Soil Degradation and Conservation in Agricultural and Natural
Ecosystems
EEB 298/395 Tuesday, Thursday 11-12:15, TLS 115
Dr. Zoe Cardon, zoe.cardon@uconn.edu, 486-3868
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Date |
Topic |
Discussion Leader |
Questions e-mailed
(with Dr. C's ok) by... |
Paper Status |
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Jan 23 |
Organization and introductions |
Dr. C. |
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Jan 28 |
Introduction to soil: what is it? How does it "age"? What "services" does soil provide? |
Dr. C. (demo!) |
Jan. 24 |
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Jan 30 |
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Dr. C. |
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Feb 4 |
Agriculture--The Dust Bowl of the |
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Jan. 31 |
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Feb 6 |
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Dr. C. |
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Feb 11 |
Agriculture – Nutrient limitation, fertilization, and greenhouse gases |
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Feb. 7 |
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Feb 13 |
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Dr. C. |
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Feb 18 |
Special lecture: Robin Chazdon (forests in the tropics) |
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Feb 20 |
Special lecture: Thomas Morris (sustainable agriculture) |
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Feb 25 |
Soil salinization – multiple causes |
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Feb. 21 |
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Feb 27 |
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Dr. C. |
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Mar 4 |
Soil acidification |
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Feb. 28 |
Topic selec-ted, 10 refer-ences due |
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Mar 6 |
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Dr. C. |
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Mar 11 |
Soil carbon storage in agro-, urban, and "natural" ecosystems: countering the rise in atmospheric CO2? |
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Mar 7 |
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Mar 13 |
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Dr. C. |
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Mar 25 |
Soil Biodiversity |
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Mar 14 |
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Mar 27 |
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Dr. C. |
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Date |
Topic |
Discussion Leader |
Questions e-mailed (with
Dr. C's ok) by... |
Paper Status |
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Apr 1 |
To be determined by students |
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Mar 28 |
Outline due |
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Apr 3 |
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Dr. C. |
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Apr 8 |
To be determined by students |
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Apr 4 |
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Apr 10 |
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Dr. C. |
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Apr 15 |
To be determined by students |
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Apr 11 |
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Apr 17 |
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Dr. C. |
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Apr 22 |
To be determined by students |
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Apr 18 |
Complete Rough Draft due |
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Apr 24 |
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Dr. C. |
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Apr 29 |
To be determined by students |
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Apr 25 |
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May 1 |
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Dr. C. |
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May 6 |
20 Minute Presentations by Students on Semester Paper Research Topics |
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Final Paper Due |
Potential topics for
later in the semester (Dr. C has readings for all of these, and some other
topics, already, but students are encouraged to follow their interests and
suggest papers too):
· Soils along urban-rural gradients – how do "heat islands" and pollution associated with cities affect soil properties and functions?
· Bioremediation – how can micro-organisms be used in soils to "clean up" highly polluted sites?
·
Footprints still visible today (on the ground
and from the air!) of ancient raised-bed agriculture around
· ...?
Class format:
Class time will be spent in a combination of lecture and discussion. Over the first few weeks, Dr. C. will present basic information about soils that is necessary to understand how and why soils have been degraded world-wide. After this background has been laid, Dr. C. will move toward using lecture time to present information complementary to assigned readings.
- Tuesdays: You will have substantially more assigned reading for Tuesday discussion than for Thursday discussion. Students will lead discussions on Tuesdays. Dr. C. will lecture only briefly at the beginning of Tuesday class.
- Thursdays: You will have a smaller reading assignment for Thursday. Dr. C. will lecture for slightly longer on Thursdays, providing necessary background for readings, and linking ideas across weeks.
Topics to be covered in this class will be set partially by the interests of the students.
Initial weeks of directed readings are designed to orient students to properties of soils, within the context of challenges in soil degradation and soil management. Later weeks will be more free-form, with students taking a stronger and stronger role selecting readings and directing discussion.
Friday of each week, we will e-mail a small group of "thought questions" about the assigned readings to guide your preparation for class discussion the following Tuesday. These will not be the only topics discussed from the readings! They are meant to be a guide to some major ideas only. Discussion leaders are responsible for working with Dr. C. to provide these questions the Friday before their Tuesday discussion. This will require that discussion leaders look at the readings before talking with Dr. C. about potential questions to be e-mailed Friday. Note that later in the semester, as the reading we do begins to depend more and more on student interests, discussion leaders will need to decide on their topic of interest at least a week before they lead discussion, then work with Dr. C. to find appropriate readings and put together appropriate questions for Friday e-mailing. (There are lists of potential topics and potential readings at the end of this handout. Students can draw from these suggestions later in the semester, or they can work with Dr. C. to find information about other topics they want to study.)
