Biological Diversity and Function in Soils (Ecological Reviews)

✍ Scribed by Richard Bardgett, Michael Usher, David Hopkins

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 429
• Series: Ecological Reviews
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Although soil provides physical support for plants and contributes to a variety of important environmental functions, many questions about the ecological significance of its biological diversity, and how ecosystem function is affected, have never been asked. Recent technical developments, as well as new experimental and modelling approaches, have led to a renaissance in soil biodiversity research. The key areas are reflected in this new volume, which brings together many leading contributions on the role and importance of soil biota.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Contributors......Page 9
Editors' Preface......Page 15
Acknowledgements......Page 17
PART I Introduction......Page 19
Introduction......Page 21
A brief history of advancements in soil biodiversity research......Page 23
Ten tenets of soil ecology......Page 29
Challenges in soil ecology......Page 32
What are the organisms?......Page 33
What do the organisms do?......Page 34
Do soil species matter in ecosystem processes?......Page 35
Should we care?......Page 36
Conclusions......Page 37
References......Page 39
PART II The soil environment......Page 47
Introduction......Page 49
Soil is not a bed of aggregates......Page 50
Soil is four dimensional......Page 51
Water water everywhere?......Page 54
The importance of soil structure: a case study from sensory ecology......Page 56
Change is constant......Page 58
References......Page 60
Introduction......Page 62
Microbial diversity and the impact of small subunit 16S rRNA......Page 64
Microbial community structure and function......Page 66
Microbial diversity and the impact of small subunit 18S rRNA analysis......Page 67
Microbial diversity and the impact of phospholipid fatty acid profiling techniques......Page 68
Microbial diversity in soils: what next?......Page 69
References......Page 71
Currency of soil carbon......Page 75
Fractions of soil carbon: babies and bathwater......Page 76
Chemical and functional characteristics: glimpses through keyholes......Page 77
Decomposition and turn-over......Page 80
Substrate quality......Page 82
Substrate quantity......Page 85
Substrate location......Page 88
Substrate timing......Page 90
References......Page 91
PART III Patterns and drivers of soil biodiversity......Page 99
SUMMARY......Page 101
Evolutionary emergence of diversity......Page 102
Ecological opportunity......Page 103
Competition......Page 105
Ecological maintenance of diversity......Page 107
Processes shaping patterns of diversity......Page 108
Functional consequences of diversity......Page 111
Conclusions......Page 113
References......Page 115
Introduction......Page 118
The diversity of soil biota......Page 119
Latitudinal gradients of soil biological diversity......Page 121
Local patterns of soil biological diversity......Page 123
Temporal patterns of soil biodiversity......Page 127
The enigma of soil biodiversity......Page 128
References......Page 132
Introduction......Page 137
Soil food web responses to plant species differences......Page 138
Perennial grasslands and plant functional group removals......Page 141
Rainforests and selective herbivory by browsing mammals......Page 144
Above-ground-below-ground biodiversity relationships......Page 147
Reciprocal feedbacks between plant species and soil biota......Page 150
Conclusions......Page 152
References......Page 153
Introduction......Page 157
Productivity and stability of food chains......Page 160
Energy flow, interaction strengths and stability in real soil food webs......Page 162
Trophic interaction loops......Page 164
Productivity and soil food web structure in primary succession gradients......Page 167
Conclusions......Page 169
References......Page 170
SUMMARY......Page 172
Measuring soil microbial diversity......Page 173
Measuring rhizosphere carbon flow......Page 175
Influence of carbon flow on soil microbial diversity......Page 179
References......Page 182
PART IV Consequences of soil biodiversity......Page 187
SUMMARY......Page 189
Theoretical background: when should microbial community composition matter?......Page 190
Consideration of microbial process types in soil nitrogen cycling......Page 191
