Environmental Soil BiologySpringer Netherlands, 1995 M08 31 - 150 pages Environmental considerations are playing an increasingly important role in determining management strategies for soil and land. Many important environmental issues involve aspects of the biology of soil, and these issues cannot be considered satisfactorily in isolation from a general understanding of soil biology as a whole. This is the second edition of a book first published in 1989 and now thoroughly rewritten to focus on soil ecology and environmental issues. The first part of the book provides an introduction to soils, its inhabitants, and their activities. The second part covers the influence of man on the natural cycles of soil. Topics such as acid rain and nitrogen fertilizers are considered alongside pesticides and genetically modified organisms. A new final chapter has been added which considers how, as we move towards the next millennium, we can apply the concept of sustainability to issues such as global climate change and farming systems. The book is directed at advanced undergraduate and immediate postgraduate students in environmental science and soil ecology, with students of physical geography and earth sciences as an important secondary market. |
Contents
Soil as a habitat for organisms | 1 |
Life in the soil | 13 |
Biological processes in soil | 55 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acid soils actinomycetes activity agricultural animal slurry atmosphere bacteria bacterial population bacterium biodiversity biological biomass burrows C:N ratio carbon cell chemical clay climate colonisation components compounds concentration contain crop decomposition decrease degradation denitrification earthworms Ecology ecosystems effects electron energy environment environmental enzyme estimated example factors fertiliser Figure food production forest fungal fungi fungus g mē genes global groundwater growth herbicides humus hyphae important increase infection inorganic interactions leaching legume lignin litter Lumbricus terrestris major microbial biomass microorganisms mineralisation minerals mycorrhizas N₂ fixation nematodes nitrification nitrogen nitrogenase nodules numbers of bacteria nutrients occur oxidation oxidised pasture pathogens pesticides phosphate plant material plant roots plasmid pores processes protozoa range reduced respiration rhizobia Rhizobium rhizosphere role root hairs soil microbial soil organic matter soil particles soil surface species spores substrate sustainability Table temperature termites toxic tropical uptake