ESS terms in Land

The movement of air into and out of soil pore spaces, which supplies oxygen to roots and soil organisms and removes carbon dioxide.

A chemical product used in agriculture, such as a synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide or growth regulator.

A land-use system in which trees or shrubs are grown together with crops or livestock on the same land, to gain from their interactions.

A soil formed on volcanic ash, with a low bulk density, that is often very fertile and supports intensive farming, as in Java and Japan.

A farming system that grows crops, such as cereals, vegetables or oilseeds, on cultivated land rather than raising livestock.

A soil of hot deserts and dry shrublands, low in organic matter, often with layers of calcium carbonate, gypsum or salts because little leaching occurs.

A fertile, well-drained soil of temperate deciduous forest, with a deep, dark humus-rich A horizon mixed by earthworms over a brown, weakly leached B horizon.

The dry mass of soil per unit volume, including its pore spaces, usually in g cm⁻³; high values show compacted soil with little pore space.

Building low banks of earth or lines of stones along the contours of a field to trap run-off water and soil.

Meat from wild animals hunted for food, especially in tropical forests of Africa, Asia and South America, for household use or sale.

A soil rich in calcium carbonate, usually formed on limestone or chalk parent material, with a neutral to alkaline pH.

A measure of how many positively charged ions, such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, a soil can hold on the negatively charged surfaces of its clay and humus.

The finest mineral fraction of soil, with particles smaller than 0.002 mm, made of complex silicate minerals that hold water and positively charged nutrient ions.

Farming in which crops or livestock are produced mainly for sale in markets to earn a profit, rather than for the farmer's own household.

The squeezing together of soil particles, for example by heavy machinery or trampling, which reduces pore space, aeration, infiltration and root growth.

A way of managing forest in which trees are harvested selectively or in small groups, so the canopy and soil are never fully cleared.

Ploughing across a slope along its contours, so that each furrow slows run-off and reduces soil erosion by water.

A crop, such as clover, rye or vetch, grown mainly to cover and protect bare soil between main crops rather than to be harvested.

Growing a different crop on the same field in successive seasons in a planned sequence, often including a legume, to maintain fertility and break pest cycles.

The remains of dead plants, animals and microorganisms, together with their wastes such as faeces and manure, before they are fully decomposed.

Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, caused by climatic variation and human activities such as overgrazing and deforestation, leading to desert-like conditions.

The digestion of plant material by microorganisms in the gut of ruminant animals, which releases methane that the animals breathe out or belch.

Farming with low inputs of capital, labour or materials per unit area, usually spread over large areas and giving relatively low yields per hectare.

The practice of leaving farmland uncropped for one or more seasons so that soil nutrients, organic matter and structure can recover.

An extreme and widespread lack of food in a region, causing large numbers of deaths from starvation and disease, resulting from failures of food availability and access.

A field method of estimating soil texture by moistening and rubbing a small sample between the fingers to judge grittiness, smoothness and stickiness.

A substance added to soil or plants to supply nutrients, especially nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and so increase growth and yield.

The distance food travels from where it is produced to where it is eaten, used as a rough indicator of the environmental impact of food transport.

A situation in which all people at all times have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active, healthy life.

Food fit to eat that is discarded at the retail, food-service or household stage; food lost earlier, during harvest, storage, processing and transport, is called food loss.

The direct alteration of an organism's DNA using biotechnology, for example by inserting a gene from another species, to give it a new characteristic.

A crop, often a legume, that is grown and then ploughed back into the soil to add organic matter and nutrients instead of being harvested.

The rapid rise in cereal yields in many low- and middle-income countries from the 1950s and 1960s, based on high-yielding varieties, irrigation, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

The accumulated droppings of seabirds or bats, rich in nitrogen and phosphate, which add nutrients to soils and have been mined as fertiliser.

A crop variety bred to produce a high yield of grain per hectare when supplied with enough water, fertilizer and pest control.

