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Fact Sheets - Making Sense of Biological Indicators

Biological indicators give information on living organisms in soil. Biological indicators of soil quality therefore measure dynamic soil properties, i.e. properties that change over time and/or with management. It is important to monitor biological indicators as they respond more quickly to changes in management or environment than physical and chemical indicators.

For most biological indicators, there is little evidence currently available which directly links the value of the indicators to productivity or, in some cases, the risk of adverse environmental impact. However, there is good evidence from field trials carried out on a range of soils in Australia of links between biological indicators and soil processes. These have been used to create guideline ranges for the biological indicators, similar to those used for the dynamic physical and chemical indicators.