Soil Biological Function and Ecosystem Resilience

Soil biological function encompasses the essential metabolic processes carried out by the diverse soil organisms (mainly bacteria and fungi, but also worms and insects), which enable the functioning of the terrestrial ecosystem. This includes the decomposition of organic matter, chemical detoxification, the recycling of nutrients (C, N, P), and the formation of soil structure, thus allowing for soil aeration and water filtration. All these functions are essential for the maintenance of terrestrial life, plant development, carbon storage, and water regulation, ultimately, they together contribute to the ecosystem resilience. Ecosystem resilience may be defined as the capacity of ecosystems to withstand transient or permanent structural changes, absorb disturbances, and maintain its structure and functioning. This ability is particularly important for coping with major disturbances such as fires, prolonged soil compaction, and tillage. The biodiversity of soil organisms partially determines the resilience capacity of ecosystems. There are several factors that can threaten soil resilience, and therefore, the maintenance of ecosystem services. These include global warming, habitat loss and degradation, pollution, overexploitation, biodiversity losses, etc… which compromises ecosystems integrity, and, from a productive point of view, leads to reductions in crop yield and quality. Considering the especial role of soil organism biodiversity in the ecosystem resilience, it is important to focus land management on preserving this biodiversity. The loss of keystone species or those with unique functional roles can have significant ecological impacts, resulting in reduction in agricultural productivity.