a whole.
                                            
                                            
                                        P. Smith, M. F. Cotrufo, C. Rumpel, K. Paustian, P. J. Kuikman, J. A. Elliott, R. McDowell, R. I. Griffiths, S. Asakawa, M. Bustamante, J. I. House, J. Sobocká, R. Harper, G. Pan, P. C. West, J. S. Gerber, J. M. Clark, T. Adhya, R. J. Scholes, and M. C. Scholes
                                    SOIL, 1, 665–685, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-665-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-665-2015, 2015
                                    Short summary
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                                                Soils play a pivotal role in major global biogeochemical cycles (carbon, nutrient, and water), while hosting the largest diversity of organisms on land. Soils deliver fundamental ecosystem services, and management to change a soil process in support of one ecosystem service can affect other services. We provide a critical review of these aspects, and conclude that, although there are knowledge gaps, enough is known improve soils globally, and we suggest actions to start this process.
                                            
                                            
                                        C. Mulder, J.-P. Hettelingh, L. Montanarella, M. R. Pasimeni, M. Posch, W. Voigt, and G. Zurlini
                                    Biogeosciences, 12, 4113–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4113-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4113-2015, 2015
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                Spatial clustering of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition reveals that European C:N ratio varies more across soils of natural ecosystems with low pollution. It turns out surprisingly that such soils are the most affected by nitrogen accumulation and therefore most responsive to short-term N supply. While an inverse correlation between atmospheric nitrogen and soil C:N seems intuitive, we provide novel insights into the real magnitude and spatial distribution of this relationship since 1880.
                                            
                                            
                                        Related subject area
            Soil as a resource
            
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Long-term field experiments in Germany: classification and spatial representation
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Adsorption to soils and biochemical characterization of commercial phytases
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Development of a harmonised soil profile analytical database for Europe: a resource for supporting regional soil management
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Arable soil formation and erosion: a hillslope-based cosmogenic nuclide study in the United Kingdom
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Assessment and quantification of marginal lands for biomass production in Europe using soil-quality indicators
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Physical, chemical, and mineralogical attributes of a representative group of soils from the eastern Amazon region in Brazil
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Uncertainty indication in soil function maps – transparent and easy-to-use information to support sustainable use of soil resources
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                A systemic approach for modeling soil functions
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                                     
                                Soil conservation in the 21st century: why we need smart agricultural intensification
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            
                            
                            
                                     
                                Global distribution of soil organic carbon – Part 1: Masses and frequency distributions of SOC stocks for the tropics, permafrost regions, wetlands, and the world
                                
                                        
                                            
                                    
                            
                            
                            
                        
                    
                    
            
        
        Meike Grosse, Wilfried Hierold, Marlen C. Ahlborn, Hans-Peter Piepho, and Katharina Helming
                                    SOIL, 6, 579–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-579-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-579-2020, 2020
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                                                Agricultural long-term field experiments (LTFEs) are an important basis for soil and agricultural sciences. A compilation of metadata and research data from LTFEs in Germany shall enhance networking and simplify the access to this most valuable research infrastructure. The common analyses of similar LTFEs on different sites can broaden the results. Therefore, LTFEs were classified and their distribution in Germany was compared to three site classifications.
                                            
                                            
                                        María Marta Caffaro, Karina Beatriz Balestrasse, and Gerardo Rubio
                                    SOIL, 6, 153–162, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-153-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-153-2020, 2020
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                                                Four commercial phytases were evaluated as candidates to be used as biological fertilizer to release inorganic phosphorus (P) from phytates and other soil P organic forms. All phytases were able to release inorganic P throughout the pH and temperature ranges for optimum crop production and had a low affinity for the solid phase, with some differences between them. These results indicate that the use of phytases to complement P fertilization may be a feasible tool to enhance soil P availability.
                                            
                                            
                                        Jeppe Aagaard Kristensen, Thomas Balstrøm, Robert J. A. Jones, Arwyn Jones, Luca Montanarella, Panos Panagos, and Henrik Breuning-Madsen
                                    SOIL, 5, 289–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-289-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-289-2019, 2019
                                    Short summary
                                    Short summary
                                            
                                                In a world of increasing pressure on our environment, large-scale knowledge about our soil resources is in high demand. We show how five decades of collaboration between EU member states resulted in a full-coverage soil profile analytical database for Europe (SPADE), with soil data provided by soil experts from each country. We show how the dataset can be applied to estimate soil organic carbon in Europe and suggest further improvement to this critical support tool in continental-scale policies.
                                            
                                            
                                        Daniel L. Evans, John N. Quinton, Andrew M. Tye, Ángel Rodés, Jessica A. C. Davies, Simon M. Mudd, and Timothy A. Quine
                                    SOIL, 5, 253–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-253-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-5-253-2019, 2019
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                                                Policy to conserve thinning arable soils relies on a balance between the rates of soil erosion and soil formation. Our knowledge of the latter is meagre. Here, we present soil formation rates for an arable hillslope, the first of their kind globally, and a woodland hillslope, the first of their kind in Europe. Rates range between 26 and 96 mm kyr−1. On the arable site, erosion rates are 2 orders of magnitude greater, and in a worst-case scenario, bedrock exposure could occur in 212 years.
                                            
