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Soil Analysis in Different Ecosystems

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 1313

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Eveleigh, NSW 2015 Australia
Interests: soil carbon stock assessment using depth and spatial models on afforested arable lands

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Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, University of Patras, 27200 Amaliada, Greece
Interests: technologies in soil spectroscopy; innovations and techniques in soil and plant analysis; non-destructive techniques for soil testing
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil plays a key role in ecosystems, contributing to their functionality and the services that they provide. As such, soil supports climate change mitigation, biodiversity, nutrient and water cycling, and vegetation, and is pivotal to human society. Therefore, it is essential to understand the dynamics of soil in different ecosystems, including its role, services, and threats. This Special Issue welcomes all research related to soil, from pedology, soil physics, soil chemistry, soil biology, soil security, and pedometrics. Suggested topics include carbon sequestration and lability, chemical mobilization, mineral weathering, geomorphology, geospatial analysis, soil depth functions, biotic activity, temporal and spatial soil changes, or any other topic that contributes to our understanding of soil in various ecosystems.

Dr. Flynn Trevan
Dr. Pantelis E. Barouchas
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • soil dynamics
  • ecosystem services
  • carbon sequestration
  • soil chemistry
  • geospatial analysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 2081 KB  
Article
Rapid Soil Tests for Assessing Soil Health
by Jan Adriaan Reijneveld and Oene Oenema
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(15), 8669; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15158669 - 5 Aug 2025
Viewed by 526
Abstract
Soil testing has long been used to optimize fertilization and crop production. More recently, soil health testing has emerged to reflect the growing interest in soil multifunctionality and ecosystem services. Soil health encompasses physical, chemical, and biological properties that support ecosystem functions and [...] Read more.
Soil testing has long been used to optimize fertilization and crop production. More recently, soil health testing has emerged to reflect the growing interest in soil multifunctionality and ecosystem services. Soil health encompasses physical, chemical, and biological properties that support ecosystem functions and sustainable agriculture. Despite its relevance to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 13, and 15), comprehensive soil health testing is not widely practiced due to complexity and cost. The aim of the study presented here was to contribute to the further development, implementation, and testing of an integrated procedure for soil health assessment in practice. We developed and tested a rapid, standardized soil health assessment tool that combines near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and multi-nutrient 0.01 M CaCl2 extraction with Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy analysis. The tool evaluates a wide range of soil characteristics with high accuracy (R2 ≥ 0.88 for most parameters) and has been evaluated across more than 15 countries, including those in Europe, China, New Zealand, and Vietnam. The results are compiled into a soil health indicator report with tailored management advice and a five-level ABCDE score. In a Dutch test set, 6% of soils scored A (optimal), while 2% scored E (degraded). This scalable tool supports land users, agrifood industries, and policymakers in advancing sustainable soil management and evidence-based environmental policy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Analysis in Different Ecosystems)
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