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Soil biology
 
 
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Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity and ecology
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 in soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
. These organisms include earthworm
Earthworm

Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. The earthworm is the most known worm in America, and other countries....
s, nematode
Nematode

The "roundworms" or "nematodes" are the most diverse phylum of body cavity, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 80,000 have been described, of which over 15,000 are parasite....
s, protozoa
Protozoa

Protozoan are microorganisms classified as unicellular eukaryotes. While there is no exact definition of the term "protozoan", most scientists use the word to refer to a unicellular heterotrophic protist, such as an amoeba or a ciliate....
, fungi and bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
. Soil biology plays a vital role in determining many soil characteristics yet, being a relatively new science, much remains unknown about soil biology and about how the nature of soil is affected.

soil is home to a large proportion of the world's genetic diversity.






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Encyclopedia


Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity and ecology
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 in soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
. These organisms include earthworm
Earthworm

Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. The earthworm is the most known worm in America, and other countries....
s, nematode
Nematode

The "roundworms" or "nematodes" are the most diverse phylum of body cavity, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 80,000 have been described, of which over 15,000 are parasite....
s, protozoa
Protozoa

Protozoan are microorganisms classified as unicellular eukaryotes. While there is no exact definition of the term "protozoan", most scientists use the word to refer to a unicellular heterotrophic protist, such as an amoeba or a ciliate....
, fungi and bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
. Soil biology plays a vital role in determining many soil characteristics yet, being a relatively new science, much remains unknown about soil biology and about how the nature of soil is affected.

Overview

The soil is home to a large proportion of the world's genetic diversity. The linkages between soil organisms and soil functions are observed to be incredibly complex. The interconnectedness and complexity of this soil ‘food web’
Soil food web

The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals....
 means any appraisal of soil function must necessarily take into account interactions with the living communities that exist within the soil. We know that soil organisms
Soil life

Soil life or soil biota is a collective term for all the organisms living within the soil....
 break down organic matter, making nutrients available for uptake by plants and other organisms. The nutrients stored in the bodies of soil organisms prevent nutrient loss by leaching
Leaching

In general, leaching is the extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid . Specifically, it may refer to:*Leaching *Leaching ...
. Microbial exudates act to maintain soil structure
Soil structure

Soil structure is determined by how individual soil granules clump or bind together and aggregate, and therefore, the arrangement of soil pores between them....
, and earthworms are important in bioturbation
Bioturbation

In oceanography and limnology, bioturbation is the displacement and mixing of sediment particles by benthos fauna or flora . The mediators of bioturbation are typically annelid worms , bivalves , gastropods, holothurians, or any other Fauna #Infauna or Fauna #Epifauna organisms....
. However, we find that we don't understand critical aspects about how these populations function and interact. The discovery of glomalin
Glomalin

Glomalin is a glycoprotein produced abundantly on hyphae and spores of Arbuscular mycorrhiza mycorrhizal fungi in soil and in roots.As a glycoprotein, glomalin stores carbon in both its protein and carbohydrate subunits....
 in 1995 indicates that we lack the knowledge to correctly answer some of the most basic questions about the biogeochemical cycle in soils. We have much work ahead to gain a better understanding of how soil biological components affect us and the planet they share with us.

Scope

Soil biology involves work in the following areas:
  • Modelling
    Scientific modelling

    Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual model, graphical and or Mathematical model models. Science offers a growing collection of Scientific method, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling....
     of biological processes and population dynamics
    Population dynamics

    Population dynamics is the branch of life sciences that studies short- and long-term changes in the size and age composition of populations, and the biology and environment processes influencing those changes....
    .
  • Soil biology, physics
    Soil physics

    Soil physics is the study of soil physical properties and processes. It is applied to management and prediction under natural and managed ecosystems....
     and chemistry: occurrence of physicochemical parameters and surface properties on biological processes and population behavior.
  • Population biology
    Population biology

    Population biology is a study of biological populations of organisms, especially in terms of biodiversity, evolution, and Ecology. The term population biology is often used interchangeably with population ecology, although the term with biology is more frequently used when studying diseases, viruses, and microbes, and the term with ecolo...
     and molecular ecology
    Molecular ecology

    Molecular ecology is a field of evolutionary biology that is concerned with applying molecular population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, and more recently genomics to traditional ecology questions ....
    : methodological development and contribution to study microbial and faunal populations; diversity and population dynamics
    Population dynamics

    Population dynamics is the branch of life sciences that studies short- and long-term changes in the size and age composition of populations, and the biology and environment processes influencing those changes....
    ; genetic transfers, influence of environmental factors.
  • Community ecology
    Community ecology

    Community ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology which studies the distribution, abundance, demography, and biological interactions between coexisting populations....
     and functioning processes: interactions between organisms and mineral
    Mineral

    A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
     or organic compounds; involvement of such interactions in soil pathogenicity
    Pathogenicity

    Pathogenicity is the ability of an organism, a pathogen, to produce an infectious disease in another organism.It is often used interchangeably with the term "virulence", although some authors prefer to reserve the latter term for descriptions of the relative degree of damage done by a pathogen....
    ; transformation of mineral and organic compounds, cycling of elements
    Biogeochemical cycle

    In ecology and Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle or nutrient cycle is a pathway by which a chemical element or molecule moves through both biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth....
    ; soil structuration


Complementary disciplinary approaches are necessarily utilized which involve molecular biology
Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
, genetics
Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
, ecophysiology, biogeography
Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
, ecology, soil processes, organic matter, nutrient dynamics and landscape ecology
Landscape ecology

Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes on a multitude of landscape scales and organizational levels....
.

See also

  • Nitrification
    Nitrification

    Nitrification is the biological redox of ammonia with oxygen into nitrite followed by the oxidation of these nitrites into nitrates. Degradation of ammonia to nitrite is usually the rate limiting step of nitrification....
  • Nitrogen cycle
    Nitrogen cycle

    The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the transformations of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. It is a cycle which includes Gas components....
  • Soil ecology
    Soil ecology

    Soil ecology is the study of the interactions among soil organisms, and between biotic and abiotic aspects of the soil environment. It is particularly concerned with the biogeochemistry, formation and stabilization of the porosity, the spread and vitality of pathogens, and the biodiversity of this rich soil life....
  • Soil life
    Soil life

    Soil life or soil biota is a collective term for all the organisms living within the soil....


Bibliography

  • Alexander, 1977, Introduction to Soil Microbiology, 2nd edition, John Wiley
  • Alexander, 1994, Biodegradation and Bioremediation, Academic Press
  • Coyne, 1999, Soil Microbiology: An Exploratory Approach, Delmar
  • Doran, J.W., D.C. Coleman, D.F. Bezdicek and B.A. Stewart. 1994. Defining soil quality for a sustainable environment. Soil Science Society of America Special Publication Number 35, ASA, Madison Wis.
  • Paul, P.A. and F.E. Clark. 1996, Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry, 2nd edition, Academic Press
  • Richards, 1987,The Microbiology of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Longman Scientific & Technical
  • Sylvia et al., 1998, Principles and Applications of Soil Microbiology, Prentice Hall
  • Soil and Water Conservation Society, 2000, Soil Biology Primer.
  • Tate, 2000, Soil Microbiology, 2nd edition, John Wiley
  • van Elsas et al., 1997, Modern Soil Microbiology, Marcel Dekker
  • Wood, 1995, Environmental Soil Biology, 2nd edition, Blackie A & P


External links

  • , UK - including the UK National Soil Resources Institute
  • A free schools-age educational site, featuring much on soil biology and teaching about soil and its importance.