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This chapter briefly summarizes current knowledge on microarthropod abundance and diversity in soils, their roles in soil processes and ecosystem services, and the agricultural management practices affecting soil microarthropod community. It also provides an overview of sampling, extraction and identification methods, including the importance of accounting for spatial and temporal variability. Potential soil health indicators derived from microarthropod abundance, diversity, and traits are reviewed, with case studies illustrating important aspects of the use of microarthropods as soil health indicators. The chapter concludes with several important challenges and perspectives for future research for use of these indicators in practice.
- 1 Classifying microarthropods
- 2 Occurrence of microarthropods in soils
- 3 Functional roles of soil microarthropods
- 4 Management practices affecting soilmicroarthropods
- 5 Methods for sampling, extraction, and identifcation
- 6 Microarthropods as indicators of soil health
- 7 Case studies
- 8 Conclusion and future trends
- 9 Where to look for further information
- 10 References