Defining a framework to measure soil quality

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1 Defining a framework to measure soil quality Joan Romanyà, Isabel Serrasolses & Ramon Vallejo Dept. Natural Products, Plant Biology and Soil Science, University of Barcelona CEAM. Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo

2 Multiple functions of soil: Soil regulates environmental quality Regulates water supply Primary production Food Plant based chemicals Other goods (fiber fiber,, wood, bioenergy) Habitat organisms Regulates atmospheric pollution Soil Natural system of recycling organic matter and nutrients Purifying capacity Environmental functions Space to build infrastructures Human health & welfare

3 Exponential demographic growth Increase of land use intensity Cultivated soil ha/capita ha/capita Potentially cultivated soils ha/capita FAO, WSR 2000

4 Land use changes in the world during the 90s decade Tropical areas Natural vegetation and forest plantations 1990: : Non tropical areas Natural vegetation and forest plantations 1990: : Clearing & Breaking the sod Forest plantations Clearing, Breaking the sod &Sealing 4 33 Land set aside & Forest Plantations Other land uses (agricultural and urban ) 1990: : Other land uses (agricultural and urban) 1990: : In millions of ha FAO, 2000

5 Land use and ecosystem services Foley et al., Science 309:

6 Why should we care about soil quality? Soils are in the base of the services we get from the functioning of the terrestrial ecosystems Soils are a limited and non renewable resource Soil use is subjected to the human needs of the environmental services Any sustainable management of our environment must aim that any changes in land use should be reversible

7 Relevance of soil quality The environment (biodiversity) Soil quality Biological productivity (fiber and food quality and quantity) Human health and welfare

8 , Water supply to crops

9 Relevance of soil quality The environment (biodiversity) Soil quality Biological productivity (fiber and food quality and quantity) Human health and welfare

10 How do we normally measure soil quality? 1. Plant productivity integrates many aspects of soil functioning and thus it has been often used as an indicator of soil quality, both in forest and in agricultural soils. 2. Virtually all indicators of soil quality are related in some way to plant productivity and can inform about several, not all, environmental issues. 3. In particular soil related environmental issues with relevance to animal life (human health and welfare) have not been much addressed in terms of soil quality because of the recent awareness we have of these issues and because they occur out of the soils. As an example of these issues we can mention endocrine disrupting and carcinogenic chemicals.

11 Holistic approach to soil quality Soil function 1. Food security (quality and quantity) 2. Environmental quality and biodiversity 3. Human health and welfare Soil quality indicators Old Major threats to soils Current Erosion Salinisation Loss of OM Acidification Compaction Contamination Sealing Soil degradation thresholds multifunctional (cover all soil functions) specific to soil type and environmental context identify the most relevant threats Management thresholds Specific to soil use and management May stress one of the soil functions

12 General threshold definition (wordreference.com) 1. A region marking a boundary 2. The starting point of a new state 3. The space that the door can close 4. The smallest detectable sensation Soil management threshold (Schjonning et al., 2004) The most severe disturbance any management may accomplish without inducing significant changes towards unsustainable conditions

13 Threshold definition is strongly related to the resilience concept Soil stability Resilience. Capacity of a soil to recover from changes stimulated by disturbances Resistance. Capacity of a soil to resist a change when confronted with a disturbance Threshold definition normally refers to a given indicator The process of deriving indicators/thresholds in any particular situation might be more important than the robustness of the indicators/thresholds themselves (Treewek and Bubb)

14 How to derive thresholds as a reference to interpret soil quality indicators? Thresholds should be based on field observations and on the understanding of the key processes occurring in a given area Data bases across different land uses may help in the process of deriving thresholds Example: Soil organic matter data base in Spain 518 Arable soil profiles 127 Pastures 798 Forest soils (Forest and Shrublands)

15 Comparing forests with grasslands and arable lands Arable soils 8 Organic C (%) A A B Climate Land use Climate X L. use BC C BC Semiarid Mediterranean Nemoral BC BC Maximum OC stabilisation capacity Limits for soil degradation Benito & Díaz Fierros (1992) (for grasslands) Loveland & Webb (2003) Malinda (1995) Loveland & Webb (2003) 0 Forest Gassl. Aband. Tree Ir. Tree R. Herb. Vine. Hort.

