Frederik Bøe
Research Scientist
Abstract
Soil health assessments that integrate physical, chemical and biological indicators help the evaluation of soil functioning, provide a framework for monitoring soil degradation, guide land management activities and secure the delivery of soil ecosystem services. In this study, we assessed soil health by soil texture class on arable land in Southeast Norway and mid-Norway and between grassland and arable land in mid-Norway. We used descriptive statistics and the Welch t-test with unequal variance and Bonferroni corrections to compare a physical soil indicator (bulk density) and chemical indicators (organic matter, P-AL, K-AL, Ca-AL, Mg-AL, Na-AL and pH). We developed scoring curves from cumulative normal distribution functions on regional soil data for various soil indicators where climate, soil texture class and land use were considered. Our results show that for certain soil texture classes, average soil indicator values differed between pedo-climatic zones on arable land, but for others the difference was not significant. The variability between the pedo-climatic zones for these can be neglected, but for the ones that differ, the variability is important to consider when assessing soil health. Similarly, this was the case when comparing land use (grassland and arable land) for most soil indicators in mid-Norway. This finding illustrates the importance of addressing unique local conditions in soil health assessments. We propose aggregating similar soil texture classes where no differences are apparent when developing scoring curves. The sub-optimal levels of plant available nutrients (P-AL and K-AL) found in the soil in both pedo-climatic zones highlights the importance of suitable threshold values for targeted soil ecosystem services to ensure soil health and sustainable agricultural production. We also recommend prioritizing the most relevant soil ecosystem services to limit the number of soil indicators that need monitoring.
Authors
Martin Hvarregaard Thorsøe Saskia Keesstra Maarten De Boever Kristina Buchová Frederik Bøe Nádia L. Castanheira Claire Chenu Sophie Cornu Axel Don Julia Fohrafellner Roberta Farina Dario Fornara Maria da Conceição Gonçalves Morten Graversgaard Olivier Heller Erich Inselsbacher Anna Jacobs Sara Mavsar Katharina H. E. Meurer Rok Mihelič Lilian O'Sullivan Mansonia Pulido-Moncada Greet Ruysschaert Michal Sviček Mika Tähtikarhu Silvia Vanino Wieke Vervuurt Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern Lars Juhl MunkholmAbstract
Soils are the foundation of agricultural production, ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Bridging soil knowledge gaps and improving the knowledge system is crucial to meet the growing EU soil policy ambitions in the face of climate change and the ongoing trend in soil degradation. The objective of this article is to assess the current state of knowledge, knowledge use and knowledge gaps concerning sustainable soil management in Europe. This study is based on interviews with 791 stakeholders and 254 researchers and on a comprehensive review of >1800 documents carried out under the European Joint Programme on agricultural soils. Despite differences in stakeholder groups, the conclusions are rather consistent and complementary. We identified major knowledge gaps with respect to (1) soil carbon stocks, (2) soil degradation and fertility and (3) strategies for improved soil management. Transcending these three areas, particularly the loss of soil organic carbon, peatland degradation and soil compaction, are most critical, thus, we stress the urgency of developing more models and monitoring programmes on soils. Stakeholders further report that insufficient transfer of existing soil research findings to practitioners is a hindrance to the adoption of sustainable soil management practices. In addition to knowledge production, soil knowledge gaps may be addressed by considering seven recommendations from the stakeholders: (1) raising awareness, (2) strengthening knowledge brokers, (3) improving relevance of research activities and resource allocation for land users, (4) peer-to-peer communication, (5) targeting advice and information, (6) improving knowledge access, and (7) providing incentives. We argue that filling and bridging knowledge gaps should be a priority for policymakers and the insights provided in the article may help prioritise research and dissemination needs enabling a transition to more sustainable soil management in Europe.
Authors
Silvia Vanino Tiziana Pirelli Claudia Di Bene Frederik Bøe Nádia Castanheira Claire Chenu Sophie Cornu Virginijus Feiza Dario Fornara Olivier Heller Raimonds Kasparinskis Saskia Keesstra Maria Valentina Lasorella Sevinç Madenoglu Katharina H. E. Meurer Lilian O'Sullivan Noemi Peter Chiara Piccini Grzegorz Siebielec Bozena Smreczak Martin Hvarregaard Thorsøe Roberta FarinaAbstract
Climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soil is critical to improve soil health, enhance food and water security, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity preservation, and improve human health and wellbeing. The European Joint Programme for Soil (EJP SOIL) started in 2020 with the aim to significantly improve soil management knowledge and create a sustainable and integrated European soil research system. EJP SOIL involves more than 350 scientists across 24 Countries and has been addressing multiple aspects associated with soil management across different European agroecosystems. This study summarizes the key findings of stakeholder consultations conducted at the national level across 20 countries with the aim to identify important barriers and challenges currently affecting soil knowledge but also assess opportunities to overcome these obstacles. Our findings demonstrate that there is significant room for improvement in terms of knowledge production, dissemination and adoption. Among the most important barriers identified by consulted stakeholders are technical, political, social and economic obstacles, which strongly limit the development and full exploitation of the outcomes of soil research. The main soil challenge across consulted member states remains to improve soil organic matter and peat soil conservation while soil water storage capacity is a key challenge in Southern Europe. Findings from this study clearly suggest that going forward climate-smart sustainable soil management will benefit from (1) increases in research funding, (2) the maintenance and valorisation of long-term (field) experiments, (3) the creation of knowledge sharing networks and interlinked national and European infrastructures, and (4) the development of regionally-tailored soil management strategies. All the above-mentioned interventions can contribute to the creation of healthy, resilient and sustainable soil ecosystems across Europe.
