AugerT H E

J U N E 2 0 1 6

www.soils.org.uk

Promoting the study and profession of soil science

Welcome to my first edition of the Auger as Editor.

Firstly, I would like to thank all the contributors for submitting the articles that you will read in this current edition. The Auger is produced twice a year and is for the members of the British Society of Soil Science. It would be great to have as many of you as possible submitting articles for inclusion, so please feel free to email me an article for the next edition which will be published in December 2016.

I am extremely pleased to inform you that the Society office has now settled into our new home at Cranfield University. Also we are now fully staffed and looking forward to serving you, the membership, as we move forward. Judith Simpkins started in the office in January as the Accounts Technician and has been working hard to file the 2015 accounts and create the accounting structure for the new financial year. Lynne Boshier joined the office in February as the Membership and Events Officer and has already been able to clear the membership backlog and is now working on the 2016 Annual Meeting. Kim Spooner is the Administrator and she has been chasing Chartered Scientists for their CPD submissions as well as ensuring your Journals are delivered correctly and also processing the grant requests them Society receives.

Next year is a milestone for the Society as it reaches its 70th anniversary. We have good reason to celebrate the continued success of BSSS and would welcome ideas on how we can mark this special year and spread the word about soil science. If you have any ideas on how we can achieve this then please get in touch. My contact details are below.

Finally, please can I remind you that the Society Annual Meeting takes place on the 7th and 8th September 2016 at the University of Reading. This is our flagship event and this year the first day will be in collaboration with the Soil Security Programme. Abstracts are now being accepted for both oral and poster presentations but you will need to be quick as the closing date is Monday 4th July 2016. More details can be found on the BSSS website (www.soils.org.uk).

Ian Brown, Executive Officer exec@soils.org.uk

British Society of Soil ScienceBuilding 42a, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0ALwww.soils.org.uk www.soilscientist.orge : admin@soils.org.uk t : +44 (0)1234 752983

The British Society of Soil Science is a limited company, registered in England and Wales No. 7110309 and a Registered Charity No. 1134456.

3 President’s Welcome

4 Notes from the PPC Chair

5 WWS review / STARS Course

6 Society News

8 Personal Memories

9 Soil Forensic

10 Earthworm Watch

11 EGU

12 Word Congress Report

14 AGM Minutes

21 News

23 Life in Soil

24 Particle Size Analysis

26 Further Info

27 Council Members / Diary Dates

Ian Brown Executive Officerexec@soils.org.uk

Kim Spooner Administrative Supportoffice@soils.org.uk

Judith Simpkins Account Technicianadmin@soils.org.uk

Lynne Boshier Membership and Events Officerevents@soils.org.uk

EditorialIn this issue. . .

Our mission is to promote the study and profession of Soil Science

Cover image : Mountain red soil on the outskirts of Kunming city, Yunnan Province, SW China. The profile is deep and the texture sandy with some visible albeit weak changes in colour with depth in the profile. Evaporation has led to the deposition of salts on the face of the profile. © Professor Margaret Oliver, Hon Editor EJSS Journal

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 3

Soil science has come a long way since those post-WWII days. At around that time scientists such as Hans Jenny, who presented the relationship between soil properties and soil formation, revolutionised approaches to the study of soil and made it possible for there to be a science of soil. Soil science is now more interdisciplinary in perspective and recognised as being key to addressing global challenges. This is reflected as an objective in the BSSS strategic plan for 2015-2020, as we look to increase our outward facing and collaborative working. A good example of this in practice is our annual meeting this September, at the University of Reading, which this year will be part joint with the NERC/BBSRC/Defra/Scottish Government Soil Security programme annual meeting, including a day of joint activities. Please take a moment to look at their webpage https://www.soilsecurity.org/ and explore the areas of mutual interest with BSSS which promise for some great interactions at this meeting.

Another sign of the times is the ever rapid changes in technology. Just recently our journals, Soil Use and Management and the European Journal of Soil Science have become available as apps on iTunes – just search for Soil Use and Management, or European Journal of Soil Science. After downloading the app, we need our BSSS membership number to access the journals and then we can view them for free at any time of day or night on our mobile devices and have our two favourite journals with us at all times!

There have also been changes in membership of BSSS Council and Board, and changes in the office team. In the office Ian and Kim are joined by Judith Simpkins, Accounts Technician, and Lynne Boshier, Membership and Events Officer. We welcome David Hopkins as our Governance Secretary and Trustee, Jack Hannam as our Education Committee chair, and Ashley Gorman

as our Student rep. I’m delighted to have these folk on our team and their invaluable contributions in taking our Society forward.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue of the Auger. I welcome your articles for the next issue, your input and suggestions, and thank you for your continued enthusiasm. I look forward to seeing you at our annual meeting in September, and in the meantime, my best wishes to you all for a restful summer.

Professor Liz Baggs, President, May 2016 president@soils.org.uk

Soil science is now more interdisciplinary in

perspective and recognised as being key to addressing

global challenges. ”

President’s Welcome

I’m sure most of us will have recently seen some of the celebrations for HM The Queen’s 90th birthday. Next year we too celebrate a notable birthday, as BSSS will be 70. Please do join our celebrations and keep an eye out for further notifications and activities next year.

List of regional group leads:

Midlands Soil Discussion Group Dr Sami Ullah msdg@soils.org.uk

Northern Soils Network Dr Jenny Jones nsn@soils.org.uk

Scottish Soils Discussion Group Dr Matt Aitkenhead ssdg@soils.org.uk

South East England Soil Discussion Group Dr Jack Hannam seesoil@soils.org.uk

South West England Soil Discussion Group Dr Martin Blackwell swsdg@soils.org.uk

Welsh Soils Discussion Group Mr Ian Rugg wsdg@soils.org.uk

Prof. Liz Baggs President

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk4

Notes from the PPC Chair

After the intense activity and focus around the International Year of Soils one might have expected some sort of lull in soil science interest in the first half of 2016. However, momentum has been sustained through events such as the launch of Defra’s Soils Evidence Review and the UK Parliament Soil health inquiry. For thought-provoking discussions around questions such as “How can we make our soils and food production systems more resilient?” and “How successful is the UK at managing soil vulnerability?” go to: https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/soil-health/

We are also looking forward to our annual meeting in September, which will be held in association with the Soil Security Programme (SPP) and have a continuing programme of events organised by our regional discussion groups, so please do get involved. For more details, check the BSSS newsletter or visit the website: www.soils.org.uk

RSci and RSci Tech professional registrationThrough the Science Council, we will soon be in a position to award Registered Scientist (RSci) and Registered Science Technician (RSci Tech) status to early career scientists and research technicians to help them gain recognition of their knowledge and skills, as part of their career development. This is a new initiative for the Society so please help raise awareness of this opportunity and of the benefits of membership and if you are interested in RSci or RSci Tech registration please contact the BSSS office.

Opportunities on the PPCIf you are keen to help promote soil science as a career there is an opportunity for you to join the Professional Practice Committee (PPC) as a representative of Teaching or Research Practice. You would help define professional competencies in these areas either through capturing the knowledge and skills required to deliver teaching and research in soil science or signposting to existing frameworks. The role would allow you to become more involved with the Society with limited time commitment; the PPC has two meetings per year. The Science Council have also recommended that we have Student and Technical representatives on the PPC, so if you are interested in any of these roles please do get in touch.

Brian Chambers Soils FundThe “Brian Chambers Soils Fund” (BCSF) has been set up to commemorate the contributions of Professor Brian Chambers to soil science and the Society, and to help early career scientists with financial support for training and other activities related to the development of soil science skills in soil, nutrient and manure management. You can help with the fund by spreading the word about this opportunity for early career scientists and by donating at https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/brianchamberssoilsfund More information can be found about BCSF and how to apply for a grant at www.soils.org.uk/bcsf-brian-chambers-soils-fund The full list of BSSS grants is available at: www.soils.org.uk/grants

Finally, I would like to thank the BSSS office, Judith, Kim, Lynne and Ian for all their hard work this year and for all the support provided by the rest of BSSS/PPC. I look forward to seeing many of you at forthcoming events in 2016.

Paul Newell Price, PPC Chair ppc@soils.org.uk

. . . momentum has been sustained through events

such as the launch of Defra’s Soils Evidence

Review and the UK Parliament Soil

health inquiry. ”

Paul Newell Price PPC Chair

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 5

Working with Soil scheme to be reviewed

Working with Soil was published at the Society’s annual meeting in 2011 and comprises ten competency statements covering everything from basic field skills through to advanced aspects of applied soil science. Each of the ten competency statements outline the minimum qualifications, skills and knowledge required to carry out soil-related tasks. Competency statements are gradually being translated into an integrated training programme.

