A Brief History of Brazilian Soil Science

Abstract

Although soils are key elements to human societies in the tropics, the history of soil science in Brazil remains largely ignored and poorly treated in textbooks. This chapter aimed to fill this gap by reviewing the main steps in the evolution of soil science in Brazil, which has now one of the most robust scientific productions on tropical soils worldwide. Until the early twentieth century, Brazilian pedology was incipient, and knowledge on the Brazilian natural resources was precarious and empirical. Previously, we had a rich tradition of ethnopedology by native Indians, not entirely lost to this day, and often recovered by scientists devoted to this traditional knowledge. In the early days of the colonial period, Brazilian soils were cultivated for export and profit, with no environmental or social concern, and colonists only recognized soils on practical aspects of soil fertility. Later on, remarkable accounts by Brazilian naturalists pointed out the fragile nature of our soils, and provided a general description of tropical soilscapes. A little later, in the nineteenth century, in the age of illustration, several outstanding naturalists and scientists came to Brazil and made important descriptions of soils and associated environmental aspects, marking the beginning of published and organized accounts of Brazilian soils and landscapes. After the birth of pedology in Russia and Europe, Brazilian soils began to be studied and described in scientific terms. At this time, Brazilian pedology was deeply influenced by the launching of Soil Taxonomy, by the U.S.D.A., and in the late 50 s and early 60 s, the first soil surveys were carried out in Brazil, with a combination of local, folk denominations and terms extracted from the American soil taxonomy. The creation of soil science postgraduate schools, in the mid-twentieth century, propelled Brazilian Soil Science to its current level. The evolution of soil science in Brazil was driven by the creation of Soil Science Departments, graduate programs, research and technology institutes, and the Brazilian Soil Science Society, and have played a key role in the evolution of soil management and agriculture. Brazil is now recognized as the most advanced and promising tropical agriculture in the world, with solid knowledge on its soils, but many new challenges exist, especially related to soil–environment relations, soil degradation and pollution, and soil conservation issues.

Appendix 1

See Appendix Table 1.

Table 1 Approximate correspondence between soil classes at high categorical level in SiBCS, WRB, and Soil Taxonomy (Adapted from Santos et al. 2018)