Effective population size is a key parameter that influences wildlife conservation and management decisions (Luikart et al. 2010). Effective population size is one of the most effective measures of genetic erosion and provides information on the rate of inbreeding and loss of genetic variation (Leroy et al. 2018, Hoban et al. 2020, Frankham 1995). Effective population size influences other important drivers of genetic diversity such as efficacy of mutation, selection and migration (Wang et al. 2016).

Measuring electrical conductivity (EC) in soils is crucial for evaluating soil health, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of water and soil quality, nutrient cycling, and the overall well-being of ecosystems (Allen et al., 2005).

Ecosystem energetics provides information across an entire ecosystem, as all organisms are interlinked by energy flows through consumption and assimilation of resources, respiration, and biomass production (Buzhdygan et al. 2020). Higher biodiversity leads to more energy stored, greater energy flow, and higher community-energy-use efficiency across trophic networks (Buzhdygan et al. 2020). Energy fluxes are a good proxy for ecosystem functioning and allow understanding across diverse guilds and taxa in a unified manner (Barnes et al. 2014, Malhi et al. 2022).

Enzymes are integral to various metabolic processes of the soil, like decomposition of organic materials, impacting carbon sequestration, nutrient availability, soil productivity, and the global carbon cycle. As early and sensitive indicators of soil health changes, they are responsive to shifts in soil use and management, pollution and climate, and they represent the metabolic status of the soil microbial community (Cardoso et al., 2013; Stott et al., 2019). They therefore serve as indicators for microbial activity, soil productivity, and the impact of pollutants. Changes in soil microbial activity, reflected in metabolic enzyme levels, can estimate ecosystem disturbance (Neiendam Nielsen & Winding, 2002; Cardoso et al., 2013; Stott et al., 2019).

Different species have different functional contributions to an ecosystem (Chiarucci et al. 2011, Botta-Dukát 2005). However, metrics such as taxonomic alpha and beta diversity often don’t detect changes in the underlying functional roles of species in a community (Lelli et al. 2019). Functional diversity, rather than species numbers, strongly determines ecosystem functioning (Diaz and Cabido 2001, McGill et al. 2006, Botta-Dukát 2005, Flynn et al. 2011, Reiss et al. 2009). Turnover of species identity will have the greatest functional consequences for an ecosystem (Hillebrand et al. 2018, Buckland et al. 2005).

More than 50% of the soil microbial biomass is composed of fungi (Vázquez et al., 2016).

Bacteria play integral roles in soil ecosystems, influencing various soil processes. The structure and diversity of microbial communities are pivotal indicators of ecosystem changes resulting from alterations in land use and management practices. Recognized as early signals of soil ecosystem quality, microbial community diversity is quantified through the assessment of species richness and the proportional contribution of each species to the overall organism count. A diverse bacterial gene pool augments the soil’s capacity for crucial functions, including nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and the maintenance of overall ecological balance (Neiendam Nielsen et al., 2002; Pulleman et al., 2012; Trivedi et al., 2016).

Identity considers the role of a species in an ecosystem. Species with particular traits can be monitored to provide functional information beyond richness and diversity metrics (Loreau et al. 2001). Species identity is monitored using functional traits (Cardinale et al. 2012). Identity can be monitored as the presence, abundance or diversity of a set of functional traits (such as morphological, ecophysiological or life-history characteristics) (Vandewalle et al. 2010).

Soil water infiltration refers to the rate at which water enters the soil surface and moves through soil depth (Allen et al., 2011). Infiltration has a direct relevance to water retention, a key ecosystem service (Griffiths et al., 2016). Infiltration capacity greatly influences the soil’s ability to store and provide water for plants.

Invertebrate biomass is a measure of abundance and can detect impacts of external pressures on invertebrates that are not detected by species richness (Robertson and Wentworth 2020, Vereecken et al. 2021). Abundance of invertebrates predicts ecosystem functioning at large scales and has stronger links to ecosystem service delivery than species richness or diversity (Weiss and Linde 2022, Woodcock et al. 2019, Winfree et al. 2015). Biomass provides greater insights into changes in invertebrate diversity than individual count abundance (Llopis-Belenguer et al. 2018). Understanding changes in functionally important invertebrate assemblages is important given their links to ecosystem service delivery (Lamarre et al. 2020).