Much has changed in the five years since its launch. For instance, the Society’s professional membership has expanded dramatically and the work being carried out by our professional members is now much broader.

Jack Hannam, Alex Cooke and Dick Thompson travelled up to Lancaster University in late April to deliver the one-day Working with Soil training course on soil profile description to a group of first year PhD students. The students were enrolled on the new STARS programme (Soil Training and Research Studentships) which is funded by NERC and BBSRC. The STARS consortium includes the universities of Lancaster, Bangor, Cranfield and Nottingham, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Rothamsted Research, the British Geological Survey and the James Hutton Institute.

The Society’s professional competency scheme, Working with Soil, is to undergo its first fitness for purpose review.

The review is being coordinated by the Professional Practice Committee and led by Dick Thompson. Inputs will be sought from across the Society and from representatives of the fifty Government, charitable and commercial organisations that supported the scheme’s launch.

The Committee would welcome comments and ideas from members.

Dick Thompson

For their Working with Soil training, the students spent the morning in a lab working on soil samples and learning how to assess and describe key soil properties. In the afternoon they travelled to a field site at Myerscough, dug soil pits to about 1m depth and applied their newly-acquired skills to describe the soil profiles they had exposed. Luckily the threatened wintery showers failed to materialise until the pits had been backfilled and everyone was back inside providing feedback on the day.

The Society is grateful to staff of Lancaster University and Myerscough College for their invaluable and willing support in enabling us to deliver training on their premises.

Dick Thompson, Professional Practice Committee

Society volunteers teach for the STARS

Students hard at work in the lab © Alex Cooke

Dick Thompson PPC

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk6

Society News

Student Rep UpdateFirstly, I would like to announce and welcome some of our new regional student reps:

Ernesto Saiz Val (Keele University) – Midlands Soil Discussion Group (MSDG)

Bea Burak (University of Lancaster) – Northern Soils Network (NSN)

Alex Cooke (Cranfield University) – South East England Soil Discussion Group (SEESOIL)

The remaining positions are yet to be filled so if you are interested, please get in touch! Do not hesitate to get in contact with any of your reps with your thoughts, queries and ideas – we are all looking forward to working together to create the best opportunities and experiences possible for our student community.

Recent EventsThanks to everyone who attended the SEESOIL Careers in Soil Science event at Cranfield in May. We hope that you found it to be a valuable session. Please ensure that you are subscribed to both the student section and your regional group on the website to avoid missing notification of future events.

Upcoming EventsOur AGM will be held at the University of Reading on 7-8th September. The call for abstracts is open until Monday 4th July and it would be great to see lots of submissions from student members. Preparation is also underway for the ECR 2017 and we aim to have registration open by Fall. Now that we have an excellent student rep team in place, many more events will be happening in your area each month but we would love to know what you want from your membership!

Viva SuccessCongratulations to Sophie Sherriff (Crops, Environment and Land Use Programme, Teagasc/University of Dundee/Agricultural Catchments Programme) upon passing her viva with minor corrections. Her thesis is entitled “Soil erosion and suspended sediment dynamics in agricultural catchments”. Sophie has now started a 3 year postdoc position at the University of Dundee in collaboration with UK and Indian partners working on sustainable water management in the Cauvery basin, India.

GrantsCongratulations to the following members who were awarded travel grants from the society to attend international conferences:

Ms Annet Westhoek (University of Oxford) - Pan-African Grain Legume and World Cowpea Conference, Livingstone, Zambia

Mr Craig Smeaton (University of St Andrews) - European Geosciences Union – General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria

Welcome to the following new Members :

Student Members

Saeed Ahmad Arthur BroadbentSamuel Eze Graham HambleyThomas Inglis Helen KingCharlie Langan James Angus LeighJuliette Maire Henry WebberMaki Miura Samia RichardsErnesto Saiz Val Mohamed ShokrTom Storr Marijke StrujikDorien Vanhees Eva WeberAnnet Westhoek

Associate Members

Gaynor Barrett Verena PfahlerNicole Read Peter RichardsonEmily Williams

Technical MembersTim Bearder Nicholas HumphriesSimon Williams

Full Members

Alex Boon Alexandre de MenezesKatherine Deeks Benneth EsianaIain Gould Liz HamiltonAnnabel Martin Ezzat MarzoukJayalakshmi Mitnala Jacob OlewskiLewis Peake Stephen PyeNicola Reid Nichola Taylor

Fellow

Russell Young

Ashley Gorman Student Rep

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 7

The next Landmark paper is by Nanniperi et al., 2003. Microbial diversity and soil functions. EJSS 54, 655–670. It was the most downloaded paper last year of EJSS papers.

We shall have a new Deputy Editor in August – Ed Tipping from the University of Lancaster. He will replace Richard Webster who has given a great deal of time to the Journal in the past 12 months. Richard has spent most of his time on statistics, which remains a problem for many authors. I hope that I shall still be able to draw on his expertise. The Statistics Panel, which also does an excellent job, has been kept very busy over the past 12 months as well.

We had excellent support over the past 12 month from Hana Bellova of Wiley’s. In addition, Vicky Johnson, Natasha White, Genevieve Collett, Tom Wordsworth and Leigh Duke have provided invaluable guidance over the past year. We now have a new direct contact, Justinia Wood. PrePress continues to provide very effective day-to-day management of the Journal.

Please look at some of the more unusual papers in EJSS such as: Characterization of products of the early stages of pedogenesis in ornithogenic soil from Maritime Antarctica, G. Poggere et al. EJSS, 67.1, 2016. Also: The effect of change in soil volume on organic matter distribution in a volcanic ash soil, F. H Tonneijck et al. EJSS 67.1, 2016.

Regional Group UpdateNORTHERN SOILS NETWORK (NSN)The Network now has a team in place with Chair, Dr. Jenny Jones, Liverpool John Moores University (j.jones@ljmu.ac.uk), Deputy Chair, Dr. Eleanor Reed, Wardell Armstrong LLP (Newcastle) (ereed@wardell-armstrong.com) and Student Rep, Bea Burak, University of Lancaster (b.burak@lancaster.ac.uk).

Jenny’s research has focused on soil magnetism and heavy metals in soils and peats. She now concentrates more on soil science education and public communication.

Eleanor Reed is a member of a group of soil science consultants. Her soil interests include soils in agriculture, forest and peatland environments, focusing on nutrient use efficiency, carbon cycling and soil quality.

Bea’s research is concentrating on the role of root systems in mitigating soil erosion. She is using crop mutants to quantify their ability to resist erosion.

The Chair attended a meeting in March with key staff at Myerscough College to explore the use of the College as a site for future meetings. The aim of the first meeting will be to focus on employment opportunities within soil science.

Ms Emma Brown (Bangor University) – 15th International Peat Congress 2016: Peatlands in Harmony – Agriculture, Industry and Nature, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Mr Graham Hambley (University of St Andrews) – European Geosciences Union: General Assembly 2016, Vienna, Austria

Ms Hsiao-Hang Tao (University of Oxford) – European Conference of Tropical Ecology, Göttingen, Germany

The European Journal of Soil Science (EJSS)I have introduced several new things for European Journal of Soil Science. Authors have to tick boxes when they submit their paper to say that they have read the journal’s guidance and statistics notes, and so on. The aim is to help the Associate Editors and Reviewers at a later stage. The main change that you will have seen in the March Issue of the Journal is the introduction of highlights. The editorial team and the staff at Wiley’s provided considerable input to this to get it right. Reviewers are now informed about the outcome of papers they review, which helps to keep them in the loop; they play a crucial role. We are constantly trying think of ways to make their contributions recognised and a new system is being tried by Wiley’s through Publons. Reviewers will be able to obtain a score for papers reviewed by recording on the site their review of a given paper.

The Journal continues to thrive with 328 submissions last year, and so far this year we have had more at a given point in time. Papers were submitted from 48 different countries. China remains the largest source of new submissions and it is pleasing that more of their papers are being published. The United Kingdom submitted the next largest number, followed by Germany, India and Australia.

The impact factor (IF) increased last year to 2.649 from 2.39 in 2014 – we are currently waiting for the impact factor for this year. The ranking of EJSS also increased to sixth position in the listings of soil-based journals. I continue to strive to maintain a high standard of papers that will gain citations and improve our IF. We can only achieve this if we continue to receive papers of high quality, novelty and interest. This is why it is so important for the membership of BSSS to support this Journal with such submissions.

The fifth Landmark (EJSS-67.1) paper, accompanied by the thoughts of the author and some comments by Associated Editors (AE) was published in January. The paper is by Yves Le Bissonnais (1996), Aggregate stability and assessment of crustability and erodibility: 1. theory and methodology. European Journal of Soil Science, 47, 425−437. It is with great sadness that the AE who led those writing the Reflections, François Bartoli, died suddenly on November 14th.

Margaret Oliver EJSS Editor

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk8

Some Personal Memories of the British Society of Soil Science

After gaining my MSc in Agricultural Engineering at Kings College Newcastle on Tyne I was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture in, what was then, Southern Rhodesia in the Department of Conservation and Extension. My first posting was to Henderson Research Station to work with Norman Hudson on the Soil Erosion Experimental section. This was a very exciting investigation into the mechanics of soil erosion using very large experimental plots sited on both sandy soils derived from granite and heavy red soils derived from dolerite.

After a year, I moved into the field as a relief Soil Conservation Officer while my successor was E.R Fountaine from the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering at Silsoe. After a year surveying fields and pegging contours to control soil erosion, applying methodologies imported from the Soil Conservation Service in the United States in

various parts of the country, I was posted to a permanent post in Umvukwes (Mvurwe). This coincided with two powerful new introductions into land management in the Department; the use of stereo analysis of aerial photography for farm planning and the examination and

classification of soils for agricultural use using soil pits. The main crops were Maize and Tobacco. The first was a heavy soil crop, the second a light soil crop. The system was one also imported from the United States and one which GWR would have been aware of, though he might not have agreed with it from a philosophical point of view since the texturing was done by hand. Probably, Southern Rhodesia had one of the best surveyed land areas at that time in the world because all Soil Conservation Officers were trained in the techniques.

I had the great good fortune to have been a student in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University College, Bangor and was lectured to by Professor Gilbert Wooding Robinson (GWR to his students) the President of our Society from 1949 until his untimely death in 1950. His enthusiasm for the understanding of soil was truly infectious and it stimulated an interest in soils which has remained with me to this day.

After serving as Chief Planning Officer in the Department for several years I returned, with my family, to the United Kingdom and took up a post as Senior Lecturer in Land Resource Planning at the National College of Agricultural Engineering under Norman Hudson. Here I lectured for 25 years on land classification, land use and land use planning. It is a great pleasure for me to see many of my former students now occupying senior positions in many land use planning organisations.

The Principal of the College at the time was Peter Payne, joint author of a paper with E.R Fountaine published in the Journal of Soil Science Vol 3 No 2 1952. Mathematically alert readers will be impressed by the Venn diagrams that could be constructed from this combination of names.

Soil studies have come a long way since Volume No 1 of the Journal, but the covers of Volume 67 No 2 and Vol 32 No 2 of the sister journals of soil science both feature soil profiles and soil pits. The contents reveal a tremendous internationalisation of soil and an ever increasing depth of understanding of the complex interactions within the soil profile. GWR would have approved.

Maurice Keech

It is a great pleasure for me to see many of my former

students now occupying senior positions in many land use

planning organisations. ”

Maurice Keech

As the Society is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2017,

we would love to hear about your experiences as a member

— so get in touch !

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 9

Soil Forensics

As part of an investigation into a suspicious death near Perth, Professor Lorna Dawson assisted Police Scotland in considering potential links between a suspect, a suspect vehicle and a makeshift grave in a woodland.

Police found a garden spade during a search of a blue Toyota Rav4 which the suspect Nikola Zhulev was seen driving. The vehicle was also spotted near woods where a hole was dug in a clearing. The vehicle was said to have been owned by deceased Perthshire jeweller Alan Gardner.

Mr Gardner was found dead in his Balbeggie bungalow cocooned in a duvet with his feet bound in April 2015. Lorna was called in for advice, along with the forensic archaeologist Gaille Mackinnon, to assist Police Scotland and to inspect the grave site and to collect control samples. Lorna and her forensic team were then asked to compare and analyse the soil on the spade, and on Mr Zhulev’s footwear to ascertain if the soil on these items could have originated from the grave location.

Inspector Marc Lorente (Crime Scene Coordinator for Tayside area of Police Scotland), explained how officers found the hole in the woods at St Martin’s, near Guildtown, close to where a farm worker had reported seeing the blue Toyota.

He said:

It was very square, had neat edges and clearly wasn’t a natural phenomenon. Although I didn’t measure it I’d estimate it at approximately three feet by four feet. It was full of water but I couldn’t see anything underneath the surface of the water.

There was a mound of what I took to be the soil that had been dug out from the hole and a pile of leaves which I took to be taken from the surface prior to the hole being dug.”

Spade found in the boot of a car driven by a murderer accused was covered in soil which matched samples taken from a makeshift grave, a jury heard.

Lorna confirmed that the soil at the edges of the grave observed to be in mounds were composed of both subsoil and topsoil and had likely come from the adjacent open pit. Using a combined approach, characterising both the inorganic and organic soil fractions, Lorna showed analytically that the soils from the subsoil from the crime scene was virtually indistinguishable to the soil on the questioned spade. The soil on Mr Zhulev’s footwear also could not be excluded as coming from that subsoil horizon in the grave site.

Zhulev’s palm prints and Mr. Gardner’s DNA were recovered from a frying pan found in the house, the handle of which had been bent with the force of the blow. In addition, an imprint with the make of the frying pan was found at post mortem on the dead man’s head.

Lorna presented evidence in Livingstone Crown Court in March 2016, showing that the soil on the spade and on the footwear of Mr Zhulev were extremely likely to have originated from the makeshift grave in the Perthshire woods. This helped the jury come to the conclusion that Mr Zhulev had indeed murdered Mr Gardner in his home. Zhulev is currently awaiting sentence in May.

Soil characteristics can indeed be a powerful tool in the investigators toolbox, helping to provide intelligence as to location and also can be powerful evidence when presented in court, thus contributing to a robust criminal justice system.

Lorna Dawson

Soil on questioned spade

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk10

Earthworm Watch:

The Earthworm Watch project, run by environmental charity Earthwatch (http://eu.earthwatch.org) and the Natural History Museum (www.nhm.ac.uk), in association with the Earthworm Society of Britain (www.earthwormsoc.org.uk) aims to reveal the impact of humans on earthworms and the soils they live in.

Despite their importance, below-ground organisms are rarely the focus of citizen science projects, but earthworms are the most accessible as they are ubiquitous, easy to find and of well-established importance in soil productivity, carbon storage and flood mitigation. Earthworm Watch is recruiting individuals and families interested in gardening and the natural world to sample earthworms in different UK habitats or land use management areas. These results will be used to establish, and then map, the key ecosystem benefits - productivity, flood mitigation and carbon storage - that are mediated by earthworms in the UK at the present time. Once these maps have been assembled developers and land-use managers will be able to estimate the impact of alternative future land-management scenarios on the provision of these ecosystem services.

The main survey requires digging a soil pit in two areas of different habitat (e.g., lawn/flowerbed or management; fertilised/unfertilised). For each soil pit the habitat, number and types of earthworms, and soil properties are recorded. This paired study design controls for differences in effort and ability between participants, avoiding the main problem with analysing citizen science data.

The survey takes around an hour and will provide valuable data for the Earthworm Watch team, as well as earning your name as co-author of their publication in the Biodiversity Data Journal once the project is completed.

The survey ran initially to the end of May 2016 with a further survey period planned for autumn 2016. Information on how to take part is available at: www.earthwormwatch.org and you could also follow us on Twitter @EarthwormWatch or Facebook www.facebook.com/earthwormwatch

Victoria J. Burton, PhD Student

Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP, and the Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, UK

Life Sciences Department, The Natural History Museum, London

Using citizen science to model and map soil ecosystem services

Aporrectodea caliginosa © Victoria Burton

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 11

European Geosciences Union 2016 Review

The stand was shared with the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) and the European Society for Soil Conservation (ESSC) along with contributions from the Japanese and Italian soil societies respectively. Over the course of the week the conference attracted 13,650 participants from 111 countries and included an impressive 16,130 presentations across 619 sessions. The conference draws together all disciplines across the geosciences spectrum and people at all stages of their careers from PhD students, to researchers and teachers, to retired scientists.

