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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Exploring Operational Procedures to Assess Ecosystem Services at Farm Level, including the Role of Soil Health
ClearExploring Operational Procedures to Assess Ecosystem Services on Farm Level, Including the Role of Soil Health
Operational procedures for assessing ecosystem services at the farm level were tested across European living labs, with results demonstrating that participatory approaches involving farmers improved the practical relevance and uptake of soil health and ecosystem service assessments. The study provides a template for integrating farmer knowledge with scientific monitoring in agricultural sustainability evaluations.
Unearthing soil-plant-microbiota crosstalk: Looking back to move forward
This review examines the complex interactions between soil, plants, and microbiota, tracing the evolution of soil fertility assessment from crop performance metrics to modern microbiome-based approaches. Researchers emphasize that soil quality must be evaluated by combining physical, chemical, and biological parameters, and that understanding microbial community dynamics is essential for sustainable agriculture and ecosystem health.
Multidimensional Ecosystem Mapping: Towards a More Comprehensive Spatial Assessment of Nature’s Contributions to People in France
Researchers developed a multidimensional approach to mapping ecosystem services across France, going beyond traditional land-cover methods to incorporate soil, water, and biodiversity data. By combining multiple data layers, they created more accurate spatial assessments of the benefits nature provides to people, from carbon storage to pollination. The study demonstrates that considering multiple ecosystem dimensions simultaneously leads to more reliable conservation and land-use planning decisions.
Natural soils analysis for future land use
This study analyzed natural soil properties across different sites to inform future sustainable land use decisions, using multiple analytical methods to characterize soil organic matter and other key indicators. The research highlighted that current assessment methods for soil organic matter remain inadequate for supporting truly sustainable land management.
The role of soils in delivering Nature's Contributions to People
This theme-issue synthesis assessed soils' contributions to Nature's Contributions to People across multiple categories, finding that well-managed soils can positively support all ecosystem services but that soil degradation globally undermines these contributions.
Soil pollution in the European Union – An outlook
This review assesses the state of soil pollution across the European Union, finding that contamination from heavy metals, pesticides, and emerging pollutants like microplastics is widespread but poorly monitored. The authors call for standardized measurement methods and updated regulations, noting that soil pollution can affect human health through contaminated crops and drinking water.
Development of Ecosystem Health Assessment (EHA) and Application Method: A Review
This review traces the development of ecosystem health assessment methods, comparing biological indicator approaches and index system methods and analyzing how they have been applied to assess the health of aquatic, terrestrial, and urban ecosystems under anthropogenic stress.
Regenerative agriculture in Europe : An overview paper on the state of knowledge and innovation in Europe
This overview report examines the state of knowledge and innovation around regenerative agriculture (RegenAg) in Europe, comparing it to agroecology, conservation agriculture, and organic farming. The authors find that RegenAg is most distinctively defined by its outcomes rather than specific practices, and recommend establishing an EU-wide indicator system to measure those outcomes while treating RegenAg as a set of objectives rather than prescribed measures.
From Proceedings to Actions: European Healthy Soils Conference 2023
This proceedings summary from the first European Healthy Soils Conference (2023) covered topics in soil fertility, microplastic contamination, soil microbiome health, and sustainable land management. It emphasized the need for interdisciplinary action combining industry, academia, and policy to protect European soil health.
A review on effective soil health bio-indicators for ecosystem restoration and sustainability
This review examines biological indicators that scientists use to measure soil health, including microbial diversity, enzyme activity, and earthworm populations. Healthy soil ecosystems depend on these biological components, which can be disrupted by pollutants including microplastics. The review is relevant because bio-indicators could serve as early warning tools for detecting the impact of microplastic contamination on agricultural soil quality.
Soil health and ecosystem services
This review synthesized evidence on how soil health underpins critical ecosystem services including climate regulation, water purification, biodiversity support, and food production. The paper identifies pollution, including microplastic contamination, as one of the growing threats to soil health, alongside acidification, salinization, and biodiversity loss.
Sustainable soil use and management: An interdisciplinary and systematic approach
Researchers reviewed sustainable soil management through an interdisciplinary lens, arguing that achieving the UN's 2030 SDGs requires prioritizing soil health as a multifunctional asset, expanding soil organic carbon sequestration, and leveraging emerging data tools — including machine learning and 5G-enabled monitoring — to close critical knowledge gaps.
