Soil types AIDGAP
FSC Soil types AIDGAP helps helps students to identify soils in the field in Britain and Ireland.
It contains two soil identification keys. Firstly an introductory soil key to help beginners to identify major soil groups, such as brown earths, podsols and rendzinas. Secondly there is a more advanced soil types key to subdivisions of soil types.
Of course, soil profiles in the field rarely correspond to textbook profiles. But soil fieldwork is still a useful learning experience. All soils provide useful evidence of the the effects of water movement, aeration and organic matter.
This soil types guide is part of the FSC’s AIDGAP series (Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants). AIDGAP guides are accessible keys suitable for non-specialists from age 16+. Although written and edited by specialists, all AIDGAP guides undergo extensive field tests in draft form before final publication. As with all guides in the series, the Soil types AIDGAP underwent extensive testing before publication, by beginners and specialists alike. The author has revised this, the first published version, in the light of the testers’ experience.
Accurate identification of specimens is an important part of biological fieldwork. Although popular groups such as wild flowers and butterflies are well-served, many other groups are neglected. Since 1976, the AIDGAP project has published over 40 clearly written identification keys. In many cases the AIDGAP volume is the only non-technical work covering the taxa in question. In many cases a newly published AIDGAP guide has led to an immediate upsurge in the number and spread of biological records.