It was inspiring to speak to so many soil scientists from all over the world and find out what they were doing but also to those that were on the borders of soil science such as geophysicists, sedimentologists and seismologists to name a few and see how the disciplines overlap. For me it emphasizes the importance of sharing research and collaboration with others in different fields to advance

science as a whole. The breadth and depth of research being undertaken is staggering and was an eye-opener that even after 11 years of working with and

researching soils I’ve barely scratched the surface. I can now also say ‘soil’ in 30 different languages! EGU 2017 dates have been fixed for next year for 23rd-28th April in Vienna and I highly recommend this conference to all those wishing to promote their research, especially those at the early stage of their careers. As a BSSS member there are opportunities to apply for grants towards helping fund the cost of conference attendance. I was lucky enough to present my research at EGU last year and will be seeking to do the same next year.

I recently volunteered to represent the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS) on their stand at the Europe an Geosciences Union (EGU) conference from 18th–22nd April in Vienna.

BSSS stand representative: Helen Balshaw

(3rd Year Soil Science PhD Student, Swansea University)

My own career as a soil scientist started with a 3rd year Geography BSc dissertation on soil water repellency at Swansea University, followed by an MSc in Land and Soil Management at Cranfield University. I was then fortunate enough to join ADAS - firstly as a fieldwork technician and then being selected for a graduate soil scientist position where I worked within their soils and nutrients team for four years. In the end the pull of research and desire to undertake a PhD drew me back to Swansea University where I have just started the final year of my EPSRC funded PhD on the phenomenon of soil water repellency. I’m looking at the physico-chemical relationships behind it to try and understand how and why it occurs and how it may be reduced or managed. The PhD links together the disciplines of soil science, engineering and chemistry and as already mentioned I am a firm believer in the benefits of inter-disciplinary research and encourage it wherever possible. I’m sure I will be seeking to continue within the world of soil research going forward and job hunting has already commenced.

At EGU, both the IUSS and the BSSS were promoting the upcoming World Congress of Soil Science conferences, first up in Rio in 2018 and then all eyes on Glasgow in 2022! Last year was recognised as the International Year of Soils (IYS) and I know from reading The Auger, newsletters and various social media feeds that the BSSS and its members were keen to promote the IYS and took part in many events and outreach activities. Emphasis has now been shifted to keeping the momentum going and promoting an International Decade of Soils (2015-2024). Food security and production is a major global issue and it remains essential to follow good soil management and agronomy practices whilst protecting the environment from air and water pollution. The BSSS and its members are crucial for advancing current research in soil science but also for outreach activities to involve local communities from schools to local interest groups - it is only through regular knowledge transfer, communication and involvement can we tackle the issues faced on a local and global scale. I was very proud to represent the BSSS at EGU and extend my thanks to the society for such a great opportunity.

Helen Balshaw

It was inspiring to speak to so many soil scientists from all over the world . . .”

Helen Balshaw on the stand at EGU

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk12

World Congress of Soil Science in Glasgow 2022 —

2022 may seem some time away but the amount of work required to plan and bring this to fruition should not be under-estimated. A WCSS working group has been established and has already held two teleconferences (September and December 2015) and a face to face meeting in Birmingham in February 2016. The Group is chaired by Bruce Lascelles who also led the submission of the written bid on behalf of the Society and presented it verbally to the IUSS Council in Jeju, Korea in June 2014. Others on the Working Group are Matt Aitkenhead, Anne Bhogal, Ingrid Hallin, Wilfred Otten, Willie Towers, Helaina Black and Phil Haygarth, along with Ian Brown and Lynne Boshier from the BSSS office.

Some materials have already been produced as part of the build up to the Congress. These include:

Speakers notes for Society members who are presenting at conferences. This is to act as an aide memoir for key facts about ourselves and the Congress: where and why, who is the Society, where do we do our research, what will the Congress contain and who has already pledged support;

A powerpoint slide advertising the Congress;

An e-mail banner;

The ‘Worm’ logo, which will be updated annually.

Mock ups of business cards and fliers have been produced.

These will continue to be developed and updated as we progress towards 2022; if you can use any of these please contact the Working Group (via bruce.lascelles@arcadis.com) or the BSSS office.

Lines of Publicity have also been opened up. These include a dedicated web site www.22wcss.org , a Twitter account @worldsoil2022; #wcss22 and a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WCSS2022. Also, don’t forget the old fashioned way of simply telling collaborators and others by word of mouth at conferences and project meetings (using some of the materials outlined above)!

Communication The Working Group are very conscious that it is important that the wider membership of the Society are kept informed of developments. To this end, we plan an Auger article to provide an update every six months and will also make sure that the monthly members’ newsletter contains short relevant updates. The Regional Groups will be vital to the delivery of some elements of the Congress, in particular the pre- and post-Congress tours, and as such the Working Group will start to have increased communication with these groups to encourage the development of ideas for the Congress. Please use your involvement with the Regional Groups to start discussions around what you would like to do.

We will also use our Annual Meetings, Early Career conferences and Regional Group meetings to encourage the flow of ideas and information from the membership. It is important to remember that the Congress, whilst centred on the scientific programme, also aims to deliver a much broader programme of events, from art exhibitions to a farmers market; if you have any ideas for soil- related activities please let the team know.

As you will be aware, the Society, in partnership with the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, bid for and successfully won the right to host the WCSS2022 in Glasgow. This was against some stiff opposition, including China, Italy and a European consortium led by the Swiss Society; however, we won more votes than the other bids combined.

What have we been up to?

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 13

Fundraising Although the Society has ring- fenced funding for the Congress, as has Glasgow City, we do also need to attract sponsorship. We see this being ratcheted up in 2017 after the Inter Congress meeting later this year but we are open to any opportunities or ideas for further funding at any time.

We would also be grateful to receive suggestions for a high profile ambassador who may help to attract sponsorship as well as promote the Congress in a more general sense. Please pass any suggestions on to the team.

Build up to 2022 There will be a general increase in activity as 2022 approaches but there will be ‘pulses’ of activity in certain years whilst others will be relatively quiet. Essentially, years with Inter Congress meetings (which include this year) and the Congress in Brazil in 2018 will be much busier than intervening years.

The Society will be attending the Inter Congress meeting in Brazil this autumn and we have a lot to do in advance of this, including outlining in more detail some of the potential tour options in the UK and Europe, detailing what the Society has done since 2014 and understanding what the Brazilian organisers plan for their closing ceremony at the next World Congress in 2018, where the ‘baton’ will be passed to over us. We will also be arranging meetings with key individuals during the Inter Congress to further the aim of collaborating on activities in the lead up to and at the Congress in 2022.

Lastly, the Working Group will welcome any new members or offers of assistance as our plans and activities develop; the more the merrier. Wherever you go in your professional life, be sure to use the powerpoint slide, the speaker’s notes and advertise our external communication channels.

World Congress of Soil Science Working Group, April 2016

Bruce Lascelles WCSS Working Group Chair

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk14

69th Annual General Meeting —

1 ApologiesApologies received from Professor Andy Moffatt, Professor Donald Davidson and Mr Nigel Titchen.

2 Minutes of the 68th MeetingThese had been previously published in The Auger Magazine, December 2014 (pages 4 & 5). The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting after proposal by Prof. Liz Baggs and seconded by.

3 Matters Arising from the MinutesThere were no matters arising from the previous minutes.

4 Reports from the Council Officers

PresidentI picked up the presidency baton in January, and am delighted to be President at such an exciting time for our Society and for soil science in the International Year of Soils. I’m sure you will all wish to join me in thanking Phil for his leadership over the last two years. This is a truly exciting time for soil science, when we see soil science gaining in the recognition it deserves as underpinning life on earth and its role in addressing key global challenges.

I would like today to highlight a few of our recent activities.

As mentioned in last year’s AGM, one of my tasks last year was to work with Board and Council in developing the Society’s strategic plan for 2015. This new plan will take us to 2020 and includes a new objective on building collaborative partnerships reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of soil science, which promises exciting opportunities for BSSS and the possibility of new ways of working with other societies and organisations. One example of this is the interaction we are having with the research councils, and this afternoon we have a talk from Chris Collins about the NERC/BBSRC soil security programme.

Minutes of the 69th Annual General Meeting of the Society, held at Royal College of Physicians, London at 1400 hrs on 26th November 2015.

Society President, Prof. Liz Baggs chaired the meeting. 52 Members present.

To deliver this strategy we need to ensure we are working effectively as a society. Mark Tibbett is leading council discussions about our operating effectiveness, transparency, communication and member engagement. If you have any thoughts on ways in which we can work more effectively with the membership then please feed these in to Mark.

