Welcome to Soil Ecology and 2018!

This is an exciting time, we are about to embark on a marvelous journey through the most complex ecological system known, SOIL. In our journey we meet many organisms that collectively are the soil food web. Each one has a role in determining processes having agronomic and environmental implications from determining conditions for growth of a root tip to affecting our climate. The presence and activities of soil organisms can be “a canary in a coal mine” or signal “all is well” for the long-term productivity and health of soil, and also of the environment. Any exploration of soil organisms requires knowledge of interactions of individuals within a population of similar organisms, interaction with other types of organisms and also interaction with the soil environment. Thus this course has the titled Soil Ecology because it is an exploration of interactions between soil organisms and their soil environment.

Let’s explore....