Soil Conservation and Sustainability

Soil is the fundamental provider of all resources and services at the base of terrestrial ecosystem functioning and agricultural productivity, yet this role is nowadays threatened by the growing impacts of the unyielding exploitation of agricultural land, overgrazing, population pressure, pollution, and the unprecedented length as well as frequency of extreme climatic events that result in soil degradation and erosion.

The scope of this Section is to provide a suitable platform with which to increase the visibility of studies aimed at preserving the capacity of soils to sustain life, by reporting original results of field and laboratory experiments, soil resource and pollution monitoring and modeling, which can provide a basis for improved knowledge on related issues, and novel tools with which to conserve and restore soil functions.

“Soil Conservation and Sustainability” therefore welcomes contributions on the following topics:

• Evaluation of the soil vulnerability status in representative areas;
• Novel indicators and indexes for the assessment of impacts of agricultural management;
• Soil erosion control (modeling of processes such as erosion by water and wind, the assessment of countermeasures, climate change impacts, etc.);
• Monitoring and effects of soil contamination by anthropic activities;
• Contaminant behavior in soil (modeling, persistence, leaching, and bioavailability);
• Evaluation and monitoring of soil biological processes and microbial community structure;
• Soil remediation;
• Preservation of soil ecosystem services.

Contributions featuring novel interdisciplinary approaches and proposals for well-focused Special Issues on specific topics of interest are particularly welcome.