This book presents an analysis of land and water resources in Siberia, initially characterizing the landscapes, their ecosystems, crucial processes, human impacts on soil and water quality, and the status quo of available research. Further chapters deal with modern monitoring and management methods that can lead to a significant knowledge shift and initiate sustainable soil and water resources use. These include soil hydrological laboratory measurement methods; process-based field evaluation methods for land and water quality; remote sensing and GIS technology-based landscape monitoring methods; process and ecosystem modeling approaches; methods of resource and process evaluation and functional soil mapping; and tools for controlling agricultural land use systems. More than 15 of these concrete monitoring and management tools can immediately be incorporated into research and practice. Maintaining the functions of great landscapes for future generations will be the reward for these efforts.

This book presents definitions, key concepts and projects in landscape research and related areas, such as landscape science and landscape ecology, addressing and characterising the international role, status, challenges, future and tools of landscape research in the globalised world of the 21st century. The book brings together views on landscapes from leading international teams and emerging authors from different scientific disciplines and regions of the globe. It describes approaches for achieving sustainability and for handling the multifunctionality of landscapes and includes international case studies demonstrating the great potential of landscape research to provide partial sustainable solutions while developing cultural landscapes and protecting semi-natural landscapes. It is intended for scientists from various disciplines as well as informed readers dealing with landscape policies, planning, evolvement, management, stewardship and conservation.

The book informs about agricultural landscapes, their features, functions and regulatory mechanisms. It characterizes agricultural production systems, trends of their development, and their impacts on the landscape. Agricultural landscapes are multifunctional systems, coupled with all nexus problems of the 21th century. This has led to serious discrepancies between agriculture and environment, and between urban and rural population. The mission, key topics and methods of research in order to understanding, monitoring and controlling processes in rural landscapes is being explained. Studies of international expert teams, many of them from Russia, demonstrate approaches towards both improving agricultural productivity and sustainability, and enhancing ecosystem services of agricultural landscapes. Scientists of different disciplines, decision makers, farmers and further informed people dealing with the evolvement of thriving rural landscapes are the primary audience of this book.

This book focuses on a representative example and one of the world’s largest steppe conversions, and provides a detailed overview of the results of the BMBF-funded research project KULUNDA. As part of the Siberian virgin land policy, the Kulunda steppe was transformed into agricultural land from 1954 to 1965. In the course of the project, a multidisciplinary research team conducted a natural, social-economic and agro-scientific cause-and-effect analysis of (agro-)ecosystem destabilisation, as well as various field trials covering tillage and crop rotation options in their socio-economic context. The ecologically and economically sound findings offer strategies for combining climate smart land utilization, ecosystem restoration and sustainable regional development, and can readily be applied to other virgin land conversion efforts. In addition, the findings on the Eurasian steppes will expand the current conversion literature, which mainly consists of the ‘Dust Bowl’ literature of the North American plains. Given its scope, the book will appeal to scientists, professionals, and students in the environmental, geo- and climate sciences.

This book informs about knowledge gain in soil and land degradation to reduce or prevent it for meeting the mission of the Sustainable Developments Goals of the United Nations. Essence, extent, monitoring methods and implications for ecosystem functioning of main soil degradation types are characterized in overview chapters and case studies. Challenges, approaches and data towards identification of degradation in the frame of improving functionality, health and multiple ecosystem services of soil are demonstrated in the studies of international expert teams. The book consists of five parts, containing 5–12 single chapters each and 36 in total. Parts are explaining (I) Concepts and Indicators, (II) Soil Erosion and Compaction, (III) Soil Contamination, (IV) Soil Carbon and Fertility Monitoring and (V) Soil Survey and Mapping of Degradation The primary audience of this book are scientists of different disciplines, decision-makers, farmers and further informed people dealing with sustainable management of soil and land.

This book focuses on soil and water conservation at global scale. It is a serious environmental problem that will threaten the socio-economic well-being of the majority of global population in future. The book examines the current situation of land degradation in multiple regions of the world and offers alternative approaches to solve the problems through sharing advanced technologies and lessons learned. It provides comprehensive assessment on characteristics, level and effect of degradation in different regions. It’s a highly informative reference both for researchers and graduate students.

With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. This latest volume includes reviews on plant physiology, biochemistry, genetics and genomics, forests, and ecosystems.