ECTS credits ECTS credits: 4.5
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 74.2 Hours of tutorials: 2.25 Expository Class: 18 Interactive Classroom: 18 Total: 112.45
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Center Faculty of Biology
Call: First Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable
Acquire a basic training in soil science, including understanding the formation, constituent, properties, and soil types in the world.
Understanding soil functions, as a source of raw materials, settlement system, pollutants filter and, overall, its role in the functioning of ecosystems and biodiversity preservation.
Lecture classes (26h)
1. The soil: concept of soil. The soil as a system. Productive and environmental functions of the soil. The soil biota. (2h)
2. The organization of the soil: from the pedosphere to the microstructure. Pedion, profile and horizons. Types of horizons. Nomenclature of soil horizons. Diagnostic horizons. (3h)
3. Soil formation factors. Influence on the formation and characteristics of soils of environmental factors: parent material, climate, topography, organisms, and time. (2h)
4. Soil components I. Solid phase: inorganic components and organic components. Nature, composition, properties, and study methods. (3h)
5. Soil components II. Fluid phases: the dissolution of the soil and the soil atmosphere. Nature, composition, properties, and study methods. (1h)
6. Soil properties I. Physical properties: colour, texture, structure, density and porosity.
7. Soil properties II. Physic-chemical properties. The reaction of the soil. Ion exchange and ion retention. Red-ox reactions. (1h)
8. Pedogenetic processes. Types of pedogenetic processes. Horizons and pedoturbation. Ripening. Weathering and evolution of organic matter. Processes in hydromorphic environments: reducing conditions and alternating redox conditions. Transfers in solution. Transfers in suspension: clay eluviation and illuviation, podzolization. Meta-pedogenetic processes. (3h)
9. Soil classification. The World Reference Base for Soil Resources: structure, diagnostic criteria and reference soil groups. Soil taxonomy. Equivalences. (4h)
10. The soils of the World. Reference groups of the World Reference Base for Solo Resource: description, distribution, use and management. (3h)
Interactive classes (12 h)
Seminars (6h)
Introduction to soil sampling and description (1h)
General soil data and its interpretation (1h)
Interpretation, classification, and evaluation of soils (4h)
Field practice (6h)
Oriented to the interpretation of formation factors, morphology, properties and formation processes of different types of soils in Galicia.
Tutorials (3h): Oriented to the resolution of doubts of the students.
Factors of soil formation(1h)
Soil components and properties (1h)
Soil classification and interpretation (1h)
asic
- PORTA CASANELLAS, J., LÓPEZ-ACEVEDO, M., POCH CLARET, R., 2019. Edafología: uso y protección de suelos. 4ª ed. Madrid: Mundiprensa. Bibl. Bioloxía La TG 292 (3ed edition).
- IUSS Grupo de trabajo WRB. 2015. Base Referencial Mundial del Recurso Suelo. Un marco conceptual para la clasificación, correlación y comunicación internacional. Actualización 2015. Informes sobre Recursos Mundiales de Suelos 106. FAO, Roma. http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/a0510s/a0510s00.HTM
- DRIESSEN PM, DECKERS, JA. SPAARGAREN, OC AND NACHTERGAELE FO (Eds.). 2001. Lecture Notes on the Major Soils of the World. World Soil Resources Reports 94. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. http://www.isric.org/Isric/Webdocs/Docs/Major_Soils_of_the_World/start… ftp://ftp.fao.org/agl/agll/docs/wsrr94e.pdf
- FITZPATRICK, E.La., 1984. Suelos: su formación, clasificación y distribución. México: CECSA.México: CECSA. Bibl. Bioloxía TS 34 La.
- WHITE, R.E., 2006. Principles and practice of soil science: the soil as a natural resource. 4th ed. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Bibl. Farmacia La TS 21 B.
Complementary
- EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU NEWORK. 2005. Soil Atlas of Europe. European Comission, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Louxemburg. http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/soil_atlas/Download.cfm
- ORGIAZZI, La., BARDGETT, R.D., BARRIOS, E., BEHAN-PELLETIER, V., BRIONES, M.J.I., CHOTTE, J-L., DE DEYN, G.B., EGGLETON, P., FIERER, N., FRASER, T., HEDLUND, K., JEFFERY, S., JOHNSON, N.C., JONES, La., KANDELER, E., KANEKO, N., LAVELLE, P., LEMANCEAU, P., MIKO, L., MONTANARELLA, L., MOREIRA, F.M.S., RAMIREZ, K.S., SCHEU, S., SINGH, B.K., SIX, J., VAN DER PUTTEN, W.H., WALL, D.H. (EDS.), 2016, Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas. European Commission, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. 176 pp. https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/public_path/shared_folder/Atlases/JRC_gl…
- HUANG, P.M., LI, Y., SUMNER, M.E. eds., 2012. Handbook of soil sciences: properties and processes. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group. Bibl. Bioloxía TS 274 1
- BOHN, H.L., MCNEAL, B.L. Y El’CONNOR, G.La., 1993. Química del suelo. México: Limusa. Bibl. Bioloxía La TS 37.
In this subject the student will acquire or perform a series of basic / general and generic skills, desirable in any university degree, and specific characteristics of the subject (Soil Science) and / or the degree of Biology in general. Emphasis will be placed on the following competencies:
Basic / General competences
In this subject, to a greater or lesser extent, all the basic and general competences of the Degree in Biology will be worked on.