Human faeces and urine composted at high temperature for long enough to kill pathogens, then used as an organic fertilizer.

Dark brown or black, partly decomposed organic matter in soil with a loose, crumbly texture, which holds water and nutrients and binds particles together.

A method of growing plants without soil, with their roots in a solution of water and dissolved mineral nutrients, often in greenhouses or indoor farms.

Farming with high inputs of capital, labour, energy, fertilizer or other materials per unit area, producing high yields per hectare.

The legal or customary rights of individuals or communities to own, use, control and pass on land and its resources.

The removal of dissolved minerals and nutrients from soil as water percolates downwards through it, carrying them to lower horizons or groundwater.

The layer of fallen leaves, twigs, bark and other dead plant parts lying on the soil surface, the main input of dead organic matter to most soils.

Land sown with grass, often mixed with clover and herbs, for a few years as part of a rotation, grazed or cut, then ploughed for arable crops.

The addition of crushed limestone or other calcium compounds to acidic soil to raise its pH and make nutrients more available to plants.

A deposit of wind-blown silt, often many metres thick, that forms fertile but easily eroded soils, as on the Loess Plateau of China.

A method of estimating the organic matter content of a dry soil sample by burning off the organic matter at high temperature and measuring the loss in mass.

A condition caused by a diet supplying the wrong amounts of energy or nutrients, including undernourishment, micronutrient deficiency and overnourishment leading to obesity.

Land of low agricultural value because of steep slopes, thin or poor soils, low or unreliable rainfall or other limits, where cultivation easily causes degradation.

A group pushed to the edge of society, with little power, wealth or voice in decisions, such as Indigenous peoples, people of a low caste or women farmers.

A solid, ice-like substance in which methane is trapped within a lattice of frozen water, found in permafrost and seabed sediments and stable only when cold and under pressure.

A farming system that combines growing crops with raising livestock on the same farm, often with crops feeding the animals and manure fertilizing the crops.

A grazing method in which a large herd is kept on a small paddock for a short time, then moved on, leaving each paddock a long rest to regrow.

A deep, dark, fertile soil of temperate grasslands, with a thick topsoil rich in humus and nutrients, widely used for cereals and grazing.

The growing of a single crop species, often a single variety, over a large area, sometimes for many years in succession.

Mutualistic associations between fungi and plant roots in which the fungus supplies water and mineral nutrients, especially phosphorus, and the plant supplies sugars.

A system of herding livestock that are moved between seasonal pastures and water sources, so that no area is grazed long enough to be degraded.

Any product other than timber gathered from forests for food, medicine, materials or sale, such as nuts, fruit, resins, honey and mushrooms.

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the three mineral nutrients that plants need in the largest amounts and that are most often measured in soil tests and added in fertilisers.

The organic layer at the top of a soil profile, made of leaf litter and humus at different stages of decomposition, above the mineral soil.

A farming system that avoids synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms, relying on manure, compost, crop rotation and biological pest control.

A fertilizer made from plant or animal material, such as manure, slurry, compost or bone meal, that releases nutrients slowly and adds organic matter to soil.

The carbon-based material in soil that comes from living things, including fresh litter, partly decomposed remains, humus and living soil organisms.

Growing crops on the same land too often or too intensively, without returning nutrients or allowing rest, so soil fertility and structure decline.

Grazing by more livestock, or for longer, than the vegetation can withstand, so plant cover is lost and the soil is exposed to erosion.

A deep, highly weathered and leached soil of humid tropical regions such as rainforests, red or yellow from iron and aluminium oxides and low in nutrients.

The underlying rock, or deposited material such as river sediment, wind-blown silt or volcanic ash, whose weathering supplies most of a soil's mineral matter.

A farming system based on raising livestock, such as cattle, sheep or goats, usually grazing grassland, for meat, milk, wool or hides.

A system of agricultural and settlement design that imitates the structure and relationships of natural ecosystems to produce food sustainably with few external inputs.

A chemical or biological substance used to kill or control organisms regarded as pests, including insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides) and fungi (fungicides).

