Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SOB4ES (Integrating SOil Biodiversity to Ecosystem Services: testing cost-effectiveness of Soil Biodiversity indicators and the provision of soil biodiversity-based Ecosystem Services to build better land management solutions that effectively implement the EU Soil Strategy)
Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30
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.
Providing 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.
- 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.
The large spatial sampling campaign has been conducted and yielded ≈ 19,500 data records on soil biodiversity and soil properties, and will enable quantitative information of soil biodiversity sensitivity and resilience to land use type and intensity across different soil types and pedoclimatic regions. In addition, the temporal sampling on a subset of sites has been initiated and will be crucial to assess the status and spatio-temporal trends of soil biodiversity community structure as a function of climate, soil type (combinations leading to pedoclimatic regions), ecosystem type, land use type and land management intensity. Finally, improved interdisciplinary methodologies and tools to measure soil biodiversity have been developed to provide the much-needed methodological standardisation to measure soil biodiversity in the monitoring programmes at local, regional and continental levels.