Abstract
This chapter is an introduction to a book that focuses on process-oriented soil science. Soil science developed for the target audience of farmers, gardeners, and fertilizer salespeople. The theories and foundations of modern soil science are intentionally directed toward addressing the pragmatic needs of agriculture. Soil science has been primarily concerned with the identification and classification of soils, and their distribution across the landscape. Modern soil science, however, places little emphasis on explanatory models concerned with how soils work. A scientific discipline like soil science develops in response to a societal concern or need. The chapter discusses the various topics covered in the chapters of the book, such as historical and philosophical roots of contemporary soil science, perturbations in soil science, concepts of soil metabolic system, the Oxidizable Carbon Ratio (OCR) procedure, and case studies demonstrating the use of the OCR procedure in the physiological assessment of soils.
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