Skip to main content

Books in Soil science

The Soil Science collection provides comprehensive coverage of soil chemistry, physics, microbiology, fertility, and land management. Featuring innovative research and practical applications, these resources assist soil scientists, agronomists, and researchers in promoting sustainable land use, soil health, and environmental protection. Emphasizing nutrient cycling, contamination remediation, and climate change impacts, the portfolio offers actionable insights for sustainable agriculture and ecosystem management.

  • Biochar Applications

    Advances in Environmental Remediation and Resource Recovery
    • 1st Edition
    • June 1, 2026
    • Ahmad Hussaini Jagaba + 4 more
    • English
    Biochar Applications: Advances in Environmental Remediation and Resource Recovery provides a combined approach between environmental science and environmental engineering that involves the improvement of the natural environment, or the remediation, of polluted sites. In addition, it discusses bioprocess engineering, including the synthesis, modification, characterization, and management of biochar from biomass waste materials. The book includes coverage on sources, impacts, and applications of biochar that could potentially be used as catalysts to enhance environmental remediation and resource recovery processes. Examples of applied research that demonstrate the relationship between wastewater, soil, contaminated environments, remediation, resource recovery, sustainability, and circular bioeconomy are also included.The book bridges the gap between biochar applications in wastewater treatment, soil improvement, gas mitigation, and resource recovery.
  • Aerophytic Algae and Cyanobacteria

    Diversity, Ecology, and Biogeography
    • 1st Edition
    • October 20, 2025
    • Saúl Blanco
    • English
    Aerophytic Algae and Cyanobacteria: Diversity, Ecology, and Biogeography expands our understanding of microalgae and cyanobacteria that colonize air-exposed substrates. These species, often overlooked in marine and freshwater studies, play crucial roles in various ecosystems. Introductory chapters cover their morphology, physiological adaptations, and biogeography, highlighting their ecological significance and interactions within ecosystems. Other sections addresses future research directions, applications in environmental assessments, conservation, water and air quality management, bioremediation, and pollution control. The book, authored by a global team of phycologists, also explores taxa such as edaphic and corticolous diatoms, aeroplanktonic protists, and phototrophic phytotelmata.
  • Soil Microorganisms for Plant Growth Promotion and Soil Health

    • 1st Edition
    • October 15, 2025
    • Gustavo Santoyo
    • English
    Soil Microorganisms for Plant Growth Promotion and Soil Health provides readers with an overview of plant growth-promoting microorganisms and their molecular mechanisms to improve plant growth and soil health. Students and researchers in soil science will gain a comprehensive understanding of soil microbiota diversity and functions, along with insights into the mechanisms by which plant growth, including molecular processes involved in nutrient acquisitions and defense mechanisms work. In addition, the book provides a noteworthy emphasis on fungi.A soil beneficial microbe cannot only be the living cells, but also their components, such as molecules or enzymes produced by this beneficial microbiota. Molecules like microbial phytohormones can be excellent promoters or regulators of plant growth, as well as proteins and other compounds like volatiles, which might elicit a systemic resistance response against pathogenic threats. Therefore, plant growth promoters living in soil, associated with plant roots, could act through direct beneficial interactions with the plant, by stimulating or regulating growth responses to environmental conditions, or indirectly by inhibiting the growth of potential microbial pathogens and herbivore pests.
  • Soil Pollution

    From Monitoring to Remediation
    • 2nd Edition
    • September 16, 2025
    • Teresa Rocha-Santos + 2 more
    • English
    Soil Pollution: From Monitoring to Remediation, Second Edition provides a comprehensive overview of the causes of soil pollution, distribution, transport, and fate of pollutants and transformation of pollutants in soil and metabolite accumulation. Soil pollution has increased over the last decades and may pose a risk for human and ecological health. The book expands and updates on current knowledge with an increased focus on PFAs and micronanplastics. The new edition also includes a new chapter on the One Health initiative.In this book, researchers and students in soil science will find appropriate and comprehensive information on organic, inorganic, and nanoparticle pollutants in soil, methodologies for their monitoring, and data reporting processes in order to gain adequate insights of pollution problems caused by these pollutants.
  • Evapotranspiration in Agro-Ecosystems and Forestry

    Spatio-temporal Applications
    • 1st Edition
    • July 14, 2025
    • Suat Irmak
    • English
    Evapotranspiration in Agro-Ecosystems and Forestry: Spatio-temporal Applications presents the progress and advances made in terms of science and application of evaporation, transpiration, and evapotranspiration for various vegetation surfaces, water bodies, and bare soil under different soil and crop management (including different irrigation and tillage management) conditions. Sections on forest and wetlands evapotranspiration and grassland evaporative losses are included, as are the fundamentals of original Penman, Penman-Monteith, Shuttleworth-Wallace and ASCE-EWRI and FAO56 Penman-Monteith equations and their derivatives.The book is an excellent resource to better understand the progression and applications and dynamics of most recent evapotranspiration, evaporation and transpiration measurement and modeling technologies. Case studies will be provided in terms of how different technologies are currently deployed, how data are used for providing information and management decisions to the users.
  • Microbial Inoculants

