Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry

About this book

Soil Microbiology, Ecology, and Biochemistry, fifth edition addresses the increasingly important field of soil biota and their interactions in research and education. Soil biota are extremely important, and especially relevant to today's societal questions related to global change, ecosystem sustainability, and food security in our ever-changing environment. Revised by a group of world-renowned authors in many institutions and disciplines, this book relates breakthroughs in knowledge in this important field, along with its history and future applications. This new edition provides readable, practical, impactful information for many applied and fundamental disciplines. There is no other available volume on the topics covered that also integrates the concepts in a way that makes them useful to a broad group of readers.

Contents

Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgment

Chapter 1. Continuing our excellence in soil microbiology, ecology, and biochemistry and using it to achieve a sustainable future
Chapter 2. The habitat of the soil biota
Chapter 3. Soil bacteria and archaea
Chapter 4. Fungi in soil: a rich community with diverse functions
Chapter 5. Soil fauna: occurrence, biodiversity, and roles in ecosystem function
Chapter 6. Molecular and associated approaches for studying soil biota and their functioning
Chapter 7. Physiological and biochemical methods for studying soil biota and their functions
Chapter 8. The spatial distribution of soil biota and their functions
Chapter 9. Biotic metabolism in soil
Chapter 10. The ecology of soil biota and their function
Chapter 11. Plant–soil biota interactions
Chapter 12. Soil carbon formation and persistence
Chapter 13. Methods for studying soil organic matter: nature, dynamics, spatial accessibility, and interactions with minerals
Chapter 14. Nitrogen transformations
Chapter 15. Biological transformations of mineral nutrients in soils and their role in soil biogeochemistry
Chapter 16. Advancing quantitative models of soil microbiology, ecology, and biochemistry
Chapter 17. The application of knowledge in soil microbiology, ecology, and biochemistry (SMEB) to the solution of today’s and future societal needs

Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Eldor A. Paul is a Senior Research Scientist at the Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University, Fort Collins and Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University, East Lansing. During his time at Michigan State, he was a professor of Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry, and Crop and Soil Sciences. He earned degrees from the University of Alberta and the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on the dynamics of soil organic matter and the microbial ecology of soil. Dr Paul is a Fellow of ASA, SSSA, the Canadian Society of Soil Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Serita Frey is a microbial ecologist with over 30 years of experience studying microbes in the environment. She received her PhD in Ecology from Colorado State University and is currently a professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of New Hampshire. Her research examines how environmental change is altering the structure and function of forest ecosystems, with an emphasis on soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling processes. She is specifically interested in how anthropogenic stressors (e.g., climate change, nitrogen deposition, invasive species) affect the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities and microbial-mediated carbon and nitrogen cycles.