The Ecology of Soil Decomposition
Author: Sina M. Adl
Readership
Researchers, lecturers and advanced students in areas of agriculture, forestry, ecology, soil science, microbiology, mycology, protozoology, nematology and acarology.
Key Features
• The biology of major groups implicated in decomposition are introduced within a modern taxonomic framework
• Decomposition is described from the food web perspective, with a critical evaluation of common sampling procedures
Main Description
Decomposition is an ecological process that recycles dead tissues, mainly from primary production, into nutrients in the soil. The Ecology of Soil Decomposition describes trophic interactions between species that carry out the decomposition of organic matter in the soil.
Key topics addressed feature functional groups, spatial stratification and succession patterns over time, involving bacteria, protists, fungi and micro-invertebrates. Emphasis is placed on the role of species diversity in functional groups.
Reviews
• "This is a comprehensive and well written reference work on soils, with a precise, understandable style suitable for researchers, lecturers and students in a wide range of disciplines."
Ron E. Wheatley, Experimental Agriculture, 40, 2004
• "I recommend this book as a good overview of the issues, challenges, and major conceptual perspectives that currently frame this field of inquiry."
O Roger Anderson, Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 51(3), 2004
Main Contents
I. The Saprotrophes
• Eukaryotic cells
• Protozoa
• Chromista
• Fungi
• Invertebrates
• The Bacteria (Prokaryote Bacteria and Archea)
• Roots, fine roots and root-hair cells
• Summary
• Suggested further reading
2. The Habitat
• "Through a Ped, Darkly"
• Soil and mineral composition
• Soil air
• Water content
• Soil organic matter
• Dynamics of soil physical structure
• Summary
• Suggested further reading
3. Sampling and Enumeration
• Soil collection
• Site variation and statistical patterns
• Extraction and enumeration
• Number of species in functional groups
• Summary
• Suggested further reading
4. Reconstructing the Soil Food Web
• Functional categories
• Primary decomposition
• Secondary decomposition
• Primary saprotrophes
• Secondary saprotrophes
• Other consumers
• Omnivory
• Symbionts
• Opportunistic parasites and parasitism
• Summary
• Suggested further reading
5. Spatial and Temporal Patterns
• Regulation of growth
• Periods of activity
• Patterns in the time and space
• Primary saprotrophes
• Secondary saprotrophes and other consumers
• Synthesis and conclusions
• Summary
• Suggestions for further reading
6. Integrating the Food Web
• Global impact of decomposition
• How to trace nutrients
• Soil food web models
• Summary
• Suggested further reading
