Soil Natural Capital & Ecosystem Services
In current times we are facing unprecedented global transformation of ecosystems. Rarely have changes in the global resource pools occurred so quickly and with such potentially devastating effects on the earth’s life support system. It is therefore critical that we determine the vulnerability of soils locally and globally, understand the consequences of imposed changes, assess the ability of soils to perform important earth system and societal functions, and incorporate this understanding into the decision-making process.
Given the unprecedented global changes (climate and land use etc) there has been a growing recognition of the importance of identifying and incorporating nature’s services into policymaking. The concept of "ecosystem services" and "natural capital" is gaining traction as a way of bridging the scientific-economic-policymaking divide so that the potential impact of ecosystem modification can be evaluated and more fully incorporated into decisions affecting society (National Research Council, 2005; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). |
The ecosystems approach (EA) is becoming established in UK government thinking. Soils are a multi-functional resource that provide a range of ecosystem goods and services and are composed of important natural capital stocks identified in Table 1 (below). Soil natural capital is defined as “the stocks of mass, energy and their organisation (entropy) within soil” (Robinson et al., 2009). Whereas soil ecosystem services in Table 2 (below) are defined as “the conditions and processes through which soils, and the organisms that make them up, sustain and fulfil human life. They maintain soil function and biodiversity and provide ecosystem goods such as pharmaceuticals” (altered from Daily, 1997).
Our research focuses on the development of the frameworks and developing monitoring and modelling approaches to identify changes in stocks, and the flow of goods and services through ecosystems. Examples of recent projects include the evaluation of ecosystem services from peat soils, and the impacts of using tree shelterbelts in uplands to protect livestock and reduce flood risk in the lowlands.
|
Table 1:
Soil Natural Capital |
| MASS |
|
| Solid |
Inorganic material: i) Mineral stock and ii) Nutrient stock |
| |
Organic material: i) OM/Carbon stock and ii) Organisms |
| Liquid |
Soil water content |
| Gas |
Soil air |
| ENERGY |
|
| Thermal Energy |
Soil temperature |
| Biomass Energy |
Soil biomass |
| ORGANISATION |
|
| Physico-chemical structure |
Soil physico-chemical organisation, soil structure |
| Biotic structure |
Biological population organisation, food webs and biodiversity |
| Spatio-temporal structure |
Connectivity, patches and gradients |
Table 2:
Soil Ecosystem Services |
| SUPPORTING |
| Physical stability and support for plants |
| Renewal, retention and delivery of nutrients for plants |
| Habitat and gene pool |
| REGULATING |
| Regulation of major elemental cycles |
| Buffering, filtering and moderation of the hydrological cycle |
| Disposal of wastes and dead organic matter |
| PROVISIONING |
| Building material |
| CULTURAL |
| Heritage sites, archaeological preserver of artifacts |
| Spiritual value, religious sites and burial grounds |
References
Daily, G.C., Matson, P.A., Vitousek, P.M. 1997. Ecosystem services supplied by the soil. pp 113-132. In G.C. Daily (ed.) Nature's services: Societal dependence on natural ecosystems. Island Press, Washington DC.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). 2005. Ecosystems and human well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington DC.
National Research Council. 2005. Valuing ecosystem services: Toward better environmental decision-making. National Academy Press, Washington DC.
Robinson, D.A., Lebron, L., Vereecken, H. 2009. On the definition of the natural capital of soils: A framework for description, evaluation and monitoring. Soil Sci. Am. J. 73: 1904-1911. |
