Introduction xiii Yves COQUET and Joël MICHELIN -- Chapter 1 Tillage and Structure of Agricultural Soils 1 Yves COQUET and Lionel ALLETTO -- 1.1 What is tillage? Why should soils be "tilled"? -- 1.2 Soil structure -- 1.2.1 Porosity and bulk density -- 1.2.2 Soil structuring mechanisms -- 1.2.3 A method for characterizing the structure of cultivated soils: the "Profil cultural" -- 1.3 Consequences of the different methods for tilling soil -- 1.3.1 Systems that include tillage ("conventional" agriculture) -- 1.3.2 No-till systems ("conservation" agriculture) -- 1.4 Conclusion -- 1.5 References -- Chapter 2 The Biodiversity of Agricultural Soils 25 Laure Vieublé GONOD, Sophie JOIMEL and Audrey NIBOYET -- 2.1 Soil organisms -- 2.2 Biodiversity of agricultural soils compared with other land uses -- 2.3 Effects of agricultural practices on soil biodiversity -- 2.3.1 Effects of mineral fertilizers -- 2.3.2 Effects of the addition of exogenous organic matter -- 2.3.3 Effects of pesticides -- 2.3.4 Effects of tillage -- 2.3.5 Effects of crop diversification -- 2.4 Comparison of cropping systems -- 2.4.1 Organic farming versus conventional agriculture -- 2.4.2 Conservation agriculture versus conventional agriculture -- 2.4.3 Organic farming versus conservation agriculture -- 2.5 Soil biodiversity management - keys for promoting action -- 2.5.1 Bioindicators -- 2.5.2 Link between biodiversity and soil functioning -- 2.5.3 Ecological engineering -- 2.6 Conclusion -- 2.7 References -- Chapter 3 Spatial Variability and Mapping of Agricultural Soils 63 Jean-Marc GILLIOT -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Background: the origins of soil mapping in France -- 3.3 The digital age, from paper maps to spatialized databases: the available information for soil mapping -- 3.3.1 Augerholes, pits and soil analyses -- 3.3.2 The accessible French databases -- 3.3.3 The available international databases -- 3.3.4 Auxiliary cartographic data -- 3.4 Some of the general concepts and methods of soil mapping -- 3.4.1 The concepts of scale, resolution and sampling -- 3.4.2 Notions of regionalized variable and support: spatial organization of soil information -- 3.4.3 Changes to soil information support formats -- 3.4.4 Pedotransfer functions -- 3.5 Examples of uses of soil maps -- 3.5.1 Precision agriculture using drones -- 3.5.2 Modeling of ammonia emissions arising from agricultural fertilization -- 3.6 References -- Chapter 4 Runoff and Soil Erosion 91 Philippe MARTIN -- 4.1 Preliminary considerations -- 4.1.1 Forms of erosion -- 4.1.2 Connections with human activity -- 4.1.3 Regulations put in place -- 4.2 The essential processes at work on agricultural land -- 4.2.1 Runoff -- 4.2.2 Sediment loads -- 4.3 Impact of agricultural activities on processes -- 4.3.1 Effects of cropping systems -- 4.3.2 Past and current long-term dynamics -- 4.4 Toward integrated watershed management -- 4.4.1 Limiting concentration levels flowing toward the talwegs -- 4.4.2 Sustainable protection of the talwegs -- 4.4.3 Reducing vulnerability in downstream agricultural territories -- 4.4.4 Population protection measures -- 4.5 The art of avoiding recipes -- 4.6 References -- Chapter 5 Soils and Agricultural Land Property: Legal Aspects of Sectoral and Functional Protection 109 Louis DE REDON -- 5.1 Soil, a physical environment like no other? -- 5.2 Soils are covered by the law as a biological environment -- 5.2.1 The legal foundations of soil protections -- 5.2.2 The legal protection of soils -- 5.3 Soils are covered by the law as a property right -- 5.3.1 The legal foundations of agricultural land ownership -- 5.3.2 The legal protection of agricultural land -- 5.4 Toward a global protection of physical environments? -- Chapter 6 Methods for Estimating the Agronomic Value of Soils 131 Joël MICHELIN -- 6.1 Why evaluate the agronomic value or the cultural suitability of soils? -- 6.2 Soil functions for agricultural production -- 6.2.1 The soil provides physical support for the plants -- 6.2.2 Soil, a reservoir for air and water -- 6.2.3 The soil: a source of nutrients -- 6.3 Intrinsic properties and characteristics of soils -- 6.3.1 Characteristics that are relatively easy to obtain -- 6.3.2 The water reserve of the soil -- 6.3.3 Natural soil drainage -- 6.3.4 Aeration of the soil -- 6.3.5 Stock and availability of nutrients -- 6.3.6 Workability of the soil -- 6.3.7 Soil tillage -- 6.4 Extrinsic factors -- 6.4.1 Physical environment factors -- 6.4.2 