Soil, Agriculture, and Ecosystem Modeling: Smart Technologies for Sustainable Solutions

Soil and ecosystem modeling is crucial for managing and comprehending ecological processes and should be required for all studies focusing on agriculture systems, environmental management, environmental sciences, and ecology. Offering an array of modeling strategies that include applications of machine learning, deep learning, and other AI methods, the book explores and demonstrates soil, agriculture, and ecosystem modeling for fostering smart sustainable agricultural practices. The volume takes into account the mechanisms of climate change as well as the challenges and hazards related to soil health, providing insight into long-term and sophisticated sustainable agriculture, crop protection and management, soil carbon sequestration, and ecology preservation.

Owais Bashir, PhD, is presently working in the Department of Soil Science at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, India. Dr. Bashir has been involved in research for the past five years on soil pedology, climate change, machine learning, and soil health. He has authored more than 10 research articles, two book chapters, and one book with international publishers. Dr. Bashir has presented and participated in numerous state, national, and international conferences, seminars, workshops, and symposiums. He has received many awards, appreciations, and recognition for his services to the science of soil analysis. He has served as an editorial board member and reviewer for reputed international journals. Currently, Dr. Bashir is experimenting with diverse capacities of soil health and climate change and its impact on plant health. He earned his doctorate at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (Division of Soil Science).

Khalid Rehman Hakeem, PhD, is Professor at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After completing his doctorate (botany, specialization in plant eco-physiology and molecular biology) from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India, and at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia, where he was a Postdoctorate Fellow and Fellow Researcher (Associate Professor) for several years. Dr. Hakeem has more than 10 years of teaching and research experience in plant eco-physiology, biotechnology and molecular biology, medicinal plants, plant-microbe-soil interactions, as well as in environmental studies. He is the recipient of several fellowships at both national and international levels. He has served as a visiting scientist at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. Currently, he is involved with several international research projects with various government organizations. To date, Dr. Hakeem has authored and edited more than 60 books with international publishers. He also has to his credit more than 115 research publications in peer-reviewed international journals and 55 book chapters in edited volumes. At present, Dr. Hakeem serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for several high-impact international scientific journals. He is included in the advisory board of Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK. He is also a fellow of the Plantae Group of the American Society of Plant Biologists, and a member of the World Academy of Sciences, the International Society for Development and Sustainability (Japan), and the Asian Federation of Biotechnology (Korea).

Surinder S. Kukal, PhD, has worked in the field of agricultural water management at Punjab Agricultural University, India. He has more than 350 research publications to his credit, including 150 peer-reviewed research papers in journals of international and national repute. He served as Professor of Soil Conservation, Additional Director of Research and Dean, Faculty of Agriculture at Punjab Agricultural University. Dr. Kukal has several awards and honors to his credit, the most prestigious being named Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Fellow, Indian Society of Soil Science; Dr GS Khush Distinguished Professor Award; Honorary Member of the Watershed Management Society of Iran; and 12th International Congress Commemoration Award of the Indian Society of Soil Science. Dr. Kukal has been a Visiting Scientist at CSIRO, Australia, and has delivered and led lectures in countries that include USA, Australia, China, Thailand, Serbia, Singapore, and Pakistan. He is Associate Editor-in-Chief of the International Soil and Water Conservation Research. Dr. Kukal holds a PhD in Soil Physics and Water Management.

Razeef Mohd, PhD, is currently working as a Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Expert at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, (SKUAST-K), J&K, India. He has more than eight years of teaching and research experience. He is an active frontline researcher in machine learning and artificial intelligence. He has published many research papers in leading peer-reviewed international journals, SCI journals, and SCOPUS journals. He has also presented papers at IEEE conferences and science congresses. He has guided many students in their projects, mentoring them and nurturing their innovative and entrepreneurial potential and transforming them into start-up entrepreneurs. His areas of specialization are data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering, and cloud computing. He has a MCA (Gold Medalist), MPhil, and PhD in the field of Computer Sciences from the PG Department of Computer Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K, India.