There will be copies of readings in the EEB office, third floor of Torrey Life Sciences, in a folder in the filing cabinet. The folder will be labeled with the name of this course, and readings will be labeled by date. You may remove readings ONLY to photocopy them *in the EEB office*. (To do this, talk to the person behind the desk. She or he will make you copies, and you will pay him/her 5 cents per copy.) Do not take readings away!! Often, PDF versions of readings will be available on the web site. Also, several books are being used extensively in the course, and I have placed a copy of them on reserve in the library. I've also put on reserve a copy of a very good reference book about soils (Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils), in case you want to look up terms or read a little more about soil science, and a very good reference book about biogeochemistry and ecosystems science (Schlesinger, Biogeochemistry: an Analysis of Global Change).
Books on reserve in
the library:
Bormann, F. Herbert and Kellert,
Stephen R., Eds. (1991) Ecology, Economics, Ethics -- The Broken
Circle.
Richter Jr., Daniel D. and Markewitz,
Daniel. (2001) Understanding
Soil Change -- Soil Sustainability over Millennia, Centuries, and Decades.
Schlesinger,
W. H. (1997) Biogeochemistry:
an Analysis of Global Change. Academic Press,
Thompson, Paul
B. (1995) The Spirit of the Soil -- Agriculture and
Environmental Ethics.
Worster, Donald. (1979) DustBowl -- The
Southern Plains in the 1930s.
Grading:
Grading will be based on class participation, preparation, written answers to questions, effectiveness of presentation and leadership by each discussion leader, and the semester paper and final presentation.
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Points |
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Participation (when not discussion leader) |
1.5 pts per week (13 wks) |
19.5 |
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Preparation for discussion (when not discussion leader) |
1.5 pts per week (13 wks) |
19.5 |
|
Questions answered and turned in (five
different weeks) |
3 pts per question answered |
15 |
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Discussion leading |
point assignment per session depends on class size |
19 |
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Semester paper |
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Reference list |
2 pts |
2 |
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Outline |
4 pts |
4 |
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Draft |
6 pts |
6 |
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Final paper |
10 pts |
10 |
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In-class presentation of research topic |
5 pts |
5 |
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TOTAL |
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100 |
Likely grade percentages will be 93-100% A, 90-93% A-, 87-90% B+, 83-87% B, 80-83% B-, 77-80% C+, 73-77% C, 70-73% C-, 67-70% D+, 63-67% D, 60-63% D-, <60% F.
Questions answered
and turned in:
Each Friday, several broad "thought" questions will be e-mailed to you all to help guide your thinking for Tuesday's discussion. You need to answer one question from that group of thought questions on five different Tuesdays during the semester. You choose the Tuesdays where you want to turn in an answer to a question. This allows you to choose the topic you will be answering a question about, and allows you to choose the weeks when you will need to write up the answer to the question.
***Your answer MUST:
(1) be typed in 12
point font, 1 inch margins all sides, 8.5 x 11" paper
(2) be double
spaced (not single spaced), between ½ and one full page long, no more, no less. (I won't read it if it doesn't fit within
these guidelines, and you will get a zero for the assignment!)
(3) be turned in
during class, not after class.
(4) be based on and refer to the reading! You can bring in other relevant information, especially during class, and I encourage you to do so. But, your written answers to these questions are your chance to show, in writing, that you've done the reading and thought about it.
***AND...
(1) Do not quote extensively from the reading. I want to see your ideas in your own words.
(2) Do not plagiarize! Go to http://english.uconn.edu/Undergraduate/plagpol.html to make sure you understand what plagiarism is. Also, go to http://www/dosa.uconn.edu/Code2.html to make sure you understand how plagiarism (and other academic misconduct) is dealt with at UConn. (Notice too that you have student rights, spelled out at http://www.dosa.uconn.edu/AppendA.html )
Semester paper:
The semester paper can be on any topic relating to soil degradation, restoration, or management to deter degradation. It should be 9-11 pages long for undergraduates (19-21 pages for graduate students), typed, double spaced, 12 point font, 8.5" x 11" paper, with no more than 25 references. References should be either (1) from primary literature (e.g. journal articles) only, OR (2) from a mix of primary and secondary literature. The paper should synthesize information, not simply repeat information from the references. Direct quoting of sources is strongly discouraged. Benchmarks for paper preparation are given in the syllabus below. Dr. C. is happy to discuss potential paper topics and/or provide guidance in finding references. Again, watch for plagiarism!
*********************************************************************************
Assigned
readings.
(
For Jan. 28 Intro to Soils -- Assigned reading
Wolfe, David.
W. 2001 Introduction.
IN: Tales from theUnderground
-- A Natural History of Subterranean Life. Perseus Publishing,
Logan, William
B. 1991.
The Soil
Richter Jr., Daniel D. and Markewitz,
Daniel. 2001. Soil development from the Devonian to
Mendocino and
Richter Jr., Daniel D. and Markewitz,
Daniel. 2001. Concerns about soil in the modern world. IN: Understanding Soil Change -- Soil
Sustainability over Millennia, Centuries, and Decades.