A mostly plant-based reference diet published by the EAT-Lancet Commission in 2019, designed to be healthy and to feed about 10 billion people within planetary boundaries.

A diet made up mostly or entirely of foods from plants, such as grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes and nuts, with little or no animal produce.

A food product made from plant proteins, such as soy, pea or wheat, processed to resemble meat in taste, texture and appearance.

The growing of several crop species together on the same land at the same time, such as intercropping, which increases diversity and ground cover.

An approach to farming that aims to rebuild soil organic matter, biodiversity and the water cycle, using zero tillage, cover crops, diverse rotations and managed grazing.

A shallow, dark, humus-rich soil formed directly on limestone or chalk, with its topsoil lying on the shattered parent rock.

The build-up of soluble salts in soil, usually when irrigation water or a high water table evaporates near the surface and leaves its salts behind.

The coarsest mineral fraction of soil, with particles from 0.05 mm to 2 mm across, mostly quartz; it feels gritty and drains quickly.

The medium mineral fraction of soil, with particles from 0.002 mm to 0.05 mm across; it feels smooth and floury and is easily carried by wind and water.

A form of shifting cultivation in which forest is cut and burned, cropped for a few seasons, then left as long fallow while vegetation and soil recover.

A mixture of weathered mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms that forms the loose upper layer of the land surface and supports plant growth.

A material, such as lime, compost or manure, added to soil to improve its structure, pH, water-holding capacity or biological activity.

The set of practices that protect soil from erosion and degradation and maintain its fertility, structure and organic matter.

The decline in a soil's quality and its capacity to support plant growth and ecosystem services, through erosion, salinization, compaction, nutrient loss, acidification or pollution.

The removal of soil particles from one place by wind or water, faster than new soil forms, usually starting with the most fertile topsoil.

The five factors that control how a soil develops: climate, organisms, geomorphology (relief), geology (parent material) and time.

A layer of soil, roughly parallel to the surface, that differs from the layers above and below in colour, texture, organic matter or other properties.

A vertical section through a soil from the surface down to the parent material, showing its sequence of horizons.

An open system in which soil components are stored, gain inputs such as litter and weathered minerals, lose outputs such as eroded and leached material, and undergo transfers and transformations.

The physical make-up of the mineral part of a soil, given by the relative proportions of sand, silt and clay particles.

A triangular diagram that assigns a soil to a texture class, such as loam or silty clay, from its percentages of sand, silt and clay.

Growing alternate strips of a row crop and a close-growing crop or grass, often along contours, so that every second strip slows run-off and wind.

Farming in which crops or livestock are produced mainly to feed the farming household, with little or no surplus for sale.

The mostly mineral layer (B horizon) beneath the topsoil, with less organic matter, into which clay, iron compounds and nutrients may be washed from above.

Farming that meets present food needs while maintaining soil fertility, water, biodiversity and farm incomes, so that future generations can continue to farm the land.

A manufactured fertilizer containing soluble mineral nutrients, mainly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, that plants can absorb immediately.

A soil conservation technique that cuts a slope into a series of level steps held by walls, so water soaks in instead of running downhill.

The upper mineral layer of soil (A horizon), rich in humus, roots and organisms, where most nutrient recycling and biological activity take place.

Growing crops in stacked layers indoors, usually without soil and under artificial light, to obtain very high yields per unit of land area.

The amount of water a soil can retain in its pores against gravity after free drainage, which depends mainly on its clay and humus content.

The condition in which all the pore spaces in a soil are filled with water, so that oxygen is excluded and anaerobic conditions develop.

The breakdown of rock in place into smaller particles and dissolved ions by physical, chemical and biological processes, without the material being moved away.

A row of trees, shrubs or a hedge planted to reduce wind speed near the ground, protecting soil from wind erosion and crops from damage.

A cultivation technique in which crops are sown directly into the undisturbed soil and residue of the previous crop, without ploughing.