Course:APBI100/Schedule

Unit 1

Week 1-2

Introduction: the living skin of the earth - Environmental literacy and basic soil concepts

• What is soil?
• The Earth’s critical zone
• Soil components
• Texture and structure
• The soil profile (horizons)

Unit 2

Week 3-4

Soil and plant: the soil ecosystem

• Soil organisms
• Metabolism (autotrophs, heterotrophs, element cycling)
• Functions of soil organisms
• The soil ecosystem

Unit 3

Week 5-6

The role of soil in food and energy security

• Soil productivity and food security
• Plant nutrition
• Fertilizers
• The retention of nutrients in soils
• Global food security
• Feeding a hungry world
• Sustainable food production (climatic extremes, biofuels, soil degradation)

Unit 4

Week 7-8

Global soil quality

• Soil quality
• Land capability
• Soil degradation and remediation
• Practical solutions for soil conservation
• Food production systems and soil conservation

Week 9-10

Soil and water resources

• Healthy watersheds
• Soil hydrology
• The interconnection of soil and water quality
• Nutrient enrichment of water bodies (non-point source pollution)
• Concepts in watershed management (land-water interactions)

Week 11-12

Soil and climate change

• Climatology (greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, climate models)
• Soils under a changing climate
• Feedback loops
• Carbon in the environment
• Protecting soil carbon stocks

Week 13

Conclusion

• Soil as the essential media for the planet’s primary production
• Soil as the base of the ecosystem services pyramid
• Strategies for sustaining our soil resources: interactions at the local, national and global scales