A formal definition and quantification of soil health is still a long way off. However, a broad consensus is based on the close connection between the soil capacity to provide ecosystem services and its state of health.

We propose a integrate assessment of multiple potential soil-based ecosystem services through the use of a process-based modelling, simulating the water flow and the crop growth in the soil-plant-atmosphere system.

Specifically, we evaluate the soil contribution to i) Food provision through the biomass estimation; ii) Nutrient and pollutants retention and release through the estimation of soil filtering capacity; iii) Water regulation/runoff and flood control through the number of days showing a potential runoff triggering; iv) Water regulation/water storage through the water yearly stored in the soil; v) Water regulation/groundwater recharge through its yearly value; and vi) Microclimate regulation through the total evapotranspiration. All of the above ecosystem services are combined into one indicator of soil health. 

The proposed approach was framed in the context of the geospatial Decision Support Systems LandSupport (www.landsupport.eu) that, in the latest years, proved to be powerful instruments for the what-if scenario analysis in support of multiple stockholders and end-users.

Through the what-if scenario analysis the end-user can evaluate the soil health resilience of a specific soil by simulating the effects of some degradation processes occurrence: i) a compacted plow layer at a chosen ploughing depth, ii) a compacted soil surface, iii) a thickness reduction of the Ap horizon following an erosion process. Furthermore, the gain in soil health can be evaluated by simulating the effect of an increase of organic matter.

The Soil Health tool is designed to assist Public Authorities, such as regional environmental agencies, farmers and farmer advisors in designing plans and in evaluation of impacts of the measures in order to ensure a good health of the soils.

How to cite: Basile, A., Acutis, M., Bonfante, A., Botta, M., Langella, G., Manna, P., Perego, A., Puig-Sirera, A., Terribile, F., and Bancheri, M.: A web-based tool for the quantification of the soil health based on Ecosystem Services, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-8079, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8079, 2023.

Prospective studies and scenario-based approaches are pivotal to support land planning, agricultural and environmental management. The integration of soils within such approaches have recently developed significantly, alongside the increasing attention given to soil-related ecosystem services (ES). Such interest is explained by the urgent need to assess how soil ecosystem services and their related threats (ST) (e.g. soil erosion, soil biodiversity loss, soil contamination, soil sealing) may evolve in response to potential changes in climate, production systems or land management. This generally involves describing the dynamics of soil changes over time as a function of different driving forces (e.g., climate change, public policies), but also assessing variations in space considering soil characteristics.

A group of researchers participating in the SERENA project of the EJP Soil program conducted a meta-analysis to study the methods used in existing prospective studies focusing on six soil ES (e.g. biomass production, habitat for biodiversity, hydrological control, environmental pollution control, greenhouse gas and climate regulation, pest and disease control) and ten ST (e.g. soil erosion, soil organic carbon loss, nutrient imbalance, soil acidification, soil contamination, waterlogging, soil compaction, soil sealing, salinization, loss of diversity). Approximately 150 scientific articles referenced in Scopus and the Web of Science were selected in order to analyze how soil properties are considered in scenario-based approaches for ES and ST mapping and assessment.

The objective of this study is to show the results of this  review which involved multiple researchers at the European level in order to highlight how soils are accounted for in ES and ST assessment and mapping exercises through scenario-based approaches. More particularly, the aims of the review are to: i) understand what main drivers are used in scenarization approaches (e.g. land use changes, climate change) and how the scenarios are developed; ii) what are the main soil properties and the associated metrics used to assess and map soil ES and ST, and; iii) what methodological approaches are currently chosen to assess ES and ST changes across time and space.

The outcomes of such an analysis would help highlighting the state of the art of soil ES and ST research at the European level and, therefore, establish milestones to guide future trajectories in the field.

This might support and encourage the harmonization of practices at the European level in ES-related studies and in scenarization practices, in order to create operational and homogeneous tools and frameworks to support the development of pertinent strategies and land-planning policies, with a specific focus on agricultural lands.

How to cite: Scammacca, O., Cadero, A., Asins, S., Bondi, G., Borůvka, L., Buttafuoco, G., Calzolari, C., Czuba, M., Foldal, C., Hofbauer, A., Kukk, L., Lumini, E., Medina Roldàn, E., Michel, K., Molina, M. J., O'Sullivan, L., Pindral, S., Putku, E., Kitzler, B., and Walter, C. and the Ottone Scammacca: What is the place for soils in scenario-based ecosystem services approaches ? A systematic review, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-4377, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-4377, 2023.

