Worldwide human activities threaten soil quality in terms of the soil's ability to deliver
ecosystem services. This ongoing process of land degradation asks for effective strategies of
soil protection. In this context, it is important to understand processes that build up and
regenerate soil. The present study investigated how the soil ecosystem, including soil
organisms, vegetation and soil ecological processes, develops during the process of soil
formation in a chronosequence in a glacier forefield in Iceland. We hypothesised that along …