ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to discuss some different approaches to quantifying soil quality and to recommend a framework for measuring and assessing it. The dimensions of scale influence soil quality assessments in both space and time. The chapter discusses the topic from two points of view: selecting indicators to match the scale of assessment, and expanding from point scale indicators to larger scales using statistical procedures and related spatial information on soils, land use, and management systems. Two approaches dealing with spatial scale have been utilized by researchers; they are to: select indicators to match the geographic scale for which the soil quality assessment is being made; and expand point scale indicator information to larger areas of consideration. Qualitative measures of soil quality tend to be more subjective in their measurement and sometimes be more informative to the land manager. Monitoring soil quality trends requires establishing baseline values for the various indicators, and measuring change in those indicators over time.