Soil sealing results in an increased flood risk, reduced water infiltration, higher temperatures in urban areas, decreased carbon storage and biodiversity losses. As the Flanders region in Belgium has one of the highest soil sealing rates in Europe, it is especially prone to these effects. Hence, sustainable spatial management is crucial to ensure a healthy living environment and address climate change. The Flemish government therefore wants to promote de-sealing and limit additional sealing. An example of a concrete policy measure is that by 2050 sealed surfaces in open space zoning have to be reduced by 20% compared to 2015, which corresponds with a decrease of 9 000 ha.  
In order to monitor the evolution of sealed surfaces, and thus the effectiveness of sealing-related policy measures, a method was developed for automatically generating annual and spatially detailed soil sealing maps of Flanders. These maps combine “known” sealing from administrative databases (buildings and transport infrastructure) with modelled sealing based on artificial intelligence. Administrative databases do not (adequately) cover parking lots, private driveways and garden terraces, which are a substantial part of the sealed area in Flanders. Hence, a machine learning model was built for deriving this remaining sealing from 25 cm resolution aerial imagery. For this purpose, an assessor manually labeled the sealed parts on a subset of the images. Based on this training set, a convolutional neural network model was used to produce a sealing probability map, which was converted to a binary modelled sealing map. Finally, a continuity correction was applied to ensure a temporally consistent result across the yearly maps.            
According to this method, 1 m resolution soil sealing maps were obtained for 2013 until 2021. These maps show that an additional area of sealed surfaces of approximately 15 000 ha was constructed in Flanders between 2013 and 2020. They also reveal that de-sealing takes place in Flanders every year, but also is always over-compensated by new sealing. As a result, there is a net increase of soil sealing year after year. The annual soil sealing maps also show an upward trend in open space zoning that moves in the opposite direction to the target of decreasing by 9 000 ha.

How to cite: Cockx, K., Pieters, J., Van De Vijver, E., Willems, P., and Vanacker, S.: Monitoring the evolution of sealed surfaces in Flanders (Belgium) with annual high-resolution soil sealing maps, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-9824, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9824, 2023.

The Council Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environments of Florence, (CREA-AA), National Soil Archive (ARCAN) is an important resource for current and future soil research. ARCAN holds 32,612 archived specimens, collected from 13,156 sites across Italy. The ARCAN is also very relevant from a historical and agroecological point of view, collecting soil samples from surface and subsurface horizons, in some cases taken before Chernobyl and almost all after Chernobyl (1986-2021). In particular, 7,000 agricultural samples are representative of all regions of Italy, collected in the same year (1994), with the same standard sampling and analysis protocol. In this work we show up a new database management system (DATA-RAS) to achieve Vis-Nir spectroscopy data and environment radioactivity data on ARCAN soil samples. Combined use of Vis-Nir and gamma ray spectroscopy to predict soil properties offers a task to populate the database. After that it is possible to obtain a digital soil map of artificial or natural radioactivity of Italian soils. The main purpose of this work is show up an Entity Relationship model of DATA-RAS, that represents other than a database a Smart Data Exchange a system to better managing ARCAN and rapidly exchanging information with other national and European partners. The ultimate goal is to use the most advanced information and communication technologies to create an innovative platform that digitally manages open data with 3D methods and augmented and virtual reality techniques (AR and VR). The DATA-RAS platform will be integrated with scientific information systems and a natural language interface for knowledge communication.

How to cite: Barbetti, R., Corti, G., Fontana, F., and Fontana, C.: Data-RAS A National Digital Soil Radioactivity Map, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-15094, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15094, 2023.

As highlighted by recent regulations in Europe and worldwide, the multifunctionality of soils and their capacity to deliver services to societies are of increasing importance to land planners and decision makers. Soils provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) including food production, biomass-energy and contribution to climate change regulation through carbon storage. These services need to be estimated and visualised at relevant scales in order to improve their consideration in land planning decisions.

This project aims to map interdependent bundles of soil ecosystem services at a regional scale so that the effect of land planning decisions on ES delivery can be apprehended by stakeholders. The study site is a 320 km² rural region in Meuse/Haute Marne, France, composed of 56% cropland, 30% forest and 14% grassland. The pedological properties are provided by 85 soil profiles, grouped into 8 dominant soil types, and a 1/50,000 pedological map. Soil typology is dominated by Calcaric cambisols in the agricultural valleys, but features also deep silty and acidic soils in the forested plateaus, shallow rocky calcaric soils on the hillslopes, and deep clay-rich hydromorphic soils in the alluvial valleys.