16 Organic C deficit in arable and in old fields Organic C deficit in the soil surface (%) n.s. n.s. a b Semiarid Mediterranean Nemoral Arable soils Climate Land use Climate * Land use a b c a b b a b b a b c Grassl. Aband. C. ar. r. C. ar. s. C. her. Vi. Hor. Is low in semiarid soils

17 Methodology to quantify land use impact assessment Quality A D Transformation process S of type of land Occupation impacts Transformation impacts S Q permanent Transformation impacts may involve soil degradation processes (having gone accross some threshold) or may result from ecological impacts in the site Indicator B C Surface S Q temporal time Occupation process S time relaxation time Legend S: Area Q: change in (land) quality Time These thresholds are normally associated to biotic factors that may or may not originate in the soil Soil management thresholds result from transformation impacts. t 1 t 2 t 3 Indicator referring to soil quality itself Indicator referring to soil services (e.g. plant growth)

18 Without transformation impact Land use impacts that go beyond soil degradation threshold Quality D A Transformation process S of type of land Occupation impacts Transformation impacts = 0 Quality A Irreversible transformation process B C S Q temporal time relaxation time B C No relaxation time threshold limit value Occupation process S time Legend S: Area Q: change in (land) quality t 1 t 2 t 3 Time t 1 point of no return Time No threshold Soil degradation threshold

19 Land ocupation impacts in soils close to the degradation thresholds Without transformation impact Quality D A Transformation Transformation impacts = 0 Occupation process impacts S of type of land S Q temporal time Quality A Land use impacts that go beyond soil degradation threshold Irreversible transformation processes are likely originated from soil degradation Irreversible transformation process B C Threshold relaxation time B C Threshold threshold limit value Occupation process S time Legend S: Area Q: change in (land) quality t 1 t 2 t 3 Time t 1 point of no return Time Distance used to calculate the vulnerability to irreversible land degradation by an inverse non linear relationship When the threshold distance = 0 implies the maximum vulnerability

20 Considerations for defining thresholds affecting the major soil threats Indicator directly measuring soil quality Loss of OM Contamination Compaction Salinisation Acidification Erosion Sealing Natural relaxation likely Backup technologies required in some cases Variable distance from threshold Natural relaxation less likely Natural relaxation negligible Backup technologies required & may be costly At or close to the threshold Indicator measuring soil services (e.g. plant growth) Loss of OM Contamination Compaction Salinisation Acidification Erosion Sealing Natural relaxation likely Backup technologies required in some cases Variable distance from threshold

21 When using soil services as indicators, instead of using the intrinsic soil parameters, we will not detect the cumulative changes that may become relevant once the soil gets close to the threshold ph Exchangeable cations CaCO 3 Al(OH) 3 Fe(OH) Cumulative acid charge (kmol (H + ) / kg soil)

22 When measuring soil indicators we need to cope with soil spatial variability Spruce Beech Meiwes et al.

23 Challenges of agricultural soils management Soil fertility Diversity in soil Soil physical form Soil contamination (xenobiotics) Its effects occur mostly on the site and thus it is reasonable to address these issues by using soil indicators. As its effects may be more important in other environmental compartments than in the site itself and may be relevant for animal life, the issues associated to soil contamination should be addressed by other methodologies involving toxicology and risk analysis methods.

24 In conclusion: Natural soils of a given area can be a sound reference for testing the effects of management on soil quality. Soil quality indicators must inform about the soil functions in addition to the soil capacity to grow plants. Soil quality indicators must be interpreted with reference to their specific threshold. Soil quality indicators have a growing interest when show values close to the degradation threshold. Soil transfer of biologically active chemicals to other environmental compartments is an issue of major interest that often escapes the main definition of the soil quality.

25 Thank you

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