IfSS (TAKI)

A new international study co-authored by Kitti Balog and Gábor Szatmári, researchers at the HUN-REN ATK Institute for Soil Sciences, has been published in the Geoderma journal in collaboration with eight universities and research institutions. The study aims to map the spatial distribution of soil salinity on a large scale to support sustainable soil management in Europe. The research focuses on mapping the saturated soil-paste electrical conductivity (EC_e) of European soils using pedotransfer functions and the Quantile Regression Forests machine-learning algorithm.

The study is based on the LUCAS 2018 soil monitoring database, which includes nearly 20,000 topsoil samples. The findings show that EC_1:5, the electrical conductivity of a 1:5 soil-to-water suspension, can be converted to EC_e based on soil texture and soil organic carbon content. The final model performance (R² = 0.302, RMSE = 0.265 dS*m-¹) aligns with similar large-scale studies in the literature. The mapping results reveal that in Northern and Atlantic Europe, salt accumulation occurs through natural processes, while in Mediterranean and Southern regions, human activities—such as irrigation, poor drainage, and seawater intrusion in coastal areas—play a major role.

The study highlights elevated EC_e levels in Spain, which may pose a risk to the productivity of irrigated agricultural soils. Soil salinity monitoring is crucial for achieving the goals of the European Union’s Green Deal and the ’Farm to Fork’ strategy, which aim to ensure sustainable food security. The study’s findings contribute to EU soil degradation monitoring efforts and support policy decision-making. This research was conducted through international collaboration, led by the JRC European Commission, with contributions from researchers at the HUN-REN ATK Institute for Soil Sciences, University College London, CSIC Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación-CIDE Valencia, Aarhus University, TEAGASC (Dublin), Agricultural University of Athens, Isparta University of Applied Sciences, and University of Palermo.

Schillaci C, Scarpa S, Yunta F, Lipani A, Visconti F, Szatmári G, Balog K et al. 2025. Empirical estimation of saturated soil-paste electrical conductivity in the EU using pedotransfer functions and Quantile Regression Forests: A mapping approach based on LUCAS topsoil data. Geoderma 454, 117199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117199.

The effects of plant invasions on native communities are well-studied, but our knowledge of soil biodiversity remains quite limited. This is especially true for certain taxa of soil arthropods, such as myriapods (Myriapoda), which are a species-rich group playing diverse roles in the soil food web. Among them are predators and plant- and detritus-feeding organisms.

In a recently published study in the D1-ranked journal Insect Conservation and Diversity, researchers of the Institute for Soil Sciences investigated how plant invasion influences the taxonomic and functional diversity, as well as the composition, of centipede (Chilopoda) and millipede (Diplopoda) assemblages in a protected urban meadow. As a model species, they used the Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), a North American invasive plant that is aggressively spreading across Europe and Asia.

The results showed that the dominance of goldenrod primarily affected detritivores, particularly millipedes, which have a more direct relationship with plants. They were present in higher diversity and abundance in invaded plots. In addition to seasonal differences, their community composition differed significantly -both taxonomically and functionally- from that of control plots with natural vegetation. In contrast, centipede assemblages in this study were only influenced by soil moisture.

These findings suggest that the impact of plant invasion depends on the trophic role in the soil food web, and may even be beneficial to certain groups. This is likely part of the positive plant-soil feedback mechanism, which plays a key role in the successful establishment of invasive plants.

https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12802 

A new study titled “Better management zoning with elevation than with three soil classifications in a periodically waterlogged plot” has been published as a result of collaboration among several Hungarian Universities and the HUN-REN ATK Institute for Soil Sciences. The study compares the alignment of polygons derived from three different soil classification systems—USDA Soil Taxonomy, the genetic-based Hungarian Soil Classification System, and WRB—against the patterns of elevation and mean NDVI in a slightly saline alluvial cropland. The primary objective of the research was to delineate potential management zones.

The study was conducted in Dunavecse, the largest formerly saline, currently cultivated cropland in Hungary (0.9 km²). Within this area, 85 undisturbed, 1-meter-deep soil profiles were sampled, described, and classified using a 100 × 100 m sampling grid.

Polygon alignment was assessed using both qualitative methods and landscape metric analyses. The comparison of soil maps generated from different classification systems revealed that, based on north–south orientation (the orientation of highs/lows), length, perimeter, area, aggregation and interspersion/juxtaposition of polygons, USDA Soil Taxonomy exhibited the best performance. The Hungarian Soil Classification System showed an intermediate performance, whereas the WRB classification resulted in a highly fragmented pattern.

One of the key findings of the study was that elevation, considered as a background variable, allowed for a more accurate and reliable delineation of management zones than any of the soil classification systems. By analyzing the scatterplots of elevation versus mean NDVI and elevation versus the 10-year NDVI range, a threshold elevation of 95.47 m was identified. This threshold effectively separated the more productive, less variable zone from the lower-lying, less productive, periodically waterlogged, and more uncertain zone.

These findings highlight that for precision agriculture and sustainable land use, incorporating topographic and vegetation data may provide a more effective approach than relying solely on soil classification-based delineation.

The study was authored by researchers from the HUN-REN ATK Institute for Soil Sciences, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Debrecen, the University of Pécs, and the University of Sopron.

Tibor Tóth, Szilárd Szabó, Tibor Novák, Szabolcs Czigány, Mihály Kocsis, András Makó, Bence Gallai, Mátyás Árvai, János Mészáros, Kitti Balog: Better management zoning with elevation than with three soil classifications in a periodically waterlogged plot,, Geoderma Regional,, Volume 40, 2025, e00927, ISSN 2352-0094, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2025.e00927.