Using an expert-based decision support model (Destisol¹), soil functions and ecosystem services were scored for all spatial units defined by soil type, slope category and land cover. Functions are calculated based on the soil bio-physico-chemical properties across the whole depth of the pedons. Scores, ranging from 0 to 3, are based on expert-based rules defining threshold values for all soil indicators. Correction factors are applied to the ecosystem service scores to account for the effect of land cover. Finally, correlated bundles of ES across all spatial units are obtained by principal component analysis.

Our results synthetise the effect of soil type on ecosystem services provision, and display the spatial synergies and tradeoffs through three maps of ES bundles. The first ES bundle map compiles the provisioning services (food production, provision of construction wood, provision of biomass energy), which depend dominantly on land use. The second map shows the hydrological regulating services (water quality, erosion mitigation and flooding mitigation), which depend on slope, land use and soil hydromorphy. The third map shows the climate and biological regulating services (contribution to climate change regulation through carbon storage, local cooling effect, biodiversity), which depend on land use, soil depth, rock fragment content and organic matter content. Going forward, maps of ES bundles could be generated for different land planning scenarios to assess the ensuing losses and gains of ES, and promote a more holistic consideration of soil ES by stakeholders.

Reference: 1. Blanchart, A. et al. Towards an operational methodology to optimize ecosystem services provided by urban soils. Landsc. Urban Plan. 176, 1–9 (2018).

How to cite: Chirol, C., Derrien, D., Saint-André, L., and Séré, G.: Regional assessment of soil type and land occupation influence on ecosystem services, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-8020, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8020, 2023.

The HAIR 2014 (HArmonized environmental Indicators for pesticide Risk) modelling tool _[1],[2] was used to  estimate the risks of pesticide use in agricultural soils in Irish agricultural  sites. This work  was  undertaken as a part of the PROTECTS research project _[3], which is collating the baseline information required to build towards mitigating the impacts of pesticide use in terrestrial ecosystem services in Ireland. We focused on estimating the potential  risks posed by pesticides in a number of agricultural  sites  using specific terrestrial risk-indicators in the HAIR2014 _[2] for selected active substances (ASs). on refinements to the  HAIR2014 tool for Irish conditions [4],[5] , and involved adjusting  the tool to include model-inputs at the site-scale for a number of Irish agricultural sites. The sites were sampled and the soils analysed during 2019 and 2021 for  the quantification of  ASs residues, as well as other soil physical-chemical parameters.  Climate data for each site were obtained from the nearest Met Éireann weather station [6]. The information on crop, soil, and ASs application rates obtained from the on-site investigations was fed into HAIR databases. The  previously refined spatial (GEO) database [4], [5] was also adjusted for site-scale modelling. We will present the generated HAIR2014 simulation outputs for selected ASs, such as the acute and chronic terrestrial risk indicators for earthworms (ETR_e) [2] for the Irish agricultural sites used in this study. The overarching aim of this work is to generate pesticide risk indicator outputs for Irish agricultural soils that will inform potential site-scale risk assessments and assist the development of recommendations for potential future national soil-monitoring /sampling needs.

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) for funding the PROTECTS project.

Literature

[1] HAIR2014, (last assessed 2022). HArmonized environmental Indicators for pesticide Risk. URLs: https://www.pesticidemodels.eu/; https://www.pesticidemodels.eu/hair/hair2014.

[2] Kruijne, R., et al.  (2011). HAIR2014 Software Manual (2014);  Hair 2010 Documentation Alterra Wageningen UR.

[3] PROTECTS project, (2018). Protecting terrestrial ecosystems through sustainable pesticide use URL: https://protects.ucd.ie.

[4] Premrov, A., Saunders, M., Zimmermann, J., Stout, J., (2021). Insights into preliminary procedures for estimation of soil pesticide risks in Irish grasslands using HAIR2014 tool, IGRM2021, Limerick, Ireland. URL: https://www.mic.ul.ie/sites/default/files/uploads/624/Premrov%20IGRM%20poster.pdf.

[5] Premrov, A., Saunders, M., et al, and Stout, J.(2022) Insights into using HAIR2014 tool for estimating soil pesticide risks in Irish grasslands for selected herbicide active substances , EGU General Assembly 2022, EGU22-2989, URL: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2989, 2022.

[6] Met Éireann (latest assessed 2023) Historical Data URLs: www.met.ie; https://www.met.ie/climate/available-data/historical-data.(License CC-BY-4.0; Copyright Met Éireann).

