The use of soil data at the national and regional scales in Scotland: opportunities and constraints.

Macaulay Institute,17th February 2005. 10am - 4pm

Increasingly national scale soils and other environmental datasets are being used in a wide range of environmental modelling applications, for example, nitrate leaching to surface waters, nitrous oxide emissions, hydrological responses and determination of the conservation value of semi-natural habitats. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of soil through the benefits that it delivers and the need to protect the national soil resource.

SEERAD have recently funded a short term research project to allow the development of a fully documented integrated soil attribute dataset linked to the national 1:250 000 scale soil map of Scotland (the scale most often used for modelling at the national level). This, along with the new SEERAD strategy that is encouraging increased collaboration between Scottish research institutions and possible EU legislation on soil protection, means it is perhaps timely that we review existing soil datasets and their application at the national or regional scale.

The primary objectives of the meeting are to raise awareness of the various soil datasets held by the Macaulay Institute, particularly those that may be of benefit in future collaboration and to determine any perceived requirements for specific soil data in order to meet the challenges set by policy makers.

Part of the meeting will be used to describe the soil data currently held by the Macaulay Institute. The remainder will focus on topics where national or regional scale soil data have been used in UK-wide applications as well as in a Scottish context. We also have asked Dr Bob Jones (NSRI) to give a keynote address on the use of soils data at the European scale and update us on current thinking on European policy on soil protection. Offers and titles of presentations on the application of soil data at national or regional scales are welcome and should be sent to Allan Lilly (a.lilly@macaulay.ac.uk) by 21st January.