Scientific-Technical Reports

The presented datasets and indicators on soil erosion, soil organic carbon stocks and soil nutrients are the result of modelling activities taken place at the Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra. The datasets are important advancements in the current knowledge of soil properties and processes at continental scale. In addition, the soil erosion, soil carbon and soil nutrients datasets and indicators provide baselines for evaluating the current status of agricultural soils in the European Union (EU) and evaluating the impact of agro-environmental policies on land management. Moreover, those datasets can further contribute to propose and design management practices to improve the status of agricultural soils, face land degradation and better target policy interventions. The indicators of soil erosion and soil organic carbon are currently included in monitoring the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, here we propose the development of soil nutrients datasets both as individual indicators (Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Potassium) and as composite indicator of soil fertility. Concluding, we found that the soil organic carbon changes cannot be identified within the timeline of policy interventions (for example in the CAP the assessment cycle is 7 years).

This document presents the latest status of soil condition in the European Union (EU), focusing particularly on agricultural land. The document presents the most recent assessment (2016) of soil erosion by water in the EU using the latest state-of-the-art data on management practices and the latest Land Use / Land Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS). The assessment of soil organic carbon stocks and changes between the two LUCAS surveys (2009, 2015) (https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/lucas) is addressed with a specific focus on agricultural land. Finally, the report proposes data sets and methods to assess the nutrient status of soils in the EU. To facilitate policy support, we have developed indicators (taking into account policy-relevant requests) based on aggregated data at regional scales (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics - NUTS2) that compare changes of soil condition in time. The report includes three sections relevant to the evaluation of soil condition and agri-environmental policies: (a) soil erosion, (b) carbon stocks and (c) soil nutrients. Both the key conclusions and the main findings (below) are grouped according to those three sections.

DOI: doi.org/10.2760/011194

DG AGRI is currently supporting under Horizon 2020 an European Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on agricultural soil management to overcome current fragmentation in national research programmes and unleash the potential of agricultural soils to contribute to climate change mitigation/adaptation, while preserving or increasing agricultural functions. The EJP SOIL is a European Joint Programming Initiative co-funded by Member States on agricultural soil management contributing to key societal challenges including climate change and future food supply.

The EJP SOIL will look at how good agriculture soil management can contribute to food security, climate change mitigation/adaptation and ecosystem services through the preservation of soil organic content and water retaining capacity. This report provides technical advice and scientific guidance on the implementation of the EJP SOIL for an improved collaboration with JRC. The technical advice is a summary of the outputs of two meetings with the EJP SOIL partners in summer 2020. JRC also provides recommendations for a better collaboration in relation to the implementation of the LUCAS Soil Module, development of soil indicators and related data flows from EJP SOIL to ESDAC, development of the EU Soil Observatory plus some future research challenges. This report includes also the metadata related to datasets available at European scale for use by the EJP SOIL

Soil condition underpins food security, green growth, bioeconomies and aboveground biodiversity; it regulates climate, the hydrological and nutrient cycles, while  mitigating climate change. Soils provide resilience against floods and droughts, buffer the effects of pollutants and preserve cultural heritage. Healthy, functional soils underpin several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Pressures on this finite, non-renewable resource, due to competition for land or inappropriate land management choices, severely impact soil functions. Amplified by climate change, these pressures lead to degradation processes such as erosion, contamination, loss of organic matter, shallow landsliding and, in extreme cases, a complete loss of the resource.

https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/public_path/shared_folder/doc_pub/JRC_Soil_Highlights_eBook_0.pdf

 

 

On this report the findings of the questionnaire commissioned by the European Commission Joint Research Centre for the revision of the Indicator "Progress in the management of contaminated site in Europe" in 2016 are presented. It has been produced with the contribution of data provided by the National Reference Centres (NRCs) in member states and cooperating countries within EIONET and funded by the country to work with the EEA and relevant European Topic Centres (ETCs) in specific thematic areas related to the EEA work programme

 

