Published December 20, 2018
Special Section: Advancing
Soil Physics for Securing Food,
Water, Soil and Ecosystem
Services
Core Ideas
• Contributions are mainly from the
2017 International Soil Physics Work-
shop in China.
• Soils are fundamental in supply-
ing food, energy, water (FEW), and
ecosystem services.
• Interdisciplinary (convergence)
approaches are needed to address
FEW challenges.
J. Shang, College of Resources and Environ-
mental Sciences, China Agricultural Univ.,
Beijing 100193, China; Q. Zhu, Key Lab. of
Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Ins-
titute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;
W. Zhang, Dep. of Plant, Soil and Microbial
Sciences, and Environmental Science and
Policy Program, Michigan State Univ., East
Lansing, MI 48824. *Corresponding author
(weizhang@msu.edu).
Received 30 Nov. 2018.
Accepted 5 Dec. 2018.
Citation: Shang, J., Q. Zhu, and W. Zhang. 2018.
Advancing soil physics for securing food,
water, soil and ecosystem services. Vadose
Zone J. 17:180207. doi:10.2136/vzj2018.11.0207
© Soil Science Society of America.
This is an open access article distributed under
the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/).
Advancing Soil Physics for Securing
Food, Water, Soil and Ecosystem Services
Jianying Shang, Qing Zhu, and Wei Zhang*
Soils are foundational to sustaining the food, energy, and water (FEW) systems and
provide many essential ecosystem services. Soil degradation is a major threat to
food security in China and elsewhere in the world. It is critical to advance soil sci-
ence to improve the FEW systems so that FEW supplies can be provided to human
populations in a sustainable and resilient manner. To do so, we must understand
interactions among soil physical, chemical, and biological processes, as well as
the role, function, and contribution of soil physical processes to delivering FEW
supplies and ecosystem services. Soil processes and crop production are strongly
controlled by physical processes such as soil water flow, aggregate stability, com-
paction, heat regime, irrigation and drainage, soil aeration, etc. Recognizing the
importance of soil physics to the nexus of FEW systems, the collection in this spe-
cial section mainly includes research presented at the International Workshop of
Soil Physics and the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water held on 3–5 Aug. 2017 at
Shenyang, China. This special section covers diverse topics including fundamen-
tal soil physical properties and water flow, land use and agricultural management,
soil organic carbon management, soil physical modeling, and transport of
emerging contaminants. More future research using interdisciplinary (nexus or
convergence) approaches should be undertaken to address challenges in many
contemporary and emerging FEW issues.
Abbreviations: FEW, food, energy, and water; SOC, soil organic carbon.
Humanity is facing grand challenges to sustainably meet the needs of food, energy,
and water (FEW) supplies for the rising world population estimated to reach 9 billion by
2050 (Hatfield et al., 2017; Lal, 2015; Liu et al., 2018). Provisioning of FEW supplies in
a sustainable and resilient manner is foundational to human wellbeing and to achieving
the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (Liu et al., 2018). It is now well recognized that
FEW systems are interdependent complex systems in nexus, and balancing FEW systems
for social good requires interdisciplinary (or convergence) approaches (Liu et al., 2018). Soil
is one of the most fundamental resources for life on our planet because it sustains our FEW
systems and provides many essential ecosystem services such as provisioning services (e.g.,
FEW supplies), regulatory services (regulating greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestra-
tion, water quantity and quality, soil-borne pests and disease, soil erosion, natural hazards
control, etc.), and supporting services (providing habitat, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity)
(Amundson et al., 2015; Hatfield et al., 2017). Thus, the importance of soil resources in the
nexus of FEW systems cannot be overstated but may have been either assumed or overlooked,
which impedes the awareness and investment of the public in soil conservation and the
translation of soil science discovery to policy actions (Hatfield et al., 2017). This situation
is particularly alarming at a time when soil degradation has become an imminent global
issue (Bai et al., 2008; Lal, 2015). Increasing demands on food and bioenergy production
will place tremendous stress on soil and water resources in a changing climate, warranting
basic science advances, proper land management, and innovative agricultural practices.
