Bioaugmentation, biostimulation and biocontrol approaches using microbial inoculants, biofertilizers, biochemicals and organic amendments improve soil biology, fertility and crop productivity by providing plant growth-promoting nutrients and suppressing soil-borne diseases and plant-parasitic nematodes. Our knowledge of microbial diversity and its function in soils has been increased tremendously due to the availability of a wealth of data gained through recent advances in the development of molecular methods and metagenomics for the evaluation of microbial diversity and functions in the rhizosphere environment of soil. Chapters dealing with the application of biofertilizers and organic amendments are contributed by experts - authorities in the area of soil science including microbiology and molecular biology - from academic institutions and the industry.

Soil enzymes are one of the vital key mediators involved in nutrient recycling and the decomposition of organic matter and thereby in maintaining soil quality and fertility. This Soil Biology volume covers the various facets of soil enzymes, such as their functions, biochemical and microbiological properties and the factors affecting their activities. Enzymes in the rhizosphere, in forest soils, and in volcanic ash-derived soils are described. Soil enzymes covered include phosphohydrolases, lignocellulose-degrading enzymes, phenol oxidases, fungal oxidoreductases, keratinases, pectinases, xylanases, lipases and pectinases. Several chapters treat the soil enzymatic activities in the bioremediation of soils contaminated with pesticides and pollutants such as oil, chlorinated compounds, synthetic dyes and aromatic hydrocarbons. The role of soil enzymes as bioindicators is a further important topic addressed.

Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for our children. This discipline addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, starvation, obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control and biodiversity depletion. Novel solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, philosophy and social sciences. As actual society issues are now intertwined, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series analyzes current agricultural issues, and proposes alternative solutions, consequently helping all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians wishing to build safe agriculture, energy and food systems for future generations.

Communication is defined as an interaction between at least two living agents which share a repertoire of signs. These are combined according to syntactic, semantic and context-dependent, pragmatic rules in order to coordinate behavior. This volume deals with the important roles of soil bacteria in parasitic and symbiotic interactions with viruses, plants, animals and fungi. Starting with a general overview of the key levels of communication between bacteria, further reviews examine the various aspects of intracellular as well as intercellular biocommunication between soil microorganisms. This includes the various levels of biocommunication between phages and bacteria, between soil algae and bacteria, and between bacteria, fungi and plants in the rhizosphere, the role of plasmids and transposons, horizontal gene transfer, quorum sensing and quorum quenching, bacterial-host cohabitation, phage-mediated genetic exchange and soil viral ecology.

Earthworms, which belong to the order Oligochaeta, comprise roughly 3,000 species grouped into five families. Earthworms have been called 'ecosystem engineers'; much like human engineers, they change the structure of their environments. Earthworms are very versatile and are found in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems. They play an important role in forest and agricultural ecosystems. This Soil Biology volume describes the various facets of earthworms, such as their role in soil improvement, soil structure, and the biocontrol of soil-borne plant fungal diseases. Reviews discuss earthworms' innate immune system, molecular markers to address various issues of earthworm ecology, earthworm population dynamics, and the influences of organic farming systems and tillage. Further topics include the characteristics of vermicompost, relationships between soil earthworms and enzymes, the role of spermathecae, copulatory behavior, and adjustment of the donated sperm volume.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Digne, France, September 16-22, 1988

Research in Antarctica in the past two decades has fundamentally changed our perceptions of the southern continent. This volume describes typical terrestrial environments of the maritime and continental Antarctic. Life and chemical processes are restricted to small ranges of ambient temperature, availability of water and nutrients. This is reflected not only in life processes, but also in those of weathering and pedogenesis. The volume focuses on interactions between plants, animals and soils. It includes aspects of climate change, soil development and biology, as well as above- and below-ground results of interdisciplinary research projects combining data from botany, zoology, microbiology, pedology, and soil ecology.

