Advances in soil biology: what does this mean for assessing soil change?

Abstract

Our interests in soil change are moving away from soil properties and increasingly towards changes in the processes and functioning of soils. Soil organisms are fundamental to dynamics and change in soils through their fundamental role in soil processes [1]. However it is only with recent technical and theoretical advances that we have started to establish quantitative relationships between soil biology and soil change (c.f. [2]). It is this predictive understanding that will enable us to fully integrate soil biology into the effective monitoring and sustainable management of soils. This paper outlines some of the recent advances in soil biology and discusses their relevance to monitoring and management.