SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL ORGANISMS
Abstract
This chapter summarizes the knowledge about the distribution of soil biota from geographic differences at the regional and global scale down to variability in microbial populations at the microscale. Soil biota that represents a large proportion of the earth's biodiversity has a worldwide distribution. Once thought to be restricted to the top few meters of terrestrial ecosystems, soil organisms are now known to survive and grow in some seemingly unlikely and often inhospitable places, including the canopies of tropical forest trees, deep subsurface environments, recently deposited volcanic materials under deep snow in alpine systems, Antarctic Dry Valley soils, and cryoconite holes (pockets of meltwater containing windblown soil on the surface of glaciers). While there are still large gaps in the understanding of how soil organisms are distributed, there has been a dramatic increase in information obtained in this area over the past decade. The concepts related to geographical differences in soil biota, spatial heterogeneity of soil organisms, and association of soil organisms with plants are discussed in the chapter.. The chapter provides details of vertical distribution within the soil profile and microscale heterogeneity in microbial populations.
Department
Soil Biogeochemistry and Microbial Ecology
Publication Date
1-1-2007
Journal Title
Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry (Third Edition)
Publisher
Elsevier
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
SERITA D. FREY, 11 - SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL ORGANISMS, Editor(s): ELDOR A. PAUL, Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry (Third Edition), Academic Press, 2007, Pages 283-300, ISBN 9780125468077, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-047514-1.50015-9.
Rights
© 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.