Project Description
This course will provide you with an understanding of the basic science underpinning soil processes, function, and use, and the application of this knowledge to catchment and land management and planning.
You will be introduced to the concepts of soil as a system – as an earth material as well as a plant-growth medium. You will also be introduced to the role of soil in the carbon cycle – specifically that of storing carbon in the overall management of CO2 emissions.
Project Personnel and Beneficiaries
This course is for those who want to gain a basic understanding of soils and soil science in a generic sense but also with a focus on Australian soil environments. It is relevant for ecologists, geotechnical engineers, environmental scientists / managers, land planners, catchment management, environmental management, early career professionals looking for professional development; job seekers/career changers; international research and coursework students
Outcomes to Date
3 participants completed the course.
This course will help land managers, planners, and resource industry land specialists and environmental consultants more confidently and effectively address the increasing soil and land management and planning requirements and challenges facing the land and environmental sector.
Project Significance
Soil and soil materials are critical to plant and crop productivity and as a service to the ecosystem. They are central to landscape function and to land management decisions, but soils are often little understood and therefore open to misunderstanding and mismanagement: they can be modified to improve and sustain productivity, or stability, but they also can be easily disturbed, eroded, and otherwise degraded.
This course will provide you with an understanding of the basic science underpinning soil processes, function, and use, and the application of this knowledge to catchment and land management and planning.
You will be introduced to the concepts of soil as a system – as an earth material as well as a plant-growth medium. You will also be introduced to the role of soil in the carbon cycle – specifically that of storing carbon in the overall management of CO2 emissions.