Land-use impacts on a soil ecosystem services index in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome

Soil is crucial for providing multiple ecosystem services, playing a key role in environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation. Therefore, this study aimed to propose an index of soil-related ecosystem services (SES) across different land-uses within the main soil orders of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome. The study assessed the ecosystem services provided by two soil orders (Ultisols and Oxisols) under six different land-uses (forest fragment, forest restoration, pasture, sugarcane, cassava, and annual crop) in the Pontal do Paranapanema region, Brazil. The proposed SES index integrates indicators of carbon sequestration, carbon cycling, soil fertility, and soil structure and water regulation. The results showed that the forest fragment and forest restoration had the highest values for the SES index, with ES1 = 0.84 and 0.75, ES2 = 0.79 and 0.69, ES3 = 0.57 and 0.59, and ES4 = 0.88 and 0.83, respectively, while cassava had the lowest performance, with ES1 = 0.48, ES2 = 0.47, ES3 = 0.45, and ES4 = 0.74, mainly due to degraded soil structure and reduced carbon sequestration. Synergies predominated across all land-uses, except in forest fragments, where a single functional conflict was observed. The strongest synergies were associated with interactions between carbon-related processes and soil structure and water regulation. The proposed SES index represents a practical tool to support sustainable soil management and land-use decisions in tropical regions such as the Atlantic Forest biome.