Environmental Soil BiologySpringer Science & Business Media, 2013 M03 7 - 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
| 1 | |
Life in the soil | 13 |
Biological processes in soil | 55 |
Soil formation and development | 66 |
Environmental issues 886 | 98 |
Soil biology into the next millennium | 122 |
References and further reading | 141 |
13 | 146 |
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Common terms and phrases
accumulation acid soils actinomycetes activity amount animal slurry bacteria bacterial population bacterium biodiversity biological biomass burrow C:N ratio carbon cell chemical clay climate colonisation compounds concentration contain crop decomposed decomposition decrease degradation earthworms ecosystems effects energy environment enzymes estimated example factors fertiliser Figure fixation forest fungal fungi fungus g m2 genes growth heavy metals herbicides horizon humus hyphae important increase infection inoculants inorganic ions leaching legume lignin litter Lumbricus terrestris major microbial biomass microorganisms mineralisation minerals mycorrhizas N₂ nematodes Nigeria nitrification nitrogenase nodules numbers of bacteria nutrients occur oxidation particularly pasture pathogens pedogenesis pesticides phosphate plant litter plant material plant roots plasmid processes production protozoa range reduced respiration rhizobia Rhizobium rhizosphere role saline soil acidity soil organic matter soil particles soil surface solubilisation soluble species substrate Table temperature termites tropical turnover uptake vegetation