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SoilTrEC: a global initiative on critical zone research and integration

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 21, pages 3191–3195 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Soil is a complex natural resource that is considered non-renewable in policy frameworks, and it plays a key role in maintaining a variety of ecosystem services (ES) and life-sustaining material cycles within the Earth's Critical Zone (CZ). However, currently, the ability of soil to deliver these services is being drastically reduced in many locations, and global loss of soil ecosystem services is estimated to increase each year as a result of many different threats, such as erosion and soil carbon loss. The European Union Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection alerts policy makers of the need to protect soil and proposes measures to mitigate soil degradation. In this context, the European Commission-funded research project on Soil Transformations in European Catchments (SoilTrEC) aims to quantify the processes that deliver soil ecosystem services in the Earth's Critical Zone and to quantify the impacts of environmental change on key soil functions. This is achieved by integrating the research results into decision-support tools and applying methods of economic valuation to soil ecosystem services. In this paper, we provide an overview of the SoilTrEC project, its organization, partnerships and implementation.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme as a Large Integrating Project (SoilTrEC, www.soiltrec.eu, Grant Agreement No. 244118).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kroto Research Institute, University of Sheffield, North Campus, Broad Lane, Sheffield, S3 7HQ, UK

    Manoj Menon & Steven A. Banwart

  2. Soil Erosion Department, Institute of Soil Science, Sofia, 1080, Bulgaria

    Svetla Rousseva

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Polytechnioupolis, 73100, Chania, Crete, Greece

    Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis

  4. Deltares, PO Box 85467, 3508 AL, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Pauline van Gaans

  5. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Varese, Italy

    Panos Panagos & Danielle Maia de Souza

  6. Institutes of Earth Sciences, Life and Environmental Sciences, and Sustainable Development, University of Iceland, Askja, Reykjavik 101, Iceland

    Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir, Brynhildur Davidsdottir & Gudrun Gisladottir

  7. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Peter-Jordan-Street 82, 1190, Vienna, Austria

    Georg J. Lair & Winfried E. H. Blum

  8. Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Postbox 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Liping Weng, Jaap Bloem & Peter de Ruiter

  9. Department of Environmental Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry, Czech Geological Survey, Klarov 3, 118 21, Prague 1, Czech Republic

    Pavel Kram & Martin Novak

  10. NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK

    David A. Robinson & Brian Reynolds

  11. Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 2217 Earth & Engineering Sciences Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Tim White & Christopher Duffy

  12. Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7050, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Lars Lundin

  13. Department of Soil Science, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhongguancun Nan Da Jie 12, Beijing, 100081, China

    Bin Zhang

  14. Geological Institute, ETH, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Stefano M. Bernasconi

Authors
  1. Manoj Menon
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  2. Svetla Rousseva
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  3. Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis
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  4. Pauline van Gaans
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  5. Panos Panagos
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  6. Danielle Maia de Souza
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  7. Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir
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  8. Georg J. Lair
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  9. Liping Weng
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  10. Jaap Bloem
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  11. Pavel Kram
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  12. Martin Novak
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  13. Brynhildur Davidsdottir
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  14. Gudrun Gisladottir
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  15. David A. Robinson
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  16. Brian Reynolds
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  17. Tim White
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  18. Lars Lundin
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  19. Bin Zhang
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  20. Christopher Duffy
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  21. Stefano M. Bernasconi
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  22. Peter de Ruiter
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  23. Winfried E. H. Blum
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  24. Steven A. Banwart
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manoj Menon.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Menon, M., Rousseva, S., Nikolaidis, N.P. et al. SoilTrEC: a global initiative on critical zone research and integration. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 3191–3195 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2346-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2346-x

Keywords

  • Critical Zone
  • Ecosystem services
  • Soil processes
  • Integrated modelling
  • Thematic strategy