THERE IS A GROWING CONSENSUS AROUND A SET OF SOIL HEALTH INDICATORS THAT ARE REPEATABLE, SENSITIVE TO MANAGEMENT CHANGES, AND INCLUDE CHEMICAL, PHYSICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL COMPONENTS. HOWEVER, A FRAMEWORK THAT LINKS SOIL HEALTH INDICATORS TO ESSENTIAL SOIL FUNCTIONS AND THEIR RELATIVE SENSITIVITY TO MANAGEMENT DECISIONS IN WATER-LIMITED ENVIRONMENTS IS YET TO BE IDENTIFIED. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP THAT FRAMEWORK UNDER TWO MAJOR MANAGEMENT FACTORS, CROPPING SYSTEMS INTENSIFICATION AND MANURE APPLICATION, IN WATER-LIMITED ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROJECT WILL EVALUATE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOIL HEALTH INDICATORS AND SPECIFIC SOIL FUNCTIONS, INCLUDING A BETTER MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF SOIL HEALTH AND SOIL WATER DYNAMICS. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL, WE WILL UTILIZE EXISTING LONG-TERM EXPERIMENTS AT CLOVIS, NM AND AKRON, CO AND ON-FARM SITES FROM MORE THAN 30 FARMERS' FIELDS IN COLORADO, NEBRASKA, AND KANSAS. THE PROJECT WILL EVALUATE THE SENSITIVITY OF SOIL PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS TO MANAGEMENT FACTORS, APPLY MULTIVARIATE APPROACHES TO ANALYZE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOIL HEALTH INDICATORS AND SEASONAL WATER DYNAMICS, AND DEVELOP A FRAMEWORK LINKING SOIL HEALTH INDICATORS TO ESSENTIAL SOIL FUNCTIONS FOR WATER-LIMITED ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROJECT WILL ADDRESS THE PROGRAM AREA PRIORITY OF SOIL HEALTH (A1401) BY ADVANCING SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF SOIL PROCESSES AND INTERACTIONS TO DEVELOP A SOIL HEALTH ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR WATER-LIMITED REGIONS. THE FRAMEWORK WILL PROMOTE WATER CONSERVATION AND GUIDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE CROP PRODUCTION PRACTICES FOR WATER-LIMITED REGIONS, ULTIMATELY LEADING TO THE RESILIENCE AND ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF CROPPING SYSTEMS IN ARID AND SEMIARID ENVIRONMENTS.