Representativeness of European biochar research: part I–field experiments

A representativeness survey of existing European Biochar field experiments within the Biochar COST Action TD1107 was conducted to gather key information for setting up future experiments and collaborations, and to minimise duplication of efforts amongst European researchers. Woody feedstock biochar, applied without organic or inorganic fertiliser appears over-represented compared to other categories, especially considering the availability of crop residues, manures, and other organic waste streams and the efforts towards achieving a zero waste economy. Fertile arable soils were also over-represented while shallow unfertile soils were under-represented. Many of the latter are likely in agroforestry or forest plantation land use. The most studied theme was crop production. However, other themes that can provide evidence of mechanisms, as well as potential undesired side-effects, were relatively well represented. Biochar use for soil contamination remediation was the least represented theme; further work is needed to identify which specific contaminants, or mixtures of contaminants, have the potential for remediation by different biochars. © 2017 The Author(s) Published by VGTU Press and Informa UK Limited, [trading as Taylor & Francis Group]

Guidelines for Soil Description and Classification Central and Eastern European Students’ Version.

Soil investigation may be carried out on various levels of knowledge, research capacity and proficiency. Scientists commonly apply advanced methodology for soil resources inventory, including the professional terminology for landscape and soil description, data acquisition and processing, soil classification and mapping, soil and land evaluation. By default, an internationally accepted system should be recommended. An implementation of such methodology is also recommended in more advanced courses of soil science studies on bachelor and master study levels. However, the long-term teaching experience reveals difficulties connected mainly with complicated terminology and excessive number of characteristics obligatory to know, and justifies some simplification of the language, rules and structure at the introductory stage of teaching. This was the base and rationale for the preparation of simplified Guidelines for Soil Description and Classification: Central and Eastern European Students’ Version. This book is divided into three parts. The first one – Site and soil description - follows the layout and content of professional edition of Guidelines for Soil Description, 4th ed., published by FAO (2006), simplified for educational purposes. The order of description has been modified to correspond to the layout of an original Soil description sheet. The second part - Soil classification - is a simplified WRB classification (based on a 2014/2015 edition) limited to reference soil groups known from Central Europe. The third part is an Illustrated explanatory guide that includes: i) examples of typical soil profiles for all Central European Reference Soil Groups; ii) morphological features important for soil description and identification in the field; iii) soil- landscape relationships. The photos have been enriched with graphical tips helpful at the recognizing of important soil features. The textbook was developed in the framework of EU Erasmus+ FACES project (Freely Accessible Central European Soil) aiming to facilitate the knowledge and implementation of an international rules of soil characterization adopted by the FAO. It will be used to unify the presentation of soil data collected in the partner countries. The interpretation of soil data fully based on the international soil classification WRB (World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2015) as WRB was endorsed by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) and accepted by the European Commission as an official system for the European Union. Therefore, this guideline might be a starting point for preparation of basic teaching materials to spread the knowledge on an internationally recommended rules and terminology for soil description and classification. However, this guideline is designed as teaching tool for students in Central and Eastern European countries and therefore it may not be applicable worldwide. Moreover, it is suited for the “first step” training, and it is not substituting any professional original classification. Authors of this guidebook assume that the users are familiar with the basic knowledge in soil science. Therefore, the guidelines do not contain explanations related to basic soil forming factors, soil forming processes and basic physico-chemical features

Representativeness of European biochar research : Part I - field experiments

A representativeness survey of existing European Biochar field experiments within the Biochar COST Action TD1107 was conducted to gather key information for setting up future experiments and collaborations, and to minimise duplication of efforts amongst European researchers. Woody feedstock biochar, applied without organic or inorganic fertiliser appears over-represented compared to other categories, especially considering the availability of crop residues, manures, and other organic waste streams and the efforts towards achieving a zero waste economy. Fertile arable soils were also over-represented while shallow unfertile soils were under-represented. Many of the latter are likely in agroforestry or forest plantation land use. The most studied theme was crop production. However, other themes that can provide evidence of mechanisms, as well as potential undesired side-effects, were relatively well represented. Biochar use for soil contamination remediation was the least represented theme; further work is needed to identify which specific contaminants, or mixtures of contaminants, have the potential for remediation by different biochars.Peer reviewe

The State of Soil in Europe : A contribution of the JRC to the European Environment Agency’s Environment State and Outlook Report— SOER 2010

