Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics

Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I The Tropical Environment
	1 The Natural Environment of the Tropics
		1.1 The Tropics Defined
		1.2 Temperature and Solar Radiation
		1.3 Rainfall
		1.4 Tropical Climates
		1.5 Vegetation
		1.6 Physiography
		1.7 The Anthropocene
		1.8 Biodiversity in the Tropics
		1.9 Climate Change
		1.10 Summary and Conclusions
	2 The Human Environment of the Tropics
		2.1 Demographics
		2.2 Key Concepts
		2.3 The Fight Against Hunger and Absolute Poverty
		2.4 The Food Versus Population Race
		2.5 Green Revolutions
		2.6 Tropical Agroecosystems
		2.7 Land Use and Land-Use Change
		2.8 Intensification and Extensification
		2.9 Summary and Conclusions
Part II Pedology, Physics, Chemistry and Biology
	3 History of Soil Science in the Tropics
		3.1 The Laterite Paradigm
		3.2 Tropical Soils Are Very Diverse
		3.3 Tropical Soil Research: 1970s to 1990s
		3.4 The First Soil Management Paradigm
		3.5 The Second Soil Management Paradigm
		3.6 The Third Soil Management Paradigm
		3.7 Soils in a Global Context
		3.8 Summary and Conclusions
	4 Soils of the Tropics
		4.1 Soil Taxonomy
		4.2 World Reference Base for Soil Resources
		4.3 A National Soil Classification System: Cuba
		4.4 Main Soils of the Tropics
		4.5 Soils at the Landscape Scale
		4.6 Importance of Soil Diversity to Ecologists and Modelers
		4.7 Summary and Conclusions
	5 Functional Capability Classification
		5.1 System Structure and Definitions
		5.2 Areal Extent of FCC Attributes
		5.3 Attributes Related to Soil Mineralogy
		5.4 Attributes Related to Soil Organic Matter
		5.5 Attributes Related to Soil Physical Properties
		5.6 Attributes Related to Soil Reaction (pH)
		5.7 Regional Differences
		5.8 Interpreting FCC Classes
		5.9 Actual and Potential Use of FCC
		5.10 Summary and Conclusions
	6 Soil Physical Properties
		6.1 Depth of Rooting
		6.2 Soil Temperature
		6.3 Soil Structure
		6.4 Soil Compaction
		6.5 Soil Water
		6.6 Soil Erosion
		6.7 Soil and Water Conservation Practices
		6.8 Conservation Agriculture
		6.9 Summary and Conclusions
	7 Water
		7.1 Overall Perspective
		7.2 Metrics
		7.3 Rainfed Agriculture
		7.4 Irrigated Agriculture
		7.5 Irrigation and Carbon
		7.6 Perspectives
		7.7 Summary and Conclusions
	8 Mineralogy
		8.1 Basic Concepts
		8.2 Paradigm Shifts
		8.3 Types of Clay Minerals
		8.4 Mineralogy Families
		8.5 Measurement Issues
		8.6 pH–Charge Relationships
		8.7 Anion Exchange Capacity: An Asset of the Tropics
		8.8 Summary and Conclusions
	9 Soil Acidity
		9.1 Causes of Soil Acidity
		9.2 Acid Soil Infertility
		9.3 Genetic Differences in Aluminum Tolerance
		9.4 Liming
		9.5 Overliming
		9.6 Residual Effects of Liming
		9.7 Subsoil Acidity
		9.8 Secondary Acidity
		9.9 Advantages of Acid Soils
		9.10 Summary and Conclusions
	10 Soil Biology
		10.1 Definitions
		10.2 Soil Biodiversity
		10.3 Ecosystem Functions and Services
		10.4 Comminution
		10.5 Decomposition
		10.6 Transformation of Nutrient Elements
		10.7 Soil Structure Regulation
		10.8 The Root Extenders: Mycorrhizae
		10.9 Soil Biodiversity and Land-Use Change
		10.10 Reflections
		10.11 Summary and Conclusions
	11 Organic Carbon
		11.1 History of SOC Research
		11.2 Tropical Soils and the Global Carbon Cycle
