Biological Diversity and Function in Soils

The dynamic nature of current research into soil biodiversity is reflected in this excellent volume.

Richard Bardgett (Edited by), Michael Usher (Edited by), David Hopkins (Edited by)

9780521609876, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 September 2005

428 pages, 87 b/w illus.
24.5 x 17.5 x 3 cm, 0.87 kg

'It offers a clear, often brilliant demonstration that the knowledge of soil biodiversity is the key for the sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems.' European Journal of Soil Science

Soil has generally been regarded as something of a 'black box' by ecologists. The importance of soil is obvious: it provides physical support for plants, and both the living and non-living components contribute to a variety of important environmental functions. Soil is a species-rich habitat, but many questions about the ecological significance of the soil's biological diversity, and in particular how it affects ecosystem function, have never been asked. The linkages between above-ground ecology, which is rich in ecological theory, and below-ground ecology, where investigation has been restricted by methodological difficulties, have not been made. Technical developments, including isotopic and molecular methods as well as experimental and modelling approaches, have led to a renaissance in soil biodiversity research. The key areas are reflected in this exciting volume which brings together many leading contributors to explore the role and importance of soil biota.

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.

Subject Areas: Conservation of wildlife & habitats [RNKH], Applied ecology [RNC], Soil science, sedimentology [RBGB], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]