This report presents a pan-European perspective on the state soil in Europe in light of available data held within the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) and the research activities within the Joint Research Centre’s Soil Action. Managed by the JRC on behalf of EU institutions, the ESDAC operates as a focal point for pan-European data and information on soil. The core of this report was prepared as the Soil Assessment (EEA, 2010f) of the ‘Environment — state and outlook 2010 Report’, generally referred to as the SOER 2010. Coordinated by the European Environment Agency, the SOER series is aimed primarily at policymakers, in Europe and beyond, involved with framing and implementing policies that could support environmental improvements in Europe. The information also helps European citizens to better understand, care for and improve Europe's environment. The soil assessment was one of a set of 13 Europe-wide thematic assessments of key environmental themes and the only one coordinated by the JRC. The initial contribution from the JRC to the SOER exercise has been updated with additional material that could not be included in the SOER due to space restrictions, together with supplementary information that was not available at the time of the publication of the original text. The report describes the knowledge and understanding of the state of soil in Europe and the main trends, outlook and policy responses for the key processes affecting soil resources in Europe. Unfortunately, our knowledge base on many of the key functions of soil that deliver vital environmental services and goods are still poorly developed. This aspect will be a key focus of the activities of the Soil Action for the next SOER, foreseen for 2015. A set of pertinent issues and facts from the assessment are presented in the Key Messages section that can be found at the start of this report. Much more information and data can be found that the web sites of the ESDAC (http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu) or the JRC Soil Action (http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu). All SOER 2010 outputs are available on the SOER 2010 website: www.eea.europa.eu/soer.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Influence of Elevation Data Resolution on Spatial Prediction of Colluvial Soils in a Luvisol Region

Input data used for the manuscript: Influence of Elevation Data Resolution on Spatial Prediction of Colluvial Soils in a Luvisol Regio

Spatial Delineation of Organic Carbon Rich Colluvial Soils in Chernozem Regions by Terrain Analysis and Fuzzy Classification

Colluvial soils are considered to be one of the direct results of accelerated soil erosion, resulting in accumulation of humus-rich soil material in terrain depressions and base parts of slope. Their specificity consists in very deep humus horizon which makes them a vast storage of organic carbon. Mapping of the colluvial soils and their spatial extent prediction therefore represent an important contribution in total carbon stock estimation. A method of delineation of colluvial soil area was proposed by applying a combination of high resolution DTM analysis and detailed field survey in the environment of Chernozem soil cover. Two models based on fuzzy classification of soil units were created using different terrain morphometrical features as the only input parameters to predict the colluvial soil area on a morphologically diversified study plot in the Southern Moravia, Czech Republic. The model considering only the terrain properties with strong relationship to colluvial soil occurrence reached 71% accuracy in colluvial area delineation, while the model combining six commonly used features showed less favorable results. The main advantage of the method lies in a low demand of input soil data and its relatively high accuracy.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Új WRB alapú validációs adatbázis és validációs módszertan Közép-Európára, ValiDat.DSM | ValiDat.DSM, a new soil data validation dataset and validation methodology for Central Europe