The European Commission launched a soil assessment component to the periodic LUCAS Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey in 2009. Composite soil samples from 0-20-cm depth were taken, air-dried and sieved to 2 mm in order to analyse physical and chemical parameters of topsoil in 25 Member States (EU-27 except Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Cyprus). The aim of the LUCAS Soil Component was to create a harmonised and comparable dataset of main properties of topsoil at the EU. The LUCAS Soil Component was extended to Bulgaria and Romania in 2012. Overall, ca. 22,000 soil samples were collected and analysed. All samples were analysed for percentage of coarse fragments, particle-size distribution, pH, organic carbon, carbonates, phosphorous, total nitrogen, extractable potassium, cation exchange capacity, multispectral properties and heavy metals. In 2015, the soil sampling was repeated in the same set of points of LUCAS 2009/2012 to monitor changes in topsoil physical and chemical parameters across the EU. The soil component was extended to points above elevations of 1000 m, which were not sampled in LUCAS 2009/2012. Furthermore, soil samples were taken in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Switzerland. The soil sampling was carried out following the instructions already used in LUCAS 2009/2012. Approximately 27,000 samples were collected and will be analysed during 2016 and 2017. In 2018, a new soil sampling campaign will be carried out within the LUCAS framework. Soil samples will be taken in repeated points of LUCAS 2009/2012 and LUCAS 2015. The novelty of the survey is that new physical, chemical and biological parameters will be analysed. Key parameters for evaluating soil quality, such as bulk density and soil biodiversity, will be analysed. These analyses require specific methods of soil sampling, preparation and storage of samples. Furthermore, field measurements such as the thickness of organic layer in peat soils, and visual assessment of signs of soil erosion will be carried out in 2018. This technical report compiles the instructions for collecting the various soil samples and for performing field measurements in the soil survey of 2018. These instructions will be used for all LUCAS surveyors, to create a comparable database of soil characteristics all over Europe.

The European Commission launched a soil assessment component to the periodic LUCAS Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey in 2009. In 2015, the Topsoil Survey was repeated in the same set of points of LUCAS 2009/2012 for monitoring changes in topsoil physical and chemical parameters across the EU. Currently, the European Commission is working on the organization of the upcoming LUCAS Soil Surveys (2018). This technical report is a proposal for analysing new physical, chemical and biological soil parameters within the forthcoming LUCAS Soil Surveys. Soil biodiversity is a key parameter that needs to be added to LUCAS Soil Surveys, due to the contribution of the soil biological community to soil functions such as food and biomass production, genetic pool for developing novel pharmaceuticals, and climate regulation. Among physical properties, bulk density is necessary to assess soil compaction and to estimate soil organic carbon stock in the EU. Field measurements such as signs of soil erosion and thickness of organic layer in Histosols is also important to assess two critical soil degradation processes in the EU: soil erosion and organic carbon decline due to land use changes and land take of Histosols. Finally, it could be interesting to organize a survey of soil profiles to collect information that will help to understand soil-forming processes and to evaluate soil ability for carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, water storage, and contaminant filtering.

This report presents the result of WP2 of the RECARE project. One of the objectives of WP2 (Base for RECARE data collection and methods) is to provide an improved overview of existing information on soil threats and degradation at the European scale. The report is written by a group of experts from the RECARE team, coordinated by Bioforsk. In total, 60 persons were included in the process of writing, reviewing and editing the report. Eleven soil threats were identified for the report. These soil threats are soil erosion by water, soil erosion by wind, decline of organic matter (OM) in peat, decline of OM in minerals soils, soil compaction, soil sealing, soil contamination, soil salinization, desertification, flooding and landslides and decline in soil biodiversity.
Editors: Jannes Stolte, Mehreteab Tesfai, Lillian Øygarden, Sigrun Kværnø (NIBIO), Jacob Keizer, Frank Verheijen (University of Aveiro), Panos Panagos, Cristiano Ballabio (JRC), Rudi Hessel (Alterra WUR)
EUR27607

Soil Resources of Mediterranean and Caucasus Countries This book is result of the workshop on "Extension of the European Soil Database" held in Izmir/Turkey on 14-15 May 2012. The country reports on the status of soil mapping and the development of national soil information systems were presented briefly and discussed in relation to the objective on extension of the European soil database and information system. The most recent extension studies cover Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey this book features country chapters, with contributions from 13 of the above-mentioned countries. Editors(s) Yusuf Yigini, Panos Panagos, Luca Montanarella. Special thanks to the contributors: H. Ghazaryan (Armenia), A. Ismayilov (Azerbaijan), Z. Zomeni, A. Bruggeman (Cuprus), M.M. Kotb (Egypt), T.F. Urushadze, G.O. Ghambashidze (Georgia), A. Salih Mhaimeed (Iraq), O. Crouvi, R. Zaidenberg, M. Shapiro (Israel), M. H Al Ferihat (Jordan), T. Darwish (Lebanon), B. Nwer(Libya), Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Malta), B. Dudeen, W0 Abu Rmailah, M. Alsalimiya, M. Alamleh (Palestine), S. Senol, I. Bayramin (Turkey). – Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union – 2013 – 243pp. – EUR25988EN Scientific and Technical Research series, SSN 1831-9424, ISBN 978-92-79-30346-3, doi: 10.2788/91322 Download report: (Size: 17 MB) Preview FrontPage : Last Update: 03/06/2013

Guidelines for the use of native mosses, transplanted mosses and soils in assessing organic and inorganic contaminant fallout These guidelines on the use of mosses are of strategic importance in that they make it possible to harmonize the indications obtained from differing environments in terms of extent and, thereby, to compare them with results obtained using other methods. Cenci, R. (2008). European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, EUR 23292-EN, 33 pp. ISBN: 978-92-79-08719-6, ISSN: 1018-5593 Key words: mosses, soils, dioxins, heavy metals, radioisotopes. Download report: (Size: 2.2 MB) Preview FrontPage : Linee guida per l' utilizzo di muschi indigeni, muschi trapiantati e suoli per valutare le ricadute di contaminanti organici e inorganici. Scaricare il documento: (Taglia: 2.2 MB)

Euro soils: Identification, collection, Treatment and Characterization. Methodological Aspects of Reference Soil Sampling. Field Work on euro-soils profile anaysis and sampling procedures. Pedological Characterization composition analysis. Determination of organochlorine compounds. Evaluation of Laboratory Ringtest . Kuhnt and Muntau. (1994). Euro soils: Identification, collection, Treatment and Characterization. EUR 19460 EN, 152pp. Keywords: Euro soils, Collection, Soil Sampling Download report: (Size: 1.6 MB) Preview FrontPage : Last Update: 11/02/2010

Soil geography and geostatistics (Concepts and Applications) Geostatistics, which can be defined as the tools for studying and predicting the spatial structure of georeferenced variables, have been mainly used in soil science during the past two decades. Since now, hundreds of geostatistical papers have been published on soil science issues (see bibliography ibid., this volume).The use of geostatistical tools in soil science is diverse and extensive. It can be for studying and predicting soil contamination in industrial areas, for building agrochemical maps at the field level, or even to map physical and chemical soil properties for a global extent. The users of the output maps are going from soil scientists to environmental modelers. Krasilnikov, P., Carré, F. & Montanarella, L. (eds.). EUR 23290 EN, Catalogue number: LB-NA-23290-EN-C, ISBN 978-92-79-08720-2, ISSN 1018-5593 Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities , 2008. Download report: (Size: 5 MB) Preview FrontPage :

The unofficial guide for authors The unofficial guide for authors(or how to produce research articles worth citing) Tomislav Hengl and Mike Gould, EUR 22191 EN, 66pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. Download report: (Size: 1.6 MB) Preview FrontPage :

VAN DER KNIJFF, J.M., JONES, R.J.A. and MONTANARELLA, L. (2000). EUR 19044 EN, 34pp.

Monitoraggio Ambientale Mediante l' impiego di suoli e di muschi per le discariche di Rio Riazzone, Rio Vigne e Poiatica di Reggio Emilia Soil and mosses to value environmental quality of Rio Riazzone, Rio Vigne and Poiatica landfills in Reggio Emilia. EUR 21561 IT, 59pp. R.M Cenci, M. Bergonzoni, F. Bo, L. Canovi, S.Contini, V.Guberti, L.Musmeci, G. Locoro, E.Meglioli, V.Pedroni, M. Privitera, M. Puglisi, L. Roncari, F.Sena, N. Simonacci, P. Trincherini (2005) Download report: (Size: 22.3 MB) Preview FrontPage :

