Soil Science Challenges in a New Era: A Transdisciplinary Overview of Relevant Topics

• Published in: Air, soil and water research Vol. 13; no. 1
• Main Authors: Rodrigo-Comino, Jesús, López-Vicente, Manuel, Kumar, Vinod, Rodríguez-Seijo, Andrés, Valkó, Orsolya, Rojas, Claudia, Pourghasemi, Hamid Reza, Salvati, Luca, Bakr, Noura, Vaudour, Emmanuelle, Brevik, Eric C, Radziemska, Maja, Pulido, Manuel, Di Prima, Simone, Dondini, Marta, de Vries, Wim, Santos, Erika S, Mendonça-Santos, Maria de Lourdes, Yu, Yang, Panagos, Panos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sage UK: London, England SAGE Publications 2020; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Agricultural sciences; Biogeochemical cycles; Carbon sequestration; Clean technology; Climate change; Computer applications; Concise Review; degradation; Emissions control; Environmental risk; Food contamination; Food production; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; In situ measurement; Life Sciences; Microorganisms; Microplastics; Nitrous oxide; Plastic pollution; Pollutants; Reduction; Rehabilitation; soil and human health; Soil conservation; Soil contamination; Soil dynamics; Soil erosion; Soil microorganisms; soil modeling; Soil pollution; Soil research; Soil sciences; Soil study; Soil water; Sustainable development; Sustainable food systems; Sustainable production; Water availability; Wildfires; soil modeling; Soil research; rehabilitation; degradation; soil and human health; biogeochemical cycles
• ISSN: 1178-6221; 1178-6221
• DOI: 10.1177/1178622120977491

Transdisciplinary approaches that provide holistic views are essential to properly understand soil processes and the importance of soil to society and will be crucial in the future to integrate distinct disciplines into soil studies. A myriad of challenges faces soil science at the beginning of the 2020s. The main aim of this overview is to assess past achievements and current challenges regarding soil threats such as erosion and soil contamination related to different United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) including (1) sustainable food production, (2) ensure healthy lives and reduce environmental risks (SDG3), (3) ensure water availability (SDG6), and (4) enhanced soil carbon sequestration because of climate change (SDG13). Twenty experts from different disciplines related to soil sciences offer perspectives on important research directions. Special attention must be paid to some concerns such as (1) effective soil conservation strategies; (2) new computational technologies, models, and in situ measurements that will bring new insights to in-soil process at spatiotemporal scales, their relationships, dynamics, and thresholds; (3) impacts of human activities, wildfires, and climate change on soil microorganisms and thereby on biogeochemical cycles and water relationships; (4) microplastics as a new potential pollutant; (5) the development of green technologies for soil rehabilitation; and (6) the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by simultaneous soil carbon sequestration and reduction in nitrous oxide emission. Manuscripts on topics such as these are particularly welcomed in Air, Soil and Water Research.