How to cite: Premrov, A., Saunders, M., O'Reilly, A., Vickneswaran, M., Zioga, E., Stanley, D., White, B., Carolan, J. C., and Stout, J. C.: Insights into using the HAIR2014 tool to estimate soil pesticide risk in agricultural soils in Ireland, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7570, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7570, 2023.

Ecosystem services (ESs) are currently seen as a useful support tool in the context on land management and environmental policies. Thus, great efforts are in progress for exploiting their potential. One of such ESs-based tools is when two or more ESs are taken into account at the same time. Here we analysed at a regional scale, soil-based ecosystem services (SESs), and their bundles (relationships consistent in space and time among two or more ESs taken into account ), showing their usefulness for decision makers. We used SESs derived from specific-calibrated data (produced through soil digital mapping) on soil properties from the plain area of Emilia Romagna in Italy, and applied spatially-explicit tools to investigate SESs relationships (i.e., synergistic or antagonistic/trade-offs).

ESs relationships in the bundles concept are usually understood as constant at a global spatial basis. For instance, a bivariate ESs relationship such as a trade-off between soil carbon and crop production are usually assumed to remain constant all over the extension of a particular area of study. However, our approach shows that, at the local level, there can be deviations from the global relationships among SESs. In such local deviations the sign of the SESs relationship can can even change (e.g., a global SESs trade-off can show local synergies). At our case such deviation from a global trade-off to local scale synergy was observed for such SESs as carbon stock (CST) and water infiltration capacity (WAR). The deviation in the CST-WAR pair relationship was likely caused by how particular soil properties determine these SESs, since the local deviations in this SESs pair were associated to pedo-units at the landscape scale with particular properties. Thus, management practices that try to maximise such SESs with a single approach at a global level (study area) are likely to succeed in some, but not all of such pedo-units. Overall, our approach highlights how SESs can be useful in guiding land management decisions, and how inherent soil properties play a role in determining the relationships among SESs.

How to cite: Medina Roldán, E., Lorenzetti, R., Ungaro, F., and Calzolari, C.: Spatial relationships among soil-based ecosystem services can vary at the regional and local level, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-15010, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15010, 2023.

Spain, with 16,902,421 hectares under cultivation, ranks fourth in agricultural production in Europe and tenth worldwide. The weight of the agricultural sector represents 9.2% of the total GDP of the Spanish economy, and it is the sixth economy that contributes the most employment to the European agri-food sector. Knowing the risks associated with the use of agricultural soils, as well as the services that these soils provide to the ecosystem, is of great importance to address problems associated with their management. In the context of the SERENA project (Soil ecosystem services and soil threats modelling and mapping), funded by the European Joint Program on Soil (EJP-Soil), we present, on the one hand, functional indicators expressed in the form of maps of the bundles that are generated between individual soil threats:

- Agricultural Soils / Soil Compaction

- Agricultural Soils / Soil Erosion Rates

- Agricultural Soils / Soil Drought.

Or combined soil threats:

- Agricultural Soil Compaction / Agricultural Soil Erosion Rates

As well as the bundles among the services that agricultural soils provide to the ecosystem, such as:

- Primary production/ Organic carbon content in the soil

- Agricultural Soils / Water retention capacity

- Agricultural Soils / Important areas for the conservation of birds and biodiversity.

These indicators can be useful in the formulation of public policies, in decision-making by end-users, and in the dissemination and transfer of knowledge by social media.

How to cite: Asins, S., Molina, M. J., and Doñate, E.: Agricultural Soils in Spain: mapping the problems that threaten them, and the ecosystem services they provide., EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-6016, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6016, 2023.

Beginning in 2020 the research of the MultiFruit cluster seeks to optimize food production and the provision of ecosystem services in multifunctional landscapes. Joining agricultural production with the provision of ecosystem services and the preservation of biological diversity, the outcomes of this project aim to provide comprehensive findings to farmers, and the agricultural community as a whole, that are also applicable in the face of climate change. Active apple orchards located in greater Brandenburg, Germany of both organic and conventional management practices have been selected as the sites of research. The present state of organic apple orchards in Germany can best be described as organic “conventionalization”; high yielding orchards with little to no plant diversity, with the major differences being the substitution of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides with organic alternatives certified by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit). The project implements an interdisciplinary approach, with researchers of ecology, economics, soil and microbial sciences. The ecological subproject is investigating how local management measures and the surrounding landscapes affect natural pest control by beneficial insects. The soil group are investigating the toxicological and soil health impacts of conventional and organic practices through analysis of both plant and soil material collected from the orchards. Microbial studies seek to provide information on the microorganisms that promote the growth, health, and performance of fruit trees. The economic studies aim to assess the costs and benefits of management measures and resulting pest control services for fruit growers and society as a whole. The overall expected outcome of this cluster is to maximize ecosystem services provided by the orchards while optimizing yield and maintaining soil and orchard health.  Here we show the preliminary results of the 2021 field campaign related to the soil group. The processed plant and soil material was analyzed at our laboratory and total elemental concentration of all constituents was determined using Microwave assisted MP-AES for select metals and cations (Zn, Cu, Fe, Al, Mg, Ca, K). These results, in conjunction with measured soil properties (pH, EC, Scheibler carbonate measurement, Total N, Total C) aid in the effort to determine the effects of the various management practices on the soil health and the mobility and translocation of metals and cations within the plant tissues.

