Land use change is one of the main drivers of many processes of environmental change, as it influences basic resources of the landscape including the soil. Poor land management can rapidly deteriorate vast amounts of land, which frequently becomes a major threat to rural subsistence in many developing countries. Conversely, impact of land use changes on soil also can occur so unnoticed that land managers hardly contemplate initiating ameliorative measures. For example, forest conversion to cropland and reduction of tillage intensity can prevail as main changes of land use in some regions, whereas abandon of agricultural fields can be a major concern in other regions. In non-agricultural context, changes of land use of major interest are driven by urbanization, landscaping, engineering, mining, contamination, etc. Knowledge and understanding of soil properties and processes ensures remediation or reclamation of disturbed or damaged soils. This session addresses contributions dealing with effect of changes in soil use on biological, chemical and physical soil properties. Particularly welcome are studies about the interaction between land use and soil heterogeneity at various scales, which apply advanced statistical and mathematical methods.

Funding provided by CEIGRAM (Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks)is greatly appreciated.