		11.3 SOC in Tropical and Temperate Regions
		11.4 Carbon Pools and Fractions
		11.5 Carbon Sequestration
		11.6 Animal Manures
		11.7 Composts
		11.8 Biochars
		11.9 Organic Farming
		11.10 Summary and Conclusions
Part III Soil Fertility
	12 Soil Fertility Principles
		12.1 The Law of the Minimum
		12.2 Synchrony
		12.3 Nutrient Cycling
		12.4 Nutrient Uptake by Crops and Cycling
		12.5 Determining Fertilizer Needs
		12.6 Early Twenty-First-Century Paradigm Shifts
		12.7 Summary and Conclusions
	13 Nitrogen
		13.1 The Nitrogen Cycle
		13.2 Nitrogen Pools and Fractions
		13.3 Atmospheric Deposition
		13.4 Biological Nitrogen Fixation
		13.5 Mineral Fertilizers
		13.6 Organic Nitrogen Mineralization
		13.7 Nitrogen Fertilizer Reactions in Soils
		13.8 Fluctuations of Inorganic Nitrogen
		13.9 Combining Mineral and Organic Nitrogen Fertilizers
		13.10 Environmental Consequences
		13.11 Efficiency of Nitrogen Fertilization
		13.12 Profitability
		13.13 Summary and Conclusions
	14 Phosphorus
		14.1 The Phosphorus Cycle
		14.2 Total Soil Phosphorus
		14.3 Inorganic Phosphorus
		14.4 Organic Phosphorus
		14.5 Phosphorus Sorption and Release
		14.6 Soil Tests for Available Phosphorus
		14.7 Plant Phosphorus Requirements
		14.8 Phosphorus Fertilization
		14.9 Residual Effects and Efficiency of Utilization
		14.10 Summary and Conclusions
	15 Sulfur
		15.1 The Sulfur Cycle
		15.2 Sulfur Sorption
		15.3 Crop Requirements
		15.4 Nutrition
		15.5 Soil Testing
		15.6 Sulfur Fertilization
		15.7 Summary and Conclusions
Part IV Management Systems
	16 Soils and Slash-and-Burn Agriculture
		16.1 Shifting Cultivation and Slash-and-Burn Agriculture
		16.2 Forest–Soil Nutrient Cycles
		16.3 Land Clearing by Slash and Burn
		16.4 Mechanized Land Clearing
		16.5 Crop Yield Declines and Field Abandonment
		16.6 Secondary Forest Fallows
		16.7 Alternatives to Slash and Burn
		16.8 Combining Agricultural Intensification with Decreased Deforestation
		16.9 Summary and Conclusions
	17 Soil Management in Rice Cultivation
		17.1 Physical Consequences of Flooding
		17.2 Puddling
		17.3 Chemical and Biological Consequences of Flooding
		17.4 Rice Cultivation Systems
		17.5 Water
		17.6 Nutrient Management
		17.7 Yield Stagnation: Nitrogen Sequestration
		17.8 Environmental Dimensions
		17.9 The Way Forward
		17.10 Summary and Conclusions
	18 Soils and Livestock-Based Tropical Systems
		18.1 Tropical Livestock in the Global Context
		18.2 Tropical Pastures
		18.3 Nutrient Cycling
		18.4 Tropical Livestock Management Systems
		18.5 Pastoralism
		18.6 Smallholder Mixed Crop–Livestock Systems
		18.7 Extensive Pasture-Based Beef Production
		18.8 Pasture Degradation
		18.9 Crop–Pasture Integration
		18.10 Livestock and the Environment
		18.11 Summary and Conclusions
	19 Soils and Tropical Tree-Based Systems
		19.1 Plantation Forestry
		19.2 Plantation Forestry Species
		19.3 Growth Stages of Tree Plantations
		19.4 Hydrology of Tropical Forestry Plantations
		19.5 Agroforestry
		19.6 More People, More Trees
		19.7 Agroforestry Tree Species
		19.8 Classification of Agroforestry Systems
		19.9 Simultaneous Agroforestry
		19.10 Sequential Agroforestry: A Different Story
		19.11 Tree Crops
		19.12 Environmental Consequences
		19.13 Summary and Conclusions
Index