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All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher. Farm-Scale Variation of Soil Quality Indices and Association with Edaphic Properties Soil Biology & Biochemistry M ost soil properties exhibit high degrees of spatial structure; "hotspots" of biological activity ebb into areas of little or no activity oft en over predictable distances (Klironomos et al., 1999). While spatial heterogeneity has typically been viewed as a hindrance to understanding soil biogeochemical phenomena, Ettema and Wardle (2002) suggest "spatial variability may be the key, rather than the obstacle to understanding the structure and function of soil biodiversity." Ignoring spatial variability compromises our ability to describe soil communities, as we are then limited to classical sampling plans. A spatially explicit research approach can strengthen our understanding of biological diversity and abundance and better connect those parameters to edaphic properties and biological processes. Soil decomposer activity, collembolans, and nematodes have all been used as biological indicators of soil quality (

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