Rattan Lal, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Published online: April 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003295
Soil is a finite and a nonrenewable resource, unequally distributed geographically, and fragile to misuse and mismanagement. It is a complete form of degradation leading to loss in productivity on-site, and pollution of water and air off-site. Soils need to be used, improved and restored.
Keywords: soil erosion; productivity; soil degradation; restoration; soil quality
| References | |
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| book Lal R (1999) "Erosion impact on soil quality in the tropics". In: Lal R (ed.) Soil Quality and Soil Erosion, pp. 285–305. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Publishers | |
| book Lal R, Mokma D and Lowery B (1999) "Relation between soil quality and erosion". In: Lal R (ed.) Soil Quality and Soil Erosion, pp. 237–258. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Publishers | |
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| book Oldeman LR (1998) Soil Degradation: a Threat to Food Security. Wageningen, Holland: ISRIC. | |
| Olson KR, Lal R and Norton DL (1994) Evaluation of methods to study soil erosion–productivity relationships. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 49: 586–590. | |
| book Olson KR, Mokma DL, Lal R, Schumacher TE and Lindstrom MJ (1999) "Erosion impacts on crop yield for selected soils of the North Central United States". In: Lal R (ed.) Soil Quality and Soil Erosion, pp. 259–284. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Publishers | |
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| Williams JR, Renard KG and Dyke PT (1983) EPIC – a new method for assessing erosion's effect on soil productivity. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 38: 381–383. | |
| Further Reading | |
| book Lal R (ed.) (1999) Soil Quality and Soil Erosion. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. | |
| book Lal R and Stewart BA (1990) "Soil Degradation". In: Advances in Soil Science, vol. II. New York: Springer. | |
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