Soil and human security in the 21st century

Amundson, R.; Berhe, Asmeret Asefaw; Hopmans, Jan W.; Olson, Carolyn; Sztein, A. Ester; Sparks, Donald L.

doi:10.1126/science.1261071

Cited by 973 publications

(513 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…While land use is the underlying anthropogenic driver of SOC loss, the degree to which land use results in SOC loss is at least partially dependent upon the degree to which the soil resource has been exploited (2). Using the Global Land Degradation Information System biophysical status of land index, a quantitative expression of a given land area's ability to provide four categories of ecosystem services (biomass, soil, water, and biodiversity) (30), we found a strong correlation between land degradation and SOC loss (SI Appendix, Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…agriculture | soil organic matter | climate change | soil degradation T he incredible rise of human civilizations and the continuing sustainability of current and future human societies are inextricably linked to soils and the wide array of services soils provide (1)(2)(3). Human population and economic growth has led to an exponential rise in use of soil resources.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use

Sanderman

Hengl

Fiske

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

810

464

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Human appropriation of land for agriculture has greatly altered the terrestrial carbon balance, creating a large but uncertain carbon debt in soils. Estimating the size and spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss due to land use and land cover change has been difficult but is a critical step in understanding whether SOC sequestration can be an effective climate mitigation strategy. In this study, a machine learning-based model was fitted using a global compilation of SOC data and the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) land use data in combination with climatic, landform and lithology covariates. Model results compared favorably with a global compilation of paired plot studies. Projection of this model onto a world without agriculture indicated a global carbon debt due to agriculture of 133 Pg C for the top 2 m of soil, with the rate of loss increasing dramatically in the past 200 years. The HYDE classes "grazing" and "cropland" contributed nearly equally to the loss of SOC. There were higher percent SOC losses on cropland but since more than twice as much land is grazed, slightly higher total losses were found from grazing land. Important spatial patterns of SOC loss were found: Hotspots of SOC loss coincided with some major cropping regions as well as semiarid grazing regions, while other major agricultural zones showed small losses and even net gains in SOC. This analysis has demonstrated that there are identifiable regions which can be targeted for SOC restoration efforts.agriculture | soil organic matter | climate change | soil degradation T he incredible rise of human civilizations and the continuing sustainability of current and future human societies are inextricably linked to soils and the wide array of services soils provide (1-3). Human population and economic growth has led to an exponential rise in use of soil resources. Roughly 50 million km 2 of soils are currently being managed to some degree by humans for food, fiber, and livestock production (4), leading to the declaration that we live on a "used planet" (5). The consequences of human domination of soil resources are far ranging (6, 7): accelerated erosion, desertification, salinization, acidification, compaction, biodiversity loss, nutrient depletion, and loss of soil organic matter (SOM).Of these soil threats, loss of SOM has received the most attention, due to the critical role SOM plays in the contemporary carbon cycle (8, 9) and as a key component of sustaining food production (10, 11). Despite the intense research interest in SOM and soil organic carbon (SOC) as the dominant component of SOM, there remain many unknowns (12) that impede progress in implementing sound land management strategies to rebuild SOC stocks (13).Conversion of native soil to agricultural uses typically leads to a decline in SOC levels (14-16). The rate and extent of decline in SOC stocks should vary greatly across the globe, due to differences in soil properties, climate, type of land-use conversion, and, importantly, the specific manage...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use

Sanderman

Hengl

Fiske

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

810

464

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Steffen et al, 2004;2015) including global warming, an upsurge in extreme flood events and the creation of alternative water cycles (Grassel, 2006;Macklin et al, 2012), as well as the extinction of species (Leakey & Lewin, 1996), which was coined the Sixth Extinction by Kolbert (2014). Soil erosion has increased to a level considered a human security hazard for the 21 st century (Svoray & Bensaid, 2010;Svoray et al, 2015;Amundson et al, 2015), and we are witnesses to the creation of a new geological formation 'plastiglomerate', comprising molten plastic (Corcoran et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Paleo-Anthropocene and the Genesis of the Current Landscape of Israel

Ackermann

Maeir

Frumin

et al. 2017

Journal of Landscape Ecology

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Worldwide, human impact on natural landscapes has intensified since prehistoric times, and this is well documented in the global archaeological record. The period between the earliest hominids and the Industrial Revolution of the late 18-19 th centuries is known as the Paleo-Anthropocene. The current study reviews key geoarchaeological, floral and faunal factors of the Paleo-Anthropocene in Israel, an area that has undergone human activities in various intensities since prehistoric times. It discusses significant human imprints on these three features in the Israeli landscape, demonstrating that its current form is almost entirely anthropogenic. Moreover, some of the past physical changes still dynamically shape Israel's zoological, archaeological and geomorphic landscape today. It is hoped that insights from this article might aid in guiding present-day management strategies of undeveloped areas through renewal of human activity guided by traditional knowledge.

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“…With regard to regional scales, the conceptual objective of this methodological application consists in including pedology in quantitative terms in the discussions on global environmental change, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Bouma, 2014) and on planetary limits (Rockström et al, 2009), due to the criticism of the inactivity of Soil Science with regard to these issues (Hartemink, 2008;Bockheim and Gennadiyev, 2010;Amundson et al, 2015).…”

Section: Characterization Of "Planning Situations" Of the Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnosis of the Accelerated Soil Erosion in São Paulo State (Brazil) by the Soil Lifetime Index Methodology

Medeiros

Giarolla

Sampaio

et al. 2016

Rev. Bras. Ciênc. Solo

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ABSTRACT:The soil is a key component of the Earth System, and is currently under high pressure, due to the increasing global demands for food, energy and fiber. Moreover, the management of agricultural systems is often inadequate and ignores the agricultural suitability of lands, and particularly the vulnerability of soils. This paper demonstrates the application of the concept of the Soil Lifetime Index (SLtI) for the entire state of São Paulo, at a spatial resolution of 30 m. The SLtI methodology represents a tolerance criterion and a diagnostic tool to assess the level of soil degradation by water erosion, based on estimated soil loss rates and on an average soil renewal rate. Two approaches were applied to determine: i) the remaining time (years) until the solum (horizons A + B) is removed by water erosion to a critical depth of 1.0 m (original approach); ii) the remaining time (years) until the top 0.25 m of the nutrient-rich soil surface is removed by water erosion (new approach). Several areas in the state have reached a very critical soil depletion level, due to the predominance of consolidated agricultural activities, mainly of sugarcane and livestock production (as in the mesoregions of Ribeirão Preto, Bauru, Assis, Itapetininga and Araraquara). Only 35 % of the study area is in conserved state; 65 % of the study area is in the state of resource degradation, requiring intervention to diminish soil loss rates -and of this total, SLtI is zero in 1 and 0.25 % of the study area, respectively, for the original (critical depth of 1 m) and the new approach (0.25 m). It was estimated that at the current soil loss rates, within 100 years, 20,000 km 2 of the total area of the state of São Paulo (248,209 km 2 ) will have reached the critical depth of 1.0 m, and the top 0.25 m of the soil surface from an area of approximately 76,000 km 2 will have been completely removed if the current pace of resource exploitation is maintained.

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Soil and human security in the 21st century

Cited by 973 publications

References 54 publications

Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use

Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use

The Paleo-Anthropocene and the Genesis of the Current Landscape of Israel

Diagnosis of the Accelerated Soil Erosion in São Paulo State (Brazil) by the Soil Lifetime Index Methodology

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