                                            
                                        Werner Gerwin, Frank Repmann, Spyridon Galatsidas, Despoina Vlachaki, Nikos Gounaris, Wibke Baumgarten, Christiane Volkmann, Dimitrios Keramitzis, Fotis Kiourtsis, and Dirk Freese
                                    SOIL, 4, 267–290, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-267-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-267-2018, 2018
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                                                The need for biomass for energetic or material use is increasing parallel to the need to extend the production of food for a growing world population. This results in conflicts between both land use strategies. Use of marginal lands could solve this conflict, however, the understanding of marginal lands and the knowledge of their potentials are still not fully developed. We present an approach to assess land marginality based on soil quality and an estimation of land potentials all over Europe.
                                            
                                            
                                        Edna Santos de Souza, Antonio Rodrigues Fernandes, Anderson Martins De Souza Braz, Fábio Júnior de Oliveira, Luís Reynaldo Ferracciú Alleoni, and Milton César Costa Campos
                                    SOIL, 4, 195–212, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-195-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-195-2018, 2018
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                                                The study refers to a survey of the attributes of the main soil classes of the state of Pará, an eastern Amazon region in Brazil. These soils have good potential for agricultural use under natural conditions. In this study we observed that the soils are predominantly kaolinitic, but have relatively low aluminum and organic matter contents, with huge textural variability. The results enable a better understanding of eastern Amazonian soils, whose area reaches more than 1.2 million km2.
                                            
                                            
                                        Lucie Greiner, Madlene Nussbaum, Andreas Papritz, Stephan Zimmermann, Andreas Gubler, Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, and Armin Keller
                                    SOIL, 4, 123–139, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-123-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-123-2018, 2018
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                                                To maintain the soil resource, spatial information on soil multi-functionality is key. Soil function (SF) maps rate soils potentials to fulfill a certain function, e.g., nutrient regulation. We show how uncertainties in predictions of soil properties generated by digital soil mapping propagate into soil function maps, present possibilities to display this uncertainty information and show that otherwise comparable SF assessment methods differ in their behaviour in view of uncertainty propagation.
                                            
                                            
                                        Hans-Jörg Vogel, Stephan Bartke, Katrin Daedlow, Katharina Helming, Ingrid Kögel-Knabner, Birgit Lang, Eva Rabot, David Russell, Bastian Stößel, Ulrich Weller, Martin Wiesmeier, and Ute Wollschläger
                                    SOIL, 4, 83–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-83-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-4-83-2018, 2018
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                                                This paper deals with the importance of soil for our terrestrial environment and the need to predict the impact of soil management on the multitude of functions that soil provides. We suggest to consider soil as a self-organized complex system and provide a concept of how this could be achieved. This includes how soil research, currently fragmented into a number of more or less disjunct disciplines, may be integrated to substantially contribute to a science-based evaluation of soil functions.
                                            
                                            
                                        Gerard Govers, Roel Merckx, Bas van Wesemael, and Kristof Van Oost
                                    SOIL, 3, 45–59, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-3-45-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-3-45-2017, 2017
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                                                We discuss pathways towards better soil protection in the 21st century. The efficacy of  soil conservation technology is not a fundamental barrier for a more sustainable soil management. However, soil conservation is generally not directly beneficial to the farmer. We believe that the solution of this conundrum is a rapid, smart intensification of agriculture in the Global South. This will reduce the financial burden and  will, at the same time, allow more effective conservation.
                                            
                                            
                                        M. Köchy, R. Hiederer, and A. Freibauer
                                    SOIL, 1, 351–365, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-351-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-351-2015, 2015
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                                                Soils contain 1062Pg organic C (SOC) in 0-1m depth based on the adjusted Harmonized World Soil Database. Different estimates of bulk density of Histosols cause an uncertainty in the range of -56/+180Pg. We also report the frequency distribution of SOC stocks by continent, wetland type, and permafrost type. Using additional estimates for frozen and deeper soils, global soils are estimated to contain 1325Pg SOC in 0-1m and ca. 3000Pg, including deeper layers.
                                            
                                            
                                        Cited articles
                        
                        Admunson, R. L., Berhe, A. A., Hopmans, J. W., Olson, C., Sztein, A. E., and
Sparks, D. L.: Soil and Human Security in the 21st Century, Science, 348, 6235, 647, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261071, 2015.
                    
                
                        
                        Arnold, R. W., Szabolcs, I., and Targulian, V. O.: Global soil change. Report
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                Short summary
            The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources Report. The gravest threats were identified for all the regions of the world. This assessment forms a basis for future soil monitoring. The quality of soil information available for policy formulation must be improved.
            The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil...
            
         
 
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
                        
                                         
             
             
            