Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics

TLDR

The second edition updates the classic textbook with four decades of advances and tackles critical questions about feeding humanity sustainably. It introduces new chapters on organic carbon, soil biology, livestock production, forestry, and agroforestry. The book adopts a multidisciplinary agronomic, environmental, and ecological perspective, integrating policymaking, plant genetics, ecosystem services, climate change, biodiversity, sustainability, and resilience. It is positioned as the definitive textbook for tropical soil courses and a reference for soil and agricultural scientists and development professionals.

Abstract

The long-awaited second edition of this classic textbook expands on the first edition to include advances made in the last four decades, bringing the topic completely up to date. The book addresses critical issues such as whether humanity can feed itself, and whether it can do so in environmentally sound and sustainable ways. Written from agronomic, environmental, and ecological standpoints, the textbook employs a multidisciplinary approach, including policymaking and plant genetic improvements, as well as ecosystem services, climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and resilience. New chapters in this second edition focus on organic carbon in soil, soil biology, soils in relation to livestock production and forestry, and agroforestry. The new edition will again be the go-to textbook for courses on tropical soils, and a reference textbook for soil and agricultural scientists and development professionals working in the tropics.