How to cite: Grimm, M., Sut-Lohmann, M., Raab, T., and Heinrich, M.: Integrated analysis of Multifunctional Fruit production landscapes to promote ecosystem services and sustainable land-use under climate change (MultiFruit): Approaches and first results of soil sampling campaign, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12714, 2023.

Soil health is defined as the capacity of a soil to function as vital living ecosystem. No-tillage is a non-inversion practice that has been highlighted as a practice for improving soil health, and thereby improving soil ecosystem delivery. However, evidence on soil health and farming practices that improve soil health is limited in Norway. We present results on effects of long-term farming practices on soil health in Southeast (SE) Norway on similar soil and topographic characteristics. Physical, chemical, and biological soil indicators were measured on two neighbouring farms, one with no-till and cover crops (NT+CC) and one with conventional harrowing and ploughing (CP), on loam soil in SE Norway. Soil samples were collected to compare soil health indicator between farming practices. We established two systematic sampling grids (~ 0.4 ha) with grid intersection points every 15 m x 15 m to produce a total of 33 sampling points and 17 and 20 cells in the CP and NT+CC field, respectively. We used a combined approach of transect-, point- and cell sampling, depending on the spatial variations of the soil indicators. Soil health indicators included bulk density, cohesion, aggregate stability, saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), total organic carbon, total nitrogen, pH, permanganate-oxidizable carbon and earthworm count. Preliminary results indicate significantly different (p<0.001) earthworm count in the NT+CC (24.7±6.4) compared to CP (6.0±3.2). Moreover, higher mean Ksat was measured in NT+CC (83.5±29.5 cm/day) compared to CP (46.0±40.0 cm/day). Here we discuss further the effects of no-till and cover crops on soil health and the selection of soil indicators to evaluate soil health.

How to cite: Bøe, F., Stolte, J., van Schaik, L., and Ritsema, C.: Soil health in Norway: On-farm assessments of soil health with no-till and conventional farming practices, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12161, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12161, 2023.

Farmers and land managers are tasked with maintaining high productivity, planning for long-term intensification, and increasingly, making considerations for the impact of their management on ecosystem services. In particular, there has been increasing attention on the role that management practices have on soil health and water quality. Despite a wealth of literature connecting soil health and water quality theoretically or mechanistically, there is little empirical research connecting soil health to land management practices designed to improve water quality. Moreover, those projects that do connect soil health to water quality often do so on farms that meet their irrigation needs through rainfall inputs, potentially missing the impact that reliance on irrigation has on both soil health and runoff water quality.

A number of Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been developed to mitigate the impact of agricultural runoff to receiving water bodies, with conservation or reduced tillage  proposed as a way to reduce the effluent loading of both nutrients and sediment. Additionally, reducing tillage intensity and frequency has been shown to improve soil health along a number of metrics and to sequester carbon for climate change mitigation. However, these concepts have rarely been empirically connected, and even less so in semi-arid environments characterized by high temperatures, low precipitation, and significant inputs. In-depth studies of multiple aspects of environmental health on conservation tillage plots, particularly those performed at farm-scale, can provide insights to inform farmer decision-making.

We examined soil health and water quality metrics on a long-term research conservation vs. conventional tillage comparison site using the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) and Edge-of-Field Monitoring (EoF) of water quality to elucidate the impact of reduced tillage on furrow-irrigated corn. The SMAF program aims to assign scores ranging from 0.0-1.0 to indicate the relative “healthiness” of a soil with a series of ten biological, chemical, physical, and nutritional measurements. Meanwhile, water quality is evaluated through EoF monitoring of a handful of key water quality analytes in irrigation runoff that pose an environmental problem in the region, and various approaches are used to connect effluent water quality to soil health measurements. These relationships, along with measurements of soil carbon fractionation, crop yield, and farm profitability, are used to evaluate conservation tillage in furrow-irrigated agriculture for a broad set of ecosystem services. Our analysis suggests that conservation tillage provides a number of valuable ecosystem services and general benefits over conventional tillage, including improvements to physical and biological soil health indicators, reduced runoff of nutrients and sediment, reduced carbon intensity of production, and increased farm profitability. However, conservation tillage in furrow-irrigated agriculture is not without its challenges, namely control and management of irrigation water. Overall results are collectively presented to provide a broader comparison of conservation and conventional tillage through an interdisciplinary lens at farm scale and with attention paid to the ways in which farmers make decisions regarding land management.