With accelerating industrialization and urbanization in China, resource stress (e.g.,
water shortage), environmental pollution, and soil and ecosystem degradation are becom-
ing increasingly concerning (Jiang, 2009; Lu et al., 2015; Xie et al., 2014). It is a huge
challenge to balance soil conservation, ecosystem services, and economic development in
China and elsewhere in the world (Chen, 2007). For example, in China, soil pollution has
Vadose Zone Journal | Advancing Critical Zone Science
grabbed the national spotlight as approximately 19% of sampled
agricultural soils are contaminated (primarily heavy metals and
metalloids) (Chen et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2015). Soil pollution can
lead to contamination of food crops and consequently an adverse
impact on public health (Chen et al., 2015; Lu et al., 2015). China
is also experiencing more severe cropland loss, increasing from
a rate of 0.26 Mha yr−1 in 1978 to 1999 to a rate of 1.45 Mha
yr−1 in 2000 to 2005 (Ye and Van Ranst, 2009), largely due to
rapid urbanization (Chen, 2007). Soil degradation can threaten
China’s long-term food security (Ye and Van Ranst, 2009). In
addition, water scarcity in China is accelerating, resulting from
uneven spatial distribution and water pollution (Jiang, 2009).
Both conventional contaminants (such as heavy metals and excess
nutrients) and emerging contaminants (e.g., pharmaceuticals and
antibiotic resistance genes) are contributors to water pollution in
China (Li et al., 2018a; Lu et al., 2015; Luo et al., 2010; Zhang et
al., 2015). Nitrogen and phosphorus losses from agricultural soils
are also major drivers of eutrophication in China’s surface waters
(Le et al., 2010; Qin et al., 2007). Water scarcity can profoundly
impact food security, trade, and human health in China (Hong
and Zehnder, 2001; Zhao et al., 2005; Lu et al., 2015; Yang et al.,
2003). Therefore, more effort needs to be devoted to science-based
and sustainable management of soil resources in the context of the
FEW nexus.
Because fundamental physical, chemical, and biological prop-
erties and processes in soils determine soil functions and ecosystem
services (Hatfield et al., 2017), it is important to advance soil sci-
ence to secure the FEW supplies and ecosystem services that soils
provide. Chemical and biological processes in soils must operate
within the boundaries of the soil physical environment. We must
understand interactions among soil processes, as well as the role,
function, and contribution of soil physical processes to delivering
FEW supplies and ecosystem services. Soil physics is indispensable
to understanding biogeochemical cycles and nutrient cycling in nat-
ural and managed ecosystems (e.g., agroecosystems). For example,
soil hydrology (including spatiotemporal variations of moisture
and water flow in soils) controls N and C cycling by regulating
redox conditions, plant uptake, and transport of N and C across
space and time in the landscape (Keiluweit et al., 2017; Zhu et al.,
2018a). Soil temperature (especially the soil temperature threshold
above which microbes become very active) is also known to play a
critical role in ecosystem biogeochemistry (Cosentino et al., 2013;
Smith, 2017). Other soil physical properties (including soil texture,
structure, aggregate stability, bulk density, and compaction) can
also affect crop productivity and biogeochemical cycling.
6 State of Soil Physics Research
Advances in soil physics have recently been made to address
the grand challenges of ensuring sustainable FEW supplies, main-
taining valuable ecosystem services, and protecting environmental
and human health. Advanced modeling and monitoring tools are
being developed. Direct field and laboratory measurements and
VZJ | Advancing Critical Zone Science
remote sensing are typically used to measure soil physical proper-
ties across a multitude of temporal and spatial scales but often at
restricted spatial and temporal resolutions due to cost constraint.
