There is a important new paper by Professor Dan Yaalon of the Institute of Earth Sciences at Hebrew University in the December 2007 issue of Bioscience titled ”Human-Induced Ecosystem and Landscape Processes Always Involve Soil Change.”
This paper discusses the role of human-induced soil changes and soil diversity.
The introduction reads
“Soil, the living skin of Earth derived from weathered rock materials and surficial biota, has been dubbed ‘Earth’s critical zone’ by the US National Research Council. It is an inseparable part of nature’s dynamic ecosystems, yet it is frequently disregarded when discussing landscape processes or resources and the consequences of land-use and land-cover change.”
The text concludes with the statement that “Soil changes cannot be disregarded any long in discussions of ecosystem changes and landscape processes.”
Since the ecosystem is a component of the climate system, this means that
”Soil changes cannot be disregarded in discussions of climate change.”
This perspective fits with the findings in
National Research Council, 2005: Radiative forcing of climate change: Expanding the concept and addressing uncertainties. Committee on Radiative Forcing Effects on Climate Change, Climate Research Committee, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Division on Earth and Life Studies, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 208 pp;
a report that was almost completely ignored by the 2007 IPCC WG1 Report.