Protocol Development for Quantitative Estimation of Soil Ecosystem Services

Quantitative and qualitative estimation of soil ecosystem has been studied for understanding importance of soil ecosystem. However, estimation of soil ecosystem is a complex process and requires numerous soil properties. The main objectives of this research was i) to select minimum data set of soil properties, ii) to develop quantitative estimation protocol for estimating soil ecosystem and iii) apply the developed protocol for quantification of soil ecosystem in water supply conservation area in Korea. In order to select minimum data set of soil indicators, national soil database provided by Rural Developed Administration (RDA) was used as a raw data set and principal component analysis was used for choosing the minimum data set. Total of 11 soil properties including 4 physical properties (bulk density, sand and clay contents, available water capacity), 5 chemical properties (pH, electric conductivity, soil organic matter, available phosphorus, cation exchange capacity), and 2 biological properties (soil respiration, soil enzyme concentration) were selected for soil indicators. Three representative models (more is better, optimum, and less is better) were obtained for each soil indicators and scaled from 0 to 1 for quantification. Developed quantification protocol was applied in 250 locations from water supply conservation area. The average score for provisioning, regulating, and supplying ecosystem service was 0.50, 0.68, and 0.82 respectively. Based on quantitative estimation of soil ecosystem service in Korea, provisioning ecosystem service including biomass production and water storage needs to be improved.