Jeanette Norton & Josh Schimel 
Measuring and assessing the biological health of soils [EPUB ebook] 

• 1.Soil biology, soil health and ecosystem services: an overview: Rachel Creamer, Wageningen University, The Netherlands;<br

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 (q PCR) 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, Mc Gill University, Canada;


• 13.Using biological indicators to assess the health of grasslands: Marie Sünnemann, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (i Div), Germany;


• 14.Using biological indicators to assess the health of forest soils: Weixin Zhang, Henan University, China;

Joann K. Whalen is a James Mc Gill Professor at Mc Gill University and an Affiliate Professor with the African Genome Center at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco. Her research focuses on soil fertility and soil ecology in agroecosystems. She has published more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications and supervised/co-supervised more than 60 students at the M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels. Dr. Whalen is currently a Chief Editor for Soil Biology and Biochemistry, a Subject Editor for Applied Energy and a Review Editor for PNAS Nexus.