Soil classification is based on both the properties of the soil material and the pedogenetic pathways responsible for those properties. Because soil properties are linked to soil function and potential, information on soil classification has formed the basis for empirical interpretations of mapping units in terms of limitations or suitabilities for a wide range of land uses. In this way, a soil type acts as an accessible “carrier of information” presenting “the story of..”. Though valuable for broad land-use assessments, these empirical interpretations of soil functionality are inadequate to answer modern interdisciplinary questions focused on sustainable development. Four case studies are presented showing various quantitative approaches focusing on soil functions contributing to ecosystem services in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Green Deal, demonstrating that: (i) the use of soil surveys and associated databases feeding soil–water-atmosphere-plant simulation models can contribute to defining soil functions and ecosystem services; (ii) hydropedological characterization of soil types can allow a strong reduction in the number of landscape units to be considered, improving practical applicability; (iii) pedotransfer functions can successfully link soil data to modeling parameters; (iv) functionality requires expression of soil management effects on properties of a given soil type, to be expressed by phenoforms; (v) only models can be applied to explore important future effects of climate change by running IPCC scenarios; and (vi) the most effective level of soil classification—acting as carriers of information when defining soil functionality—will differ depending on the spatial scale being considered, whether local, regional or higher.

土壤分类基于土壤材料的特性和负责这些特性的成土途径。由于土壤特性与土壤功能和潜力相关，土壤分类信息已成为对绘图单元在各种土地利用的限制或适用性方面进行经验解释的基础。通过这种方式，土壤类型作为呈现“……的故事”的可访问“信息载体”。尽管对广泛的土地利用评估有价值，但这些对土壤功能的经验解释不足以回答以可持续发展为重点的现代跨学科问题。提出了四个案例研究，展示了各种定量方法，侧重于根据联合国可持续发展目标 (SDG) 和欧洲绿色协议对生态系统服务作出贡献的土壤功能，表明：(i) 使用土壤调查和相关数据库提供信息土壤-水-大气-植物模拟模型有助于定义土壤功能和生态系统服务；(ii) 土壤类型的水文特征可以大大减少要考虑的景观单元的数量，提高实际适用性；(iii) pedotransfer 函数可以成功地将土壤数据与建模参数联系起来；(iv) 功能性需要表达土壤管理对特定土壤类​​型特性的影响，并通过表型来表达；(v) 只有模型才能通过运行 IPCC 情景来探索气候变化的重要未来影响；(vi) 最有效的土壤分类水平——在定义土壤功能时作为信息载体——将根据所考虑的空间尺度而有所不同，无论是地方、区域还是更高。