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Land
Special Issues
Challenges and Solutions for Sustainable Land: Soil Quality and Contamination
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Challenges and Solutions for Sustainable Land: Soil Quality and Contamination

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil-Sediment-Water Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 24 June 2024 | Viewed by 1566

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Nick B. Comerford

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Quincy, FL 32351, USA
Interests: forest soils and management; tropical/subtropical; soils; soil ecosystem services; soil organic carbon management
Dr. Paola Grenni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Research Council of Italy (IRSA-CNR), Water Research Institute, Rome, Italy
Interests: microbial soils; soil; rivers; ecology; soil analysis; pesticides
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dongxue Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Interests: soil; soil and plant properties; agriculture; soil water content and crop water use
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil degradation represents the decline in the soil’s ability to deliver its ecosystem services. It modifies the soil's ability to support both plant and animal life and can be documented through defining the soil’s quality. Land contamination or soil pollution is another major soil-based concern found in all four corners of the world with different levels of severity.  Europe, Eurasia, Asia, and North Africa can present some of the most acute circumstances. Human activity, such as unsustainable agriculture methods, mining, waste disposal, and industrial operations, can lead to soil degradation and contamination. Pollution and degradation of soil have serious effects on both the environment and human health. Governments, organizations, communities, and individuals must work closely to improve soil quality and its ability to deliver ecosystem services. Ecosystem restoration, pollution reduction, and sustainable agriculture are only some of the methods available to increase soil health and thereby affect ecosystem and human health.

Soil contamination is a complex problem that requires joint measures from governments, institutions, communities, and individuals to improve soil health and quality in a sustainable way. The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights into the clean-up and remediation of soil contamination, the reduction in chemical use, the application of reforestation and afforestation, recycling and reuse of resources, promotion of biodiversity, and prevention of littering.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

  • Soil quality monitoring, assessment, and soil ecosystem services;
  • Ways of preventing soil quality decline;
  • Preventing, minimizing, and remediating of soil contamination;
  • Sustainable solutions for enhancing soil quality;
  • The effect of different land use types on soil quality.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Nick B. Comerford
Dr. Paola Grenni
Dr. Dongxue Zhao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil quality
  • soil contamination
  • soil degradation
  • land degradation
  • sustainable land

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 26163 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Soil Quality Degradation and Emissions in the State of Iowa (USA)
by Elena A. Mikhailova, Hamdi A. Zurqani, Lili Lin, Zhenbang Hao, Christopher J. Post, Mark A. Schlautman and Gregory C. Post
Land 2024, 13(4), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13040547 - 19 Apr 2024
Viewed by 356
Abstract
The concept of soil quality (SQ) is defined as the soil's capacity to function, which is commonly assessed at the field scale. Soil quality is composed of inherent (soil suitability) and dynamic (soil health, SH) SQ, which can also be analyzed using geospatial [...] Read more.
The concept of soil quality (SQ) is defined as the soil's capacity to function, which is commonly assessed at the field scale. Soil quality is composed of inherent (soil suitability) and dynamic (soil health, SH) SQ, which can also be analyzed using geospatial tools as a SQ continuum (SQC). This study proposes an innovative spatiotemporal analysis of SQ degradation and emissions from land developments using the state of Iowa (IA) in the United States of America (USA) as a case study. The SQ degradation was linked to anthropogenic soil (SD) and land degradation (LD) in the state. More than 88% of land in IA experienced anthropogenic LD primarily due to agriculture (93%). All six soil orders were subject to various degrees of anthropogenic LD: Entisols (75%), Inceptisols (94%), Histosols (59%), Alfisols (79%), Mollisols (93%), and Vertisols (98%). Soil and LD have primarily increased between 2001 and 2016. In addition to agricultural LD, there was also SD/LD caused by an increase in developments often through urbanization. All land developments in IA can be linked to damages to SQ, with 8385.9 km2 of developed area, causing midpoint total soil carbon (TSC) losses of 1.7 × 1011 kg of C and an associated midpoint of social cost of carbon dioxide emissions (SC-CO2) of $28.8B (where B = billion = 109, USD). More recently developed land area (398.5 km2) between 2001 and 2016 likely caused the midpoint loss of 8.0 × 109 kg of C and a corresponding midpoint of $1.3B in SC-CO2. New developments are often located near urban areas, for example, near the capital city of Des Moines, and other cities (Sioux City, Dubuque). Results of this study reveal several different kinds of SQ damage from developments: loss of potential for future C sequestration in soils, soil C loss, and “realized” soil C social costs (SC-CO2). The state of IA has very limited potential land (2.0% of the total state area) for nature-based solutions (NBS) to compensate for SD and LD. The results of this study can be used to support pending soil health-related legislation in IA and monitoring towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by the United Nations (UN) by providing a landscape-level perspective on LD to focus field-level initiatives to reduce soil loss and improve SQ. Future technological innovations will provide higher spatial and temporal remote sensing data that can be fused with field-level direct sensing to track SH and SQ changes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Solutions for Sustainable Land: Soil Quality and Contamination)
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16 pages, 2087 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Soil Quality of Smallholder Agroecosystems in the Semiarid Region of Northeastern Brazil
by Rodrigo Santana Macedo, Renato Pereira Lima, Kalline de Almeida Alves Carneiro, Letícia Moro, Daiana Caroline Refati, Milton Cesar Costa Campos, Raphael Moreira Beirigo, Gislayne Kayne Gomes da Cruz, Antonio Augusto Pereira de Sousa, José Félix de Brito Neto, Josivânia Araújo Duarte and Deibson Teixeira da Costa
Land 2024, 13(3), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13030304 - 29 Feb 2024
Viewed by 716
Abstract
The assessment of soil quality is crucial for the sustainable development of agriculture in semiarid regions. Due to their sensitivity to management practices, soil chemical and physical quality indicators are used for investigating soil quality. This study aimed to assess the soil quality [...] Read more.
The assessment of soil quality is crucial for the sustainable development of agriculture in semiarid regions. Due to their sensitivity to management practices, soil chemical and physical quality indicators are used for investigating soil quality. This study aimed to assess the soil quality of smallholder agroecosystems from the Brazilian semiarid region. Soil physical and chemical attributes were screened using principal component analysis (PCA) and integrated into a weighted additive soil quality index (SQI). Soil quality was obtained using linear and non-linear scoring methods, a total data set (TDS), and a minimum data set (MDS). The soil quality of the agroecosystems was designated as being of moderate grade. The MDS for soil quality assessment includes cation exchange capacity, C stock, exchangeable sodium percentage, flocculation degree, pH, electrical conductivity, available P, and K+ from twenty-five indicators of the TDS. This MDS mainly reflects the input of manure and crop residues associated with moderate weathering of easily weatherable minerals given the semiarid conditions. The SQI obtained can be used to synthesize the information of the TDS and is a valuable tool to indicate the soil quality of agroecosystems; thereby, it can be used with indicators of sustainable management for application at a regional scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and Solutions for Sustainable Land: Soil Quality and Contamination)
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