Response of soil biota to agricultural management practices: A systematic quantitative meta-data-analysis and method selection framework

Soil organisms are vital to soil health, however, their inclusion in monitoring frameworks remains limited. Yet, it is well-known that agricultural management practices distinctively affect soil biota and the functions that they support. In this paper, we systematically evaluated the impact of management practices related to carbon and nutrient, vegetation, pest and disease and soil management, as well as grazing management on soil biota. Using a meta-data analysis approach, we systematically reviewed meta-analyses to quantify management practice(s) effects on soil biological actors, including macrofauna, mesofauna, microfauna, and the microbiome. We identified and screened 698 articles, of which 90 meta-analyses remained eligible after quality control and redundancy analysis, giving rise to a total of 790 pairwise combinations supported by 74′526 observations. In this paper, we demonstrate how specific management practices impact specific soil biota, which in turn may also influence soil processes and functions that these soil biota support. We reveal key knowledge gaps, particularly concerning the soil meso- and macrofauna, but also soil protists. Our study demonstrates which agricultural practices may support or diminish soil biology, providing much needed guidance on the selection of sustainable farming approaches, such as reduced tillage, organic fertilization, cover cropping, and intercropping. Lastly, we introduce a “Utility-Robustness” scoring system for soil actors, using a systematic framework to inform biological indicator selection tailored to specific management contexts. This fully transparent approach is designed to remain adaptable and expandable in the coming years, as new data and insights emerge.