Abstract
Most studies on the effects of tillage operations documented the effects of tillage on losses through surface runoff. On flat areas, the subsurface runoff is the dominating pathway for water, soil and nutrients. This study presents results from a five-year plot study on a flat area measuring surface and subsurface runoff losses. The treatments compared were (A) autumn ploughing with oats, (B) autumn ploughing with winter wheat and (C) spring ploughing with spring barley (n = 3). The results showed that subsurface runoff was the main source for soil (67%), total phosphorus (76%), dissolved reactive phosphorus (75%) and total nitrogen (89%) losses. Through the subsurface pathway, the lowest soil losses occurred from the spring ploughed plots. Losses of total phosphorus through subsurface runoff were also lower from spring ploughing compared to autumn ploughing. Total nitrogen losses were higher from autumn ploughing compared to other treatments. Losses of total nitrogen were more influenced by autumn ploughing than by a nitrogen surplus in production. Single extreme weather events, like the summer drought in 2018 and high precipitation in October 2014 were crucial to the annual soil and nutrient losses. Considering extreme weather events in agricultural management is a necessary prerequisite for successful mitigation of soil and nutrient losses in the future.
Abstract
Soil health assessments that integrate physical, chemical and biological indicators help the evaluation of soil functioning, provide a framework for monitoring soil degradation, guide land management activities and secure the delivery of soil ecosystem services. In this study, we assessed soil health by soil texture class on arable land in Southeast Norway and mid-Norway and between grassland and arable land in mid-Norway. We used descriptive statistics and the Welch t-test with unequal variance and Bonferroni corrections to compare a physical soil indicator (bulk density) and chemical indicators (organic matter, P-AL, K-AL, Ca-AL, Mg-AL, Na-AL and pH). We developed scoring curves from cumulative normal distribution functions on regional soil data for various soil indicators where climate, soil texture class and land use were considered. Our results show that for certain soil texture classes, average soil indicator values differed between pedo-climatic zones on arable land, but for others the difference was not significant. The variability between the pedo-climatic zones for these can be neglected, but for the ones that differ, the variability is important to consider when assessing soil health. Similarly, this was the case when comparing land use (grassland and arable land) for most soil indicators in mid-Norway. This finding illustrates the importance of addressing unique local conditions in soil health assessments. We propose aggregating similar soil texture classes where no differences are apparent when developing scoring curves. The sub-optimal levels of plant available nutrients (P-AL and K-AL) found in the soil in both pedo-climatic zones highlights the importance of suitable threshold values for targeted soil ecosystem services to ensure soil health and sustainable agricultural production. We also recommend prioritizing the most relevant soil ecosystem services to limit the number of soil indicators that need monitoring.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Martin Hvarregaard Thorsøe Saskia Keesstra Maarten De Boever Kristina Buchová Frederik Bøe Nádia L. Castanheira Claire Chenu Sophie Cornu Axel Don Julia Fohrafellner Roberta Farina Dario Fornara Maria da Conceição Gonçalves Morten Graversgaard Olivier Heller Erich Inselsbacher Anna Jacobs Sara Mavsar Katharina H. E. Meurer Rok Mihelič Lilian O'Sullivan Mansonia Pulido-Moncada Greet Ruysschaert Michal Sviček Mika Tähtikarhu Silvia Vanino Wieke Vervuurt Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern Lars Juhl MunkholmAbstract
Soils are the foundation of agricultural production, ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Bridging soil knowledge gaps and improving the knowledge system is crucial to meet the growing EU soil policy ambitions in the face of climate change and the ongoing trend in soil degradation. The objective of this article is to assess the current state of knowledge, knowledge use and knowledge gaps concerning sustainable soil management in Europe. This study is based on interviews with 791 stakeholders and 254 researchers and on a comprehensive review of >1800 documents carried out under the European Joint Programme on agricultural soils. Despite differences in stakeholder groups, the conclusions are rather consistent and complementary. We identified major knowledge gaps with respect to (1) soil carbon stocks, (2) soil degradation and fertility and (3) strategies for improved soil management. Transcending these three areas, particularly the loss of soil organic carbon, peatland degradation and soil compaction, are most critical, thus, we stress the urgency of developing more models and monitoring programmes on soils. Stakeholders further report that insufficient transfer of existing soil research findings to practitioners is a hindrance to the adoption of sustainable soil management practices. In addition to knowledge production, soil knowledge gaps may be addressed by considering seven recommendations from the stakeholders: (1) raising awareness, (2) strengthening knowledge brokers, (3) improving relevance of research activities and resource allocation for land users, (4) peer-to-peer communication, (5) targeting advice and information, (6) improving knowledge access, and (7) providing incentives. We argue that filling and bridging knowledge gaps should be a priority for policymakers and the insights provided in the article may help prioritise research and dissemination needs enabling a transition to more sustainable soil management in Europe.