How to cite: Trimarco, T., Wardle, E., Deleon, E., Brown, A., Buchanan, C., and Ippolito, J.: Exploring the soil health-water quality-ecosystems services nexus of long-term conservation tillage plots under intense irrigation, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-2137, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-2137, 2023.

Soil quality scoring is a useful tool in land management as it can help determine the most suitable land use and is used to estimate the value of land for agricultural or forestry production. In agriculture, soil scoring can also help to inform management practices such as fertilizer application and irrigation rates, or even determine taxation levels as is the case in Germany. Various indicator-based soil scoring systems exist, and are often claimed to be linked to crop yield potential as an important ecosystem service.  In Germany, a system more than 100 years old called the Bodenschätzung is still used today and provides the most detailed soil information system for agricultural land across Germany. Calculating the Bodenzahl (soil score) with this method requires expert knowledge, is only applicable to German soils and does not consider climate variables such as mean annual temperature and precipitation. The Müncheberg Soil Quality Rating (MSQR) is an emerging method developed in Germany in 2007 which attempts to make yield potential scoring simpler, more widely applicable and more accurate. This system claims to be usable without extensive training and was suggested to be globally applicable by some previous studies. It also considers climate variables such as drought risk and soil temperature regime that may allow for more accurate yield predictions than soil-only methods like the Bodenzahl. However, there is little evaluation on the relation between soil quality indicators and yield. Therefore, we tested the implementation of the MSQR system and calculated MSQR scores for 3104 sampling points from the first German Agricultural Soil Inventory following the MSQR guide. In addition, we tested the performance of the Bodenschätzung with the Bodenzahl for the sampling points and related these soil quality indicators with 10 years of point specific yield data from our data set.  Preliminary findings suggest that the MSQR may determine yield potential and yield stability better than the Bodenschätzung, likely due to the fact that climate variables are considered. However, MSQR parameters may need to be adjusted locally for the method to accurately predict yields in different regions, which makes a global application of the method more complex. In general, soil indicators seem to predict only part of agricultural yield at national scale with management practices and climate still playing important roles.

How to cite: Overturf, E., Seidel, F., Schneider, F., and Don, A.: Are soil quality indicators good predictors for agricultural yield?, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11749, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11749, 2023.

Since soil health is considered important for both agriculture production and climate change, there is growing consensus on the selection of relevant soil indicators. However, reference and/or target values to evaluate the indicators are poorly defined. We designed a system for a uniform and integral evaluation of soil quality. The system (named BLN) supports the Dutch aims for sustainable management of agricultural soils by 2030 and annual sequestration of 0.5 x 10⁶ kg carbon. BLN consists of a set of soil health indicators and corresponding reference values for assessing ecosystem services, e.g. carbon sequestration, bulk density, and microbial biomass. Pre-selected features of BLN are: i) give a reliable representation of integral soil quality, ii) able to detect changes in soil quality in time and space, iii) applicable for national and/or regional regulatory monitoring purposes as well as field and/or farm management. Indicators and analytical methods were selected on the basis of accuracy, reliability, rapidity, and cost-effectiveness. Initial reference and/or target values were taken from a national survey and from literature. The system distinguishes reference and target values ​​for four different soil type / land use combinations. BLN Version 1.1 comprises 18 indicators for soil organic matter, chemical, physical and/or biological aspects of soil health, many of which are from routine soil analysis. To test its use, BLN was applied within a network of arable farms covering the major arable regions in The Netherlands. Soil samples were taken in autumn 2019, 2021 and 2022 and analysed for BLN and other soil parameters e.g. disease suppressiveness. Also, details of annual soil and farm management since 2010 were registered, as well as regional climate statistics. Data-analyses include change over time for individual indicators, PCA-analysis with all measured indicators, and, for soil carbon, modelling with the ROTHC-model. Results will be discussed viz. a multi-criteria approach for further development of the BLN system, including possible improvement of reference / target values as well as extension of the system with other soil type / land use combinations.