Manure management and soil biodiversity: Towards more sustainable food systems in the EU
This review examines how animal manure management practices in the European Union affect soil biodiversity, considering both benefits and risks. The study found that while manure promotes soil organism growth and functional diversity, it can also introduce contaminants like heavy metals, antibiotics, and pathogens, and recommends policy updates to better account for soil biodiversity in manure management.
Global soil microplastic assessment in different land-use systems is largely determined by the method of analysis: A meta-analysis
This meta-analysis pooled data from 89 studies to measure microplastic levels in soils across different land uses worldwide. A key finding is that reported microplastic concentrations vary wildly depending on the testing method used, making it hard to compare studies. This highlights that before we can truly understand how much microplastic is in the soil that grows our food, scientists need to agree on standardized measurement methods.
Integrating farmer perspectives in microplastic contamination in arable fields: Insights from the MiCoS project in the Benelux region
The MiCoS project conducted large-scale microplastic sampling across 240 agricultural fields in the Benelux region while integrating farmer participation, examining microplastic impacts on plant and soil health. Farmer engagement was identified as a critical step for achieving representative field sampling at landscape scale.
Status quo of operation procedures for soil sampling to analyze microplastics
Researchers reviewed 106 studies on measuring microplastics in soil and found widespread inconsistency in sampling methods, sample sizes, and reporting standards, making it nearly impossible to compare results across studies. They call for a standardized protocol to ensure reproducible, comparable data that can actually inform policy to limit microplastic contamination of agricultural and natural soils.
Soil metabolomics: Deciphering underground metabolic webs in terrestrial ecosystems
Researchers reviewed how studying the chemical building blocks (metabolites) in soil can reveal how nutrients cycle through ecosystems and how soil health responds to pollution and climate stress. This approach helps scientists better understand the invisible underground networks that keep soils fertile and functioning.
On-farm water quality: Co-design of result-based indicators
Researchers worked with farmers in Brittany, France, to co-design water quality indicators that individual farms could use to track pollution from agricultural sources including nitrate, pesticides, and microplastics. They developed result-based metrics that allow farmers to directly assess how their practices affect local water quality. The study demonstrates that collaborative approaches between scientists and farmers can improve on-farm environmental monitoring.
Assessing the Ecological Status of European Rivers and Lakes Using Benthic Invertebrate Communities: A Practical Catalogue of Metrics and Methods
A comprehensive catalog of benthic invertebrate metrics used across 26 EU national assessment systems for rivers and 21 for lakes was compiled, identifying the range of biological indices and methodological approaches currently used to evaluate ecological status under the Water Framework Directive.
Agroecological transition: towards a better understanding of the impact of ecology-based farming practices on soil microbial ecotoxicology
This review examined how ecology-based farming practices like organic farming, agroecology, and permaculture affect soil microorganisms compared to conventional agriculture. The study suggests that these alternative approaches generally support healthier soil microbial communities, though more research is needed to fully understand how reduced pesticide and chemical use benefits the complex web of organisms that drive soil fertility.
Soil Biochemical Indicators to Monitor the Impact of Microplastics on Soil Functionality in Terrestrial Ecosystems
This paper reviews how soil biochemical indicators — including enzyme activities and microbial community metrics — can be used to assess the impact of microplastics on soil functioning. Because standard chemical analyses alone may miss functional changes, biochemical indicators provide a more sensitive early warning system for detecting microplastic-driven soil health degradation.
Integrated Ecological Risk Assessment of the Agricultural Area under a High Anthropopressure Based on Chemical, Ecotoxicological and Ecological Indicators
Researchers conducted an integrated ecological risk assessment of agricultural land using chemical, ecotoxicological, and ecological indicators, finding that while chemical analysis overestimated risk, the combined approach revealed most of the area had acceptable risk levels despite over a century of anthropogenic pressure.
The Mainstreaming Agenda of the Convention on Biological Diversity and Its Value to Protecting and Enhancing Soil Ecosystem Services
This chapter highlights the importance of soil biodiversity in providing ecosystem services and how it connects to the Convention on Biological Diversity's mainstreaming agenda. Researchers present case studies showing how soil biodiversity considerations can be integrated into decision-making across sectors. The study includes a practical checklist to help policymakers incorporate soil health into biodiversity and land management strategies.
Bioindicators for Forest Area Condition: A Systematic Literature Review
This systematic literature review examined flora and fauna as bioindicators for assessing forest health, identifying key species and metrics used across global studies to monitor ecosystem condition and environmental stress.