Therefore, soil physical models and hydrogeophysical tools are
increasingly used in place of direct measurements (Vereecken et
al., 2015, 2016). For example, during the last decade, numerical
models have been utilized to investigate soil hydrological pro-
cesses through scenario analyses (Fang et al., 2015; Lai et al., 2016).
Hydrogeophysical tools such as electromagnetic induction, elec-
trical resistivity tomography, and ground-penetrating radar have
been used to probe subsurface processes and calibrate the numeri-
cal models (Guo and Lin, 2018; Vereecken et al., 2015).
Management of soil organic C (SOC) is being intensively
studied because many essential ecosystem services including C
sequestration, soil fertility, water retention, contaminant immobi-
lization, and crop production are heavily regulated by the amount
and distribution of SOC (Lal, 2004; Stockmann et al., 2015). Soil
organic C also strongly controls soil physical properties such as soil
aggregate stability, compaction, water retention, etc. Atmospheric
CO2 concentration and climate change are critically controlled by
SOC, as a loss of 10% of the total SOC in the upper 1 m of soils
(about 2500 Gt C) (Lal, 2008; Stockmann et al., 2013) is equiva-
lent to approximately 30 yr of anthropogenic C emissions (8.6
Gt yr−1) (Kirschbaum, 2000; Lal, 2008; Stockmann et al., 2013).
On average, 5% of the SOC in the upper 10 cm of soils was lost
between 2001 and 2009 globally (Stockmann et al., 2015). A rapid
decline in SOC levels will cause environmentally and economically
dangerous soil degradation that threatens the sustainable FEW
supplies and human wellbeing (Amundson et al., 2015; Lal, 2004).
Measurement of CO2 emission is important to assessing SOC
stability and its impact on climate change. In recent years, new sen-
sors and measurement devices have been developed to enable the
use of the gradient method (De Jong and Schappert, 1972; Maier
and Schack-Kirchner, 2014; Sánchez-Cañete et al., 2017) for con-
tinuous gas flux measurements (Flechard et al., 2007; Hirano et al.,
2003; Vargas et al., 2010). Also, as a SOC management practice,
biochar amendment in soils is being promoted for many agro-
nomic and environmental benefits (Jeffery et al., 2011; Kookana,
2010; Laird, 2008; Lehmann et al., 2006), e.g., improving soil
physical and chemical quality (e.g., soil structure, bulk density,
water storage, and nutrient retention), decreasing greenhouse
gas emission, and immobilizing contaminants in situ (Beesley et
al., 2011; Lehmann, 2007; Liu et al., 2016a; Wang et al., 2016).
Nonetheless, conflicting results have also been reported regarding
the impact of biochar amendment to soil physical properties, show-
ing that biochars can either improve soil water retention (Eibisch
et al., 2015; Herath et al., 2013) (thus alleviating the negative
impacts of drought) or increase soil water repellency, thus reduc-
ing infiltration and increasing surface runoff (Jeffery et al., 2015).
Additionally, biochar addition to soils may impact soil C cycling
and cotransport of other contaminants sorbed to biochar colloids
due to the release and transport of dissolved and colloidal biochar
organic C (Chen et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2013a,
p. 2 of 7
2013b; Yang et al., 2017a, 2017b; Zhang et al., 2010). Therefore,
more research is needed to properly develop biochar amendment
strategies for improving soil physical quality and function.
Soil physics research is instrumental to developing proper
land use and agricultural practices. For example, in arid and semi-
arid regions (e.g., the Loess Plateau in China), film mulching is a
common practice that improves crop yield by augmenting water
use efficiency and soil temperature (Deng et al., 2006; Liu et al.,
2016b). The Loess Plateau is also facing challenging problems of
low soil fertility, water shortage, and slow economic growth, result-
ing in the implementation of orchard plantation (e.g., apple [Malus
Mill. spp.] trees) as a solution. However, apple trees consume a large
amount of water and therefore use most of the rainfall (Huang
and Gallichand, 2006; Li, 2001; Wang and Wang, 2017). A dry
soil layer is often formed in the soil profile, presenting a serious
obstacle to sustainable land use (Shao et al., 2018b; Wang et al.,
2011). Therefore, fundamental and applied soil physics research is
imperative to sustainable agricultural production under challeng-
ing climatic and soil conditions in China and elsewhere.