How to cite: Hanegraaf, M., de Haan, J., Vervuurt, W., Schnabel, S., Van den Elsen, E., and Visser, S.: Evaluation of soil indicators for agriculture in The Netherlands, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12256, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12256, 2023.

Soil organic matter (SOM) content is key for a healthy and high-quality agricultural soil and drives soil processes controlling both crop yield and environmental losses. An increase in soil organic matter or carbon (SOC) levels is seen, both by many conventional farmers and by policy makers, as a desirable objective. Better plant nutrition due to retention of nutrients (N, P, S, micronutrients), ease of cultivation, penetration and seedbed preparation, greater aggregate stability, reduced bulk density, improved water holding capacity and enhanced porosity have all been associated with increased amounts of SOC. A critical threshold for SOC below which the soil becomes less fertile and sustainable is however missing. Consideration of such critical levels involves assessment of the quantitative evidence, i.e. the nature of SOM and the properties it confers on soils, whether justifiable limits can be set for a range of soil types, climatic conditions, or land management/cropping practices and, finally, whether there are any dis-benefits from an increase in SOM levels in soils. Using quantitative relationships derived from literature we assessed the contribution of SOC to the aforementioned soil functions and properties, and linked this contribution to critical targets for the soil functions evaluated. Using this we derived an optimum SOC range for agricultural soils and we illustrate the potential benefits of changes in SOC for most common agricultural systems across Europe. 

How to cite: Ros, G., van den Dool, K., and De Vries, W.: Define optimum carbon levels in soils in view of multiple soil functions, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-14776, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-14776, 2023.

The in situ sensing of soil health through the monitoring of microbial and enzymatic activity has remained a challenge, and is typically limited to laboratory techniques that are time and labor intensive. In addition, results from assessments done offsite do not always reflect real time bio-chemical-physical processes occurring in soil. Here, we present a novel printed decomposition sensor comprising a poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and carbon composite material.¹ As the PHBV binder biodegrades in soil, the resistivity of the composite increases, which can be easily read with low-cost, wireless readout equipment. A correlation can be drawn between sensor response and general microbial activity in both soil and compost tea in as little as 14 days. Since PHBV is degraded by numerous microbes in the soil, it can be considered a “broad spectrum” decomposition sensor. However, this sensor is also a proof of concept that can possibly be modified to detect more specific soil decomposition activity, such as denitrification. We propose that selectivity can be achieved by mapping the enzyme(s) or microbe(s) of interest to a list of candidate binder materials that they reliably degrade. This design methodology considers the physical and chemical properties of these materials before and after degradation in soil and possible effects by interference enzymes and microbes.

1. Atreya, M.; Desousa, S.; Kauzya, J.; Williams, E.; Hayes, A.; Dikshit, K.; Nielson, J.; Palmgren, A.; Khorchidian, S.; Liu, S.; Gopalakrishnan, A.; Bihar, E.; Bruns, C. J.; Bardgett, R.; Quinton, J. N.; Davies, J.; Neff, J. C.; Whiting, G. L. A Transient Printed Soil Decomposition Sensor Based on a Biopolymer Composite Conductor. Adv. Sci. 2022, 2205785, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202205785.

How to cite: Atreya, M., Kauzya, J.-B., DeSousa, S., Williams, E., Hayes, A., Dikshit, K., Nielson, J., Palmgren, A., Khorchidian, S., Liu, S., Gopalakrishnan, A., Bihar, E., Bruns, C., Bardgett, R., Quinton, J., Davies, J., Neff, J., and Whiting, G.: Novel Printed Soil Decomposition Sensors Based on Biodegradation, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-8573, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8573, 2023.

Mountain soils provide a variety of ecosystem services (ES) that are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic impacts and climate change.

We present here the results of a study on the pedodiversity, biodiversity, and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration of alpine soils in a pasture of the central Alps, that took into account the effect of morphology and vegetation. The study area was the Andossi plateau (350 ha) in Valchiavenna (Lombardy Region), between 1800 and 2000 m elevation.

As part of the PascolAndo project, whose goal was to promote sustainable pasture management, at 160 georeferenced points we characterized soils (down to bedrock or a maximum of 50 cm) and carried out the floristic survey to define the vegetation type; soil samples were collected by horizons and analyzed for the main soil properties.

The main soil types were Leptosols, Regosols, Cambisols, Umbrisols, Podzols, Gleysols and Histosols, strongly related to geomorphology and vegetation type (peat bogs, earth hummocks, and poor, calcareous, shrub and rich pastures).

