RESUMO
Soil ecosystem service (SES) approaches evidence the importance of soil for human well-being, contribute to improving dialogue between science and decision-making and encourage the translation of scientific results into public policies. Herein, through systematic review, we assess the state of the art of SES approaches in tropical regions. Through this review, 41 publications were identified; while most of these studies considered SES, a lack of a consistent framework to define SES was apparent. Most studies measured soil natural capital and processes, while only three studies undertook monetary valuation. Although the number of publications increased (from 1 to 41), between 2001 and 2019, the total number of publications for tropical regions is still small. Countries with the largest number of publications were Brazil (n = 8), Colombia (n = 6) and Mexico (n = 4). This observation emphasizes an important knowledge gap pertaining to SES approaches and their link to tropical regions. With global momentum behind SES approaches, there is an opportunity to integrate SES approaches into policy and practice in tropical regions. The use of SES evaluation tools in tropical regions could transform how land use decisions are informed, mitigating soil degradation and protecting the ecosystems that soil underpins.
RESUMO
Soil, water, and nutrient loss by water erosion are among the main factors leading to land degradation, decreasing soil productivity and the provision of ecosystem services. The Cerrado-Amazon ecotone in western Brazil has suffered rapid land-use cover changes with impacts on soil erosion and land degradation. Despite the importance of the region for Brazilian agriculture and environmental conservation, studies on soil, water, and nutrient loss are still scarce. We tested integrated crop-livestockforestry (ICLF) as a sustainable agriculture management system for the Cerrado-Amazon ecotone region. A field experiment was established in the north of Mato Grosso state to quantify total soil, water, carbon and nitrogen loss during the rainy season in 2012-2013 in plots of integrated crop-forestry (ICF), pasture (PAST), eucalyptus plantation (EUC), no-tillage crop succession (CS) and bare soil (BS). Total soil, water, carbon and nitrogen losses in BS were, on average, 96.7% higher than in ICF, EUC, PAST, and CS. ICF had significantly lower water loss than CS, EUC and PAST. Total loss of carbon (4.3 - 428.2 kg ha-1) and nitrogen (0.3 - 29.2 kg ha-1) differed significantly among treatments. The production systems with tree components (EUC and ICF) and PAST showed reduced soil and nutrients loss compared to CS. Our results demonstrated that ICLF can avoid soil quality loss and thus improve agriculture sustainability in the Cerrado-Amazon ecotone.(AU)
A erosão hídrica é um dos principais fatores da degradação dos solos, impactando seu potencial produtivo e capacidade de provisão de serviços ecossistêmicos. O ecótono Cerrado-Amazônia, no norte de Mato Grosso, Brasil, tem sofrido intensas modificações em seu uso e cobertura com impacto na erosão e degradação do solo. Apesar da importância ambiental e agropecuária da região, estudos sobre as perdas de água, solo e nutrientes são escassos. Neste trabalho, testamos a utilidade da integração lavoura-pecuária-floresta (ICLF) para a produção agrícola sustentável no ecótono Cerrado-Amazônia. Foi implantado um experimento de campo no norte de Mato Grosso para quantificar as perdas de solo, água, carbono e nitrogênio durante o período chuvoso de 2012-2013 em parcelas de integração lavoura-floresta (ICF), pastagem (PAST), plantação de eucalipto (EUC), plantio direto com sucessão de culturas (CS) e solo descoberto (BS). As perdas totais de água, solo, carbono e nitrogênio foram, em média, 96,7% maiores em BS, quando comparadas a ICF, EUC, PAST e CS. As perdas de água e solo foram significativamente menores na ICF comparado a CS. As perdas totais de carbono (4.3 - 428.2 kg ha-1) e nitrogênio (1.05 - 10.4 kg ha-1) diferiram significativamente. Os sistemas com um componente arbóreo (EUC e ICF) e PAST tiveram menores perdas de solo e nutrientes em comparação com CS. Nossos resultados demonstraram que ICLF pode evitar a perda de qualidade de solo, melhorando a sustentabilidade da agricultura no ecótono Cerrado-Amazônia.(AU)