An alternative perspective: changing the view of the soil nitrogen cycle......Page 193
Extracellular enzyme processes......Page 194
Enzyme processes as narrow physiologies......Page 195
Exoenzymes and microbial nitrogen limitation......Page 196
Microsite phenomena......Page 198
Effects of elevated nitrogen on ecosystem processes......Page 201
Conclusions......Page 202
SUMMARY......Page 207
Definitions......Page 208
What is meant by structure and which methods have been used?......Page 209
What exactly has been found?......Page 214
‘Is everything everywhere?’ and host specificity......Page 217
Diversity indices......Page 218
Decomposition and nutrient cycling......Page 219
Enzyme activity......Page 221
Isotopes of carbon and nitrogen......Page 222
Relationship between species richness and resource decomposition......Page 223
Conclusions......Page 227
References......Page 228
SUMMARY......Page 234
Introduction......Page 235
Diversity of mycorrhizal fungi......Page 236
Anthropogenic impacts on mycorrhizal diversity......Page 238
Does mycorrhizal diversity matter?......Page 239
Multi-functionality and complementarity of mycorrhizal fungi......Page 240
Mycorrhiza specificity: linking function to particular species......Page 245
What is important for ecosystem functioning: species composition, species diversity or both?......Page 247
Acknowledgements......Page 248
Introduction......Page 254
Is there evidence for functional redundancy in soils?......Page 256
Consequences of functional niche theory for redundancy and stability......Page 258
Soils differ as a habitat from other ecosystems......Page 259
Omnivory......Page 260
Spatial ecology, diversity and redundancy......Page 261
Conclusions......Page 262
SUMMARY......Page 268
Introduction......Page 269
Feedback between plant and soil communities......Page 271
Spatio-temporal scales and context-dependence of plant–soil feedback......Page 274
Decomposer community......Page 279
Mutualists community......Page 280
Root herbivore and root pathogen community......Page 281
Acknowledgements......Page 282
References......Page 283
SUMMARY......Page 291
Introduction......Page 292
Soil processes......Page 294
Bacterial community structure......Page 297
A fresh approach to estimating microbial diversity......Page 301
References......Page 306
PART V Applications of soil biodiversity......Page 311
SUMMARY......Page 313
Introduction......Page 314
Agricultural intensification, soil biodiversity and ecosystem function......Page 315
A functional approach to biodiversity......Page 316
The role of ecosystem engineers......Page 317
Decomposition and nutrient cycling......Page 320
Molecular phylogeny of bacteria provides a poor basis for functional ecology: rhizobial diversity in the tropics......Page 323
Bacterial biogeography?......Page 324
Relationships between bacterial biodiversity and function......Page 326
Effects of human intervention: the potential for management of below-ground biodiversity......Page 327
Issues of scale......Page 329
References......Page 332
Introduction......Page 337
Relationship to ecological succession......Page 341
What to measure?......Page 342
Opencast (strip) mining......Page 345
Military training areas......Page 347
Interactions between biology and physical structure......Page 348
Semi-natural sites......Page 349
Facilitators or followers?......Page 350
Facilitation by modifying soil conditions......Page 351
Inhibition by symbionts......Page 353
Inhibition by pathogens and herbivores......Page 354
Principal gaps and future work......Page 355
Introduction......Page 361
Objectives......Page 365
Diversity of plants, nematodes and beetles......Page 367
Further analysis of stress effects on nematodes......Page 368
Further analysis of stress effects on beetles......Page 374
Conclusions......Page 377
References......Page 378
Introduction......Page 381
What should be conserved? The development of criteria......Page 382
The soils of designated areas......Page 384
Flagships, keystones and biodiversity action plans......Page 387
Considering the ecosystem......Page 389
Approaching sustainability?......Page 392
References......Page 393
PART VI Conclusion......Page 397
Introduction......Page 399
Soil biodiversity......Page 400
Origins of diversity......Page 402
Consequences of soil biodiversity......Page 406
Relationships between biodiversity and resilience......Page 411
Complexity......Page 412
Does soil biodiversity matter?......Page 415
References......Page 416
Index......Page 420