Soil Science (SOIL)

Description: Basic knowledge of soils. Historical perspectives of the role of soils in human societies. The role of soils in the humanities including art, philosophy and literature. How to address problems of human-accelerated erosion, soil degradation, and water quality.

Description: Investigation into the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils, in relation to their appropriate uses, protection, and vital roles or functions in broader plant-soil systems. Apply exercises such as discussion, evidence-based writing, assessment, planning, problem-solving, and presentations in relation to principles and practices involving all aspects of soils.

Description: Develop a life-long interest in observing and studying soil health and ecosystems. Provide the necessary academic skills to incorporate soil health principles into real-world applications, including natural resource conservation, evaluation of regenerative practices, and promotion of environmental sustainability. Prepare professionals and advocates of soil ecosystems.

Description: Current state-of-knowledge of soil and water management; impacts of water and wind erosion on soil productivity, and nutrient dynamics; soil management in response to the increased climate variability; improved management practices such as conservation tillage (i.e., no-till), cropping systems, cover crops, crop residue management, perennial systems, water management and irrigation; nutrient cycling; and soil quality and health.

Description: Apply fundamental knowledge to the description of soils in the field. Application of techniques employed in writing descriptions of soil morphology and in classifying and interpreting soils.

Description: Professional experience in a plant, landscape or soil interest area. Experience may be with a business, government agency, organization, or a university research, extension, or teaching program.

Description: Watershed hydrology, soil erosion, erosion control, water management, and land surveying and mapping. Includes rainfall-runoff relationships; determination of watershed characteristics; terraces, waterways, vegetative filters, and residue management; ponds, wetlands, non-point source pollution control, and water conservation; profile and topographic surveying.

Description: Chemical and physical processes that influence the fate and transport of contaminants (inorganic, organic, microbial) in soil-water environments. Extent, fate, mitigation and impact of various sources of pollution. Remedial technologies used for environmental restoration of contaminated environments.

Description: Explores nutrient behaviors in soil and factors affecting nutrient management. Students work on developing fertilizer plans for complex plant production systems that follow the right place, right amount, right source, right time philosophy and ensure production of healthy and nutritious plants, improve profits and enterprise sustainability, fulfill legal requirements, and protect soil and water quality.

Description: Apply fundamental knowledge and improve field techniques to the description and interpretation of soils in the field. Application of techniques employed in writing descriptions of soil morphology and in classifying and interpreting soils.

Description: Characteristics of soils in urban settings. Evaluation of soils intended for intensive human uses and strategies for their use. Identification of specific issues related to urban soils. Manipulation or remediation of soils subject to construction and other stresses.

Description: Chemical and mineralogical properties of soil components. Inorganic colloidal fraction. Structures of soil minerals as a means of understanding properties, such as ion exchange and equilibria; release and supply of nutrient and toxic materials; and soil acidity and alkalinity. Forms and functions of organic matter in soil.

Description: Survey of measurement techniques and principles used in characterizing the physical properties of soils. Includes analysis of experimental design and sources of experimental error. Techniques include: particle size analysis, soil water content, pore size analysis, field sampling techniques, soil strength, and saturated hydraulic conductivity.

Description: Soil from a microbe's perspective-growth, activity and survival strategies; principles governing methods to study microorganisms and biochemical processes in soil; mechanisms controlling organic matter cycling and stabilization with reference to C, N, S, and P; microbial interactions with plants and animals; and agronomic and environmental applications of soil microorganisms.

Description: Principles of soil physics. Movement of water, air, heat, and solutes in soils. Water retention and movement, including infiltration and field water regime. Movement of chemicals in soils.

Description: Emphasis on applied soil physics. Discussion of theoretical principles followed by field and laboratory exercises and applications. Fluxes of water, solutes, air, and heat through the soil. Emphasis on water infiltration, water retention, other soil hydraulic properties. Components of soil water balance. Management of soil water.

Description: Holistic approach to the selection and analysis of planning strategies for protecting water quality from nonpoint sources of contamination. Introduction to the use of methods of analyzing the impact of strategies on whole systems and subsystems; for selecting strategies; and for evaluating present strategies.

Description: Spatial relationship of soil properties on various parts of landscape typical of the Plains, causal factors, and predictions of such relationships on other landscapes. Grouping these properties into classes, naming the classes, and the taxonomy that results from this grouping. Application of a taxonomy to a real situation through making a field soil survey in a region representative of the Plains border, predicting land use response of various mapped units as it affects the ecosystem, and evaluating the effectiveness of the taxonomic system used in the region surveyed.

Description: Topic varies and deals with different aspects of forage and/or range and/or livestock, turf and/or landscape grasses, natural habitats, and wetlands.

Description: Carry out and report on a research project.

Description: Conduct a scholarly research project and write a University Honors Program or undergraduate thesis.