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Agricultural land is subjected to a variety of societal pressures, as demands for food, animal feed, and biomass production increase, with an added requirement to simultaneously maintain natural areas and mitigate climatic and environmental impacts. The biotic elements of agricultural systems interact with the abiotic environment to generate a number of ecosystem functions that offer services benefiting humans across many scales of time and space. The intensification of agriculture generally reduces biodiversity including that within soil, and impacts negatively upon a number of regulating and supporting ecosystem services. There is a global need toward achieving sustainable agricultural systems, as also highlighted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There is hence a need for management regimes that enhance both agricultural production and the associated provision of multiple ecosystem services. The articles of this Research Topic enhance our knowledge of how management practices applied to agricultural systems affect the delivery of multiple ecosystem services and how trade-offs between provisioning, regulating, and supporting services can be handled both above- and below-ground. They also show the diversity of topics that need to be considered within the framework of ecosystem services delivered by agricultural systems, from knowledge on basic concepts and newly-proposed frameworks, to a focus on specific ecosystem types such as grasslands and high nature-value farmlands, pollinator habitats, and soil habitats. This diversity of topics indicates the need for broader-scope research, integrated with targeted scientific research to promote sustainable agricultural practices and to ensure food security.

soil biodiversity --- pollination --- perennial crops --- scale --- soil --- high-value farmlands --- conceptual frameworks

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Soil animals --- Soil biology --- Soil animals. --- Soil biology. --- Soil --- Animals --- Soil. --- Animals. --- Biology --- Natural history --- Soil fauna --- Compost animals --- Animalia --- Animal --- Metazoa --- Humus --- Soils --- Peat --- Periodicals --- Life Sciences --- Zoology --- soil biodiversity --- soil biology --- soil organisms --- soil ecology --- soil ecosystem functions

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Soil fauna plays a key role in many soil functions, such as organic matter decomposition, humus formation, and nutrient release, modifying soil structure, and improving its fertility. Soil invertebrates play key roles in determining soil suitability for agricultural production and realizing sustainable farming systems. They include an enormous diversity of arthropods, nematodes, and earthworms. However, this fauna suffers from the impact of agricultural activities with implications for the capacity of soil to maintain its fertility and provide ecosystem services. Some agricultural practices may create crucial soil habitat changes, with consequences for invertebrate biodiversity. In the few last decades, especially under intensive and specialized farming systems, a loss in soil ecosystem services has been observed, as a result of the reduction in both the abundance and taxonomic diversity of soil faunal communities. On the other hand, agricultural practices, based on sustainable soil management, can promote useful soil fauna. Therefore, the concerns about the sensibility of soil biota to the agricultural practices make it urgent to develop sustainable management strategies, able to realize favorable microclimate and habitats, and reduce the soil disturbance.

soil biota --- invertebrates --- farming systems --- bioenergy --- biodiversity --- wheat --- ecosystem --- axonchium --- helicotylenchus --- tylenchorhynchus --- pratylenchus --- reniform --- vertosol --- gossypium --- Gossypium --- Zea mays --- vertisol --- Lumbricidae --- Aporrectodea caliginosa --- Aporrectodea rosea --- phosphorus fertilizers --- phosphorus-solubilizing microorganisms --- renewable resources --- heavy metals --- Luvisols --- ground-dwelling arthropods --- pitfall traps --- cover crops --- ecosystem services --- natural enemies --- pear pests --- biological control --- soil organic matter --- soil pH --- post-harvest residues --- crop rotation --- Hordeum vulgare L. --- Vicia faba L. ssp. minor --- soil biodiversity --- vineyard --- co-occurrence patterns --- soil moisture --- soil temperature --- vineyard management --- traditional management --- sustainable agriculture --- management intensity --- South Tyrol --- mountain agriculture --- soil --- soil properties --- macrofauna --- earthworms --- sustainability --- soil invertebrates --- bioindicators --- soil quality --- mesofauna --- soil degradation --- land management

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In the last century, innovations in agricultural technologies centered on maximizing food production to feed the growing population have contributed to significant changes in agroecosystem processes, including carbon, nutrients, and water cycling. There are growing concerns regarding soil fertility depletion, soil carbon loss, greenhouse gas emissions, irrigational water scarcity, and water pollution, affecting soil health, agricultural productivity, systems sustainability, and environmental quality. Soils provide the foundation for food production, soil water and nutrient cycling, and soil biological activities. Therefore, an improved understanding of biochemical pathways of soil organic matter and nutrient cycling, microbial community involved in regulating soil health, and soil processes associated with water flow and retention in soil profile helps design better agricultural systems and ultimately support plant growth and productivity. This book, Agroecological Approaches in Soil and Water Management, presents a collection of original research and review papers studying physical, chemical, and biological processes in soils and discusses multiple ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, nutrients and water cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and agro-environmental sustainability. We covered tillage, nutrients, irrigation, amendments, crop rotations, crop residue management practices for improving soil health, soil C and nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, soil water dynamics, and hydrological processes.

Research. --- Biology. --- Technology. --- Engineering. --- Agriculture. --- land use change --- tillage --- fertilization --- N2O fluxes --- subtropical region --- paddy field --- soil organic carbon --- denitrification decomposition (DNDC) --- climate change --- biochar --- food security --- socio-economics benefits --- sustainable agriculture --- sustainable environment --- evaluation of soil and water conservation --- simulated rainfall events --- soil denudation --- water and sediment process --- nitrogen --- nitrate leaching --- nitrous oxide --- soil resilience --- soil microbiome --- regenerative agriculture --- ecological ditch --- agroforestry --- conservation agriculture --- Europe --- North Africa --- nutrient retention --- organic agriculture --- soil conservation --- water conservation --- sodium adsorption ratio --- relative feed value, forage nutritive value --- oat --- alfalfa --- forage crops --- alternative water source --- agriculture landscape --- chlorophyll content of citrus --- landscape position --- soil properties --- terraces --- soil health indicators --- grazing systems --- permanganate oxidizable carbon --- soil microbial biomass --- carbon --- isotopic signature --- Mustang --- natural abundance --- nutrient sourcing --- maize equivalent yield --- nutrient loss --- runoff --- soil loss --- slope --- strip-intercropping --- water use efficiency --- structure optimization --- carbon footprint --- multi-objective linear programming --- circular agriculture --- hydrogel --- soil quality --- chemico-physical properties --- sustainability --- macronutrient --- nutrient deficiency --- nutrient uptake --- site-specific nutrient management --- soil organic matter --- soil biodiversity --- bacteria --- fungi --- microarthropods --- diatoms --- metataxonomic assays