Advances in Agronomy

DONALD L. SPARKS is the Unidel S. Hallock du Pont Chair and Francis Alison Professor at the University of Delaware. He is internationally recognized for his research in the areas of kinetics of biogeochemical processes and surface chemistry of natural materials. His research has focused on fate and transport of trace metals in soil and water, soil remediation, water quality, and carbon sequestration in soils. Dr. Sparks is the author of two previous editions of Environmental Soil Chemistry and more than 350 refereed papers and book chapters. He is fellow of five scientific societies, and he has been the recipient of major awards and lectureships including the Geochemistry Medal from the American Chemical Society, the Liebig Medal from the International Union of Soil Sciences, the Einstein Professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Philippe Duchaufour Medal from the European Geosciences Union. Dr. Sparks served as president of the Soil Science Society of America and the International Union of Soil Sciences, has served on advisory committees for several national laboratories and national and international centers and institutes, and served as chair of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee for Soil Sciences and other NAS Committees.

1. Advances in understanding the processes and cycling of nanoparticles in the terrestrial environment Bo Pan, Shunling Li, Hongbo Peng, Chenghong Ao, Zhuo Wei, and Baoshan Xing 2. Distribution, characteristics and management of calcareous soils Nanthi Bolan, Prashant Srivastava, Cherukumalli Srinivasa Rao, P.V. Satyanaraya, Geoffrey C. Anderson, Shiv Bolan, Gerhardus P. Nortje, Raelin Kronenberg, Sougata Bardhan, Lynette K. Abbott, Haochen Zhao, Promil Mehra, S.V. Satyanarayana, Naser Khan, Hailong Wang, Jorg Rinklebe, Kadambot H.M. Siddique, and M.B. Kirkham 3. An integrated approach to assessing soil biological health Christine D. Sprunger and Tvisha K. Martin 4. Critical review of the models used to determine soil water content using TDR-measured apparent permittivity Hailong He, Wenxiu Zou, Scott B. Jones, David A. Robinson, Robert Horton, Miles Dyck, Vilim Filipovic, Kosuke Noborio, Keith Bristow, Yuan Gong, Wenyi Sheng, Qingbai Wu, Hao Feng, and Yang Liu 5. Drought and salinity stress in medicinal and aromatic plants: Physiological response, adaptive mechanism, management/ amelioration strategies, and an opportunity for production of bioactive compounds Mitali Mahajan and Probir Kumar Pal