Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Aug 17:13:938481.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.938481. eCollection 2022.

A review on effective soil health bio-indicators for ecosystem restoration and sustainability

Debarati Bhaduri  1 , Debjani Sihi  2 , Arnab Bhowmik  3 , Bibhash C Verma  4 , Sushmita Munda  1 , Biswanath Dari  5
Affiliations
Review

A review on effective soil health bio-indicators for ecosystem restoration and sustainability

Debarati Bhaduri et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Preventing degradation, facilitating restoration, and maintaining soil health is fundamental for achieving ecosystem stability and resilience. A healthy soil ecosystem is supported by favorable components in the soil that promote biological productivity and provide ecosystem services. Bio-indicators of soil health are measurable properties that define the biotic components in soil and could potentially be used as a metric in determining soil functionality over a wide range of ecological conditions. However, it has been a challenge to determine effective bio-indicators of soil health due to its temporal and spatial resolutions at ecosystem levels. The objective of this review is to compile a set of effective bio-indicators for developing a better understanding of ecosystem restoration capabilities. It addresses a set of potential bio-indicators including microbial biomass, respiration, enzymatic activity, molecular gene markers, microbial metabolic substances, and microbial community analysis that have been responsive to a wide range of ecosystem functions in agricultural soils, mine deposited soil, heavy metal contaminated soil, desert soil, radioactive polluted soil, pesticide polluted soil, and wetland soils. The importance of ecosystem restoration in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals was also discussed. This review identifies key management strategies that can help in ecosystem restoration and maintain ecosystem stability.

Keywords: bio-indicators; ecosystem restoration; ecosystem stability; molecular bio-indicators; resilience and resistance; soil health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the review was drafted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Soil bio-indicators as classified on the basis of techniques of measurement.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of soil health as an indicator of ecosystem resilience and stability. Soil health can be quantified and qualified in terms of various bio-indicators (e.g., Microbial biomass, respiration, metabolic substances, and community analyses as well as some enzymatic activity and molecular techniques) both at temporal and spatial scales. Multiple soil management system can strategize as a critical factor to determine the response mechanism of different bio-indicators.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abreu Z., Llambí L. D., Sarmiento L. (2009). Sensitivity of soil restoration indicators during páramo succession in the high tropical andes: chronosequence and permanent plot approaches. Resto. Eco. 17, 619–627. 10.1111/j.1526-100X.2008.00406.x - DOI
    1. Achat D. L., Morel C., Bakker M. R., Augusto L., Pellerin S., Gallet-Budynek A., et al. . (2010). Assessing turnover of microbial biomass phosphorus: combination of an isotopic dilution method with a mass balance model. Soil Bio. Biochem. 42, 2231–2240. 10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.08.023 - DOI
    1. Acton D. F., Gregorich L. J. (eds.) (1995). The Health of Our Soils Toward Sustainable Agriculture in Canada Cat no. A53-1906/1995EISBN0-660-15947-3.
    1. Ai C., Liang G., Sun J., Wang X., He P., Zhou W., et al. . (2013). Different roles of rhizosphere effect and long-term fertilization in the activity and community structure of ammonia oxidizers in a calcareous fluvo-aquic soil. Soil Bio. Biochem. 57, 30–42. 10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.08.003 - DOI
    1. Ajayi A. E., Horn R. (2017). Biochar-induced changes in soil resilience: effects of soil texture and biochar dosage. Pedosphere 27, 236–247. 10.1016/S1002-0160(17)60313-8 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources