Journal article

Soil biota and global change at the ecosystem level: describing soil biota in mathematical models


Authors listSmith, P; Andren, O; Brussaard; Dangerfield, M; Ekschmitt, K; Lavelle, P; van Noordwijk, M; Tate, K

Publication year1998

Pages773-784

JournalGlobal Change Biology

Volume number4

Issue number7

Open access statusGreen

DOI Linkhttps://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.1998.00193.x

PublisherWiley


Abstract

All current mathematical models of the soil system are underpinned by a
wealth of research into soil biology and new research continues to
improve the description of the real world by mathematical models. In
this review we examine the various approaches for describing soil
biology in mathematical models and discuss the use of each type of model
in global change research. The approaches represented among models
participating in the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE)
Soil Organic Matter Network (SOMNET) are described. We examine the
relative advantages and constraints of each modelling approach and,
using these, suggest appropriate uses of each. We show that for
predictive purposes at ecosystem scale and higher, process‐orientated
models (which have only an implicit description of soil organisms) are
most commonly used. As a research tool at the ecosystem level, both
process‐orientated and organism‐orientated models (in which functional
or taxonomic groups of soil organisms are explicitly described) are
commonly used. Because of uncertainties introduced in internal model
parameter estimation and system feedbacks, the predictive use of
organism‐orientated models at the ecosystem scale and larger is
currently less feasible than is the use of process‐orientated models. In
some specific circumstances, however, an explicit description of some
functional groups of soil organisms within models may be required to
adequately describe the effects of global change. No existing models can
adequately predict the feedback between global change, a change in soil
community function, and the response of the changed system to future
global change. To find out if these feedbacks exist and to what extent
they affect future global change, more research is urgently required
into the response of soil community function to global change and its
potential ecosystem‐level effects.




Citation Styles

Harvard Citation styleSmith, P., Andren, O., Brussaard, Dangerfield, M., Ekschmitt, K., Lavelle, P., et al. (1998) Soil biota and global change at the ecosystem level: describing soil biota in mathematical models, Global Change Biology, 4(7), pp. 773-784. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.1998.00193.x

APA Citation styleSmith, P., Andren, O., Brussaard, Dangerfield, M., Ekschmitt, K., Lavelle, P., van Noordwijk, M., & Tate, K. (1998). Soil biota and global change at the ecosystem level: describing soil biota in mathematical models. Global Change Biology. 4(7), 773-784. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.1998.00193.x


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