Pygmy forest links
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/Johnson/Biomes/BiomesSub/PygmyForest.html
http://nrs.ucop.edu/reserves/pygmy.html
http://www.virtualguidebooks.com/NorthCalif/NorthCalCoast/LittleRiver/PygmyForestBoardwalk.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/pubs/ecoregions/ch32.html
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/Johnson/Landforms/RocksWxing/PodzolPygmyForest.html
http://www.calacademy.org/calwild/pacdis/issues/spring97/trail.htm (this shows somebody looking at a 15-30 year old cypress tree!)
http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/Registry/USA_Map/States/California/california.htm (map of CA with pygmy forest marked)
Big
http://www.stanford.edu/group/Vitousek/ nice animation of island production
http://www.mycena.sfsu.edu/hawaiian/Agaricales.html map of the archipelago
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/Hawaiian.html hotspots info...map of ocean ridges etc.
For Jan. 30
Daily, Gretchen
C., Matson,
Pamela A., and Vitousek, Peter M. 1997.
Ecosystem services supplied by soil.
IN: Nature's Services -- Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Ed: Gretchen C. Daily. Island Press,
For Feb. 4 Agriculture – Sod-busting and its
consequences
Worster,
Donald.1979. Introduction. IN: DustBowl -- The
Southern Plains in the 1930s.
Worster,
Donald.1979. The black blizzards
blow in. IN: DustBowl -- The Southern Plains in the 1930s.
Worster, Donald.
1979. What holds the earth together. IN: DustBowl -- The Southern Plains in the 1930s.
Thompson, Paul
B. 1995. The ethics of
soil. IN: The Spirit of the Soil -- Agriculture and Environmental Ethics.
Web site with interesting conversations with people who lived through the dust bowl, as well as Worster's perspective:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/filmmore/index.html
For Feb. 6
Worster, Donald.
1979. Sodbusting. IN: DustBowl -- The
Southern Plains in the 1930s.
Hillel, Daniel J.
1991. Man-made deserts. IN: Out
of the Earth -- Civilization and the Life of the Soil. The Free Press,
Feb. 11 Agriculture – Nutrient
limitations – fertilize? How? Why?
What are the consequences?
Jackson,
Wes. 1991. Nature as the measure for a
sustainable agriculture. IN: Ecology, Economics, Ethics -- The Broken
Circle. Bormann,
F. Herbert and Kellert, Stephen R., Eds.
Richter Jr., Daniel D. and Markewitz,
Daniel. 2001. Managing soils for productivity and
environmental quality. IN: Understanding
Soil Change -- Soil Sustainability over Millennia, Centuries, and Decades.
Sanchez, P. A. and Leakey, R. R. B. 1997. Land use transformation in
Sanchez, P.A.
2002. Soil Fertility and Hunger in
Skim Richter Jr., Daniel D. and Markewitz, Daniel.
2001. Soil change over millennia,
centuries, and decades. IN: Understanding
Soil Change -- Soil Sustainability over Millennia, Centuries, and Decades.
Web sites that Diane used during class:
http://www.dsw.co.il/map_index.htm
http://www.dsw.co.il/PhotoGallery_rotem.htm
http://www.cargillfertilizer.com/Operations/operminesf.htm
http://earthsci.terc.edu/content/investigations/es2206/es2206page01.cfm?chapter_no=investigation
Pedro Sanchez in the news, winning the World Food Prize: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/08/12_food.html
Feb. 13
Robertson, G. P., E. A. Paul, and R. Harwood. 2000. Greenhouse gases in intensive agriculture: Contributions of individual gases to the radiative forcing of the atmosphere. Science 289: 1922-1925.
Very simplified N cycle! Where would you put NH3? Nitrite? Immobilization? Fixation? Denitrification? Nitrification? Ammonification?
Feb. 18 Roland
de Gouvenain –
Feb. 20 Thomas Morris – Agriculture and the N-cycle
Feb. 25 Salinization – Where it's happening, why it's happening, and some control measures
Brady,
N., and Weil, R. (2002) Soils of dry regions. IN: The
Nature and Properties of Soils,13th ed.,
Prentice Hall NJ, pp. 412, 419-422, Box 10.1 pg 437
Cancho, O., Greiner, R., Fulloon, L. (2001) An economic analysis of farm forestry
as a means of controlling dryland salinity. The
Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 45:
233-256. (**READ ONLY 233-237!)
Kotb, T. H. S., Watanabe, T., Ogino,
Y., and Tanji, K. K. (2000) Soil salinization
in the Nile Delta and related policy issues in
Zalidis, G., Stamatiadis,
S., Takavakoglou, V., Eskridge,
K., Misopolinos, N.
(2002) Impacts
of agricultural practices on soil and water quality in the Mediterranean region
and proposed assessment methodology.
Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 88:
137-146.
Feb. 27 ...then and now...
Jacobsen, T., and
Frommer, W. B., Ludewig, U., and Rentsch, D. (1999)