This last year has also been a time of flux in the office. Kathryn and Jacqueline left the society this year, and staffing roles have been considered in recent council discussion about our operating effectiveness.

At our last AGM we were all deeply saddened to have just learned of the death of our friend and colleague Brian Chambers. I’m pleased to let you know that The Brian Chambers Soils Fund has been established to provide grants to help fund the learning and development costs of students and early career scientists, and this is a legacy that I’m sure Brian would have been extremely passionate about. You can find out further details on our webpages.

minutes

“Three Presidents, future, current and past” – Prof. Wilfred Otten, Prof. Liz Baggs, Prof. Phil Haygarth (left to right) © Phil Haygarth

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 15

Indeed, our engagement with youngsters is probably one of the most important things we can do as a society to ensure the sustainability of soil science in the UK. A grand example of this was world soils day last year, which marked the launch of the international year of soils, which was a day of lots of tree planting, energy and fun.

Similarly we have been engaging with early career scientists - we had the early careers conference in spring this year, which are always vibrant and inspiring events, and I encourage as many of you as possible to join us for the next one.

A brand new and exciting venture for us was the hosting of a Graduate ‘Summer School’: Phil, John Quinton, Kathryn and Helaina, assisted by other members of the Society, trained 24 PhD students in March 2014 - setting a precedent that was also picked up in 2015 by Jack Hannam. There was a real sense of helping inspire a new generation (whist they also inspired us with their flare for soil science), and I know that this is just the start of many other events that will follow in the future, with Cranfield, planning a follow-on event this year.

Such activities are essential as we pave the way to the world congress in 2022.

And finally I wish to say something about our journals, European Journal of Soil Science and Soil Use and Management. The continued successes of our two journals are essential to the sustainability of our Society and we are also aware that the publications world is changing rapidly. Steve Jarvis retired from EJSS in March, and Margaret Oliver has now taken over as Editor-in-Chief. You’ll have seen in the last December newsletter Steve receiving a BSSS lifetime achievement award for his years of service to the Society, and a huge thank you to him for his outstanding contribution. We welcome Margaret onboard and I know she has great plans for the journal and works with a strong team of deputy editors, associate editors and statistics advisors, as well as the Wiley team, to help deliver this. Soil Use and Management continues under Mike Goss’ excellent leadership.

As a membership it is essential that we support our journals by submitting our excellent research to them for publication. This will be critical as we move forward in an uncertain open access world. Last year we mentioned our considerations about a possible new open access journal. The decision was made earlier this year not to pursue this just now, due to the uncertainties with the open access market just now, but first we will look to raise the numbers of open access papers in our existing journals and I trust our members will work with Margaret and Mike to help do this.

PPC ChairPaul Newell Price presented the new Professional Practice Committee (PPC) structure and invited members to fill two currently vacant positions as ‘Teaching Practice’ or ‘Research Practice’ representative. He thanked Jason Owen, Anna Becvar, Ian Brown and Kim Spooner for all their hard work during the Science Council audit in August, and clarified the annual cycle for Chartered Scientist CPD returns. The ability to provide Registered Scientist (RSci) and registered Scientist Technician (RSci Tech) registration will require promotion from members. Paul re-iterated the great progress made in the ‘Working with Soil’ programme and thanked Dick Thompson for his leadership in this area. Finally, the bank account for the Brian Chambers Soils Fund (BCSF) has been activated and fund raising will begin in the New Year. BCSF grants will be awarded by the BSSS Grants and Awards Committee. Paul thanked Ian Brown for all his work in helping set up BCSF under the auspices of BSSS.

Executive OfficerIan Brown addressed the audience as the new Executive Officer for the British Society of Soil Science.

Membership has decreased from 699 to 664.

The biggest area of change is the Full Members section. We now have 375 members whose membership has been ratified by the PPC Review Panel who are entitled to use MI Soil Sci.

There are also 65 Fellows in the Society following the membership restructure.

And we have an increasing number of Student members (117) on the Society’s register which is fabulous news. One of the challenges for the Society is to retain these student members once they have graduated into the workplace.

Audience participation © Phil Haygarth

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk16

The Society needs to address the down turn in membership over the last few years. We all have a responsibility to encourage colleagues, friends or family, even complete strangers to become one of us so think about spreading the word wherever and whenever you can. The new membership structure was introduced to make becoming a member easier and clearer so let’s capitalise on that and next year it would be marvellous for me to stand up and talk about an increase in the number of members of our Society.

There were changes to the office structure at Cranfield.

In April, Jacqueline Fullwood resigned as the Accounts and Office Administrator and her role has been covered temporarily since then by Peter Wakefield.

Kim Spooner has been a considerable help to me personally and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for the work she has undertaken over the last 12 months.

Back in September at the Council Meeting we reviewed the role of the office and the staffing that would be needed moving forward. As a result we are looking to recruit two new part time staff to enhance the effectiveness of the office.

Certainly the International Year of Soils has given the Society an opportunity to raise its profile.

The Society has planted 60 trees at schools across the United Kingdom and a couple of plants in the Falkland Islands.

We made the front cover of the Science in Parliament Journal in the spring of this year. Matt Aitkenhead, Willie Towers, Helaina Black and Liz Baggs wrote an article promoting the International Year of Soils and BSSS for the same edition of the journal.

We made our first appearance at the EGU Conference in Vienna in April which saw over 3,500 attendees pass through the exhibition stands.

The Society also gave financial support to the Soil Culture at Create centre in Bristol. Their Soil Saturdays programme encouraged many visitors to find out more about the importance of soil in our everyday lives and the Society is particularly grateful to Bruce Lascelles for his efforts entertaining the locals one Saturday in July.These are just a few examples of how we have marked the International Year of Soils, there are many many more and I apologise for not selecting your event.

The office has supported Dick Thompson and his team presenters to deliver the first Agricultural Land Classification Course in December 2014.

A Foundation Skills course as part of the NERC funded Dirt Science course run by Cranfield University in partnership with James Hutton Institute and the Society saw a further 22 students experience our training.

June 2015 saw the launch of the Introduction to Soil Classification two day course written by John Hollis with support from Bob Jones, Alan Lilly and Dick. 12 delegates attended the course and the feedback was very positive both in terms of content and professionalism.

Finally from me, along with Kim, Paul, Jason and Anna, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we successfully came through the Chartered Scientist Licencing body review conducted by the Science Council a few months ago.

There was a lot of work completed by Kim in the office to ensure we had the correct paperwork filed appropriately for applications and CPD.

69th Annual General Meeting — minutes

Poster presenters await their 30 second spotlight © Phil Haygarth

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 17

The Science Council was, it’s fair to say, impressed with our office procedures and records and that clearly helped us to being awarded a further 5 years as a licencing body.

TreasurerIn the absence of a Treasurer Trustee Professor Liz Baggs gave a brief overview of the Society’s financial position.

All attendees were given a paper copy of the 2014 Trustee Report which shows the signed off accounts for the previous financial year.

2014 saw a negative outturn for the Society. This was due mainly to additional staffing costs for the office, Society spend on attending the World Congress of Soil Science in South Korea and a large drop in income from Wiley for the two journals.

2015 will also show a negative outturn for the Society. This is a planned position as £50k was allocated towards helping celebrate International Year of Soils.

The initial budget for 2016 has been calculated and the forecast currently is a surplus of £10k.

Professor David Hopkins asked for details regarding the drop in Journals income for 2014. Society Executive Officer explained that it was connected to some additional charges that were appropriate to the previous financial year which had not been taken into account in 2013. Effectively the Society had double charges against one year of income.

Hon Editor EJSSThis is my first report to AGM of BSSS since taking over as EiC from Steve Jarvis. I thank Steve for his help in ensuring a smooth transition; even so it has been a very steep learning curve. I have introduced some new initiatives that have been implemented:

1) Authors will have a set of tick boxes to indicate that they have read the author guidance notes, the style file and the statistics guidance notes. Of the guidance notes, the statistics ones are the most important.

2) We are introducing highlights into the Summary. We hope that these will help authors to focus their thoughts at the start of their paper. The highlights will be in boldface in the Summary and will also be listed separately for search engines.

3) The remit of the Journal is to broaden to include future demands for land-use policies, food and water security and ecosystem services. Other aspects include biodiversity, the role of soil in human health, antibiotics from soil and so on.

These initiatives are to help authors and the editorial team to enhance the process of producing the Journal. We hope to have one paper per issue in colour, which will cost about £230 per issue.

