none 10.19103/AS.2024.0141.02 Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited 8180 177389471 6594093 2242117 20251003080838362 10.19103 2026-04-01T13:50:56Z 2025-06-03T07:49:27Z 2 20596936 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain Maria Rosa Mosquera-Losada Ladislau Martin Embrapa, Brazil Anastasia Pantera University of Athens, Greece Allison Morrill Chatrchyan Cornell University, USA With growing concern about the environmental impact of agriculture and its consequent contribution to climate change, there is an increasing interest in the implementation of agroecological approaches to achieve a more sustainable agriculture. Agroforestry is one area of research which has gained significant momentum in recent years. Advances in temperate agroforestry reviews key recent advances in measuring and valuing how agroforestry systems promote biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services such as soil carbon sequestration. The book also considers the development of different silvopastoral and silvoarable practices, including integrating trees and livestock in timber forests, orchard and pasture systems, as well as alley cropping and intercropping. 09 23 2025 09 23 2025 9781801467193 Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Limited 10.19103/AS.2024.0141 https://shop.bdspublishing.com/store/bds/detail/workgroup/3-190-147721 Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Germany Lukas Beule Anna Vaupel Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Germany Zita Bednar-Konski Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Germany Andrea Krähmer Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Germany The health of soils is at stake due to climate change and unsustainable management practices, thus maintaining soil health has become an existential task for humanity. In this chapter, the authors show that cropland agroforestry strongly promotes the biological components of soil health. This includes enhanced population densities and activities of soil microorganisms and fauna, as well as increased diversity of soil fauna under agroforestry systems as compared to open croplands. They argue that land-use change from open cropland to alley cropping and shelterbelt systems provides substantial environmental benefits that outperform those of many sustainable agricultural management practices. Still, sustainable management practices can be applied in the crop component of cropland agroforestry, offering additional benefits. Overall, agroforestry can make major contributions to restoring, improving, and maintaining soil health as well as to the agroecological transition of agriculture.Therefore, agroforestry should be promoted as a priority land-use system. 1 09 23 2025 09 23 2025 3 28 10.19103/AS.2024.0141.02 https://www.bdspublishing.com/webshop/chapters/crops/regenerative-techniques/agroforestry/assessing-the-benefits-of-temperate-cropland-agroforestry-for-promoting-soil-biological-health/ https://link.springer.com/10.19103/AS.2024.0141.02