The Development of Soil Science in Calabria

The history of soil science in Calabria is about 60 years old and thus relatively younger than in other Italian regions, although occasional older roots can be traced back to the second half of the twentieth century up to the late nineteenth century. Nonetheless, the contribution to the study of local soils and corresponding applications, often started by researchers mostly operating in other parts of Italy, has been continuously growing through time thanks to the long-lasting establishment of soil scientists in this region. This trend has been favored by the coexistence of different research institutions, such as institutes of the current Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), and the Regional Agency for Development and Services in Agriculture (ARSSA), along with two academic bodies (University of Calabria, in Rende— CS, and the Mediterranean University, in Reggio Calabria). All these institutions have progressively increased high-tech laboratory equipment and facilities, where staff with multidisciplinary background and expertise has been and/or is currently enrolled, carrying out several research activities in both bio-agronomic topics and geosciences, and interconnected multidisciplinary applications. Major research topics include: the interplay between weathering, pedogenesis and geomorphic processes, and the quantification of their rates; sustainable and conservation management of agricultural and forest soils related to mitigation of soil threats and climate change; optimized management strategies of urban and peri-urban soils in relation to their vulnerability to natural and anthropogenic threats; the study and valorization of soils and paleosols as natural archives of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes and as part of the cultural and geological heritage. These research fields are carried out by integrating field surveys with a large variety of laboratory (chemical-physical, biochemical, sequencing, spectroscopic, isotopic, hydrological, mineralogical, petrographic, geotechnical, microscopic) analyses, proximal to remote sensing techniques, geostatistics and digital soil mapping. The Mediterranean University and the University of Calabria also offer teaching activities in Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees and Ph.D. courses in Agronomy and Geological Sciences, respectively