Soil quality and ecosystem services; a land use perspective
Jack Faber1, Joost van der Pol1 & Michiel Rutgers2
1 Alterra, Centre for Ecosystem Studies, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
2 RIVM, Dept of Ecology, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Successful use of land is dependent on the quality of the soil. This is the starting point of a soil policy renewal in the Netherlands, which has recently been issued with respect to soil remediation, and the protection and sustainable use of soils. A leading principle in the new policy is the concept of ‘suitability for use’. While soil quality criteria for different types of land use obviously must be (and can be) based on acceptable levels of human exposure to contaminants, it is less clear what ecological attributes of soils should be assessed to protect the ecosystem and to sustain land use. However, such expertise is highly needed and could well be applied for instance in the formulation of soil remediation targets for contaminated sites in view of the intended land use. Also, from a general viewpoint of soil protection and sustainable land use there is great need to establish biological references for soil quality. Both soil protection and soil remediation will therefore benefit from an ecological description of desirable soil quality. For long, the Dutch Technical Committee on Soil Protection has advocated an ecosystem oriented approach for use of soils, and recently elaborated on the management of ecological services of soils under various kinds of land use. Relevant ecosystem services were tentatively identified. Next, the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment instigated the development of biological references for sustainable land use. A framework was constructed based on extensive survey of soil biota and soil processes in agricultural grasslands and arable land or nature conservation area. In this framework ecosystem services were further specified with ecological requirements in terms of soil biota and soil processes that are considered to be related to a history of particular land use. Whilst the methodology of derivation is still debated, the description of actual references per type of land use is expected in the near future. In the present paper the enumeration of ecosystem services and ecological requirements for land use is further developed. Following a scenario approach, soil indicators have been enumerated for application in the assessment of ecological requirements, and relevant tests are listed to measure these indicators. Further, the paper will present literature data on effect limits for NoMiracle test substances, with interpretation in terms of critical ecological aspects for agricultural land use and nature.