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UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2026-NPTBBF@pretalx.earthmonitor.org
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Athens:20261209T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Athens:20261209T141500
DESCRIPTION:Assessing soil health requires indicators that capture both the
  structural condition of soils and their capacity to perform essential eco
 system functions. Soil structure is a key component of soil health because
  it influences water flow\, aeration\, root development\, carbon storage\,
  and biological activity. \nHowever\, assessing soil structure holisticall
 y remains a challenge. \nDetailed metrics like X-ray computer tomography-d
 erived pore geometry or saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) provide va
 luable insights into soil structure and function but are costly and time-c
 onsuming to measure and rely on delicate undisturbed sampling. The Visual 
 Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) offers a rapid field-based soil struct
 ural quality assessment\, yet it remains unclear whether relationships pre
 viously reported between VESS and established structural indicators also h
 old across contrasting land-use types and soil properties\, leaving its po
 tential as a universal soil health indicator unknown. \n \nConsequently\, 
 we investigated whether VESS supports the functional assessment of more de
 tailed structural soil metrics across different land uses and soil texture
 s. In this study\, 66 sites representing cropland\, grassland\, and forest
  ecosystems across Switzerland were sampled.\nAt each site\, VESS was perf
 ormed and four undisturbed soil cores were collected from the topsoil for 
 assessment of CT-derived macropore metrics and soil hydraulic properties. 
 VESS scores were compared with CT-derived macroporosity\, macropore connec
 tivity\, Ksat\, soil texture\, pH\, bulk density\, and soil organic carbon
 .\n \nVESS scores were well distributed across both land-use types and tex
 tural classes and did not show a consistent trend with either factor alone
 . This indicates that visual soil structural quality cannot be explained b
 y land use or texture in isolation and suggests that VESS can be applied a
 cross a broad range of soil conditions.\nSites with favorable VESS scores 
 generally exhibited larger and better connected macropore networks resulti
 ng in higher Ksat-values\, indicating that several relationships previousl
 y reported in agricultural systems also persist across contrasting land-us
 e types and textures\, although their interpretation depends on the domina
 nt type of soil structure formation. Our findings suggest that VESS provid
 es a rapid first assessment of soil structural quality and supports the in
 terpretation of more detailed soil health indicators. The value of VESS-ap
 plication is greatest when its interpretation is combined with basic soil 
 properties (to assess conditions of structure formation)\, making it a pro
 mising indicator for efficient large-scale soil health monitoring across d
 ifferent land use types.
DTSTAMP:20260825T193922Z
LOCATION:Amphitheater I
SUMMARY:Scores of Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) as a Soil Heal
 th Indicator Across Contrasting Land Use Types and Soil Textures - Niklas 
 Schmücker
URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2026/talk/NPTBBF/
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