UACh researcher is co-author of a book chapter on contributions and development of soil physics in Germany

Dr. José Dörner is co-author of one of the chapters of the text written together with leading specialists from Germany, China and Italy.

Lorenzo Palma, Science in Chile.- “Handbuch der Bodenkunde or Manual of Soil Sciences”, is the title of the compilation book of 9 works focused on the History of Soil Physics in Germany, where the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the Austral University of Chile, participated with a chapter co-authored by researchers from the Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Sciences of the University of Kiel (Germany) and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences of the University of Kentucky (USA).

This is the chapter “Contribution of soil physics to the understanding of ecosystem processes through analysis, spatial and temporal variability”, addresses the more than 20 years of contribution of soil physics in Germany to the understanding of complex processes. transport of water, air and heat in the soil through the use of geostatistical and temporal variability methodologies.

In the chapter written by Dr. Dörner, who is an academic at the Institute of Agricultural and Soil Engineering of this house of studies, works carried out on soils derived from volcanic ash that use these methodologies and that allow, for example, for example, are cited. understand how the spatial variability of the depth of a “Ñadi Soil” influences the height of the water table and the resistance to penetration. It is also reviewed, how through the use of “Wavelet Analyzes” the coherence of measurements of water content of a volcanic soil can be analyzed inside and outside a lysimeter as a methodology to determine the effect of the potential disturbance of the soil after the installation of this type of equipment.

“It is tremendously gratifying to have participated in the book with this chapter, since we collect part of the history of the contributions and development of soil physics in Germany, with prominent authors on the subject. In addition, the knowledge generated from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences of our University is included, where the contributions of the Institute of Agricultural and Soil Engineering are recorded from the time of Prof. Achim Ellies to the present day”, commented the researcher who also integrates the Center for Research in Volcanic Soils (CISVo) of the UACh.

“The book, by collecting the contributions and the development of soil physics in Germany, allows us to see the advances in various laboratory methodologies, quantitative and (geo)statistical analysis and how this has permeated the development of knowledge of various soils in different parts of the world, as has also been the case in our country”, highlights Professor Dörner.

It should be noted that the compilation work of the book was carried out by Horn, R., Bachmann, J., Becher, HH, Carminati, A., Dörner, J., Fleige, H., Gerke, HH, Holthusen, D., Janssen, M., Lennartz, B., Liu, H., Vogel, HJ, Wendroth, O. and Yang,Y.
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