Continental-scale assessment of provisioning soil functions in Europe

Ecological Processes

Table 1 Soil functions that play a role in ecosystem services either directly, through their primary benefits to humans, or indirectly, by contributing to ecosystem functioning that eventually leads to benefits for humans

Soil functions (CEC2006)	Type of linkage	Ecosystem services (MEA2003)
Soil functions (CEC2006)	Type of linkage	Supporting	Provisioning	Regulating	Cultural
Biomass production	Direct		Providing food, feed, wood, fiber, biofuels
Biomass production	Indirect	Supporting ecosystem functions through primary production		Regulating carbon sequestration	Contributing to traditions, spiritual inspiration
Storing, filtering and transforming nutrients and water	Direct			Regulating water and nutrient availability
Storing, filtering and transforming nutrients and water	Indirect	Supporting ecosystem functions through water and nutrient cycling
Hosting biodiversity	Direct	Supporting ecosystem functioning by hosting biodiversity
Hosting biodiversity	Indirect		Providing pharmaceuticals and biochemicals through gene reserve	Regulating crop pollination, pest, and disease control through living organisms	Contributing to scientific discovery
Platform for human activities	Direct	Supporting human habitats
Platform for human activities	Indirect
Source of raw materials	Direct		Providing minerals and soil organic matter
Source of raw materials	Indirect
Carbon pool	Direct			Regulating atmospheric CO₂
Carbon pool	Indirect	Supporting soil structure, nutrient capacity, etc.		Regulating soil system
Storing geological and archaeological heritage	Direct				Cultural heritage values (natural sciences, history, and anthropology)
Storing geological and archaeological heritage	Indirect	Geological heritage supporting the maintenance of ecosystem dynamic equilibrium