The concept of soil health recognizes soil as a living and dynamic natural system, a notion that aptly fits in the realm of biology. However, soil health tests and scoring tools are often dominated by indicators other than soil biology, such as soil fertility and chemistry. Biological indicators of soil health remain understudied and underrepresented in soil health assessments. To address this gap, here we evaluate soil attributes that reflect biological functions and vitality (including organic and total C, total N, mineralized C, extracellular enzyme activity, and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis for microbial biomass and adaptation response ratio (ARR)). We assess if these biological indicators can be contextualized by soil classification and measure their responsiveness to agricultural management practices in Prairie region of Saskatchewan Canada. Despite the dynamic nature of biological indicators of soil health, we find that soil classification by great group constrains measurements and serves as a useful contextualizing factor to adjust scoring functions. Further, we find biological indicators of soil health (namely soil organic C, total N, and P and S enzyme activity) generally improve with more regenerative crop production practices such as cover cropping or organic management. Although other indicators such as CO2 mineralization, N and C cycling enzymes, PLFA and ARR showed fewer differences among crop production practices, all were greater under prairie grassland than cropland. In contextualizing soil health scores by soil classification and including biological indicators of soil health that embody soil pools, processes, and life, soil health assessments will not only better represent soil biology and appropriately contextualize soil health scores, but also move towards better targeting soil functioning and vitality.

中文翻译：

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使用土壤分类改进对生物土壤健康指标的解释


土壤健康的概念将土壤视为一个有生命的、动态的自然系统，这个概念恰如其分地适用于生物学领域。然而，土壤健康测试和评分工具通常由土壤生物学以外的指标主导，例如土壤肥力和化学。土壤健康的生物指标在土壤健康评估中仍然研究不足，代表性不足。为了解决这一差距，我们在这里评估了反映生物功能和活力的土壤属性（包括有机碳和总碳、总氮、矿化碳、细胞外酶活性以及微生物生物量和适应反应比 （ARR） 的磷脂脂肪酸 （PLFA） 分析）。我们评估这些生物指标是否可以通过土壤分类进行背景化，并衡量它们对加拿大萨斯喀彻温省草原地区农业管理实践的反应。尽管土壤健康的生物指标具有动态性质，但我们发现按大群对土壤进行分类会限制测量，并作为调整评分函数的有用背景化因素。此外，我们发现土壤健康的生物指标（即土壤有机 C、总 N 以及 P 和 S 酶活性）通常会随着更多的再生作物生产实践（如覆盖作物或有机管理）而改善。尽管 CO2 矿化、N 和 C 循环酶、PLFA 和 ARR 等其他指标显示作物生产实践之间的差异较小，但草原草原下的差异都大于农田。 通过土壤分类将土壤健康评分置于背景中，并包括体现土壤池、过程和生命的土壤健康生物指标，土壤健康评估不仅可以更好地代表土壤生物学并适当地将土壤健康评分置于背景中，而且可以更好地针对土壤功能和活力。