Defining the Soil - a Good Beginning of Every Soil Science Course.

There is a need for a historic understanding how we define soil, and how the definition has evolved over time. There is also a need to revisit what the definition of soil means and what such definition should include. Soil science is now being taught in many other departments and soil science teaching is rapidly changing. A definition is of importance for the growing number of soil science practitioners and their certification and for effective communication with other scientists, politicians and the general public. Current soil definitions have an edaphological and environmental outlook reflecting the broadening of the soil science discipline. The effect of increased specialisation and expansion in soil science causes that the detail of the investigation prevails over the idea of soil as a complex dynamic system that is part of a much wider Earth system.