Complex Soil Systems Under Anthropocence: Can We Bridge Time, Space, and Systems?.

Soil systems are complex systems because soils are 1) open with continuous inflow and outflow of energy and mass across various permeable boundaries, 2) multi-phase with gaseous, liquid, solid, and living components interacting with each other, giving rise to various feedbacks and adaptations, 3) non-linear with dynamic relationships among their constituents and functions, 4) self-organizing and evolutionary over time, leading to complicated but informative structures, and 5) hierarchical with emergence of new behaviors or functions as scale changes from the microscopic to the megascopic levels. From a complex systems point of view, this paper examines how we may bridge time and space of soil systems under anthropocene, including 1) linking fast and slow processes to soil functions and soil formation, 2) bridging soil structural and landscape units to deterministic patterns and stochastic variability, and 3) connecting mapping, monitoring, and modeling to geographic and functional characterizations.  Anthropogenic impacts on soils definitely have made already complex soil systems even more complex, but to achieve sustainable land use and lasting ecosystem services, we must understand better the fundamental principles involved in governing complex soil systems and their evolution, and strive to bridge time and space in coupled human-natural systems.