An area of emerging importance is the study of the trans-
port of emerging contaminants in soil, water, and plant systems.
Emerging contaminants are not typically monitored or regulated
and may cause potential adverse impacts to human and ecosystem
health (Sauvé and Desrosiers, 2014). Attentions to some emerging
contaminants have recently intensified, including pharmaceuticals
(such as antibiotics), antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes, engi-
neered nanoparticles, etc. (Li et al., 2018a; Richardson and Ternes,
2014; Snow et al., 2012; Williams-Nguyen et al., 2016). Because
knowledge of their environmental occurrence and impact is still
insufficient, these emerging contaminants pose great scientific
and regulatory challenges for mitigating their risks to agricultural
production as well as human and ecosystem health (Richardson
and Ternes, 2014; Sauvé and Desrosiers, 2014). Therefore, it is
important to understand environmental processes and impacts
of emerging contaminants and their transfer in the food chain
(Bhalsod et al., 2018; Chuang et al., 2018; Li et al., 2018b) for
scientifically informed risk assessment and management.
Finally, many soil ecosystems are critical zones (e.g., the Loess
Plateau and the karst region in China) that are extreme, fragile,
and/or sensitive to disturbances such as land use and climate
change. These critical zones often overlap with intensive agricul-
tural production areas. Therefore, advancing fundamental soil
physics and developing science-based management practices in
diverse physical settings are key to securing a sustainable future
of FEW while protecting ecosystem services and responding to
global environmental changes. Current practices of energy and
food production can cause environmental pollution, water scar-
city, and soil degradation, posing great challenges to regional and
global sustainable development. We urgently need to understand
and manage soil physical processes to develop better solutions for
the accelerating FEW demands, while enhancing the resiliency of
human societies to anthropogenic and natural stresses and hazards.
VZJ | Advancing Critical Zone Science
6This Special Section
Recognizing the importance of soil physics to the nexus of
FEW systems, the International Workshop of Soil Physics and the
Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water was held on 3–5 Aug. 2017 at
Shenyang, China. This special section primarily consists of work
presented in the workshop, covering a range of topics including
fundamental soil physical properties and water flow, land use and
agricultural management, SOC management, soil physical model-
ing, and transport of emerging contaminants.
Soil Physical Properties and Water Flow
The characterization, measurement, and modeling of soil
physical processes are the keys to better characterizing the eco-
system services of soils. Using laboratory experiments, Wang et
al. (2018b) investigated water flow and finger flow formation in
a sandy loam and a clay loam with varying water repellency. They
observed that infiltration was lower and water flow was unstable
at higher soil water repellency. Finger flow formation was more
pronounced in the water-repellent sandy loam than in the water-
repellent clay loam, which probably resulted from faster infiltration
in the coarse-textured soil. At the field scale, Wang et al. (2018a)
studied preferential flow in a small karst catchment in Guangxi
Province in Southwest China. They observed that macropore flow
formed in karst depressions and downslope, finger flow formed in
the middle and upslope land, and the degree of preferential flow
and infiltration rates may be independent from each other in the
karst region. Through a rainfall manipulation experiment, Hess et
al. (2018) observed that deep water percolation and deep soil water
content were increased by rainfall intensification for both tilled
and no-till cropping systems. At the regional scale, using a neutron
probe to determine the soil water content in the 0- 5-m soil depth
across a 500-km transect in the Loess Plateau of China, Zhao et
al. (2018) found that soil water content was controlled by varying
environmental factors at different spatial scales (i.e., precipitation
and temperature at large scales of >250 km, elevation and sand
content at moderate scales of 65 km, and clay content at all scales).