I acknowledge the support of the entire editorial team of Deputy Editors, Associate Editors and the Statistics Panel members, and in addition the Society, Wiley-Blackwell and Prepress.

Submissions. In 2015 to date we have received 298 new papers (November 22nd), this is slightly less than for the equivalent time last year, and 158 revised submissions.

The source of papers remains similar to last year with China still dominating at 30% of the submissions so far this year. The UK is second with 7.5% and Germany third with 5.5%. The overall acceptance rate so far for 2015 is just under 30% and the rejection rate is about 56% (includes immediate reject, reject and reject and resubmit). The remaining percentage relates to major revision.

The average turnaround times for papers is considered good by Wiley-Blackewll and they intend to use this as one of the reasons to publish in EJSS.

Impact factor. The impact factor (IF) for EJSS has risen this year to 2.649 after the fall to 2.39 last year. That for the 5-year metric is even better and has risen from 2.94 to 3.487. We continue to strive to maintain a high standard of papers that will gain citations and improve our IF. We can only achieve this if we continue to receive papers of high quality, novelty and interest. I ask the membership of EJSS to support this Journal with such submissions.

Landmark papers. The fourth landmark paper was published in January 2015 (J. Barrow, 1983, A mechanistic model for describing the sorption and desorption of phosphate by soil, EJSS). The original paper was reproduced, the author provided reflections on it and a group of Associate Editors provided a commentary. It was also accompanied by a virtual, online edition of associated papers published in the journal.

Average number of days from submission to first decision 30.1

Average turnaround time (days) by reviewers – Original 34.6

Average turnaround time (days) by reviewers – Revision 33.7

Average time (days) to assign reviewers – Original 14.8

Average time (days) to assign reviewers – Revision 12.4

Average number of days from submission to final decision 31.3

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk18

The next Landmark (for January 2016) is awaiting proofs, again accompanied by the thoughts of the author and some comments by Associated Editors (AE). The paper is by Yves Le Bissonnais (1996), Aggregate stability and assessment of crustability and erodibility: 1. theory and methodology. European Journal of Soil Science, 47, 425−437. This has been an important paper in aggregate stability and it was adopted as the standardized French and international soil structural stability protocol (France - AFNOR X31–5, 2005, and international ISO/DIS 10930, 2012). It is with great sadness that I report that the AE who led those writing the Reflections, François Bartoli, died suddenly on November 14th.

Special issues. This year we have published one special section comprising papers from the 2013 Third Global Workshop on Proximal Soil Sensing with R. Viscarra Rossel, V. Adumchuk and R. Gebbers and as guest editors. There is one special section in preparation on the role of major research field-based platforms to aid our understanding of soil processes. Papers for this are delayed, but they should be published by the middle of next year.

Reviews. We have published two invited reviews this year, the first was a departure from our usual reviews in that it is a Review and Discussion paper by Henry Janzen on ‘Beyond carbon sequestration: soil as a conduit of solar energy’, published in EJSS 66.1. The other review by Margaret Oliver and Peter Gregory on ‘Soil, food security and human health’ was published in EJSS 66.2. At the moment Wiley’s is publishing invited reviews as ‘free to view’ papers for one year. We have several other invited reviews in the pipeline on very interesting subjects such as soil and forensic science.

Changes. There have been no major structural changes in the journal format over last year. However, in addition to a new Editor-in-Chief we have three new Deputy Editors: Roel Merckx (University of Leuven, Belgium), John Scullion (University of Aberystwyth, Wales) and Richard Webster (Rothamsted Research) who is on the team temporarily.

The support team. In addition to the senior editorial team we have many Associate Editors

(AEs) and reviewers. We have had some changes in AEs since I became EiC. The new AEs include Nils Borchard (CIFOR), Indonesia, Sebastian Doetterl of the University of Gent, Belgium, Manoj Menon of the University of Sheffield, David Powlson, Rothamsted Research, Ashok Patra from India, our only AE in that country and Fangjie Zhou of Nanjing Agricultural University, China.

Our AEs and reviewers put a tremendous effort and expertise into the decision-making process and to making a success of the journal; I acknowledge their large contribution to the success of EJSS. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find willing reviewers but those that do take on the task spend much time in providing advice and guidance to the editorial team and to authors. We acknowledge them by printing a list of reviewers in the Journal each June. In addition, this year Wiley’s will give 10% off an Open Access publication to each reviewer as part of a pilot project.

Book Editor. Donald Davidson is the current book editor for EJSS and SUM. We receive a healthy flow of books for review.

Statistical advisory panel. This panel provides an invaluable service; the editorial team is calling on its services increasingly to deal with increasing problems with the statistics applied in papers, in particular the analysis of variance in particular.

Wiley–Blackwell. These are our publishers and they continue to promote and publicise our outputs and activities widely and effectively. Our direct point of contact is Hana Bellova who has been excellent. In addition, Vicky Johnson, Natasha White, Genevieve Collett and Leigh Duke have provided invaluable guidance over the past year. We had considerable support from several members of the team to prepare the editorial and survey (66.5). Leigh has also been involved in how we should deal with social media. John Scullion is the deputy editor who will lead on this.

PrePress. Provides very effective input to the day-to-day management of the Journal with some particularly helpful assistance and suggestions from our current contact.

69th Annual General Meeting — minutes

Dick Thompson presents the Working with Soil programme © Phil Haygarth

Prof. Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) launches Working with Soil document, Soil Science in crop and livestock production © Phil Haygarth

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 19

Hon Editor SUMIn 2015, the total number of new submissions received by Soil Use and Management was very similar to last year, 278 in total and originating in 53 Countries. China continued to be the source of the largest number of new submissions (20%) with the UK providing the second largest total (10%) followed by India (9%). Including those papers undergoing revision resulted in almost 480 articles being handled over the year. A total of 80 papers were accepted, with the acceptance rate remaining close to 26%. Mainland Europe and Eire contributed 15% of new submissions. Of the countries submitting at least 10 papers, the acceptance ratio was 90% for the UK, 23% for Spain and 22% for The Islamic Republic of Iran.

The number of papers is such such that we appear to have a new base level of submissions and there is now the possibility for the strategic assignment of papers to key issues. This is a timely development as the two-year Impact Factor, released in June 2015 and covering the years 2012-13, fell and as the result of somewhat fewer citations of contributions published in that period together with an increase in the number of papers published. To bring about a significant increase in the number of papers published requires more papers to be submitted, which the Editorial team have accepted as the most effective approach to enhancing the future of the journal. As part of the strategic planning process, undertaken in conjunction with Wiley, the publisher of SUM and EJSS, the two Editors-in-Chief, developed a survey questionnaire to identify key aspects of journal selection by authors, their publication aspirations and the level of satisfaction that they, the readership and BSSS members have in the Journals. The results were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society as well as published in editorials of the Journals. Impact Factor, scope and readership were the top three reasons given by authors for their choice of journal. Looking to the future for the Journals it was notable that 87% of respondents preferred on-line or electronic copy rather than the printed version. It is hoped that various initiatives undertaken will provide some further impetus to gain new authors. These include selection of one paper in each issue to have complementary colour illustrations, the release of a smart phone and tablet ‘app’ for SUM and more regular special issues.

An on-line special issue entitled ‘Soil System Science for Sustainability and Policy’ with guest editors K. Ritz, P. Costigan & P. Wallace, was published in October 2015. This had been rather a long time in preparation and the length of each of the six articles prevented their inclusion in a printed issue. The first Open Access papers were submitted to SUM in 2015 and will be published in the March 2016 edition. This is a very exciting this turn of events and it is hoped that it will be a harbinger of things to come. We have 18 papers accepted for a special issue, dedicated to the late Brian Chambers, which will be published in spring 2016. Many of these were submitted by authors from the UK, particularly BSSS members, and this has helped boost the proportion of locally sourced contributions.

A major reorganisation at Wiley, the journal publisher, resulted in the publication editorial work being transferred from the Oxford office to Manila in the Philippines. This has been less of an impediment than seemed likely. In part the day-to-day liaison with the publisher improved with the appointment of Hana Bellova as their manager for SUM and EJSS. Hana provided a greater level of commitment and involvement than had been experienced for some time, which provided much needed stability to the partnership.

Towards the end of 2015, Fiona Nicholson needed to take a leave of absence for ill health, which extended into 2016. Professor Adrian Unc from Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada very ably stepped up from Associate Editor to Deputy Editor to fill the breach. A number of Associate Editors had to resign because of other commitments and replacements as well as additions are constantly being sought to maintain the subject matter coverage.

