Monitoring soil natural capital and ecosystem services by using large-scale survey data

The monitoring of soil natural capital and ecosystem services (ES) is a vital tool for the sustainable use of soils. Without knowing the status and trajectory of the “health” of our soil ecosystems we are unable to make informed decisions about soil and land management. Long-term and large-scale monitoring programs provide a useful source of data for such purpose. This chapter presents a background to early developments of the National Resources Inventory (NRI) soil monitoring network in the United States and the established Countryside Survey (CS) monitoring program from the United Kingdom. It frames findings from these and several other international monitoring programs in the context of “measuring,” describing how the link between soil variables and ES indicators can be made, and how they can be upscaled; “monitoring,” discussing trends which have been recorded in long-term surveys under the broad groupings of soil organic carbon, physicochemical indicators, soil biodiversity and, contaminants and pollutants; and “modelling,” covering several beneficial uses of monitoring data including integrated analysis and trade-offs. Finally, the benefits and challenges of utilizing data from long-term soil monitoring programs, and the scope for future developments, are briefly summarized.