SO 360 - Advanced Soils

1. Explain the role of soil organisms in the soil community and the importance of the dynamic soil community for various functions such as nutrient cycling.
2. Understand mechanisms of soil water movement, soil water retention and soil physical processes that occur and the connection of those processes in the soil to the larger environment.
3. Understand how soil chemical properties and soil physical properties interface to influence ion and nutrient status in the soil solution.
4. Apply soil physical properties to landscape-scale attributes such as slope, embankment, and dam stability.
5. Identify soil properties that influence soil chemical behavior and conclude how changes in soil chemistry may impact soil management activities.   

soils: An introduction to soil science. Pinawa, MB: Canadian Society of Soil Science. 

Brady, N. C., & Weil, R. R. (2021). Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils

(3rd ed.). Pearson.

Optional Resource Materials:
None

Conduct of Course:
The course is approximately 42 hours of lecture and 28 hours of lab work. The classroom instruction is in a lecture-style. Questions and discussion occur during the classroom instruction to ensure the material is understood. Labs are a mixture of field and classroom setting and will focus on understanding lecture material in applied ways. Case studies related to lecture content and presentation of information by students may also be covered in labs.

Classroom and laboratory attendance is considered vital to the learning process and as significant to the students’ evaluation as examinations and reports.

1. Students having a combination of excused and/or unexcused absence of 20 percent or higher for the scheduled course hours are required to withdraw and automatically receive a “RW” (required withdrawal) for the course, regardless of any other evaluation results. (RW is a failing grade.)
2. An excused absence is one that is verified with your instructor. Verification should be prior to the absence or the next class day following the absence. Verification of the absence may take the form of a note from your doctor/College nurse regarding illness, or a note from another instructor regarding a field trip or other activity, or authorization by your instructor. An unexcused absence is anything NOT verified by the instructor prior to the absence or the next class day following the absence.

It is the students’ responsibility to know their own absentee record.

Normal hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with potential for evening courses, exams, or extended field trips. Students are expected to be available for classes during these times.

The course is approximately 42 hours of lecture and 28 hours of lab work. The classroom instruction is in a lecture-style. Questions and discussion occur during the classroom instruction to ensure the material is understood. Labs are a mixture of field and classroom setting and will focus on understanding lecture material in applied ways. Case studies related to lecture content and presentation of information by students may also be covered in labs.

Classroom and laboratory attendance is considered vital to the learning process and as significant to the students’ evaluation as examinations and reports.

1. Students having a combination of excused and/or unexcused absence of 20 percent or higher for the scheduled course hours are required to withdraw and automatically receive a “RW” (required withdrawal) for the course, regardless of any other evaluation results. (RW is a failing grade.)
2. An excused absence is one that is verified with your instructor. Verification should be prior to the absence or the next class day following the absence. Verification of the absence may take the form of a note from your doctor/College nurse regarding illness, or a note from another instructor regarding a field trip or other activity, or authorization by your instructor. An unexcused absence is anything NOT verified by the instructor prior to the absence or the next class day following the absence.

It is the students’ responsibility to know their own absentee record.

Normal hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with potential for evening courses, exams, or extended field trips. Students are expected to be available for classes during these times.

Content of Course:
Course topics during the lecture will include:

Soil Biology

• Soil organisms and their roles in soil community structure
• Methods for characterizing soil microbial communities and soil microbes
• Nutrient cycling and the soil carbon and nitrogen cycles, with an emphasis on microbe-mediated processes
• Plant - microbe interactions
• Theory of bioremediation

Soil Physics

• Applications of soil mechanics
• Water movement and retention
• Soil aeration and gas exchange
• Soil Strength

Soil Chemistry

• Soil solid phase including clay minerology and the organic phase
• Reactions within the soil including redox reactions and how pH influences reactions within the soil
• Soil surface interactions including adsorption and desorption processes and characteristics; cation exchange capacity

Laboratory content will support the lecture topics and will include but is not limited to: legume response to nitrogen fixation, active examination of a living soil community at the microscopic and macroscope level, water movement in the soil as related to soil texture and other physical characteristics, and speciation of heavy metals in the soil solution.
Course Assessments:

• Official final grades will be available on My Lakeland. Grades posted in D2L should be considered interim grades.  
• “Lakeland College is committed to the highest academic standards. Students are expected to be familiar with Lakeland College policies and to abide by these policies. Violations of these policies are considered to be serious and may result in suspension or expulsion from the College.”  

Students must maintain a cumulative grade of C (GPA - Grade Point Average of 2.00) in order to qualify to graduate.

Every effort has been made to ensure that information in this course outline is accurate at the time of publication. Lakeland College reserves the right to change courses if it becomes necessary so that course content remains relevant.

In such cases, the instructor will give students clear and timely notice of changes.

No part of this course outline may be reproduced in any form or resold without written permission from Lakeland College.

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