Transversal competences
CT1. Capacity for analysis and synthesis
CT2. Capacity for reasoning and argumentation
CT4. Capacity to obtain appropriate, diverse, and updated information
CT11. Capacity for a resolution of problems through the integrated application of their knowledge.
Specific competences
CE5 -Scope: Environment, populations, and ecosystems:
CE5.a - The physical environment, energy flows and biogeochemical cycles.
CE5.d - Management and conservation
CE5.e - Diagnosis and solution of environmental problems
CE5.f - Environmental impact assessment.
In the expositive lectures, oriented to the presentation of the basics of soil science, audio-visual aids will be used and the basic material to follow-up lectures together to complementary materials (text, graphics, tables …), will be available to students through the virtual campus of USC, to encourage participation and discussion in class. Also, computer resources via links to websites with abundant soil information, will be used.
The interactive classes will focus on the personal work of students under the tutelage and guidance of professors to discuss aspects of the subject that cannot be seen along the theoretical sessions, problem-solving and applied aspects of soil science. In the field session, the student work will focus on building the capacity of observation and description, and the evaluation and interpretation of soils.
Virtual classroom:
At the beginning of the course the following material will be provided to the students in the virtual classroom (Moodle):
TEACHING GUIDE: the approved teaching guide for the subject.
ACTIVITY PLANNING: a guide indicating the planning of activities.
PRESENTATIONS: the presentations used by the teaching staff in the exhibition classes.
PROBLEMS: material for the interpretation and classification of soils and the solutions that will be discussed in the seminars.
Classroom learning
Expository and interactive classes (face-to-face, mandatory interactive classes): lectures will be carried out by combining both the master class (exposition and discussion of topics) and seminars (carrying out exercises). It is important that the student works on the material made available prior to the face-to-face sessions to promote teacher-student interaction. The assimilation of contents by the students will be verified through the completion of questionnaires that will be delivered through the virtual classroom.
Field practice (face to face): if possible, a field practice will be carried out to interpret the formation factors, morphology, properties, and processes of pedogenesis of different types of soils in Galicia. The involvement of students in the practice will be evaluated by means of a questionnaire.
Tutorial (face to face)
Oriented to the resolution of problems and the students' doubts.
Individualized Tutorials
They will be carried out in the teacher's office and/or through the MS Teams platform.
The evaluation will consider the attendance, participation and knowledge acquired in the face-to-face activities, the carrying out of a group work and a final exam.
a) Continuous evaluation (40% of the final grade) It will be valued according to the attendance and participation in the presential activities (10% of the final grade), the answers to questionnaires and problems that will be given to the students through the virtual classroom (10% of the final grade) and the accomplishment of a teamwork (20% of the final grade, mandatory). The students will have to present, and expose, a work (made in groups of a maximum of 3 people) that will consist of the interpretation, evaluation, and classification of standard soils from real soil sheets; it will be valued according to the quality of the report, the clarity in the presentation of the results and its correct interpretation.
Competences: CB3, CB4, CT1, CT2, CT11, CE5d, CE5e, CE5f.
b) Final exam (60% of the final qualification, mandatory). It will consist of questions on the theory program and on the interactive activities.
Competences CB3, CB5, CG5, CT1, CT2, CT4, CT11, CE5a, CE5d, CE5e, CE5f.
General criteria
To pass the subject at the 1st opportunity it will be obligatory to have carried out the activities corresponding to the continuous evaluation, reaching a score of at least 1/3 of its value. The final grade will be the sum of the scores of each of the evaluation criteria. If a minimum grade is not reached in the final exam (40% of its value) the final grade will be that of the exam.
To pass the subject at the second opportunity, the activities not passed in the first option will have to be carried out. If the student chooses to take only the final exam, the maximum grade can only be ‘approved’.
The qualifications for teamwork and for attendance and participation in teaching activities, in the event of having passed the minimum grade, will be kept until the end of the next academic year.
Repeating students may choose to carry out the same tasks as those taking the subject for the first time or take a final exam on the theoretical (60% of the final qualification) and practical (40% of the final qualification) content of the subject.
In the case of students who have been granted exemption from class attendance, the evaluation will be carried out by means of an examination on the contents of the programme (60% of the final grade) and a practical examination (40% of the final grade).
4,5 ECTS: 112,5h
Classroom activities: 43h
- Theoretical classroom teaching: 26h
- Field practice: 6h
- Seminars: 6h
- Tutorials: 3h
- Exams: 2h
Personal work (individual study, questionnaires and proposed activities, teamwork): 69,5h
Attendance and active participation in teaching activities and field practice.
To encourage participation in classes, we recommend the implementation of activities that arise along the course and to work with the information provided through the Virtual Campus before lectures and interactive activities.
Use of specialized literature, not only textbooks, but of research articles and popular science.
Distribute personal work (study, work performing, readings, etc.) throughout the semester.
Use of the tutorial hours along the course to ask any questions that arise during the study of the subject
Communication channels with students
MS Teams: in the classroom of the subject, individual conversations for personalized tutoring.
Virtual classroom (Moodle)
E-mail (only the USC e-mail)