Soil stewardship as a nexus between Ecosystem Services and One Health
Section snippets
Separate concepts
Change and intensification of land management has resulted in degradation of the structure, status and functions of our landscapes (Foley et al., 2005, Jones et al., 2013). Agricultural activity, in particular, has led to depleted levels of natural capital and to the homogenisation of biodiversity and landscapes. The concerns over such widespread environmental change were a major stimulus for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The Ecosystem Services framework, which this landmark assessment
Overlap and nexus
One Health shares characteristics with other more holistic approaches to land management (e.g. biological agriculture) but it has broader applications beyond the physical, biological and chemical sciences, incorporating socio-ecological, cultural and economic elements (Zinsstag et al., 2011). It has a vision for interdisciplinary education between medical/veterinary schools and schools of public health and the environment, and, as with the Ecosystem Services framework, there is focus on food
Research avenues
A synergy between these approaches would benefit from a consolidation of relevant knowledge from the large body of existing literature, following which research gaps, or areas lacking in studies, could also be identified systematically. Studies examining the effects of land management and its change on a range of ecosystem services are becoming familiar, but those making links to animal, human and ecosystem health are less abundant (e.g. Rhodes et al., 2013). We would highlight four broad areas
Positive examples
As greater awareness of and insight into relationships between soil and health develops (Sandifer et al., 2015, Oliver and Gregory, 2015) positive examples emerge. Van Elsas et al. (2012) tested whether and how microbial diversity might hinder pathogen establishment in soil. It was shown that increased diversity of the soil microbial community controlled invasion by an E. coli strain (van Elsas et al., 2012), suggesting that soil stewardship practices promoting soil biodiversity could aid
References (19)
- et al.
A framework for classifying and quantifying the natural capital and ecosystem services of soils
Ecol. Econ.
(2010) - et al.
The dimensions of soil security
Geoderma
(2014) - et al.
Evaluations of hydrologic risk factors for canine leptospirosis: 94 cases (2002–2009)
Prev. Vet. Med.
(2012) - et al.
Assessing Ecosystem Health
Trends Ecol. Evol.
(1998) - et al.
From “one medicine” to “one health” and systemic approaches to health and well-being
Prev. Vet. Med.
(2011) - et al.
The past, present, and future of soils and human health studies
SOIL
(2015) - et al.
Promoting health and well-being by managing for social-ecological resilience: the potential of integrating ecohealth and water resources management approaches
Ecol. Soc.
(2011) - et al.
Global consequences of land use
Science
(2005) The evolution of One Health: a decade of progress and challenges for the future
Vet. Rec.
(2014)