Résumé
The soil ecosystem services (SES) concept is often used as a synonym for soil functions and soil processes in the perspective of improving environmental decision-making and representing soil’s many benefits to people. In the present paper we conducted a bibliometric analysis on the economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) provided by soil biodiversity and identified trends in the field worldwide. The baseline data for the analyses were retrieved from queries of an online scientific database, from which articles that contained the term “ecosystem services” and terms related to “economic valuation” and “soil biodiversity” were selected. The use of economic valuation methods as a means to address trade-off scenarios in the maintenance of certain ES has evolved in meaningful ways. A range of studies have estimated the value (individual or combined) of ES related to soil biodiversity provided by agricultural and natural landscapes, although there is a lack of integrative biophysical-social research that characterizes SES changes, coupled with multi-metric qualitative valuation, and context-appropriate decision-making. As soil biodiversity has important potential contributions to ES and human well-being, we hope that this article will contribute to increasing the visibility of soil biodiversity, raise awareness among policymakers, and help promote public policies aimed at biodiversity conservation.