709 Bradfield Hall
tel.: (607)255-1738 e-mail: arv1@cornell.edu
Ingenieur degree, University of Ghent (Belgium)
Doctor in Agricultural Sciences, University of Ghent (Belgium)
Armand Van Wambeke joined the Cornell faculty in 1976. He had worked previously for about ten years with the Agricultural Research Institute of the Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. His activities there dealt with soil survey investigations. After his African experience he moved to South America to map the soil resources of the Eastern Llanos of Colombia, and later was appointed Soil Resource Officer for Latin America with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. During his years on the South American continent he was interacting with the International Training Center for Post Graduate Soil Scientists at the University of Ghent where he guided graduate students in soil formation research.
CSS 471 Geography and Appraisal of Soils of the Tropics.
The course includes the identification of the major kinds of soils, the description of their management properties, and recommendations about their use to support sustainable agricultural systems and preserving natural resources. The course is designed for students with an interest or practical experience in tropical countries who wish to increase their knowledge of the potential of the land resources in the third world. The most recent sources of information regarding soils of the tropics in Latin-American, french-speaking and english literature are reviewed.
Research
Research interests relate to methodologies that make soil resource inventories more accessible to land use planners. Two approaches are used: computer programs (example: The Automatic Land Evaluation System ALES) that allow soil scientists to build their own expert systems that translate soil data into economic values, and interfaces that link soil characterization data to geographical information systems. Additional research focuses on the determination of soil moisture regimes according to the USDA Soil Taxonomy using the Franklin Newhall computer model.
Selected Publications
Rossiter, D. and A. Van Wambeke. 2000. ALES, Automated Land Evaluation System. Version 4.65 User's Manual. SCAS Teaching Series T93-2. Revision 6. 279 pp. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences (CSS), Cornell University. Ithaca, NY.
Van Wambeke, A. 1992. Soils of the Tropics. Their Properties and Appraisal. McGraw-Hill. New York.
Van Wambeke, A. 1989. Tropical Soils and Soil Classification Updates. Advances in Soil Science 10:171-193. Springer Verlag, New York Inc.
Van Wambeke, A. 1987. Soil Moisture and Temperature Regimes of Central America, Caribbean and Mexico. SMSS Technical Monograph #16. 225 pp. 16 maps. Department of Agronomy. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Van Wambeke, A. 1987. Thinking Small in Land Evaluation is Beautiful. In Quantified Land Evaluation Procedures, ed. K. J. Beek, et al., ITC Publication #6. Wageningen, The Netherlands.