This book provides a comprehensive overview of pedology in Ireland. It describes the main soil types of the country, their functions, ecological use, and the conditions to which they were subjected associated with management over time. In addition, it presents a complete set of data, pictures and maps, including benchmark profiles. Factors involved in soil formation are also discussed, making use of new, unpublished data and elaborations. The book was produced with the support and sponsorship of Teagasc, The Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland and the Irish Environmental Protection Agency.
The first soil survey in the Philippines was done by Mr. Clarence Dorsey, an American soil scientist in the province of Batangas in 1903. The Soils of the Philippines, however, is the first comprehensive summary of more than a century of soil-survey work in this country. It integrates the soil concepts of the reconnaissance soil-survey results, which commenced as early as 1934 and continued until the mid 1960s, with the semi-detailed soil surveys that continue to this day. The result is the first-ever genetic key for classifying Philippine soils at soil series level; thus, making it possible for any newcomers to the soil survey field to confidently produce their own soil map, at a more detailed map scale, to suit the project requirements. This book brings together discussions on soils and soil mapping units and up-to-date international techniques and technologies. It makes soils relevant to current political realities and national issues. As soil survey moves from a reductionist agricultural-development planning tool to a more holistic and integrated approach, to enable us to understand our dynamic and complex environment, The Soils of the Philippines will be the only source of authoritative and updated data on soil resources for macro-level resource management planning for decades to come. With a vanishing breed of experienced soil surveyors, not only in the Philippines but also worldwide, it may remain the only book on Philippine soils for the next hundred years or more. Since soils follow a geological and not a human time frame, the contents of this volume will stay relevant for soil surveyors even in a fast changing world. As the country leaps from an agricultural economy towards modernization and a more diversified economic base, some of the soil series in the Philippines, for example the Guadalupe series underlying the skyscrapers of Makati City, are becoming extinct as a result of urban development. Therefore, this book serves as the repository for the soils that we possess, the soils that have been lost through decades of urbanization while, at the same time, it creates a soil classification system for the soils we are yet to discover.
'Unearthed: impacts of the Tellus surveys of the north of Ireland details how this unprecedented land and air survey of hidden Ireland rewards us with a more complete understanding of the natural history of this region. It tells an epic story of how Ireland's geological past will sustain its future'. Professor Iain Stewart MBEBetween 2004 and 2013, e15 million of government and EU funding was spent on high-resolution, airborne geophysical and geochemical sampling surveys of Northern Ireland and the six northern counties of the Republic of Ireland. This book presents some of the findings of the first two stages of Tellus, the largest collaborative cross-border programme of geoscience surveys ever undertaken on the island of Ireland. Tellus is a concerted cross-border investment in the terrestrial geosciences, intended both to stimulate exploration for natural resources and to generate essential data for environmental management. A huge volume of geoscientific data has already been produced and analysed by researchers in Ireland, the UK and beyond. In this book, scientists who have worked with the Tellus data reflect on the outputs and impacts in terms of the economy, the environment, energy, agriculture and ecology.
Cattle have been the mainstay of Irish farming since the Neolithic began in Ireland almost 6000 years ago. Cattle, and especially cows, have been important in the life experiences of most Irish people, directly and/or through legends such as the Táin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle-raid of Cooley). In this book, diverse aspects of cattle in Ireland, from the circumstances of their first introduction to recent and ongoing developments in the management of grasslands – still the main food-source for cattle in Ireland – are explored in thirteen essays written by experts. New information is presented, and several aspects relating to cattle husbandry and the interactions of cattle and people that have hitherto received little or no attention are discussed.
