Kontext

The aim of the EU Soil Strategy is that by 2050 all soils in the EU are healthy. However, cost-effective indicators for soil biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services are missing, and so are cost-effective measures for restoring soil health. SOB4ES will contribute to the Mission A Soil Deal for Europe by: 

(1) elucidating soil biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and services for major land uses and land use intensity changes; 

(2) testing cost-effectiveness of existing indicators for soil biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and services; and, 

(3) evaluating how policy incentives may enhance protection, sustainable management and restoration of soil systems and soil health. 

By focusing on nine major pedoclimatic (soil type-climate) regions and land uses, including soils from urban, agriculture, forest, (semi)-natural, wetlands, drylands, industrial and mining environments, SOB4ES will cover most relevant EU climate-soil type-land use conditions. SOB4ES will further develop the mapping and assessment of ecosystem conditions (MAES) approach. For agricultural land uses, envisaged sustainable agricultural practices will be compared with conventional high input-output practices. Ultimately, SOB4Es will deliver well-validated and applicable indicators for soil biodiversity and ecosystem services for policy evaluation to be used in EU-wide soil health monitoring from the field to the landscape level. SOB4ES will also analyse how networks of soil biodiversity relate to aboveground biodiversity and ecosystem services by advanced artificial intelligence-based machine learning approaches, and scale monitoring up to being applied by remote sensing. Finally, SOB4ES will support a more effective adoption of indicators by large-scale European surveys, such as LUCAS and SoilBON and contribute to the development of the EUSO dashboard and national soil monitoring programmes.

Objectives

The long-term aim of SOB4ES is to support the EU Soil Strategy and the upcoming Soil Health Law with policy developments that include concrete measures and incentives for ensuring the protection, restoration and sustainable use of soils across a range of climatic/biogeographical regions in the EU and Associated Countries. To reach these ambitious goals, the SOB4ES research team will assess soil biodiversity community composition, its spatial and temporal dynamics, linkages with aboveground biodiversity and ecological network structures in response to land uses types and intensity. This will include taxonomical, genetic (including both RNA and DNA sequences, together with functional genes), and trophic diversity of a wider range of soil organisms (from micro- to macro-fauna). SOB4ES will consider various land uses such as urban, agriculture, forest, (semi)-natural, wetlands, drylands, industrial and mining, and highlight those types of soils where previous research has shown significant knowledge gaps. Key results of the project will include the identification of key “cost-effective” soil indicators that provide better assessments of ecosystem condition per ecosystem type and across different ecosystems at National and European levels, the provision of knowledge, awareness and societal appreciation of the vital functions of soil biodiversity and its contribution to ecosystem services and the implicit implementation of soil biodiversity protection practices in policies.

Activities

During the first 18 months of the project, SOB4ES has provided a comprehensive view of the composition, functions, and dynamics of the network of soil-inhabiting communities (i.e., beyond microbes and earthworms) in EU soils

A large spatial  sampling campaign covering nine pedoclimatic zones, five land use types (arable (including orchards), forest, grassland, urban and wetland) and three land use intensity levels has been undertaken and a comprehensive dataset on soil physico-chemical and biological properties (1362 samples from 434 sites) has been completed. . These data will contribute to the forthcoming dataset that will include temporal sample information based on a total of 342 samples collected from a subset of 33 sites at 3 timepoints between 2023/24. Together they will provide not only high-quality quantitative data on soil biodiversity sensitivity and resilience to land use intensity, but will also enable us to identify associated biotic indicators and benchmarks under different land use types and intensities while accounting for seasonal variability across a range of soil types and pedo-climatic regions. This information will be highly valuable to other EU-funded projects, as well as the scientific community.

Supplying data onsoil biodiversity sensitivity, adaptation and resilience to different types and intensities of land use

As part of the preparation for soil network reconstructions, the project is developing allometric models and using machine learning and remote sensing techniques to infer changes in the food-web structure according to land use type in different pedoclimatic regions. 

Enhancing current understanding of soil biodiversity and ecosystem service linkages

The integration of Earth Observation based spatial data with environmental properties, geospatial layers like topography, and climate from different sources will allow the development of artificial intelligence (AI)-based models to understand the relationships between soil biodiversity and ecosystem services as influenced by different conditions (climatic, topographic, soil properties).

Selecting cost-effective robust soil indicators to map and assess ecosystem condition across EU soils

Preliminary steps are setting the basis for cost-effective soil monitoring that would allow for more comprehensive coverage, integration and inclusion of soil biodiversity to be used in both regional and national soil monitoring programmes as well as informing land management and planning.

Enhancing knowledge, awareness and societal appreciation of the vital functions of soil biodiversity and its contribution to ecosystem services

SOB4ES has already engaged in active collaboration with different stakeholders and conducted a policy mapping exercise that not only identified existing policies, but also the policy agenda to which SOB4ES results may be relevant. In addition, significant efforts have set the scene for a fast and efficient dissemination of results to the wider community, boosting impact.