Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science173 Measuring and Assessing the Biological Health of Soils

This book reviews key advances in measuring soil biology which provides the foundation for soil health on which sustainable crop and livestock production depends. “Soils are fundamental to human civilisations and managing them in a sustainable manner is imperative. This necessitates the appropriate and accurate measurement of key soil properties and biological pa-rameters are now widely understood to be central to these objectives. This excellent book, produced by an internationally outstanding group of experts, comprehensively documents the state-of-the-art in terms of assessing and quantifying belowground life and its attendant functions. Crucially, it provides a coherent and accessible resource that will serve as a key standard reference for anyone tasked with as-sessing – or interpreting such assessments of – soil health.” (Dr Karl Ritz, Emeritus Professor of Soil Ecology, University of Nottingham, UK) One of the most important topics in soil science is understanding the relationship between soil biodiversity and soil ecosystem function. This relies on techniques able to accurately identify different soil organisms and how they interact in the soil microbiome. Measuring and assessing the biological health of soils provides a comprehensive overview of the range of techniques used to assess microbial/faunal diversity and activity in soils and its impact on key ecological processes. The book also reviews how biological indicators can be integrated into soil health testing programmes to improve the quality of agricultural, grassland and forest soils. The book builds on a successful earlier volume published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing: Advances in measuring soil health (2021). Edited by a team of international experts, the book will be a standard reference for university and other researchers in soil and crop science, companies providing soil monitoring services, as well as government and other agencies responsible for ensuring the health of agricultural soils. Dr Jeanette Norton is Professor of Soil Microbiology in the Department of Plants, Soils and Climate at Utah State University, USA. Dr Josh Schimel is Professor of Soil Ecology in the Faculty of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at the University of California-Santa Barbara, USA. Dr Zoë Lindo is Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. One of the most important topics in soil science is understanding the relationship between soil biodiversity and soil ecosystem function. This relies on techniques able to accurately identify different soil organisms and how they interact in the soil microbiome. Measuring and assessing the biological health of soils provides a comprehensive overview of the range of techniques used to assess microbial/faunal diversity and activity in soils and its impact on key ecological processes. The book also reviews how biological indicators can be integrated into soil health testing programmes to improve the quality of agricultural, grassland and forest soils. The book builds on a successful earlier volume published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing: Advances in measuring soil health (2021).