Soils of the European Union This report is based on the information contained in the European Soil Database, the result of more than ten years of fruitful effort and collaboration between the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, and Europe’s leading soil science institutions. The current report overviews soils of the European Union classified in a new standard which is the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB; FAO 1998). This system originates from the approach of the FAO to correlate soil resources globally. The advantage of using the system of the FAO is that the soil resources of the European Union are integrated into the world-wide context. Gergely Tóth, Luca Montanarella, Vladimir Stolbovoy, Ferenc Máté, Katalin Bódis, Arwyn Jones, Panos Panagos and Marc Van Liedekerke (eds.). EUR 23439 EN, ISBN 978-92-79-09530-6, ISSN 1018-5593, DOI 10.2788/87029 . Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities , 2008. Download report: (Size: 4MB) Preview FrontPage :

The State of Soil in Europe - A contribution of the JRC to the European Environment Agency's Environment State and Outlook Report - SOER 2010 This report published by the JRC and the European Environment Agency provides a comprehensive overview of soil resources and degradation processes. The core of this report was prepared for the Assessment on Soil, which forms part of the 'The European Environment - state and outlook 2010 Report' (SOER) 20102, coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). This Reference Report uses data from the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), managed on behalf of EU institutions by the JRC. The information also helps European citizens to better understand, care for and improve Europe's environment. The soil assessment was one of a set of 13 Europe-wide thematic assessments of key environmental themes and the only one coordinated by the JRC. Author(s): Arwyn Jones, Panos Panagos, Sara Barcelo, Faycal Bouraoui, Claudio Bosco, Olivier Dewitte, Ciro Gardi, Markus Erhard, Javier Hervás, Roland Hiederer, Simon Jeffery, Anke Lükewille, Luca Marmo, Luca Montanarella, Claudia Olazábal, Jan-Erik Petersen, Vit Penizek, Thomas Strassburger, Gergely Tóth, Miet Van Den Eeckhaut, Marc Van Liedekerke, Frank Verheijen, Eva Viestova, Yusuf Yigini 2012 – 76 pp. – EUR 25186 EN– Scientific and Technical Research series. Download report: (Size: 4 MB) Last Update: 13/02/2012

Validation of the EU Soil Sampling Protocol to verify the changes of Organic Carbon stock in mineral soil (Piemonte Region, Italy) Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a measure of the total amount of organic compounds or carbon (C) in soil independently of their origin or decomposition. Interest in SOC is common among soil scientists and related practitioners because of its importance for principle physical, chemical and biological soil ecological functions and that SOC is a universal indicator of soil quality. EUR 22339 EN, 46pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. Stolbovoy Vladimir, Nicola Filippi, Luca Montanarella, Mauro Piazzi, Fabio Petrella, Javier Gallego, Senthil-Kumar Selvaradjou Download report: (Size: 1.9 MB) Preview FrontPage :

Edito dal Comitato Scientifico dell’European Soil Bureau, Versione italiano a cura di Edoardo A.C. Costantini. (1999). EUR 18092 IT, 170pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.

Bob Ahrens, Luca Montanarella, Otto Spaargaren, Erika Michéli Classification, an applied area of soil science but lacks a common set of terminology. In this paper, harmonization of the basic terminology of modern classification systems is suggested.

SCAPE: The way ahead SCAPE project (Soil Conservation and Protection for Europe) has given scientists the opportunity to discuss soil conservation and protection strategies in an informal way with people who are either responsible for finding solutions, or being affected by them. Several hundreds of people have contributed to this book, either collectively or individually. They include the scientists, soil conservation and protection practitioners and stakeholders who participated in the SCAPE platforms, as well as many EU officers who are responsible for future research and environment policy. They also include people who met at the Vital Soil Conference at the Hague in November 2004 and as well the group of International experts in soil and environmental law who met at the September 2005 Conference in Iceland. Anton Imeson, Arnold Arnoldussen, Diego de la Rosa, Luca Montanaralla, Luuk Dorren, Michiel Curfs, Olafur Arnalds, Sanneke van Asselen et (2005) SCAPE: The way ahead. 139pp. Keywords: Soil Conservation, Soil Protection, Soil Data, European Sustainable Land Management Download report: (Size: 10.8 MB) Preview FrontPage : Last Update: 22/03/2010

