This indicator is the ratio between the amount of organic carbon from microbial biomass and total organic carbon.
It indicates a rate of evolution of organic matter (organic carbon from microbial biomass is rapidly evoluting whereas the total organic carbon is pretty stable).
From Chaussod (1996) " La proportion du carbone total sous forme vivante est, pour un type de sol donné, un bon indicateur du statut organique ".
"the proportion of total carbon under a living form is, for a given soil, a good indicator of its organic status."
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In soils, organic matter is constantly evoluting. It is degrated, and new matter is synthetized. That is what is called organic matter "turn-over".
Several different organic compartments coexist in the soil. Some are stable (leaf mould) and show very slow evolution, others show a very quick evolution (microbial biomass), and other compartments are just in between !
On the whole, for a given soil, the smaller that indicator, the more stable the organic matter; the higher the indicator, the more evolutive the organic matter.
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