Synopses & Reviews
The dynamic nature of current research into soil biodiversity is reflected in this excellent volume.
Review
"A foundation for the new generation.... The editors are to be commended on their effort.... The writing style throughout is comfortably readable.... The chapters remain focused on topics and they are concise and up-to-date.... The index reflects an effort that was well worth the time.... [It] should be accessible to most ecologists and graduate students."
Ecology, Sina M. Adl, Dalhousie University
Review
"This is an important contribution to soil science. [It] has much to offer the beginnning student as well ass the specialist."
Northeastern Naturalist
Review
"All important aspects of modern soil ecology are embraced, ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem level, from microbes to invertebrates and to plants. It offers a clear, often brilliant demonstration that the knowledge of soil biodiversity is the key for the sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems."
J.-F. Ponge, European Journal of Soil Science
Review
"On the whole, this book will serve a wide audience. Students will find many excellent essays about fundamental soil ecology in the book, and researchers can update their perspectives on issues that are now rapidly evolving."
Juha Mikola, Ecoscience
Synopsis
Soil ecology is benefiting from an increasing recognition of the importance of below ground biodiversity to more general ecosystem functioning, and this volume reviews many of the key growth points in current understanding. The book considers topics including: patterns of soil biodiversity and methods for its assessment; the function of soil biodiversity in relation to land use and ecosystem processes, the regulation of soil biodiversity in relation to environmental and land use change, and the application of new concepts in soil biodiversity.
Synopsis
A better understanding of the dynamic roles of soils in ecosystems has followed advances in techniques for identifying and characterising the organisms and the community, at the same time as measuring major ecosystem processes. This book brings together and synthesises this material and puts soils in their wider ecological context.
Synopsis
The roles of soils and the organisms in them, as dynamic and influential parts of terrestrial ecosystems, have emerged from the shadows in recent years. This is because of the advances in techniques for identifying and characterising the organisms and the community and also the ability to measure major ecosystem processes. This book brings together an outstanding team of authors and is the first in modern times to synthesise this material and puts soils in their wider ecological context.
About the Author
RICHARD D. BARDGETT is Professor of Ecology at Lancaster University and has published widely on plant-soil interactions, nutrient cycling, and soil ecology. He is especially interested in studying linkages between plant and soil biological communities, and examining how these links are affected by herbivores.MICHAEL B. USHER is retired. For more than 40 years he has had a research interest in the soil biota, especially the Collembola (springtails), Isoptera (termites) and Mesostigmata (mostly predatory mites). He also has a strong interest in nature conservation, and is currently working on a number of aspects of the conservation of biodiversity.DAVID W. HOPKINS is Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Stirling and has research expertise in soils science and ecology, especially the biology and biochemistry of nutrient cycling. His research involves ecological, environmental and archaeological projects.
Table of Contents
List of contributors; Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Developing new perspectives from advances in soil biodiversity research Diana H. Wall, Alastair H. Fitter and Eldor A. Paul; Part II. The Soil Environment: 2. The habitat of soil microbes Iain M. Young and Karl Ritz; 3. Twenty years of molecular analysis of bacterial communities in soils and what have we learned about function? A. G. O'Donnell, S. R. Colvan, E. Malosso and S. Supaphol; 4. Carbon as a substrate for soil organisms D. W. Hopkins and E. G. Gregorich; Part III. Patterns and Drivers of Soil Biodiversity: 5. The use of model Pseudomonas fluorescens populations to study the causes and consequences of microbial diversity Paul B. Rainey, Michael Brockhurst, Angus Buckling, David J. Hodgson and Rees Kassen; 6. Patterns and determinants of soil biological diversity Richard D. Bardgett, Gregor W. Yeates and Jonathan M. Anderson; 7. How plant communities influence decomposer communities David A. Wardle; 8. The balance between productivity and food web structure in soil ecosystems Peter C. Ruiter, Anje-Margriet Neutel and John Moore; 9. Rhizosphere carbon flow: a driver of soil microbial diversity? D. B. Standing, J. I. Rangel Castro, J. I. Prosser, A. Meharg and K. Killham; Part IV. Consequences of Soil Biodiversity: 10. Microbial community composition and soil nitrogen cycling: is there really a connection? Joshua P. Schimel, Jennifer Bennett and Noah Fierer; 11. Biodiversity of saprotrophic fungi in relation to their function: do fungi obey the rules? Clare H. Robinson, E. Janie Pryce Miller and Lewis J. Deacon; 12. Is diversity of mycorrhizal fungi important for ecosystem functioning? J. R. Leake, D. Johnson, D. P. Donnelly, L. Boddy and D. J. Read; 13. Trophic structure and functional redundancy in soil communities Heikki Setälä, Matty P. Berg and T. Hefin Jones; 14. Plant-soil feedback and soil biodiversity affect the composition of plant communities Wim H. van der Putten; 15. Response of the soil bacterial community to perturbation Alan J. McCarthy, Neil D. Gray, Thomas P. Curtis and Ian M. Head; Part V. Applications of Soil Biodiversity: 16. Soil biodiversity in rapidly changing tropical landscapes: scaling down and scaling up Ken E. Giller, David Bignell, Patrick Lavelle, Mike Swift, Edmundo Barrios, Fatima Moreira, Meine van Noordwijk, Isabelle Barios, Nancy Karanja and Jeroen Huising; 17. Restoration ecology and the role of soil biodiversity J. A. Harris, P. Grogan and R. J. Hobbs; 18. Soil biodiversity: stress and change in grasslands under restoration succession Lijbert Brussaard, Ron G. M. de Goede, Lia Hemerik and Bart C. Verschoor; 19. Soil biodiversity, nature conservation and sustainability Michael B. Usher; Part IV. Conclusion: 20. Underview: origins and consequences of below-ground biodiversity Karl Ritz; Index.