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The Living Soil: Biodiversity and Functions

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The Soils of Ireland

Part of the book series: World Soils Book Series ((WSBS))

Abstract

Soil biodiversity encompasses an enormous array of life on the planet. Soil organisms are essential for most processes and functions in the soil. Soil biological knowledge is critical for understanding functions such as nutrient supply to plants, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions, all of which are key to meeting the global challenges of food security and climate change mitigation. Soil microorganisms include a wide array of bacterial, archaeal and eukaryotic taxa. Microbes are extremely diverse and abundant, with up to 10 billion microorganisms predicted in a single gram of soil. Nematodes provide a good case study of a soil faunal group that encompasses all feeding habits within their own taxonomic group. Their different feeding habits mean that nematodes provide many and different connections in soil food webs. Microarthropods are discussed, as representing a well-studied soil animal group in Ireland in terms of their community ecology and biogeography, with several species of the Mesostigmata identified. Knowledge of larger animals such as earthworms is more complete, with 27 species recorded from Ireland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Olaf Schmidt

  2. UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Tom Bolger

  3. Wageningen University and Research Atlas—Wageningen Campus, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Rachel Creamer

  4. Teagasc Environment, Soils and Land-Use Department, Johnstown Castle, County Wexford, Ireland

    Fiona Brennan

  5. School of Microbiology and Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Lee Road, Cork, Ireland

    Alan D. W. Dobson

Authors
  1. Olaf Schmidt
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  2. Tom Bolger
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  3. Rachel Creamer
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  4. Fiona Brennan
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  5. Alan D. W. Dobson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olaf Schmidt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wageningen University and Research Atlas—Wageningen Campus, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Rachel Creamer

  2. Teagasc Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Johnstown Castle Environment Research Centre, Wexford, Ireland

    Lilian O’Sullivan

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Schmidt, O., Bolger, T., Creamer, R., Brennan, F., Dobson, A.D.W. (2018). The Living Soil: Biodiversity and Functions. In: Creamer, R., O’Sullivan, L. (eds) The Soils of Ireland. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71189-8_18

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