Technical and socioeconomic factors -- 6.5 Evaluation of agricultural values -- 6.5.1 Different levels of approach -- 6.5.2 Principles of evaluation and classification -- 6.6 Examples of observation and classification methods -- 6.6.1 Approach using field pedological surveys -- 6.6.2 Approach using soil maps and databases -- 6.7 Conclusion -- 6.8 References -- Chapter 7 The Concept of Ecosystem Services and Its Application to Soil: Between Promises and Reality 161 David MONTAGNE, Ottone SCAMMACCA,Christian WALTER and Isabelle COUSIN -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 A short history of Ecosystem Services: from inception to the international institutionalization of this concept -- 7.2.1 An emerging concept -- 7.2.2 Development and spread of the concept -- 7.2.3 Institutionalization and market entry -- 7.2.4 What is the future of Ecosystem Services? -- 7.3 Definition and conceptualization of Ecosystem Services -- 7.3.1 Ecosystem Services: a product derived from ecological systems or a co-product of ecological and socioeconomic systems -- 7.3.2 Conceptualization using a cascade model -- 7.3.3 Supply, flow and demand -- 7.4 Classification of Ecosystem Services -- 7.4.1 Classification from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment -- 7.4.2 The CICES classification -- 7.5 The biophysical quantification of Ecosystem Services -- 7.5.1 What is to be quantified? -- 7.5.2 How to quantify services? -- 7.6 Mapping Ecosystem Services -- 7.6.1 What is to be mapped? -- 7.6.2 How to map? -- 7.7 Applying the concept of Ecosystem Services to the soil component of ecosystems -- 7.7.1 Soils have largely been forgotten about in ecosystems approaches -- 7.7.2 New conceptual frameworks to reposition soils within the cascade model -- 7.7.3 What definitions can be used for Ecosystem Services related to or obtained from soils? -- 7.7.4 Assessing and mapping soil-related Ecosystem Services: where are we at present? -- 7.8 Conclusion -- 7.9 Acknowledgments -- 7.10 References -- Chapter 8 Mediterranean Agricultural Soils 211 Emmanuelle VAUDOUR -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.1.1 Physical and human frameworks and the pedogenesis process in Mediterranean regions -- 8.1.2 Zonality of Mediterranean soils -- 8.2 Fersiallitic red soils -- 8.2.1 Definition and formation processes -- 8.2.2 Geographic distribution and notable sequences -- 8.2.3 Agronomic potential -- 8.3 Vertisols -- 8.3.1 Definition and formation processes -- 8.3.2 Agronomic potential -- 8.4 Soils with limestone accumulations or Calcarisols -- 8.4.1 Definition and formation processes -- 8.4.2 Geographic distribution and notable sequences -- 8.4.3 Agronomic potential -- 8.5 Salisols and Sodisols -- 8.5.1 Definition and formation processes -- 8.5.2 Geographic distribution and notable sequences -- 8.5.3 Agronomic potential -- 8.6 Conclusion -- 8.7 References -- Chapter 9 Tropical Soils and Sustainable Management 249 Cécile QUANTIN and Thierry BECQUER -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Tropical pedogenesis: dominated by geochemical weathering -- 9.3 Typical profile and differentiation of horizons and pedological units -- 9.4 Principal characteristics, diversity of tropical soils -- 9.5 Properties and agronomic consequences -- 9.5.1 Mineralogical characteristics and exchange properties -- 9.5.2 Advanced weathering: nutrition deficiencies and aluminum toxicity -- 9.5.3 Abundance of Fe and Al oxides: implications for the availability of phosphorus -- 9.6 The sustainable management of soils with high geochemical weathering: the role of organic matter in Ferralsols -- 9.6.1 Organic matter and exchange properties -- 9.6.2 Organic matter and nutrient cycling -- 9.6.3 Organic matter and acidification/alkalinization of soils -- 9.6.4 Organic material and phosphorus availability -- 9.7 Conclusion -- 9.8 References -- Chapter 10 Urban Agricultural Soil 273 Sophie JOIMEL, Tania DE ALMEIDA and Baptiste GRARD -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Redeploying urban agriculture -- 10.3 Urban soils: the basis of urban agriculture -- 10.3.1 The large

diversity in urban soils -- 10.3.2 Var.

ied physicochemical properties -- 10.3.3 Interesting biological properties -- 10.4 Managing ecosystem services provided by urban soils -- 10.4.1 Ecosystem services - a definition -- 10.4.2 Soils that serve many purposes -- 10.5 Toward decision-making tools -- 10.6 Conclusion -- 10.7 References -- List of Authors -- Index.