By imaging intact soil cores with computed microtomography, and
measuring the soil water retention curve, mean weight diameter,
and mass fractal dimension, Cui et al. (2018) assessed changes in
the pore network and aggregate stability of soils under inundation
and water level fluctuation in the Three Gorges Reservoir region
in China. They observed decreases in the number of soil pores
and total soil porosity, and a shift from drainable micropores with
radii between 0.1 and 125 mm to non-drainable micropores with
radii <0.1 mm, as a result of soil inundation. Liao et al. (2018) also
developed a simple and improved model to describe soil hydraulic
properties from saturation to oven dryness, which has the potential
to be used in vadose zone transport models.
Land Use and Agricultural Management
The demands on land for crop and bioenergy production is
increasing. Thus, marginal land and/or degraded land need to be
p. 3 of 7
properly managed or reclaimed for agriculture. Several papers in this
special section address land use and management from a soil physical
perspective. Using multiple regression techniques, Fei et al. (2018)
studied the controlling factors on soil salinity and alkalinity in a
reclaimed coastal area of the Yellow Sea located in Jiangsu Province,
China. They found that land use pattern (farmland vs. fallow), veg-
etation coverage, reclamation history, and soil texture significantly
affected the soil salt content and the sodium adsorption ratio. Hu
et al. (2018b) found that soil physical quality (e.g., microporosity,
available water content, and saturated conductivity) was significantly
deteriorated by compaction from livestock treading. Tillage could
temporarily improve the soil physical quality in the compacted soils.
Regarding agricultural management, increasing water use
efficiency and soil temperature can help small farmers achieve a
stable and high maize (Zea mays L.) yield in the rainfed area of
Northeast China. Sun et al. (2018) found that soil water storage
was significantly increased by plastic film mulching. Transparent
film mulching resulted in a higher soil temperature than black film
mulching. The root length, root length density, and root diameter
of maize were increased by plastic mulching. At the heading stage
of maize, higher soil temperature resulted in better growth of the
maize main root, but the final yield was lower. Wang and Wang
(2018) studied the relationships between the age of trees and soil
water dynamics in young (7-yr) and old (17-yr) apple orchards on
the Loess Plateau. They concluded that (i) mean soil water content,
soil water storage, and available soil water were consistently higher
in the 7-yr-old orchard, (ii) a dry soil layer was formed in the deep
soil depth in the 17-yr-old orchard but was absent in the 7-yr-old
orchard, and (iii) tree age should be considered when develop-
ing water management strategies for apple orchards on the Loess
Plateau and in similar semiarid environments.
Soil Organic Carbon Management
In this special section, Zhang et al. (2018a) studied the spa-
tiotemporal variability of SOC in cropland in Henan Province,
China. They found that fixed C was the greatest in Inceptisols and
the lowest in Anthrosols and that there was an increasing trend in
SOC from 1981 to 2011. Thus, they hypothesized that properly
managed cropland may have a great potential for C sequestration.
They called for more attention to crop residue incorporation into
soils because it has potential to increase SOC and crop productiv-
ity within a short period. Chen et al. (2018) investigated the effect
of biochar amendment on hydraulic properties of sandy soil under
dry and wet conditions and found that water retention of the sandy
soil was increased by biochar amendment under saturated and
dry conditions but decreased at field capacity. The evaporation
rate under dry conditions also decreased with increasing biochar
amendment rate, biochar particle size, and pyrolysis temperature.
Improving the accuracy of soil CO2 efflux measurements is
key to accurately assessing the impact of SOC on climate change.
