Soil quality is an evolving concept intended to aid farmers, land managers, researchers, public decisionmakers, and others in the management of soil resources. The central question of soil quality assessment is “how does a soil function?” and a variety of physical, chemical, and biological indicators can be used to address it. This question, however, is complicated by the interdependencies betw...

Assessing effects of cropping systems on soil organic matter (SOM) and soil carbon (C) changes are necessary to make accurate projections regarding sequestration and emission of CO2 by agricultural soils. This process requires substantial annual management inputs and large outlays for soil sampling and analyses. Our objectives were (1) to evaluate and test an alternative method for soil organic...

Soil quality appears to be an ideal indicator of sustainable land management. Soil is the foundation for nearly all land uses. Soil quality, by definition, reflects the capacity to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health. By reflecting the basic capacity of the soil to function, it integrates across many potential use...

Foresters have always relied on a knowledge of chemical and physical properties of soils to assess capacity of sites to support productive forests. Recently, the need for assessing soil properties has expanded because of growing public interest in determining consequences of management practices on the quality of soil relative to sustainability of forest ecosystem functions in addition to plant...

Ecologically based farming conserves and improves the soil resource and protects environmental quality by using organic or natural resources without the application of synthetic chemicals. Soil quality assessment indicates the ability of management systems to optimize soil productivity and to maintain its structural and biological integrity. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of ecologica...

Soil disturbance patterns and associated changes in soil physical status were measured in a study that evaluated the implementation of three alternative management prescriptions in an upland hardwood stand in northern Alabama, USA. Management prescriptions applied in this study consisted of a clear-cut, strip cut, and deferment cut that were compared to a non-harvested control. Final tabulation...

a National Engineering Laboratory of Soil Nutrient Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China b Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain c Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708PB Wageningen, The Netherlands d University of Ch...

Objectives The objective of this research is to characterize biological, physical and chemical soil quality parameters and monitor their changes over time in minimum tillage and no-till seeding systems as affected by tillage, crop species and management systems to identify soil quality attributes that can be used in the development of best management practices for conserving soil quality and en...