Thesis supervisor: Andrea Farsang
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Szegedi Tudományegyetem Abbreviation of location of studies: SZTE
Description of the research topic:
Potential Effects of Climate Change on Soil Properties
Climate change impacts soil chemical, physical and biological functions through a range of predicted global change drivers such as rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, elevated temperature, altered precipitation (rainfall) and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition.
Continuous interactions between climate and soils determine the transformation and transport processes. Long-term gradual changes in abiotic environmental factors alter naturally occurring soil forming processes by modifying the soil water regime, mineral composition evolution, and the rate of organic matter formation and degradation. The resulting physical and chemical soil properties play a fundamental role in the productivity and environmental quality of cultivated land, so it is crucial to evaluate the potential outcomes of climate change and soil interactions.
Soil-climate models assuming constant inputs of carbon to soils from vegetation predicts the expected changes in temperature, precipitation and evaporation with a concomitant increase in organic matter turnover facilitating increased losses of CO2 in mineral and organic soils. These losses of soil carbon will also affect other soil functions like poorer soil structure, stability, topsoil water holding capacity, nutrient availability and erosion.
The most rapid processes of chemical or mineralogical change under changing external conditions would be loss of salts and nutrient cations where leaching increases and salinization where net upward water movement occurs because of increased evapotranspiration or decreased rainfall or irrigation water supply.
Soil (water or wind) erosion is the movement and transport of soil (organic matter, nutrients etc.) by various agents, particularly water, wind and mass movement; hence climate is a key factor. The increase in soil erosion is strongly linked with the clearance of natural vegetation, to enable land to be used for arable agriculture and the use of farming practices unsuited to the land on which they are practised. This, combined with climatic variation and a predicted increase in extreme weather events, has created ideal conditions for soil erosion.
Climate change has a potential impact on the soil health too, through physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. Soil health is a composite set of measurable physical, chemical and biological attributes related to functional soil processes, which can be used to evaluate soil health status as affected by management practices and climate change.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SOIL FUNCTIONS
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON DIFFERENT SOIL PARAMETERS OR SOIL DEGARADTION PROCESSES
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE SOIL HEALTH
Login