To examine the effect of the soil water dynamics of different soil
textures on CO2 emissions, Yang et al. (2018) applied the gradient
method in soils with three different textures (loam, silty loam, and
VZJ | Advancing Critical Zone Science
silty clay loam) using packed soil cores under alternating wetting–
drying cycles. Carbon dioxide production in the loam soil and
CO2 production and gas diffusion in the silty loam soil were main
factors that affect the CO2 efflux. Wang et al. (2018c) designed a
portable canopy chamber to determine crop CO2 exchange rates
at a relatively small spatial (m2) scale, applied it to measure CO2
fluxes in corn and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], and demon-
strated the usefulness of this method by comparison with adjacent
eddy covariance flux tower measurements.
Soil Physical Modeling
Modeling is useful for prediction, scenario analyses, or elucidat-
ing mechanisms in soil water management, crop production, and
environmental protection. Soil hydrological modeling is instru-
mental to soil water and crop management in the Loess Plateau of
China. Using the HYDRUS-1D model, Zhu et al. (2018b) investi-
gated water stress during two maize growing seasons on the Loess
Plateau. In the early stage of the maize growing season, pre-seeding
soil water storage can effectively alleviate crop water stress. The
HYDRUS-1D simulation showed that the plow pan at a depth of
20 to 40 cm was the sensitive layer for water stress during the drought
period. Effective management practices such as deep plowing, plastic
film mulching, or water conservation treatments during the fallow
period were needed to avoid the formation of this temporary dry
layer during the drought period at the early stage and to improve
maize production in rainfed agriculture on the Loess Plateau.
Using field data and modeling with the Community Land
Model, Shao et al. (2018a) showed that on the Loess Plateau over a
period of 115 yr, deep soil water recharge (e.g., >75-m depth) would
occur in wet years with a precipitation >650 mm yr−1, and ground-
water recharge mainly depends on the frequency of wet years rather
on the average annual precipitation. Hu et al. (2018a) assessed the
potential impact of reclaimed water discharge to rivers and subse-
quent leakage to groundwater on the quality of groundwater (NH4+,
NO3−, and Cl−). They reported that geomembrane liners can be an
effective control for leakage from the river, thus helping to prevent
contamination of the groundwater by contaminated surface water.
Emerging Contaminants
Zhang et al. (2018b) investigated the transport of sheet-like
graphene oxide nanoparticles in saturated sand and found that
increasing the flow velocity actually increased the attachment
efficiency of the graphene oxide nanoparticles on rough sand
surfaces, in contrast to typical observations with other types of
colloids. More research should be directed to this area because it
is of emerging importance to food and water security as well as
human and ecosystem health.
6 Concluding Remarks
This special section includes a range of work covering various
aspects of soil physical processes in controlling FEW systems and
ecosystem services. More research should be devoted to energy flow
p. 4 of 7
in soils, energy consumption in agricultural production, and bioen-
ergy production as influenced by soil physical processes. Regarding
SOC management, future studies should be directed to physical
controls of the soil microbiome and its function in soil C dynamics.
Efforts should be also made to elucidate the role of plants in soil
water flow using advanced in situ characterization techniques for
soil and plant systems. We should also strive to understand envi-
ronmental processes and the impacts of emerging contaminants
because soil physics can make an indispensable contribution to this
area of research. Integration of physical, chemical, and biological
processes in model development is also needed to address critical
FEW problems across multiple scales and heterogeneous domains.
Finally, to ensure that soils provide critical functions to FEW
systems and ecosystem services, interdisciplinary research inter-
secting soil physics, chemistry, biology, and social science is needed.
This area should be strengthened in the future, as most studies in
this special section, while addressing important soil physics ques-
tions, are very much disciplinary in nature. More multidisciplinary
and interdisciplinary research is needed to address both fundamen-
tal and applied questions on energy, water, and solute flows in soils,
interactions among soils, microbiomes, and plants, as well as the
responses of soil ecosystems to management practices.
Acknowledgments
We thank the organizers and funders of the 2017 International Workshop of Soil
Physics and the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water at Shenyang, China. W.Z. ac-
knowledges the support of the USDA-NIFA Hatch Program (MICL02497).
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