Soil Management Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Climate.

In soil science research, much attention has been given to the management of crop residues and the soil fertility to affect climate change through the reduction of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.  The vast majority of this research has been undertaken at the plot scale; little consideration has been given to the role of soil management at a landscape scale.  At a landscape scale, soil management practices can cause soil erosion which results in increased variability in soil biophysical properties and processes within a landscape.  This variability can affect the production and emission of greenhouse gases, as well as crop production.  Management practices that reduce, arrest, and, in particular, reverse soil erosion have the potential to greatly affect the production and emission of greenhouse gases at a landscape scale; they also have the potential to greatly affect the uniformity and stability of crop production at a landscape scale.  The role of soil management in addressing climate change needs to be fully assessed, both in terms of adaptation to an increasingly variable or changing climate, and mitigation of climate change through greenhouse gas reductions.  The purpose of this presentation is to provide a framework for a comprehensive assessment of soil management’s role in addressing climate change at a landscape scale, and to provide some insight into the significance of some of the less studied elements of this framework.