4th International Congress EUROSOIL 2012 Soil Science for the Benefit for the Mankind and Environment
Bari
02/07/12 - 06/07/12
Document ID:
Authors: Ibáñez, Juan-José, CIDE, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Topic: 02. Soil Genesis, Evolution and Classification
Session : Session: S02.03- PEDODIVERSITY IN SPACE AND TIME: CONCEPTS, MEASUREMENTS, APPLICATIONS.
Status Evaluated
Preferred presentation type Oral
Title: Pedodiversity Analysis: State of the Art and New Challenges
Text : In the last years several researches have proposed different concepts and mathematical tools in the frame of pedodiversity (a neologism of soil diversity) studies. Some of them fail to defend their proposals when claiming that their suggestions are better than the previous ones.
Along the 1960ies and 1970ies, ecologists also published several novel indices and definitions of “ecological diversities”. Recently, theoretical ecologist auto-criticized this plethora of indices and definitions as it generated big confusion and issues when comparing different studies. Similar problems, due to the proliferation of indices and concepts, begin to affect pedodiversity studies.
The soil cover is very complex (as biocenoses, ecosystems, etc.) to have a unique definition and index in order to measure its diversity. As matter of fact, in pedodiversity studies several approaches, definitions and mathematical tools, with their respective pros and cons, are present, as well it occurs in biodiversity studies. Definitions do not say anything if they are not operationalized using robust scientific mathematical tools. Often the definitions and indices more complex are no better than the simplest. Different objectives demand different approaches. If the results obtained in different studies can not be compared, it will be impossible any progress in assessing pedodiversity patterns and regularities of the pedosphere.