tailieunhanh - FRONTIERS IN SOIL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Soil is a biogeochemically dynamic natural resource that supports all critical components that comprise terrestrial ecosystems. It has been called Earth’s living skin. On its June 11, 2004, cover, Science declared soils to be “the final frontier.” The growing awareness that soil provides a variety of ecosystem services beyond food production has attracted interest in soil from nonsoil scientists. Collectively, soil is known as the pedosphere, and the processes occurring within soil are inextricably linked to ecosystem services such as water quantity and quality, are important in the exchange of atmospheric gases, and are central to the biogeochemical cycles of the nutrients and carbon that sustain life (see Figure. | FRONTIERS IN iL SOỊLSCIENCỆ RESEARCH . REPORT OF A WORKSHOP 1 _ . nationai BESỂ4SCH COUÍK3L FRONTIERS IN SOILSCIENCE rEsEaRch REPORT OF A WORKSHOP Steering Committee for Frontiers in Soil Science Research Board on International Scientific Organizations Policy and Global Affairs NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington . THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street . Washington DC 20001 NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. Support for this workshop was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0506228 the . Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service under Agreement No. 59-0790-5-085 the Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FG02-05ER64014 and the Soil Science Society of America. Any opinions findings conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project. International Standard Book Number-13 978-0-309-13891-8 International Standard Book Number-10 0-309-13891-4 Cover Design by Francesca Moghari. Photo credits from top to bottom first by Ron Nichols and second and third by Lynn Betts courtesy of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service fourth courtesy of SLAC Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource SSRL and fifth courtesy of PhotoDisc. Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press 500 Fifth Street . Lockbox 285 Washington DC 20055 800 624-6242 or 202 334-3313 in the Washington metropolitan area Internet http .