    Soil Dynamics and Nutrient Bioavailability
    • 1st Edition
    • May 23, 2025
    • Ajay Kumar + 3 more
    • English
    Microbial Inoculants: Soil Dynamics and Nutrient Bioavailability is an essential volume in the Plant and Soil Microbiome series. This book delves into the foundational and contemporary details regarding the use of microbial inoculants, which are living organisms like fungi, bacteria, and microalgae, sourced from soil, plants, water, and organic materials. Acting as biostimulants or biocontrol agents, these inoculants offer an environmentally-frie... alternative to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, playing a crucial role in soil conservation, plant health, and crop yield enhancement.Apart from exploring the nexus between plant and soil, the book also discusses the range of applications of microbial inoculants in agricultural and environmental practices. It provides insights into how these microorganisms contribute to sustainable farming by enhancing nutrient bioavailability and protecting crops from diseases, thus promoting better yield and overall plant vitality. This volume is a valuable resource for those interested in advancing agricultural techniques through the utilization of natural, biotic solutions.
  • Bio-organic Amendments for Heavy Metal Remediation

    Water, Soil and Plant Approaches and Technologies
    • 1st Edition
    • July 23, 2024
    • Allah Ditta + 3 more
    • English
    Bio-organic Amendments for Heavy Metal Remediation: Water, Soil and Plant Approaches and Technologies focuses on these core continuum media to explore remediation options using microbial, organic, and combined approaches. This volume in the Plant Biology, Sustainability and Climate Change series offers a comprehensive view of techniques and approaches for addressing contamination by heavy metals. It provides a comprehensive view of the challenge, with a focus on the bioremediation of heavy metals contamination using ecotechnological approaches for protecting the soil, water, and plant continuum.As anthropogenic activities increasingly negatively impact natural resources, there has been significant disturbance of the water, soil, and plant continuum due to the accumulation of heavy metals. The bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the food chain could pose life-threatening effects on plants as well as humans, and there is need to find effective and sustainable remediation options. The application of bio-organic amendments could serve as a sustainable solution to this problem.
  • Biochar Production for Green Economy

    Agricultural and Environmental Perspectives
    • 1st Edition
    • June 20, 2024
    • Shiv Vendra Singh + 4 more
    • English
    Biochar Production for Green Economy: Agricultural and Environmental Perspectives addresses the advancements and developments for the efficient diversification of biochar toward achieving improved agricultural and environmental benefits. This comprehensive and cohesive volume is the first to address the potential multi-and transdisciplinary opportunities of effective biochar production and use. Including the potential applicability of not only crop waste biochar but weeds, agroforestry, agroindustry, municipal waste, as well chapters explore surface modified, enriched or tailored biochar for soil amendment, GHGs mitigation, bioremediation of organic, inorganic, metals and other emerging pollutants, as well as soil remediation. It also covers the trending multidisciplinary approaches of nanotechnology, surface chemistry and thermal decomposition advancements being adopted for capacity enhancement and versatile applicability in the field of agriculture, environment science and green energy synthesis. Composition and characteristics of tailored biochar, their interactions, and transformation into the soil and water ecosystem are illustrated. This book is a valuable resource for those pursuing biochar related areas as well as those seeking environmentally sustainable solutions to crop, soil or water issues.
  • Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment

    • 2nd Edition
    • August 11, 2023
    • Michael J. Goss + 1 more
    • English
    Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, Second Edition, Five Volume Set updates and expands the previous version to ensure coverage of topics relevant to current world problems such as population pressure, food security and global change.Since publication of the previous edition there has been a huge change in our ability to carry out bioinformatics related to soil organisms and their functioning. Major developments in next generation DNA sequencing techniques have made it possible to identify both the diversity of microbial populations and their functioning. Furthermore, it allows the management of microbes within the soil. Imaging is changing our perceptions and improving our knowledge of soil aggregation. This also applies to remote and proximal sensing of laboratory and field soils, which is undergoing rapid change. Soil physics is a core area of soil science, but new techniques and technology have increased our understanding of processes.This reference work covers the entire field of soil science, bridging the gap between basic science and applications, and is designed to serve students and expert researchers. It is organized around four core topics, the main components of soil science – biology, chemistry, physics and environment and management.Soil science is becoming a crucial subject as world governments realize its importance in food production, water quality, flood control, greenhouse gas management, source of antibiotics and other drugs. As such this work is of interest not only to academics but to policy makers, government researchers and the geographical and environmental community who are not necessarily in research roles but need information on soil to support their core work.
  • Agricultural Soil Sustainability and Carbon Management

    • 1st Edition
    • April 19, 2023
    • Sunita Kumari Meena + 6 more
    • English
    Agricultural Soil Sustainability and Carbon Management presents long-term research in the field of sustainable soil use and management to guide in the prioritizing the multifunctional value of soil health and addressing interdisciplinary links between major issues such as biodiversity and climate change. As soil is the largest terrestrial carbon pool and a significant contributor of greenhouse gases, much progress can be made toward curtailing the climate crisis by sustainable soil management practices. The book provides valuable insight into the soil and carbon management, research gaps, and the methodological challenges for research into soil carbon management that will be important over the decades.