Measuring and Assessing the Biological Health of Soils

1.Soil biology, soil health and ecosystem services: an overview: Rachel Creamer, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; Part 1 Advances in DNA-based methods, biological and other indicators to investigate soil microbial activity 2.Advances in DNA based methods for assessing abundance and diversity and of microbial groups: Stephanie Yarwood, University of Maryland, USA; 3.Advances in quantitative PCR (qPCR) techniques for identifying and studying soil microbial communities: Maddy Giles, James Hutton Institute, UK; 4.Advances in soil respiration techniques as an indicator of soil microbial activity: Ryan Stewart, Virginia Tech, USA; 5.Enzyme assays for measuring soil microbial activity: Paolo Nannipieri, University of Florence, Italy; 6.Advances in stable isotope profiling (SIP) techniques to track plant-microbial interactions: Bruce Hungate, Northern Arizona University, USA; 7.Applications and advances in using phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) as biomarkers in analysing soil microbial communities: Sarina Claassens, Curtin University, Australia; Part 2 Fauna as indicators of soil health 8.Earthworms/macrofauna as indicators of soil health: Jan Willem Van Groenigen, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; 9.Mesofauna as indicators of soil health: Stefaan De Neve, Ghent University, Belgium; 10.Nematodes/microfauna as indicators of soil health: Deborah Neher, University of Vermont, USA; Part 3 Applications 11.Integrating biological indicators into soil health testing programmes: Joseph Amsili, Cornell University, USA; 12.Using biological indicators of soil health to assess the impact of particular cropping practices: Joann Whalen, McGill University, Canada; 13.Using biological indicators to assess the health of grasslands: Marie Sünnemann, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Germany; 14.Using biological indicators to assess the health of forest soils: Weixin Zhang, Henan University, China;