Aggregates, formed through interactions among soil biota, plant communities, and soil mineral components, consist of multiple soil particles bound together. These structures play a pivotal role in various aspects of soil health, influencing water movement, storage, soil aeration, physical protection of soil organic matter (SOM), erosion prevention, root development, and microbial community activity (Arias et al., 2005).

Alleles are variants of the same gene. Different alleles can be associated with different traits (e.g. eye colour). The frequency of specific alleles in a population at two points in time can be used to determine the rate of genetic drift (Wang et al. 2016). Allele diversity can be used to identify genetic variants of interest for population persistence/fitness and can be sensitive to change on short timescales (Leroy et al. 2018).

Changes in abundance have greater functional consequences for an ecosystem than changes in simple metrics such as species richness (Hillebrand et al. 2018, Buckland et al. 2005). Collecting abundance data as biomass provides additional functional information, structural information, and accounts for size differences between organisms (Llopis-Belenguer et al. 2018, O’Connor et al. 2017). Trends in mean abundance can detect early signals of species decline and are less sensitive to demographic stochasticity (Santini et al. 2017, van Strien et al. 2012).

Bulk density constitutes a direct measurement of soil compaction (or loosening), serving as an essential tool for evaluating the total porosity. An adequate volume of pore space within the soil is essential for the sustainable use of soil resources, benefiting both productivity and environmental health (Merrington et al.,2006).

Soil Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) is a measure of the soil’s capability to retain and exchange positively charged ions (cations) within its structure. CEC plays a pivotal role in influencing nutrient availability, soil fertility, and water quality (Cation Exchange Capacity, UK Soil Observatory; Arias et al., 2005; Lehmann et al., 2020). The principal cations involved in this exchange include calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), potassium (K+), and ammonium (NH4+) (Cation Exchange Capacity, UK Soil Observatory).

Collembola are ubiquitous, found in various habitats, making them suitable indicators for different ecosystems (Cicconardi et al., 2013).

Turnover indices reflect colonisation and extinction, they capture biodiversity changes that are not captured by species richness (Hillebrand et al. 2018). Turnover integrates information on species identity and abundance (Hillebrand et al. 2018). Spatial changes in habitat structure/composition and changes in external pressures can drive changes in colonisation and extinction (Sirami et al. 2008).

Connectivity and Fragmentation are complementary metrics assessing the distribution of habitat within a landscape. There has been extensive debate on the role of spatial habitat configuration vs habitat loss on overall biodiversity (Fahrig et al. 2019, Fletcher et al. 2018). Habitat quality, loss, patch area, and connectivity have complex and interrelated effects on biodiversity (Wilson et al. 2016, Hanski 2011).

Standing deadwood volume reflects a broad range of species groups, deadwood specialists and species of conservation concern (Zeller et al. 2022, Gao et al. 2015, Evans et al. 2019, Hekkala et al. 2023, Storch et al. 2023).

Disturbance ranges from small to large events and shapes biodiversity at multiple levels of organisations, with consequences for ecosystem functioning (Dornelas 2010). Ecological theory suggests that biodiversity will be maximised at intermediate levels of disturbance, which links to conservation management intervention e.g. grazing, predation (Dornelas 2010). However, higher intensity human-driven disturbance can have a negative impact on ecological communities (Dornelas 2010).

Dominance-diversity curves summarise the abundance and evenness of species within a community, visually representing simple diversity metrics and showing patterns of competition and niche differentiation (Wilson 1991, Whittaker 1965). Changes in dominant and rare species can have important consequences for ecosystem functioning and are not captured by metrics such as species richness (Hillebrand et al. 2018).

Earthworms are sensitive to various management practices. Their presence not only signals a thriving ecosystem but also plays a crucial role in shaping it (Bispo et al., 2009; Griffiths et al., 2018; Pulleman et al., 2012).