Biological indicators in laboratory-based soil health testing programmes

Ways of improving soil health are increasingly seen as central to sustainable crop production. However, sustainable soil management clearly requires accurate, standardized and accessible ways to measure and monitor soil health that can be used by farmers. There is a need to translate measures of different aspects of soil biology and other measures into overall measures of soil health that encompass different soil properties, functions, and ecosystems services. This requires a sound foundation of scientific knowledge in an appropriate biophysical context (e.g., region or soil type) and set of management factors. This chapter explores ways this can be achieved using particular examples such as the Soil Health Assessment Protocol and Evaluation (SHAPE).