Frontiers in Soil Science Research
December 12-14, 2005
Washington, DC

An audio file of each session is available below. RealPlayer (free download) is required. Click on the speaker’s name to download the PowerPoint slides.

WORKSHOP QUESTIONS
Throughout the workshop, the speakers and participants explored the following questions:

• Where will the breakthroughs and innovations in research be found? What are the gaps in our current knowledge?
• How can we collaborate across soil science and with other disciplines to advance soil science research?
• How can we use new technologies and techniques, or apply those used in other disciplines, to advance soil science research?
• How can research at one scale be applied to another scale?

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12

This session was a live webcast (audio only).
Audio file

• Workshop introduction by Charles Rice, Kansas State University
• Welcome comments from NAS president, Ralph J. Cicerone
• Keynote address: Brent Clothier, Horticultural and Food Research Institute of New Zealand

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13

Session 1
Audio file

How well do we understand the physical, chemical, and biological processes in soils that impact the atmosphere, vegetation, and the hydro-geosphere?

• Speaker: Susan Trumbore, University of California, Irvine
• Discussants:
  Janet S. Herman, University of Virginia
  John Norman, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Moderator: Jerry Hatfield, USDA-ARS, National Soil Tilth Laboratory

Session 2
Audio file

What are the chemical interactions at the molecular level that define the fate of ions, chemicals, and/or microbes as they are transported through soil systems?

• Speaker: Scott Fendorf, Stanford University
• Discussants:
  Gary Pierzynski, Kansas State University
  Donald Sparks, University of Delaware
• Moderator: Paul Bertsch, University of Georgia

Session 3
Audio file

What controls biodiversity below ground? How does this biodiversity affect the function of the soil system?

• Speaker: James M. Tiedje, Michigan State University
• Discussants:
  Cindy Nakatsu, Purdue University
  Kenneth Nealson, University of Southern California
• Moderator: Julie Jastrow, Argonne National Laboratory

Session 4
Audio file

What is the effect of in situ soil architecture on soil physical, chemical, and biological processes? How does it vary from one soil system to another? What are the controlling factors?

• Speaker: Iain Young, Scottish Informatics, Mathematics, Biology, and Statistics (SIMBIOS) Centre, University of Abertay
• Discussants:
  Brenda Buck, University of Nevada
  Larry Wilding, Texas A&M University
• Moderator: Johan Bouma, Wageningen University, Netherlands

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14

Session 5
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How does landscape architecture (topography, vegetation, land use) affect the upscaling of soil processes to a regional level?

• Speaker: Cesar Izaurralde, Joint Global Change Research Institute, University of Maryland
• Discussants:
  Henry Lin, Pennsylvania State University
  Susan Moran, USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center
• Moderator: Jennifer Harden, U.S. Geological Survey

Session 6
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What are the new tools for making in situ and laboratory measurements of soil biological and physicochemical properties and processes?

• Speaker 1: Kenneth Kemner, Argonne National Laboratory (x-ray imaging and spectroscopy)
• Speaker 2: Kenneth Klabunde, Kansas State University (nanotechnology)
• Moderator: Joaquin Ruiz, University of Arizona

Session 7
Audio file

From a systems analysis standpoint, what are the key indicators for detecting the resilience and stability of the soil system? What are critical factors that control the resilience and stability?

• Speaker: Kate Scow, University of California, Davis
• Discussants:
  Jayne Belnap, USGS Canyonlands Research Station, Utah
  Birl Lowery, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Moderator: William Jury, University of California, Riverside