Histosols and Gleysols of peatland and wet areas showed the highest SOC stock with an average of 31.8±2.6 kg m^-2 and 23.3±2.7 kg m^-2 respectively, followed by Umbrisols, distributed all over (17.2±6.2 kg m^-2), and Podzols (16.6±4.6 kg m^-2), typical of poor pastures and shrub areas. The most prevalent soils on the plateau were Cambisols (average SOC stock of 13.6±2.7 kg m^-2): Eutric Cambisols were primarily in rich pasture and Dystric Cambisols in poor pasture. Among poorly developed soils, Regosols stored on average 10.8±4.2 kg m^-2, while Leptosols, widespread on steep slopes in calcareous pastures and shrub areas, showed the lowest SOC stock (9.6±4.9 kg m^-2).

Soil types, vegetation types, and SOC were first modeled using geomorphometric variables (27 variables extracted from a 4-m resolution DTM) and vegetation indices (NDVI, NDWI, NDRE, for 3 dates of the growing season, extracted from Sentinel 2 images) and then spatially estimated, allowing quantification of the pedodiversity, biodiversity, and SOC sequestration in the study area.

The study showed that the plateau has a high level of biodiversity and pedodiversity, with OC-rich soils that are important for regulating the global climate. There was evidence that grazing and livestock loading affected soil ES by acting on biodiversity, soil fertility, and erosion.

How to cite: Ferré, C., Mascetti, G., Agaba, S., Fuccella, R., Gentili, R., and Comolli, R.: Pedodiversity, biodiversity, and SOC storage in an alpine pasture, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16690, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16690, 2023.

One quarter of the living beings are located beneath our feet but we know very little of them (FAO, 2020). This statement will perhaps quickly change because the soils are now on the political agenda. For France, soil is mentioned in the Green Pact at European level (Montanarella, 2020) and in the country government's Biodiversity Plan. The law on soil health is also planned for 2023 (Köninger et al., 2022). However, as its biological component remains poorly understood, the indicators used by stakeholders give only a biased view of soil quality (Lehmann et al., 2020). It is therefore urgent to catch up on the knowledge of soil biodiversity in order to establish benchmarks for bioindicators, based on standardised data.

In parallel, the French Biodiversity Office working on the linkages between all French terrestrial biodiversity monitorings, pointed out the absence of soil biodiversity monitoring in France.

Rather than creating de novo a soil biodiversity monitoring, it was preferred to add biodiversity surveys to the already existing French Soil Quality Monitoring Network (RMQS), hereafter called the RMQS-Biodiversity. The RMQS covers a big part of the French territory (the continental part as the over seas) since 2000. Every year, 180 study sites are sampled. Thus, all the sites are sampled in 10-12 years (Jolivet et al., 2018). The RMQS provides data about all physical and chemical aspects of soils. Regarding the soil biological component, microorganisms and enzymatic activities are also surveyed. By the past, soil fauna was studied on around 100 sites but the experience was not maintained (Imbert et al., 2021). Moreover, a major strength of the RMQS is the network of involved people included the 12 field teams, the coordination team, the funders and data users (researchers and stakeholders).

To implement the biological measurements, we gathered a group of experts on soil biodiversity. As meetings go by, five protocols were defined to assess the most exhaustively possible the soil biodiversity taxa and three functions (soil macroporosity, enzymatic activities and organic matter degradation).  

Then, the protocols were tested in real conditions on 30 RMQS study sites with the field teams. The duration of each protocol was quoted to clearly assess the costs.

We concluded that the biodiversity sampling of 180 RMQS study sites per year, would cost around 1 000 000 euros. We propose five scenarios giving compromises between financial costs and data quality.

If the RMQS-Biodiversity is maintained, it would make possible: 1) to advance on the still too partial knowledge of soil biodiversity and its interactions with agricultural practices and 2) based on the knowledge acquired, to develop bioindicators and their benchmarks, in order to accurately assess soil quality, in the context of Soil Health (Lehmann et al., 2020).  A complete soil monitoring, including its three components (physical, chemical and now biological), would thus provide a relevant tool to policy- makers to reach reconciling human activities and soil integrity.

How to cite: Imbert, C., Santorufo, L., Ortega, C., Jolivet, C., Auclerc, A., Bougon, N., Capowiez, Y., Chauvel, B., Cheviron, N., Cluzeau, D., Cortet, J., Hedde, M., Lévêque, A., Maunoury-Danger, F., Mougin, C., Palka, L., Pérès, G., Ranjard, L., Villenave, C., and Bispo, A.: Handbook to establish a large-scale soil biodiversity monitoring: the French experience of the RMQS-Biodiversity, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16392, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16392, 2023.