Soils are amongst the greatest reservoirs of biodiversity of the planet. The functioning of terrestrial ecosystems is linked to the roles played by the many organisms that live underground, discreet, hidden or invisible to the naked eye. From bacteria to fungi, from microscopic animals to plants via their roots, from detritivorous or predatory arthropods to small mammals, not forgetting earthworms, they interact with each other and profoundly modify soil characteristics.
Soils evolve actually. They have a past, of which they keep traces, and a future. But whether we are talking about farmed or forested areas, or so-called natural or pristine ecosystems, they are threatened in many ways. In addition to artificialization, pollution and declining biodiversity, they are also seriously altered by natural processes such as acidification, salinization and erosion, which are being amplified by human activities.
Aimed at a wide readership and richly illustrated, this book highlights the richness of soils and the life they harbor, and the pressing need to safeguard them in the context of climate and land-use changes worldwide.