title: Adaptive management for soil ecosystem services.
abstract: Ecosystem services provided by soil include regulation of the atmosphere and climate, primary (including agricultural) production, waste processing, decomposition, nutrient conservation, water purification, erosion control, medical resources, pest control, and disease mitigation. The simultaneous production of these multiple services arises from complex interactions among diverse aboveground and belowground communities across multiple scales. When a system is mismanaged, non-linear and persistent losses in ecosystem services can arise. Adaptive management is an approach to management designed to reduce uncertainty as management proceeds. By developing alternative hypotheses, testing these hypotheses and adjusting management in response to outcomes, managers can probe dynamic mechanistic relationships among aboveground and belowground soil system components. In doing so, soil ecosystem services can be preserved and critical ecological thresholds avoided. Here, we present an adaptive management framework designed to reduce uncertainty surrounding the soil system, even when soil ecosystem services production is not the explicit management objective, so that managers can reach their management goals without undermining soil multifunctionality or contributing to an irreversible loss of soil ecosystem services.
authors.affiliation: Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA. Electronic address: Hannah.birge@huskers.unl.edu.
authors.forename: Hannah E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Birgé
authors.affiliation: Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA. Electronic address: bevansbecca@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bevans
authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey-Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA. Electronic address: callen3@unl.edu.
authors.forename: Craig R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7050, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: David.Angeler@slu.se.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Angeler
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Center for Ecology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA. Electronic address: sgbaer@siu.edu.
authors.forename: Sara G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.affiliation: School of Global Environmental Sustainability, and Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80526-1036, USA. Electronic address: diana@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Diana H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wall
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D044822:Biodiversity; D002980:Climate; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005246:Feedback; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Multifunctionality; biodiversity; ecological restoration; soil functioning; structured decision making