Integrated Soil Modelling

EUSEM - European Soil Erosion Modelling Platform

To address the policy developments (Common Agricultural Policy, Soil Monitoring Law, SDGs) and the emerging scientific challenges, the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) continues to further develop the EU Soil Erosion Modelling (EUSEM) Platform, which advances our understanding of soil erosion in the EU. In additionm EUSEM provides better spatio-temporal estimates of soil erosion to support policies such as the Soil Monitoring Law, Common Agricultural Policy, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). EUSEM is designed to provide a comprehensive framework for assessing soil erosion and support the effective strategies for conservation. The integration of soil erosion assessments with other processes allows the further development of EUSEM with studies on a) Hydrology & Sediments b) Land Degradation & Agriculture c) Biodiversity & Conservation d) Climate change and soil erosion projections e) Nutrient losses (as carbon and/or Phosphorus) f) soil contamination and fluxes of contaminants g) Food security and economic losses.The collaboration in the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) Working Group on soil erosion is a key factor to develop such integrated assessments.

The Integrated Soil Modelling section shows the cases of advanced soil system modelling at Large (e.g. continental) scales. The objective of this section is to:

• Promote integration of modelling expertise between different soil  threats or soil functions
• integrate soil modelling with other expertise (e.g. Climate, hydrology, land surface, economy, biodiversity, ecosystems, etc)

This section is open for ideas/collaborations and data exchange between modelers.

Soil biodiversity and soil erosion

The relationship between erosion and biodiversity is reciprocal. Soil organisms can both reduce soil loss, by improving porosity, and increase it, by diminishing soil
stability as a result of their mixing activities. Simultaneously, soil runoff has ecological impacts on belowground communities. Despite clear research into interactions,
soil erosion models do not consider biodiversity in their estimates and soil ecology has poorly investigated the effects of erosion. In order to start filling in these research
gaps, we present a novel biological factor and introduce it into a well‐known soil erosion model (the revised universal soil loss equation). Furthermore, we propose
insights to advance soil erosion ecology.