Prof. Richard Bardgett © Phil Haygarth

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk20

5 Election of Officers and Members of Council (with effect from 1st January 2016)

President & Trustee: Professor Elizabeth Baggs (University of Aberdeen)

Past President & Trustee: Professor Phil Haygarth (Lancaster University)

President Elect & Trustee: Professor Wilfred Otten (University of Abertay)

Hon. Editor EJSS: Professor Margaret Oliver (University of Reading)

Hon. Editor SUM: Professor Mike Goss (University of Guelph)

PPC Chair & Trustee: Dr Paul Newell Price (ADAS)

PPC Vice Chair & Trustee: Dr Jason Owen (James Hutton Institute)

PPC incoming Chair & Trustee: Mrs Anna Becvar (Earthcare Technical Ltd)

Governance Secretary & Trustee: Professor David Hopkins (Royal Agricultural University)

Treasurer & Trustee: Vacancy

Chair of Education Committee: Dr Jack Hannam (Cranfield University)

Scottish Soil Discussion Group Chair: Dr Matt Aitkenhead (James Hutton Institute)

Welsh Soil Discussion Group: Mr Ian Rugg (Welsh Government)

Northern Soils Network Chair: Dr Jenny Jones (Liverpool John Moores University)

South West England Soil Discussion Group Chair: Dr Martin Blackwell (Rothamsted Research)

South East England Soil Discussion Group Chair: Dr Jack Hannam (Cranfield University)

Midlands Soil Discussion Group: Dr Sami Ullah (Keele University)

Student Representative: Miss Ashley Gorman (James Hutton Institute)

Ordinary Members: Professor Mark Tibbett (University of Reading) and Dr Anne Bhogal (ADAS)

Executive Officer & Company Secretary: Mr Ian Brown

Proposed: Dr Kathryn Allton Seconded: Mr Dick Thompson Agreed unanimously

6 2015 International Year of Soils

Professor Liz Baggs gave a short presentation on the highlights of the Society’s participation in the International Year of Soils.

The Society had participated in many events to raise awareness during 2015;

Tree planting initiatives on World Soil Day and the Snowdonia National Park 64th anniversary celebrations. BSSS had supplied 60 trees to schools across the United Kingdom as part of these two initiatives.

Attending European Geosciences Union (EGU) for the first time to promote the Society and the World Congress of Soil Science 2022.

BSSS co-sponsored the “Soil at Create” Soil Art exhibition in Bristol. This was a six month programme and BSSS ran one of the Saturday family sessions in July, hosted by Bruce Lascelles.

BSSS participated in Royal Show in Edinburgh as a guest of the EU Commission

BSSS participated in the Royal Welsh Show in Aberystwyth and was represented at the “Ask an Expert” Breakfast by John Scullion.

BSSS sponsored the Spring edition of “Science in Parliament” Journal. The Society was featured on the front cover and an editorial piece was written by Matt Aitkenhead, Willie Towers, Helaina Black and Liz Baggs.

Soapbox Science - BSSS sponsored Jack Hannam and Emilia Urbanek in the initiative which aims to promote women in Science.

Society members had also taken part in many other initiatives and Liz thanked everyone on behalf of BSSS for their support.

7 Any other business

There were no pre-submitted items for AoB and none were raised by the attendees at the meeting.

The meeting was formally closed by Prof. Baggs at 14.44 Hrs.

69th Annual General Meeting — minutes

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 21

News

Researcher uses tiny trackers to learn about slug behaviour

Researchers at Harper Adams University are tracking slugs to learn more about how they move within the field in order to improve control of these crop pests.

Keith Walters, Professor of invertebrate biology and pest management, said:

Slugs can be a big problem for farmers especially for those growing crops such as cereals, potatoes and other root vegetables.

By understanding how the slugs move and behave, we will be able to advise farmers on how is best to use their pesticides. From previous studies, we can see that slugs congregate in patches in the field. These patches normally form in areas where the soil moisture is high, or even waterlogged.

What we don’t know, is if the slugs stay in the same location and breed and live there, or if they are moving around the field and then stop for a while at one of these ‘slug utopias’ before moving along again.”

PhD student Emily Forbes is the lead researcher in this study. She said:

We will be conducting our research at night, as that’s when the slugs are most active.  “We will be releasing tagged slugs into the field and then monitor their movements by returning to them at intervals throughout the night.”

Lecturer in entomology Dr Tom Pope said:

We are tracking the slugs by using a small device, which is about the same size as a grain of rice.

This is inserted into an anaesthetised slug. We are carefully studying the slugs to ensure that inserting the tracking device does not harm or otherwise affect the behaviour of the slugs.

This technology has been used in a previous project at the university, but it is the first time it has been used on slugs in this way.”

from Harper Adams University

courtesy of Harper Adams University

Harper Adams University now runs a BASIS approved Agricultural Awareness Training for Drone Operators course.

It is hosted at the Harper Adams University campus, where the programme was created and launched at the end of last year.

Jonathan Gill, research assistant and drone pilot, said:

The course was created because drone operators might be asked to work in an agricultural setting where they may not appreciate agricultural practices. They might be focussed on the technology not necessarily on the environment that they find themselves in. This course incorporates farming practice with drone regulations, legislations and hazards.courtesy of Harper Adams University

Harper Adams University teaches drone operators to stay safe on farms

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk22

News from Harper Adams University

Jack, 27, who has been with Bayer CropScience since starting as a trainee in June 2014, was presented with the trophy by Professor Andy Cobb, former Chairman of BASIS’ Education and Training, and Professional Matters Committees - and also former Dean of Academic Affairs at Harper Adams - at a ceremony at the Farmers Club in London.

Jack, whose course training was provided by Louisa Dines Senior Lecturer in agronomy at Harper Adams, said:

Farming is now my passion, so I’m very grateful and honoured to have received the Barrie Orme Shield for 2015. The BASIS qualification is fundamental to my job. It has allowed me to build a solid understanding of crop protection, and given me the foundation to attain further knowledge.”

As part of the BASIS Certificate in Crop Protection, Jack undertook a project which focused on alternative treatments to neonicotinoids for insect control in oilseed rape. The data and findings from the project’s seed trials have helped Jack in his day job and have also fed into the development of Bayer CropScience’s products.

Jack continued:

It was important that my project focused on a very topical area that would help my day-to-day role and also the company. Preparing for the BASIS exam allowed me to get out crop-walking with experienced agronomists and I would recommend that those taking the course do the same. The hands-on experience opens your eyes and helps further your understanding of crop protection.”

A new entrant to farming, trained in crop protection by staff at Harper Adams University, has won a national award.

Jack Hill, a Norfolk-based Commercial Technical Manager for Bayer CropScience, has been announced by BASIS as the winner of its 2015 Barrie Orme Shield. The prize is awarded annually to the best BASIS Certificate in Crop Protection candidate.

Prof. Andy Cobb and Jack Hill courtesy of Harper Adams University

BASIS award for Harper Adams-trained technical manager

Operators are increasingly being asked to produce high-definition images utilising orthomosaics and multispectral imagery, thus providing arable farmers with the essential information that they need to reduce costs and increase profitability.

I deliver the drone specific elements of the course, including farm health & safety, biohazards, CAA regulations and legislation. This increases the awareness of the drone operator about the hazards of being on a farm. Our entire first cohort passed the course, which is accredited by BASIS.

I was really pleased that all the students passed the exam. The participants were fully engaged with the topics being delivered.

As drones are now being seen as a specialised tool, particularly within agriculture, rather than simply a device to capture pictures, it seems appropriate that Harper Adams should lead the development in these areas and training from the outset.”

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 23

Life in soil: It really does matter

This fully booked forum took place at the very end of the United Nations International Year of Soils, during which Scotland demonstrated its international reputation in soil research and showed how this knowledge and expertise can be applied in both policy and practice.

Professor Michael Usher opened the event, and remarked that the forum was the first RSE meeting in the society’s 233 year history devoted to life in soils. Michael reminded the audience that the best studied hectare of soil, for its biodiversity, anywhere on the planet is on an upland, acidic, grassland soil at Sourhope (much of this research is summarised in a series of papers published in Applied Soil Ecology, volume 33, part 2, in 2006). Michael then introduced each of the eminent scientists chosen to speak at the forum. The speakers: Professor Richard Bardgett, Professor of Ecology at The University of Manchester; Professor Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute; and Professor Julie Fitzpatrick, Scientific Director of the Moredun Research Institute, shared over one hundred years’ worth of their combined research expertise and provided an overview of the importance of soils.

