Geological and Environmental Sustainability

Soil Preservation Techniques

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Soil conservation is the preventing of soil loss from erosion or reduced fertility caused by over usage, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination. Slash-and-burn and other unsustainable methods of subsistence farming are practiced in some lesser developed areas. A sequel to the deforestation is typically large scale erosion, loss of soil nutrients and sometimes total desertification. Techniques for improved soil conservation include crop rotation, cover crops, conservation tillage and planted windbreaks and affect both erosion and fertility. When plants, especially trees, die, they decay and become part of the soil. Code 330 defines standard methods recommended by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Farmers have practiced soil conservation for millennia.

 The techniques can be applied for respecting changes in air and water quality; noise nuisance; health care; risk; recorded heritage; cultural assets; habitats; landscape and so on. The resulting valuations can be used for a number of purposes including, but not limited to, demonstrating the economic value of environmental and cultural assets; cost-benefit analysis; setting urgencies for environmental policy. Guidelines for preservative treatment of bamboos and a list of preservatives recommended for treatment of bamboos are provided in the appendices.

The methods for studying insects give details of collecting devices, traps, preserving and identifying specimens, collecting pollen from insects and their nests, and morphological measurements; there is a detailed section on studies of foraging behaviour.