2024/10/07 by Bockstaller, Christian, Cousin, Isabelle
#Activité biologique #Agroecological transition #Biological activity #Biological index #Ecosystem service #Fertilité des sols #Indice biologique #Model #Modèle #Santé des sols #Service écosystémique #Soil fertility #Soil health #Transition agroécologique
paper · doi:10.17180/ciag-2024-vol94-art28
The soil is at the heart of the agricultural ecosystem and plays a major role in producing and in the provision of the various ecosystem services that regulate production. The agroecological transition involves a transformation of farming systems based on replacing these inputs with ecosystem services. This needs to be supported by assessment methods, both for an initial diagnosis of the situation at the final situation, and of the changes produced by the transition. Clearly, it is not possible to measure soil quality and health directly, which leads to the use of indicators. Those generally take various forms in environmental assessment. The aim of this article will be to produce a review of the indicators available for assessing the impact of agricultural management on soil fertility, quality and health. For these issues, the most commonly used indicators are based on field measurements. Secondly, we will look at the predictive indicators used by agronomists aiming to improve cropping systems or design innovative systems. Several issues remain to be addressed more deeply like the reference value and the predictive quality of indicators in relation to ecosystem services like pest regulation.