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| Soil. Fragile Interface | Buy a book...
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| Author(s): | P. Stengel and S. Gelin (Eds) |
| Publisher: | Science Publishers |
| ISBN: | 1578082196 |
| Format: | hardback |
| 252pp | |
| Price: | $75.00 |
| Review Date: | 23 December 2003 |
| Review: | Soil can be defined as ‘a support on which all fauna and flora move and on which all heavy structures whether living or inert are borne’. It is fragile and non-renewable. Soil is vital for the functioning of ecosystems. It is threatened by many processes, the major ones being chemical pollution from toxic trace elements or organic pollution, acidification of forest soils, erosion and physical degradation, and the reduction in organic matter. Most changes in soil and its quality are only slowly reversible and soil, therefore, should be considered as an almost non-renewable source. Here the authors emphasise the need to manage the soil and preserve its quality, advocating a broad-based soil rehabilitation programme. There are four sections: soil as a site of exchange and transfer; the biotransformation of soil; the consequences of human exploitation of soils; and how to manage soil better. |