Author: Dan Răzvan Popoviciu

Soil Biology & Ecology: The Basics

eBook: US $39 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $67
Printed Copy: US $47
Library License: US $156
ISBN: 978-981-5313-30-7 (Print)
ISBN: 978-981-5313-29-1 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2024
DOI: 10.2174/97898153132911240101

Introduction

Soil Biology & Ecology: The Basics offers an accessible introduction to the diverse and dynamic world beneath our feet. This book explores soil as a thriving habitat, detailing the rich biodiversity of microorganisms and macroorganisms that sustain essential ecological cycles. It covers the key biochemical cycles in soil, including carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur, explaining how these processes contribute to soil fertility and ecosystem health. With a focus on ecological relationships like symbiosis and competition, this guide illuminates the vital role of soil in supporting life and agricultural productivity.

Ideal for students, researchers, and nature enthusiasts, the book is a foundational resource for understanding soil's impact on the biosphere and human food production.

Key Features:

  • - Comprehensive overview of soil as a living ecosystem
  • - Detailed coverage of soil microbiota, macrobiota, and biochemical cycles
  • - Insights into ecological relationships and their practical applications

Readership

Suitable for students, researchers, and general readers interested in natural sciences.

Preface

Atlhough few people acknowledge it, soil is one of the environments hosting the highest biodiversity on this planet. A multitude of micro-and macroorganisms, bacteria, fungi, protists, plants and animals populate the various types of soil.

Yet, a really remarkable thing about soil is not just its enormous biodiversity, but also the variety and complexity of interactions among present organisms. At this level, we can find complex symbioses, competition, predation and parasitism. These interactions are essential to the continuous recycling of bioelements, in decomposing organic matter and making available again its various components.

Thus, soil has a crucial contribution to the very existence of Earth’s biosphere. It provides nutritional support to all land-based ecological communities and, is also the basis of any agricultural production, thus, of our everyday food.

This is why knowledge of all these aspects of soil biology and ecology is important to naturalists. This book is conceived as a guide to students, specialists and all people interested in natural sciences.

Dan Răzvan Popoviciu
"Ovidius", University Constanța
România Faculty of Natural Sciences
and Agricultural Sciences
Romania