This paper has followed two approaches in
order to resolve the issues outlined above. One
avenue was to ask eminent researchers in the
discipline of soil ecology in agricultural soils questions
pertaining to the direction of soil macrofauna
research, the trends and gaps in current
research, and the importance of soil macrofauna
as an indicator of soil sustainability. A mail survey
was sent to 31 scientists, with 22 actively
researching soil macrofauna and nine with past or
peripheral interest in the area. Sixty-three precent
of the active researchers responded to the questionnaire.
The other avenue was to examine Current
Contents TM over 1993-1996 on published
Australian research in this area, as well as drawing
from some review articles which summarised
research activity prior to 1993. I will illustrate
some of the points with specific examples from
current research, but the focus will not be on
particular research findings except where they
have a bearing on the status of soil macrofauna as
indicators of soil health.