The architecture and biology of soils: life in inner space

Abstract

Abstract Soil biomass comprises a tiny proportion of the total soil mass, and plays a dominant role in delivering the wide range of ecosystem services provided by soil systems. The soil biota create physical structure within their habitat, affect the resultant dynamics of many soil processes and are themselves affected by such structure. This interplay between the spatial constructs of the soil matrix and the life within it is appositely conceptualized in terms of an architecture of the soil, and the pore networks therein as a form of planetary inner space. This inner space is the main theme of this book, which contains 12 chapters. These concepts from a variety of perspectives and reveal how, ultimately, the functioning of the terrestrial components of the Earth system fundamentally depends upon the quite remarkable spatial organization of the soil. Topics covered include: modelling soil structure and processes; microbial regulation of soil structural dynamics; the zoological generation of soil structure; biotic regulation using plants; biota-mineral interactions; effects of enclosing microhabitats soil structure on soil bacteria and the processes that they regulate; fungal growth in soils; sensory ecology in soil space; managing the interactions between soil biota and their physical habitat in agroecosystems; contaminated soils and bioremediation; and biological interactions within soil profiles engineered for sport and amenity use.