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- Info
The urban-rural gradient: An opportunity to better understand human impacts on forest-soils
| Author: |
Pouyat, R.V. |
| Date: |
1990 |
| Periodical: |
In: Are Forests the Answer: Society of American Foresters National Convention: Soils Working Group session; 1990 July 29-August 1; Washington, D.C. |
| Abstract: |
The continued growth of human populations and the uncontrolled spread of urban worldwide makes our understanding of human influences on soils increasingly important. Processes of soil formation that are altered by human activity are considered to be deviations from the no and as a consequence, changes in soil characteristics resulting from human intervention are applicable to the current Soil Taxonomy (Yaalon and Yaron 1966). The purpose of this paper is to explore the array of potential human influences on soils, particularly those from urban uses, and to propose that human activities should be considered as a factor of soil formation. Specifically, I will present a conceptual model of soil genesis which incorporates humans as a soil forming factor and present the urban-rural gradient as an "unplanned experiment" from which human influences on forest soils can be studied in a systematic way. |
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