European Soil Portal The Official Guide for the European Soil Portal. References to Data, Documents, Applications, Projects, Themes and Utilities. Also, the features of the Soil portal are presented against the INSPIRE principles. EUR 22186 EN, 69pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. Panos Panagos, Marc Van Liedekerke and Luca Montanarella Download report: (Size: 11.2 MB) Preview FrontPage :

Background Guide for the Calculation of Land Carbon Stocks in the Biofuels Sustainability Scheme: Drawing on the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories This Guide covers the calculation of carbon-stock changes in soil and above- and below-ground vegetation due to land use conversion in support of Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, particularly for assessing carbon-stock changes due to land conversion for biofuel production. The methodology put forward is based on the Tier 1 approach as developed under the IPCC Guidelines 2006. It is based on specifying default values for carbon stocks and using coefficients of divergence from the default values according to land use/cover. The methodological approach of the IPCC was adapted for use with spatial layers instead of data tables. The spatial layers of the factors influencing carbon-stock changes were generated with global coverage and thematically aligned to comply with stipulations made in the Directive. According to the types of land use/cover conversion, a review is made of the methodology of the IPCC (2006). Particular problems regarding peatlands are presented. Drained peatlands cannot be assessed in terms of carbon-stock changes because drainage occurs on the overall peat soil profile (not only on the first 30 cm). This has direct consequences not only on CO2 emissions but also on CH4 and N2O. Tables of coefficients of conversions are then proposed according to climate zone and continental boundaries for soil carbon-stock changes and for above- and below-ground carbon stock changes in biomass in a Technical Annex. Author(s): Florence Carré, Roland Hiederer, Viorel Blujdea, Renate Koeble, 2010 – 109 pp. – EUR 24573 EN– Scientific and Technical Research series – ISSN 1018-5593, ISBN 978-92-79-17455-1, Doi 10.2788/34463 Download report: (Size: 2.5 MB) Preview FrontPage : Last Update: 12/11/2010

A Soil Sampling Protocol to Certify the Changes of Organic Carbon Stock in Mineral Soils of European Union. EUR 21576 EN, 12 pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. Stolbovoy Vladimir, Luca Montanarella, Nicola Filippi, Senthil-Kumar Selvaradjou, Panos Panagos and Javier Gallego.

Mapping Soil Typologies - Spatial Decision Support Applied to European Soil Database For many applications of modelling environmental conditions or processes soil characteristics are needed in form of spatial data ready to be integrated in a GIS. A source of uniform data on characteristics of European soils is available from the European Soil Database (ESDB) of the European Soil Bureau. The soil information was collected by participating national institutions and underwent an extensive process of harmonizing the thematic content of recording the soil characteristics and ensuring spatial continuity along boundaries. In the database a many-to-1 link is used to relate soil characteristics to the geographic layer. Thus, considerably effort is required to represent specific soil characteristics in a single spatial layer. Author(s) Hiederer, R. – Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union – 2013 – 147pp. – EUR25932EN Scientific and Technical Research series, ISSN 1831-9424, doi:10.2788/87286 Download report: (Size: 5 MB) Preview FrontPage : Last Update: 23/04/2013

Evaluation of BioSoil Demonstration Project - Soil Data Analysis The BioSoil demonstration Project was initiated under the Forest Focus-Scheme (Regulation (EC) Nr. 2152/2003) concerning the monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community, and aimed to broaden the scope of previous forest monitoring activities (on atmospheric pollution and forest fires) to the fields of soil characteristics and biodiversity indicators. The evaluation of the project concentrated on analysing a selected number of parameters submitted by NFCs for estimating the distribution and changes in soil organic carbon and the performance of the WRB classification. Author(s): R. Hiederer, E. Michéli, T. Durrant, 2011 – 155 pp. – EUR 24729 EN– Scientific and Technical Research series – ISSN 1018-5593, ISBN 978-92-79-19320-0, Doi 110.2788/56105 Download report: (Size: 3.5 MB) Preview FrontPage : Last Update: 11/02/2011