Environmental Soil Biology

Front Cover
Springer Science & Business Media, 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.

From inside the book

Contents

Soil as a habitat for organisms
1
121 Inorganic material
2
122 Organic matter
5
123 Soil structure
7
125 Soil atmosphere
10
126 Temperature
11
127 Summary
12
Life in the soil
13
43 Weathering of rock
67
44 Organic matter
71
442 Effects of seasonal change
75
443 Effects of soil conditions
78
444 Role of earthworms
79
445 Role of termites
80
446 Food webs
82
45 Profile development
84

23 The soil inhabitants
15
232 Viruses
17
233 Bacteria and actinomycetes
18
234 Fungi
23
235 Cyanobacteria and algae
24
237 Nematodes
25
238 Earthworms
26
239 Arthropods
28
2310 Molluscs
29
24 Plant roots
30
242 Plant root pathogens
31
243 Legume root nodules
32
244 Actinorhizas
34
245 Agrobacterium
35
246 Mycorrhizas
36
247 Rootknot nematodes
40
Biological processes in soil
41
322 Nitrogen
44
33 Selected biochemical processes
45
332 Nitrification
47
333 Denitrification
48
334 Sulphur oxidation
50
34 Soil enzymes
51
341 Carbohydruses
53
344 Oxidoreductases
54
35 Sources of substrates for heterotrophs
55
351 Amounts of substrates
58
352 Survival strategies
59
36 Substrate quality
61
361 Elemental composition
62
37 Microbial biomass and nutrient cycling
64
38 Summary
65
Soil formation and development
66
451 Role of microorganisms
86
452 Role of mesofauna and macrofauna
88
453 Role of plant roots
89
454 Role of vegetation
92
46 The influence of man
94
Environmental issues
98
521 Aluminium toxicity
99
522 Protected microsites
100
523 Acid rain
101
53 Salinity
103
54 Heavy metals
104
55 Chernobyl and radioactivity
106
56 Nitrate leaching
108
561 Inhibitors of N transformations
110
571 Side effects
111
572 Recalcitrant compounds
115
581 Introductions of nonengineered organisms
116
582 Genetically modified organisms
117
583 Risk assessment
119
Soil biology into the next millennium
122
63 Environmental quality
123
631 Use of nonrenewable resources
125
632 Soil quality
127
633 Soils subsoils and water quality
128
64 Soils and global climate change
130
65 Biodiversity
132
651 Effects of management practice
134
653 Ecotoxicology
135
66 Sustainable agricultural systems
137
67 Man and the Earth
139
References and further reading
141
Index
147
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information