Richard stated that a healthy soil is a living entity and he illustrated its wealth by reporting that in a relatively small area (3.4 km2) in Central Park, New York, scientists had found 122,081 bacterial and 43,429 eukaryotic species, and within a small patch of Scottish grassland, hundreds of soil animal species were found. Colin discussed how Scotland’s unique mix of vegetation, geology and climate means that some of our soils are recognised as ‘rare’ in comparison to the rest of the UK. Julie drawing on a wealth of local and global examples, highlighted several examples such as Johne’s disease (caused by Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) where different soil properties have been shown to influence the ability of the disease to successfully infect the intestines of ruminant species.

An event entitled: ‘Life in soil: Does it matter?’ was held at the Royal Society Edinburgh (RSE) on the 24th February 2016, where a packed audience was invited to think about the soil’s critically important role to human life and society.

Susan Davies, Interim Chief Executive, Scottish Natural Heritage, then chaired a lively and informative panel discussion’ receiving a diverse range of audience questions which varied from the gardeners’ use of compost to the prevalence of flatworms. Professor Lorna Dawson, Programme Advisor, Strategic Research Programme, drew the event to a close by thanking the speakers, organisers, sponsors and audience for making the event such a success and announced the winner in the vote for the audiences favourite soil organism. The earthworm win, followed by the fungus and then the mole.

Conversations continued afterwards at the exhibition reception, where stands from the British Society of Soil Science, the Strategic Research Programme, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Soil Association and the James Hutton Institute gave the audience the opportunity to learn even more about soil biodiversity. All agreed that life in soil really does matter.

The ‘Life in soil: Does it matter?’ discussion forum was jointly organised and supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Scottish Government funded Strategic Research Programme, and sponsored by the James Hutton Institute, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Moredun Foundation. The British Society of Soil Science is thanked for providing educational and entertaining display materials.

In addition to ‘Life in soil: Does it matter?’ other RSE biodiversity discussion forums have previously included, ‘Lost at sea? The Atlantic salmon’s ocean odyssey’ and ‘Invasive species – friends or foes?’ Reports from all three biodiversity discussion forums are available through the RSE website. The RSE plans to hold a 2-day conference on biodiversity in October 2017.

Lorna Dawson

The Organising Team, Guest Speakers and Chair

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk24

Particle-size analysis: What does it mean?

Traditionally, particle-size analysis was done using sieves and pipette. The many publications of the Soil Survey of England and Wales (SSEW) used this method and it is described in Avery and Bascomb (1974). Nowadays there are few if any labs using this approach: all seem to have adopted a laser diffraction method (e.g. Malvern Mastersizer 2000). There are good reasons why these approaches give different methods: sieving measures the smallest particle size cross-section and relies on Stokes law with the pipette. A diffraction approach calculates a ‘spherical equivalent’ particle size distribution – and clay particles are not spherical. Differences of pre-treatment may also be important.

The problem arises when one wants to compare samples assessed using a diffraction approach with values published in SSEW bulletins etc. In a quick, crude comparison, samples from soils in Somerset gave clay percentages well below 10%, whereas SSEW results for the same soil associations suggested values in excess of 10% and sometimes up to 20%. The diffraction method seems to be ‘losing’ clays.

Avery BW and Bascomb CL (1974). Soil Survey laboratory methods. Soil Survey, Technical Monograph No. 6

John Boardman, University of Oxford John.Boardman@eci.ox.ac.uk

I would welcome any comments on this rather unscientific observation. Is anyone still using traditional sieving/pipette techniques? Has anyone done a controlled comparison between these techniques?

Laboratory soil sieves • BMK, CC-BY-SA

June 2016 The Auger www.soils.org.uk 25

In the next Issue: December 2016...

Meet the office team. . .

Introducing the new president – Professor Wilfred Otten. . .

The Black Gold of Texas, Lewis Peake. . .

DECEMBER 2016

Look out for the Special Issue of Soil Use and Management sponsored by ADAS, which is dedicated to the memory of Professor Brian Chambers who sadly passed away in 2014.

The issue comprises an editorial/obituary and 17 papers on a broad range of topics relating to soil nutrient management, the environment and policy

We hope it will act as a fitting tribute to the outstanding contribution Brian made to soil science.

SUM Journal Special Issue – A Tribute to Brian Chambers

The Auger June 2016 www.soils.org.uk26

Further info. . .

Auger Print DeadlineIf you would like to contribut articles to the next print edition of the Auger please send them to admin@soils.org.uk by 30th September 2016. Please send in plain text format and images as seperate high resolution files.

Annual General MeetingThe next Annual General Meeting of the Society will be on 7 & 8th September 2016 at the University of Reading, United Kingdom.

Council MeetingThe next meeting of Council will be on 17th June 2016.

Can you help?BSSS Members are seeking your help . . .

Martin Wood is looking for a soil map for his new home. If you have an unwanted copy of either;

Beard, G. R. (1984) Soils in Warwickshire V: Sheet SP27/37 (Coventry South). Harpenden, Soil Survey of England and Wales.

Mackney, D. and C. P. Burnham (1964) The Soils of the West Midlands. Harpenden, Soil Survey of England and Wales.

If you have a spare copy of either soil map that Martin is looking for then please contact him directly by email: martin@earthcare.co.uk

Connect with us on our social media channels . . .

@soil_science

facebook.com/ BritishSoilScience

Don’t forget that the Society has a range of interesting videos on YouTube . . .

youtube.com/user/BritishSocietyofSoil

Council Members 2016 :

President & Trustee: Professor Elizabeth Baggs

Past President & Trustee: Professor Phil Haygarth

President Elect & Trustee: Professor Wilfred Otten

Hon. Editor EJSS: Professor Margaret Oliver

Hon. Editor SUM: Professor Mike Goss

PPC Chair & Trustee: Dr Paul Newell Price

PPC Vice Chair & Trustee: Dr Jason Owen

PPC incoming Chair & Trustee: Mrs Anna Becvar

Governance Secretary & Trustee: Professor David Hopkins

Treasurer & Trustee: Vacancy

Chair of Education Committee: Dr Jack Hannam

Midlands Soil Discussion Group: Dr Sami Ullah

Northern Soils Network Chair: Dr Jenny Jones

Scottish Soil Discussion Group Chair: Dr Matt Aitkenhead

South East England Soil Discussion Group Chair: Dr Jack Hannam

South West England Soil Discussion Group Chair: Dr Martin Blackwell

Welsh Soil Discussion Group: Mr Ian Rugg

Student Representative: Miss Ashley Gorman

Ordinary Members: Professor Mark Tibbett and Dr Anne Bhogal

Executive Officer & Company Secretary: Mr Ian Brown

DIA

RY D

ATES

Diary Dates :

Details of all events listed can be found at: www.soils.org.uk/events

If you would like to advertise an event on our website please email details to: events@soils.org.uk

14th June 2016SWESDG June Field Meeting – Soils, Land Use and Habitat Management, North East Dartmoor, United Kingdom

17th June 2016Council Audio Meeting

21st July 2016SSDG joint meeting with the Scottish Hydrological Group: Land Management for Soil Preservation and Flood Mitigation, SRUC King’s Building, Edinburgh, Scotland

6th September 2016Working with Soil Foundation Skills 1 Training Course – Exposing and Describing a Soil Profile, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

7th to 8th September 20162016 Annual Meeting – Soil, Security and Society, University of Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

13th September 2016Council Meeting – Location to be confirmed

October 2016Working with Soil Foundation Skills 2 Training Course – Soil Survey Techniques, Location and date to be confirmed

1st November 2016Board of Trustees Meeting – SECC, Glasgow, Scotland

Augering on. . .

J U N E 2 0 1 6

What we doPublications With your membership you have access to our two journals; The European Journal of Soil Science and Soil Use and Management

Newsletter You will receive The Auger twice a year along with e-mail updates detailing meetings, activities and general membership news

Conferences The Society sponsors a number of conferences, joint meetings with other organisations and regional discussion days. As a member you will be entitled to reduce registration fees

Grants A variety of grants are awarded ranging from individual grants to funding for teachers organising projects on the study of soil

Professional Status Full Members gain recognition as fully qualified and experienced professionals

Chartered Status Members are eligible to apply for Chartered Scientist status

@soil_science

facebook.com/BritishSoilScience

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The British Society of Soil Science is a limited company, registered in England and Wales No. 7110309 and a Registered Charity No. 1134456.

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