E-Letter responses to:

review: Jonathan A. Foley, Ruth DeFries, Gregory P. Asner, Carol Barford, Gordon Bonan, Stephen R. Carpenter, F. Stuart Chapin, Michael T. Coe, Gretchen C. Daily, Holly K. Gibbs, Joseph H. Helkowski, Tracey Holloway, Erica A. Howard, Christopher J. Kucharik, Chad Monfreda, Jonathan A. Patz, I. Colin Prentice, Navin Ramankutty, and Peter K. Snyder Global Consequences of Land Use Science 2005; 309: 570-574 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

E-Letters: Submit a response to this article

Published E-Letter responses:

Land Use Is Always Accompanied by Soil Change

Dan H YAALON   (16 November 2005)

Land Use Is Always Accompanied by Soil Change 16 November 2005
Dan H YAALON, Professor (emer.) Hebrew University Instutute if Earth Sciences Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Land Use Is Always Accompanied by Soil Change	The global review of Foley, de Fries and others on consequences of land use (22 July, p. 570, with ample online supporting material) is valuable, summarizing well the major current features and including hints on developing future strategies. However, it neglects to discuss the impact on soils due to change in land use. Soils are a major factor in land use and the important link between climate and biogeochemical earth systems (1). Hence, land use practices and land cover change are always accompanied by soil change. Not only the carbon and hydrological cycle but also the soil and sediment cycles have been changed by human land use practices over time. Why is there a slant toward biodiversity decrease and no mention of the possibly equally significant pedodiversity reduction and soil quality attributes (2)? With nearly half of Earth's land surface now drastically changed to arable land and pasture (currently ~12% and ~25%, respectively, with additional areas of managed forests), the respective surficial soils have changed their original nature and pedological properties, and some must now be differently classified (3). While largely turning more productive, some were degraded and certain soil varieties have become endangered or even extinct, like any other biota. This is worthwhile to draw attention to as consequences of changing land cover surfaces. Pedology (soil science) is a relatively young branch of the earth sciences (1, 4), and because of combining both the bio-geo-chemical and physical aspects, soils have developed into an exceptionally complicated system of ecosystem functions, including applied services for mankind, as the recent articles in SCIENCE (11 June 2004) so well demonstrated (5). Statistical evaluation of pedodiversity, partly analogous to biodiversity, is a growing topic in soils (3, 6). We must not neglect to consider soils appropriately in any global, regional, or local context. Dan H. YAALON Institute of Earth Sciences Hebrew University Givat Ram Campus Jerusalem 91904, Israel E-mail: yaalon@vms.huji.ac.il References 1. D. H.Yaalon, Nature 407, 301 (2000). 2. R. Amundson, Are soil endangered?, in The Earth Around Us, Maintaining a Livable Planet, J. Schneiderman, Ed. (Freeman, New York, 2000), pp. 144-153. 3. R. Amundson et al., Ecosystems 6, 479 (2003). 4. D. H. Yaalon, S. Berkowicz, History of Soil Science - International Perspectives (Catena Verlag, Reiskirchen, Germany, 1997). 5. Special Section on Soils - The Final Frontier, Science 204, 1613-1637 (2004). 6. J. J. Ibanez et al., Geoderma 83, 171 (1998).