Nematodes and Soil Health Indicators

Abstract

Understanding soil health impacts in relation to climate change is possible through the use of indicators which relate soil physical, chemical and biological. Major soil health indicators are governed by climate change. Selection of indicators within a minimum data depends on their sensitivity to management and climate changes, capacity to integrate and relate to other soil functions, ease of use, repeatability and cost of measurement. In this paper impact of soil health indicators including drivers for climate change; Carbon dioxide, nitrogen deposition, temperature, rainfall, soil structure, bulk density, rooting depth, soil surface cover, soil pH, electrical conductivity, available nutrients to plants, soil organic matter, soil carbon, potentially mineralisable Carbon and Nitrogen, soil respiration, soil microbial biomass, soil enzyme activities, genetic and functional biodiversity of soils on nematodes and selection of soil health key indicators are briefly discussed.