TY - JOUR

T1 - Soil assessment in Denmark

T2 - Towards soil functional mapping and beyond

AU - Gomes, Lucas Carvalho

AU - Beucher, Amélie Marie

AU - Møller, Anders Bjørn

AU - Iversen, Bo V.

AU - Børgesen, Christen Duus

AU - Adetsu, Diana Vigah

AU - Sechu, Gasper Laurent

AU - Heckrath, Goswin Johann

AU - Koch, Julian

AU - Adhikari, Kabindra

AU - Knadel, Maria

AU - Lamandé, Mathieu

AU - Greve, Mette Balslev

AU - Jensen, Niels H.

AU - Gutierrez, Sebastian

AU - Balstrøm, Thomas

AU - Koganti, Triven

AU - Roell, Yannik

AU - Peng, Yi

AU - Greve, Mogens Humlekrog

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Gomes, Beucher, Møller, Iversen, Børgesen, Adetsu, Sechu, Heckrath, Koch, Adhikari, Knadel, Lamandé, Greve, Jensen, Gutierrez, Balstrøm, Koganti, Roell, Peng and Greve.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Soil provides essential ecosystem services sustaining and improving human life, but mapping soil functions is an ongoing challenge. Denmark has a long history of carrying out soil assessments − originally in order to determine tax revenues for the king, and, more recently, for aiding policymakers and farmers. This knowledge has supported the development of intensive agricultural systems while maintaining the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., clean water). Getting an overview of historical soil surveys and pedological mapping approaches can generate useful information for mapping soil, identifying gaps and proposing directions for future research. In this review, we explore the evolution of soil and environmental inventories, the historical development of soil mapping methods, and how these factors contributed to a better spatial understanding of soil functions. Specifically, we discuss soil functions related to water regulation (e.g., drainage, groundwater and water surface interactions, water table), water filtering (e.g., nitrogen leaching), carbon sequestration (e.g., peatlands), agricultural production (e.g., land suitability, wheat yields), and threats related to soil degradation (e.g., soil erosion). Denmark has benefitted from a government-coordinated approach, promoting detailed and systematic national soil surveys and environmental monitoring programmes. The large databases produced in the surveys formed the basis for mapping several soil properties and functions at increasingly high resolutions over the last many years based on developments in machine learning. In contrast to methodological advances in soil mapping and relevant contributions to pedometric research, we identified a lack of spatial information on soil biodiversity. Detailed spatial information about soil functions is essential to address global issues, such as climate change, food security and water security, and the experience of mapping soil functions in Denmark can be a source of inspiration to other parts of the world.

AB - Soil provides essential ecosystem services sustaining and improving human life, but mapping soil functions is an ongoing challenge. Denmark has a long history of carrying out soil assessments − originally in order to determine tax revenues for the king, and, more recently, for aiding policymakers and farmers. This knowledge has supported the development of intensive agricultural systems while maintaining the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., clean water). Getting an overview of historical soil surveys and pedological mapping approaches can generate useful information for mapping soil, identifying gaps and proposing directions for future research. In this review, we explore the evolution of soil and environmental inventories, the historical development of soil mapping methods, and how these factors contributed to a better spatial understanding of soil functions. Specifically, we discuss soil functions related to water regulation (e.g., drainage, groundwater and water surface interactions, water table), water filtering (e.g., nitrogen leaching), carbon sequestration (e.g., peatlands), agricultural production (e.g., land suitability, wheat yields), and threats related to soil degradation (e.g., soil erosion). Denmark has benefitted from a government-coordinated approach, promoting detailed and systematic national soil surveys and environmental monitoring programmes. The large databases produced in the surveys formed the basis for mapping several soil properties and functions at increasingly high resolutions over the last many years based on developments in machine learning. In contrast to methodological advances in soil mapping and relevant contributions to pedometric research, we identified a lack of spatial information on soil biodiversity. Detailed spatial information about soil functions is essential to address global issues, such as climate change, food security and water security, and the experience of mapping soil functions in Denmark can be a source of inspiration to other parts of the world.

KW - digital soil mapping

KW - ecosystem services

KW - machine learning

KW - soil functions

KW - soil security

KW - soil threats

KW - sustainable development goals

U2 - 10.3389/fsoil.2023.1090145

DO - 10.3389/fsoil.2023.1090145

M3 - Review

AN - SCOPUS:85168098646

VL - 3

JO - Frontiers in Soil Science

JF - Frontiers in Soil Science

SN - 2673-8619

M1 - 1090145

ER -