Soil Type–Specific Environmental Quality Standards for Zinc in Dutch Soil

Estimating the Pollution Risk of Cadmium in Soil Using a Composite Soil Environmental Quality Standard

Estimating standard-exceeding probabilities of toxic metals in soil is crucial for environmental evaluation. Because soil pH and land use types have strong effects on the bioavailability of trace metals in soil, they were taken into account by some environmental protection agencies in making composite soil environmental quality standards (SEQSs) that contain multiple metal thresholds under diff...

Agri-environmental Soil Quality Indicator in the European Perspective

Executive Summary Soil quality is an account of the soil's ability to provide ecosystem and social services through its capacities to perform its functions under changing conditions (after Tóth et al. 2007.) The concept of soil quality expressed by this definition allows practical applications with regards to targeted social and/or ecosystem services, including agri-environmental services. The ...

Risk-based standards for PCBs in soil Proposals for environmental risk limits and maximum values

Fostering soil stewardship through soil quality assessment

Soil quality is not a purchased technology; instead, it is a concept that can be used in making land management decisions. Researchers have generally agreed upon the soil properties that determine soils’ capacity to function and have emphasized that soil quality must be understood in context. Soil quality research has included the following: (1) soil management research, where the effects of ma...

Indicators for evaluating soil quality

Interactions between the diversity of primary producers (plants) and of decomposers (microbes and mesofaunal communities), the two key functional groups that form the basis of all ecosystems have major consequences on the functioning of agricultural ecosystems. Soil microorganisms control the transformation and mineralization of natural compounds and xenobiotics. The soil microbiota, existing i...