www.elsevier.com/locate/agee

Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 104 (2004) 681–685

Book reviews

Understanding Soil Change: Soil SustainabilityOver Millennia, Centuries, and Decades, DanielD. Richter Jr., Daniel Markewitz, CambridgeUniversity Press, 2001, 272 pp., hardback, ISBN0521771714.

In the preface to their book Richter and Markewitz

write that ‘‘the quality of human life and the earth’s

environment has never depended more on soil man-

agement than it does today. Humanity’s expanding

systems of food, fiber, and water production are now

entirely dependent on the management practiced on

several billions of hectares of soil. For these reasons,

soil deserves a much greater share of human attention

and affection. In the words of one scientist, soil is the

central processing unit of the earth’s environment’’.

This timely book is in the vanguard of a renaissance of

pedology characterized by acknowledgement of the

contribution that the discipline can make to ecology,

hydrology and biogeochemistry. Workshops such as

‘Hydropedology and Earth’s Critical Zone’ sponsored

recently by the Consortium of Universities for the

Advancement of Hydrologic Science through support

from the National Science Foundation, the emergence

of new journals such as the Vadose Zone Journal from

the Soil Science Society of America and the adoption

of soil and water processes as priority areas of research

(Australia) are testimony that soil is getting a greater

share of scientific attention, if not affection.

Richter and Markewitz tell the story of soil change

over three timescales: millennia, centuries, and dec-

ades. The result is a refreshingly new perspective on

soil development and a book that is unique in the

library of soil science texts. The authors use a parti-

cular experimental site – the Calhoun Experimental

0167-8809/$ – see front matter # 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Forest – in the south east of the United States to

examine soil change. Three ecosystems have domi-

nated this area of the United States in this time frame.

From the Tertiary to the 18th century primary decid-

uous forests covered the landscape following which,

for �200 years, a cultivated agroecosystem of cotton,

corn, and wheat supplanted the forests. In recent years

(a timescale of decades) pine forests have been intro-

duced. The changes in physical, chemical, and biolo-

gical properties of soil have been profound.

Simonson’s concept that soils are a function of inputs,

transformations, translocations, and losses of materi-

als, is discussed for each of the three systems based on

careful analysis of physico-chemical and biological

data. The framework works remarkably well and,

because the acidic, advanced-weathering stage soils

studied at the Calhoun site are so common globally,

insights about soil change are more than likely to be

applicable elsewhere.

The book is divided into four parts. In the first, the

dynamic nature of soils is discussed and the common

view that soils are relatively static is exposed as myth.

The authors employ two complimentary methods to

explain soil change: chronosequences, and direct

observations of change in permanent field plots.

Although the focus is on the Calhoun site, authors

quote other long-term studies to illustrate particular

changes. They also show how maintaining soil health

is vital to the human economy. Principles of soil

chemical and physical changes through time are dis-

cussed and set the foundation for the three sections

that follow.

In part two the pedogenetic scene spans thousands

of years (from the Devonian to mid 18th century). The

co-evolution of soil and forest ecosystem is explained.

Book reviews682

The soils are very acid and the role of biology in the

process of acidification is clearly explained. Perhaps

more illuminating though is how change internally

during soil development causes fundamental changes

in the ecosystem, e.g., formation of iron pans restrict

drainage thereby limiting root exploration of the

profile and severely restricting plant growth. The

potential consequences of soil genesis on plant growth

are striking.

In the third part – soil change over time scales of

centuries – conversion of primary forests to cotton and

wheat causes dramatic changes in the physico-chem-

istry of soils. Maize had been cultivated for centuries

in a sustainable manner in the region but it was

confined to alluvial bottomland soils (Inceptisols)

not the acidic, highly weathered soils of the plains

(Ultisols). Inherent fertility from frequent sedimenta-

tion (soil rejuventation) enabled intensive cropping to

survive. This was impossible on the acid upland soils

that dominated the landscape and were not rejuve-

nated by alluvium. As Europeans settled, cotton took

over from maize and the ensuing changes in the soil

properties were profound and extended to more than

two metres. Agroecosystems on Ultisols can only be

sustainable with crop rotations and nutrient manage-

ment via fertilizers. Na, Ca, and exchangeable cations

are deeply affected, less so N and P. Human and soil

history are interwoven in a fascinating story that

shows the interdependence of man and the environ-

ment.

Part four deals with decade-long changes; specifi-

cally conversion from agriculture to secondary forests

(pines). Here the focus is on the Calhoun site and the

evidence for massive and rapid change in soil chem-

istry and biology is overwhelming. Most striking are

the N dynamics of the plantation ecosystem. In four

decades of forest expansion, little N has been lost from

the system. Richter and Markewitz calculate that the

nitrogen-retention efficiency of the unfertilized Cal-

houn Pine Forest is close to 100%. Equally striking has

been the rapidity of soil re-acidification and depletion

of base cations. Clearly, sustained productivity of

forests is under threat from pedogenesis unless nutri-

ents are added.

Given the lack of understanding of temporal soil

changes relative to other elements of the ecosystem,

the authors end the book by making a case for long-

term ecosystem experiments and a global network of

soil and ecosystem experiments. The book sweeps

from the local to the global, from time measured in

years to time measured in centuries and millennia. It is

a fascinating account that will help pedology to take

its rightful place in biogeochemical science and eco-

system studies.

I concur with the review of the book (Reiners and

Sanchez) that appears on the cover—‘‘It is a grand tour

of soil change at different temporal scales, done with

elegance and scientific rigor’’. The book is on the top

of my list of recommended reading for my earth

science students. In the field of pedology there is none

better. Given the dismissive attitude towards pedology

by many in other closely allied fields, I would like to

recommend it to them also.

David J. Chittleborough

School of Earth and Environment Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, The University of Adelaide

South Australia, Australia

Tel.: +61 8 83036730

E-mailaddress:david.chittleborough@adelaide.edu.au

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2004.07.007

R. Manning Against the Grain – How Agriculturehas Hijacked Civilization, North Point Press, New

York, 2004, 232 pp. (hardback, ISBN 0-86547-622-

5, Can $36.00).

In my Introduction to Agriculture class, I learned

that the domestication of plants and animals resulted

in civilization, spawning many of the traits that are the

hallmark of humanity. In Manning’s book, he proposes

that the evolution of agriculture lead to overpopula-

tion, disease, pestilence, famine, war, government, the

class system, biosphere destruction and the expanding

girth of America’s waste line. Ultimately, he declares

that agriculture domesticated humanity, altering our

evolution. Manning personifies agriculture, creating a

malevolent entity responsible for the dehumanization

of our species and the genocide of the bucolic hunter-

gatherer, globally and spiritually.

In a series of well written, often thought provoking

chapters, Manning weaves the tale of the prerequi-

sites for agriculture’s appearance, its conquest of the