Sustainable and Resilient Agroecosystems Need Complexity of Soil Food Webs and Multivariate Soil Health Indicators
ABSTRACT We need to adapt crop species and agricultural practices to produce high quantities of quality food for a growing world population, while also reducing the negative impact of agriculture on the environment to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. It is increasingly recognised that healthy soils are at the heart of this endeavour, sustaining global geochemical cycles and the productivity of most terrestrial ecosystems. This ability of soils to support essential ecosystem services like nutrient cycling arises from diverse communities of soil organisms. Many ecosystem services are a function of how these soil organisms interact with each other, with the aboveground plant species and with the physio‐chemical soil matrix. Here, we argue that multiple ecosystem processes and climate change resilience rely on diverse plant and soil communities with complex interactions among various actors carrying out complementary functions, rather than on individual indicator species on their own. We highlight areas of research which could be expanded to advance our understanding from single‐species studies to the functional complexity of soil food webs and its integration into land management strategies with the aim to improve the resilience and sustainability of essential terrestrial ecosystems and the services they provide to the human population.
Authors
- Jordi Moya‐Laraño (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7141-3206)
- Jennifer Michel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3705-4611)
- Sarah Symanczik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2773-3875)
- Iñaki Balanzategui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0910-2586)
- Matthias Waibel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2505-8917)
- Pierre Delaplace (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6198-7820)
- Jacques Le Gouis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5726-4902)
- Dominique Van Der Straeten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7755-1420)
- Sara Sánchez‐Moreno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4558-0304)
- Da Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7939-1048)
- Cécile Thonar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1806-688X)
- Hervé Vanderschuren
- Philippe Hinsinger
- Markus Weinmann
Institutions
- University of Hohenheim (DE)
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (FR)
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (BE)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Ecologie fonctionnelle & biogéochimie des sols & des agro-systèmes (FR)
- Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (ES)
- University of Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES)
- Institut Agro Montpelier (FR)
- Génétique, Diversité, Écophysiologie des Céréales (FR)
- Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau (CH)
- Clermont Université (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- European Journal of Soil Science
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70192
- Primary Topic
- Banana Cultivation and Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00