A pixel alapú kategorikus adatok, különösen a talajosztályozási kategóriák validálása több okból is nehéz. A pixelek szinte sohasem jellemeznek homogén területet, jelentős szintű heterogenitás rejlik mögöttük. Ennek a heterogenitásnak a jellemzésére, illetve az ilyen minőségi változókat, osztályokat tartalmazó adatbázisok jellemzésére nem állnak rendelkezésre validációs adatbázisok. Mennyiségre utaló kvantitatív adatok validálása talán könnyebb, mert ezek jelentős része már önmagában terület alapú adat. A mintákat gyakran nagyobb területről vett részminták összekeverésével gyűjtik, így az ezekből mért adatok már a mintavételi módszertanból adódóan is átlagminták. Talajtípusokra, osztályokra nem lehet „átlagmintázni”, itt minden részmintát külön kell osztályozni és feldolgozni, ezért az ilyen validációs célú adatbázis rendkívül ritka. A ValiDat.DSM erre a célra jött létre. Minden validálni kívánt pixel területére öt szelvény adatait adja meg, melyekből már megjelenési százalék, illetve az osztályok pixelen belüli dominancia viszonyai is meghatározhatók. Ezeket az információkat használtuk fel az osztályváltozókat tartalmazó talajtani adatbázisok validációs módszertanának továbbfejlesztésére.A módszer lényege az osztályváltozók közötti hasonlósági viszonyok számszerűsítése, és területarányú súlyozása. A hasonlóságot egy négy értéket felvevő hasonlósági faktorral jellemeztük. A területi részarányt a ValidDat.DSM-ből származtattuk 20 százalékos kerekítéssel. Ezek alapján számítottunk a validációs helyszínekre taxonómiai alapú becsült pontosság (TAP) értékeket, melyek az adott helyszín egy számértékkel kifejezett pontosság értékei. A hagyományos kategorikus osztályozási pontosság mérésnél csak 0 és 1 értékeket vehettek fel ezek a változók, aszerint, hogy a becsült és a valós osztály kategória megegyezett-e vagy nem. Az általunk javasolt módszer sokkal érzékenyebb, képes egy 0 és 1 közötti skálán bármely értéket felvevő pontosságértékkel jellemezni a becsült és a valós osztályok közötti hasonlóság mértékét.A ValiDat.DSM a validáción kívül számos kutatásnak képezheti kiinduló adatbázisát. Jól alkalmazható eltérő környezeti adottságú területeken belüli talajtani heterogenitás jellemzésére, melyre mintaként a magyarországi pontokat használtuk fel. Az eredmény azt bizonyítja, hogy a referencia csoportok tekintetében a pixelek közel 80%-a viszonylag homogén, ami már önmagában egy értékes és továbbgondolásra érdemes adat. További vizsgálatok lehetségesek az egyéb vizsgált jellemzők térbeli heterogenitására, illetve azok megjelenési összefüggéseinek vizsgálatára is. Az eredmények természetesen erősen függenek a talajképződési környezettől, így értékelésük csak egy komplex természetföldrajzi értelmezés mellett történhet meg.Jelen munkánkban elsősorban a ValiDat.DSM adatbázis és módszertan, valamint a potenciális felhasználási lehetőségek bemutatása volt a cél. A taxonómiai távolságokon alapuló validáció gyakorlatba történő átültetéséhez természetesen még számos részletet ki kell dolgozni. A hasonlósági tényezők önkényesen lettek meghatározva, egy jobban és részletesebben kidolgozott taxonómiai távolság számítási módszer segítségével lényegesen pontosabbá tehetjük a módszert. A helyi viszonyok és jellemzők alapján módosított taxonómiai távolság táblázat valószínűleg tovább javíthatja a módszer megbízhatóságát.A ValiDat.DSM adatbázis a Miskolci Egyetem Földrajz-Geoinformatikai Intézetének honlapján érhető el ( http://www.uni-miskolc.hu/~soil/index.html ). | Digital soil mapping develops soil property and classification maps using remotely sensed data and digital terrain models as input variables for the models. The outputs of these maps are often in raster format with block support, representing average values for the pixel area or the dominant class occurring within the pixels. At the end these pixels occur as purely spatial objects, but in reality there is great heterogeneity behind these overall values. This study aims to characterize this heterogeneity using the reference soil group level of WRB and to report the development and use of a validation dataset, called ValiDat.DSM, and a methodology to characterize categorical soil datasets by their pixel purity and accuracy.The ValiDat.DSM has 114 validation sites covering four countries, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The dataset contains all the relevant diagnostic properties, horizons and materials recognized by the WRB system. Five observations are made at each site, making it possible to calculate the spatial shares and occurrence likelihoods of each diagnostic property. This information is used to characterize the soil variability within the validated pixel.A novel approach was developed to allow this dataset to be used for validating the WRB Reference Soil Group (RSG) layer of the e-SOTER dataset. This task required the quantification of the relationships or similarities between the taxonomic classes. A hybrid approach involving taxonomic distance quantification, based on diagnostic horizons and properties, and similarity calculations, based on expert knowledge, was applied and is presented here.ValiDat.DSM is suitable for research purposes such as soil diversity characterization. A small demonstration was run to quantify the spatial diversity and purity within a pixel area of 450 by 450 m. It was concluded that more than 50% of the sites had only one WRB Reference Soil Group, and that for more than 80% of them 80% or more of the area was covered by a single RSG class.ValiDat.DSM is free to download from the website of the Geography Institute of the University of Miskolc ( http://www.uni-miskolc.hu/~soil/index.html