Soil Ecology and Ecosystem Services

This multi-contributor, international volume synthesizes contributions from the world's leading soil scientists and ecologists, describing cutting-edge research that provides a basis for the maintenance of soil health and sustainability. The book covers these advances from a unique perspective of examining the ecosystem services produced by soil biota across different scales - from biotic interactions at microscales to communities functioning at regional and global scales. The book leads the user towards an understanding of how the sustainability of soils, biodiversity, and ecosystem services can be maintained and how humans, other animals, and ecosystems are dependent on living soils and ecosystem services.

Introduction. Section 1 - The Living Soil and Ecosystem Services. 1.0. Introduction. 1.1. Soil as a habitat. 1.2. Soil biodiversity and functions. 1.3. Ecosystem services provided by soil biota. 1.4. Synthesis. Section 2 - From Genes to Ecosystem Services. 2.0. Introduction. 2.1. From single genes to microbial networks. 2.2. From genes to ecosystems: plant genetics as a link between above- and belowground processes. 2.3. Delivery of soil ecosystem services: from Gaia to genes. 2.4. Synthesis. Section 3 - Community Structure and Biotic Assemblages. 3.0. Introduction. 3.1. Succession, resource processing, and diversity in detrital food webs. 3.2. Patterns of biodiversity at fine and small spatial scales. 3.3. Linking soil biodiversity and human health: do arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi contribute to food nutrition. 3.4. Ecosystem influences of fungus-growing termites in the dry paleotropics. 3.5. The biogeography of microbial communities and ecosystem processes: implications for soil and ecosystem models. 3.6. Biogeography and phylogenetic community structure of soil invertebrate ecosystem engineers. 3.7. Synthesis. Section 4 - Global Changes. 4.0. Introduction. 4.1. Climate change effects on soils and ecosystem services. 4.2. The impact of nitrogen enrichment on ecosystems and their services. 4.3. Urbanization, soils, and ecosystem services. 4.4. Management of grassland systems, and soil and ecosystem services. 4.5. Synthesis. Section 5 - Sustainable Soils. 5.0. Introduction. 5.1. Soil productivity and erosion. 5.2. Agroforestry and soil health: linking trees, soil biota, and ecosystem services. 5.3. Soil health: the concept, its role, and strategies for monitoring. 5.4. Managing soil biodiversity and ecosystem services. 5.5. Soil ecosystem resilience and recovery. 5.6. Applying soil ecological knowledge to restore ecosystem services. 5.7. Synthesis. Index.

The Editor-in-Chief, Diana H. Wall, is University Distinguished Professor and Director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University. Diana is actively engaged in research exploring how nematode and other invertebrate diversity contributes to healthy, productive soils and thus to society, and the consequences of human activities on soil globally. Her 20+ years research in the Antarctic Dry Valleys follows the response of soil organisms and ecosystem processes to environmental change, and in Africa she examines biodiversity in fertile and degraded soils. She served as President of the Ecological Society of America, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Intersociety Consortium for Plant Protection, the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers, and the Society of Nematologists. Diana received her BA and Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, Lexington and is a Professor of Biology and a Senior Scientist, Natural Research Ecology Laboratory. The Section Editors, Richard D. Bardgett, Valerie Behan-Pelletier, Jeffrey E. Herrick, T. Hefin Jones, Karl Ritz, Johan Six, Donald R. Strong, and Wim H. van der Putten, are all leading researchers in this field.