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Soil science has undergone a renaissance in recent years with an increasing awareness of the importance of soil organisms and below-ground biotic interactions as drivers of community and ecosystem properties. It considers aboveground-belowground feedback, herbivores and the functional significance and regulation of soil biodiversity. The emphasis on ecosystem function is central to modern soil biological research, and the author is a leader in such research.
Preface and acknowledgements; 1. The soil environment; 2. The diversity of life in soil; 3. Organism interactions and soil processes; 4. Linkages between plant and soil biological communities; 5. Above-ground trophic interactions and soil biological communities; 6. Soil biological properties and global change; 7. Conclusions; Bibliography; Index
Our understanding of how soils function is rapidly growing and this small, easily read book will bring everyone up to date, backed up by an impressive bibliography...as an introductory text it is excellent. Peter Thomas, Bulletin of the British Ecological Society 2006, 37:2 It is very well written and illustrated, and its unique approach and breadth of coverage separates it from typical soil microbiology textbooks. This volume deserves a place on the bookshelves of all soil scientists and soil ecologists. Clive A Edwards, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol 82 June 2007 ...this book has immense potential as a core key teaching resource for instructing ecology students about the importance of soils and aboveground-belowground feedbacks. In addition to recommending this as a teaching text, I strongly recmmend The Biology of Soils to any ecologist who does not actively work in soils and wants to learn more about their fascinating ecology Trends in Ecology and Evolution
