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Pedodiversity

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The Soils of Italy

Part of the book series: World Soils Book Series ((WSBS))

Abstract

Pedodiversity of Italy, that is, the diversity of soil genetic types, their geographic distribution, and the statistical variability of their properties, is depicted by means of maps and information stored in the national soil database. Soil regions on hills are the most lithologically and climatically variable environments, and host the greatest soil variability and endemisms. A vast majority of the WRB reference soil groups (25 out of 32), as well as soil orders of Soil Taxonomy (10 out of 12), are represented in the main Italian soil typological units (STUs), but the clear skewness and lognormal distribution of STUs demonstrate the utmost endemic nature of many Italian soils. In particular, more than a fourth of STUs belongs to Cambisols, more than a half to only four reference soil groups, and 88 % to nine RSGs, while the remaining 16 RSGs are represented in 12 % of STUs. A similar trend is depicted by considering single soil profile classification, although a larger number of main soil types are represented as soil profiles than as STUs. Ferralsols (Oxisols for Soil Taxonomy) and Durisols are the only main kind of soils that have not yet been found in Italy. Likewise RSGs, the distribution of WRB qualifiers shows an evident concentration in relatively few cases, followed by a long tail. In particular, 138 out of the 180 types foreseen by WRB are represented in Italy. Thus, it is possible to say that in Italy, there is about three quarters of the global pedodiversity. Although the most common qualifiers (that is, Calcaric, Haplic, Skeletic, Eutric) are all related to the nature of parent material and to incipient pedogenesis, a second group (namely Chromic, Calcic, Stagnic, and Luvic) indicates the main soil-forming mechanisms that typify current Italian pedogenesis.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The DBs are maintained by the Research centre for Agrobiology and Pedology of the Agriculture Research Council (CRA-ABP). Releases are downloadable from http://abp.entecra.it/soilmaps/en/home.html.

  2. 2.

    In most cases, this was a consequence of an incomplete translation from Soil Taxonomy to WRB classification.

  3. 3.

    In reading the report of the derived profile, it must be paid attention to the number of cases. For instance, the presence of an E horizon in the Haplic Luvisols (Chromic) has been recorded in a relatively small proportion of sites (Fig. 6.23). This can be due to the different land use of the soils belonging to this taxon, since under agriculture the E horizon is seldom preserved. Similarly, in the description of site characteristics, it should be considered the number of sites that were described and stored for the specific characteristic or quality. For instance, in the mentioned taxon, the presence of the water table was only recorded in 25 cases, but in all of them it was absent, therefore we can assume that water table is usually absent. Also mean analytical values of a horizon may come from different amounts of cases, in dependence of the presence of the horizon as well as of the effective analysis of the sample. The Cr horizon of the example, in particular, shows a marked increase of the sand content; however, only two sites were analysed, both belonging to Haplic Luvisols (Chromic) formed on calcarenites. Therefore, the textural value of Cr is representative only of this kind of Haplic Luvisols (Chromic).

  4. 4.

    see Chap. 2 for details about the climatic information.

  5. 5.

    SD = standard deviation, n = sample, N = population; Available water capacity mean estimated value on horizons up to the potential rooting depth (Saxton and Rawls, 2006).

    Crusting risk function of silt and organic matter content (Costantini et al. 2007).

    Compaction risk function of clay, silt, organic matter content (Vignozzi et al. 2007; Costantini et al. 2007).

    Hydrologic group function of clay, sand, silt, bulk density (when not determined, estimated according to Pellegrini et al. (2007) BD [(clay)2; (sand); (organic matter content)-2]), potential rooting depth and water table depth. (United States Department of Agriculture 2007).

    Purifying capacity function of coarse fragments, cation-exchange capacity, potential rooting depth, pH (Region Emilia Romagna 1995).

    Low. Depth = Lower depth (cm); Tex. Cl. = texture class: C = clay, CL = clay loam, FSL = fine sandy loam, L = loam, LS = loamy sand, S = sand, SC = sandy clay, SCL = sandy clay loam, SIC = silty clay, SICL = silty clay loam, SI = silt, SIL = silt loam, SL = sandy loam; Permeability mean hydraulic conductivity from field estimation class mean values; COLE coefficient of linear extensibility; Field Capacity and Wilting Point soil water content at 33 kPa and 1,500 kPa (pressure plate apparatus); CEC = Cation-Exchange Capacity; ESP = Exchangeable Sodium Percentage; Salinity electrical conductivity of a soil water 1:2.5 solution (approximately 1/4 of saturated paste).

    Extractable Fe oxalate oxalate extractable iron, Extractable Fe pyr. pyrophosphate extractable iron, Extractable Fe total: total extractable iron, Extractable Fe pyr.—ox. difference of pyrophosphate extractable iron and oxalate extractable iron, Extractable Al oxalate oxalate extractable aluminium, Extractable Al total total extractable aluminium, Al + 0.5Fe oxalate sum of oxalate extractable aluminium and half of oxalate extractable iron; oxalate extractable Si oxalate extractable silica, pH NaF sodium fluoride pH, P ads. phosphate retention.

  6. 6.

    A salic horizon must have: (1) averaged over its depth at some time of the year, an electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECe) of 15 dS m−1 or more at 25 °C, or an ECe of 8 dS m−1 or more at 25 °C if the pH (H2O) of the saturation extract is 8.5 or more; and (2) averaged over its depth at some time of the year, a product of thickness (in centimetres) and ECe (in dS m−1) of 450 or more; and (3) a thickness of 15 cm or more.

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Acknowledgments

The Authors acknowledge the contribution of the participant to the project “soil database of Italy”, financed by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, and in particular all the regional soil services, and the soil chairs of the Universities of Perugia, Sassari, Venice, and Palermo. A special thank is for prof. Carmelo Dazzi, University of Palermo, for the useful comments and information, in particular on soils of Sicily.

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  1. Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura (CRA-ABP), Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology, Firenze, Italy

    Edoardo A. C. Costantini, Roberto Barbetti, Maria Fantappiè, Giovanni L’Abate, Romina Lorenzetti & Simona Magini

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  1. Edoardo A. C. Costantini
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  2. Roberto Barbetti
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  3. Maria Fantappiè
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  4. Giovanni L’Abate
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  6. Simona Magini
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Correspondence to Edoardo A. C. Costantini .

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  1. l’agrobiologia e la pedologia, Senior Researcher, CRA-ABP Centro di ricerca per, Florence, Italy

    Edoardo A.C. Costantini

  2. Viale delle Scienze 28, Palermo, I-90128, Italy

    Carmelo Dazzi

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Costantini, E.A., Barbetti, R., Fantappiè, M., L’Abate, G., Lorenzetti, R., Magini, S. (2013). Pedodiversity. In: Costantini, E., Dazzi, C. (eds) The Soils of Italy. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5642-7_6

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