A Multiple-Scale Study of Human and Nonhuman Causes of Soil Acidification in Southwestern Hungary

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Identifying human and nonhuman factors that influence soil degradation helps develop policies, practices, and social institutions that do not undermine vital soil productivity functions. Human impact on a soil's ability to buffer against pH shifts (acid neutralizing capacity or ANC) is generally understudied, even though decreasing ANC (acidification) can result in degraded water quality and a loss of soil fertility. Few attempts have been made to understand the connection between social institutions and soil degradation in East Central Europe . Major social changes since the late 1980s make this region especially appropriate for discerning linkages between environmental impact and social institution. Unfortunately, research remains largely limited to pre-1989 human impact at national scales and continues to ignore the effects of nonhuman factors. The objective of this project is to investigate the interaction between farming and soil ANC in SW Hungary. The study will consider whether and how farming, other human activities, or nonhuman processes lead to changes in ANC and, if farming is the main cause, whether local or larger-scale processes mostly affect farming practices. Data will be gathered, processed, and entered into a GIS with the aid of Hungarian and U.S. assistants through the following activities: semi-structured interviews, soil and manure sampling and analysis for commercial and subsistence plots, and archival and documentary research on regional atmospheric deposition, soil monitoring, land use, socio-economic factors, and local histories. Using largely multivariate statistical techniques, the investigator will assess rates of change in soil ANC, identifying the principal influencing factors, and determining the degree to which ANC can be explained by local environmental practices.The project results will help evaluate theories of environmental degradation in East Central Europe by investigating the relationship between local management practices and soil conditions. The project's larger impact will be to broaden the purview of both social and physical sciences by combining theoretical and methodological approaches. The database and GIS exercises generated from the findings will enhance course content for students at SUNY-New Paltz. Underrepresented groups will be involved by recruiting Roma ("Gypsies"), who rarely figure as scientific researchers, and women, whose representation is especially rare in the physical sciences. Rural development projects in Hungary will be sensitized to the pitfalls of ignoring differential access to and control over agricultural resources and to the skills and knowledge of the local Roma minority. Finally, the project will contribute to the understanding of the active roles of nonhuman factors in human-induced environmental change in order to help devise sounder environmental policy and practice at local, national, and European Union levels.