6.3: Biogeochemical cycling in the soil
Soils play a pivotal role in major global biogeochemical cycles (carbon, nutrient, and water), while hosting the largest diversity of organisms on land. Because of this, soils deliver fundamental ecosystem services, and management to change a soil process in support of one ecosystem service can either provide co-benefits to other services or result in trade-offs.
Excerpted from:
Smith, P., Cotrufo, M. F., Rumpel, C., Paustian, K., Kuikman, P. J., Elliott, J. A., McDowell, R., Griffiths, R. I., Asakawa, S., Bustamante, M., House, J. I., Sobocká, J., Harper, R., Pan, G., West, P. C., Gerber, J. S., Clark, J. M., Adhya, T., Scholes, R. J., and Scholes, M. C.: Biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity as key drivers of ecosystem services provided by soils, SOIL, 1, 665–685, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-1-665-2015 , 2015.