NATO Advanced Research Institutes are designed to explore unre- solved problems. By focusing complementary expertise from various disciplines onto one unifying theme, they approach old problems in new ways. In line with this goal of the NATO Science Committee, and with substantial support from the u.s. Office of Naval Research and the Seabed Assessment Program of the u.s. National Science Founda- tion, such a Research Institute on the theme of Coastal Qpw!llinq and Its Sediment Record was held September 1-4, 1981, in Vilamoura, Portuqal. The theme implies a modification of uniformitarian thinking in earth science. Expectations were directed not so much towards find- ing the key to the past as towards explorinq the limits of interpret- inq the past based on present upwelling oceanography. Coastal up- wellinq and its imprint on sediments are particularly well-suited for such a scientific inquiry. The oceanic processes and conditions characteristic of upwelling are well understood and are a well- packaqed representation of ocean science that are familiar to qeolo- gists, just as the maqnitude of bioproduction and sedimentation in upwellinq reqimes --among other bioloqical and geoloqical processes-- have made oceanographers realize that the bottom has a feedback role for their models.

Acknowledgements Conference Summary R. D. EVANS, A. PROVINI, J. S. MATIICE, B. T. HART and J. WISNIEWSKI/Interactions Between Sediments and Water: Summary of the 7th International Symposium 1-7 Sediment I Water Dynamics D. E. WALLING and W. HE /Investigating Spatial Patterns of Overbank Sedimentation on River Floodplains 9-20 R. JEPSEN, J. ROBERTS and W. LICK / Effects of Bulk Density on Sediment Erosion Rates 21-31 T. G. MILLIGAN and D. H. LORING / The Effect of Flocculation on the Size Distributions of Bottom Sediment in Coastal Inlets: Implications for Contaminant Transport 33-42 loG. DROPPO, G. G. LEPPARD, D. T. FLANNIGAN and S. N. LlSS / The Freshwater Floc: A Functional Relationship of Water and Organic and Inorganic Floc Constituents Affecting Suspended Sediment Properties 43-53 C. H. TSAI and J. Q. HU / Flocculation of Particles by Fluid Shear in Buffered Suspensions 55-62 P. M. STONE and D. E. WALLING / Particle Size Selectivity Considerations in Suspended Sediment Budget Investigations 63-70 Q. HE and D. E. WALLING / Spatial Variability of the Particle Size Composition of Overbank Floodplain Deposits 71-80 C. YEN and Y. LIN KEY / Variations of Bed Surface Sediment Size in a Channel Bend 81-88 M. STONE and B. G. KRISHNAPPAN / Transport Characteristics of Tile-Drain Sediments From an Agricultural Watershed 89-103 U. KERN and B. WESTRICH / Sediment Budget Analysis for River Reservoirs 105-112 A. I. PACKMAN, N. H. BROOKS and J. J.

Sedimentology has neither been adequately popularized nor This book begins with a consideration of the complex end commonly taught as an interdisciplinary subject, and many product of processes and materials, the sedimentary environ workers in the areas of modem environment studies have very ment. It then proceeds to discuss the processes and materials limited knowledge of sedimentology. Practical Sedimentol themselves. The emphasis is on geological interpretations of ogy (henceforth PS) is designed to provide an introduction and ancient deposits, but most discussions are also relevant to review of principles and interpretations related to sedimentary modem sediments and can be used to predict environmental processes, environments, and deposits. Its companion volume, changes. A basic knowledge of geological jargon is antici Analytical Sedimentology (henceforth AS), provides "cook pated for users of this book; we try to define most of the more book recipes" for common analytical procedures dealing with esoteric terms in context, but if there are additional incom sediments, and an introduction to the principles and reference prehensible terms, refer to Bates and Jackson's Glossary of sources for procedures that generally would be performed by Geology (AGI, 1987). specialist consultants or commercial laboratories. Specialist sedimentologists will find in them useful reviews, whereas sci ACKNOWLEDGMENTS entists from other disciplines will find in them concepts and procedures that may contribute to an expanded knowledge of Many chapter drafts ofPS were critically reviewed by Dr. M.

Tropical Africa escaped from the glaciers that covered the temperate parts of the world during the Ice Age. The legacy is that most of the parent materials of the soils of tropical Africa are old, highly weathered and devoid of bases and phosphate-bearing minerals. Traditional farming systems which were relatively stable and sustainable relied on long fallow periods after one to two years of cropping to maintain the productive capacity of the soils. In recent times and especially in densely populated areas, a sizeable class of 'landless' farmers have begun to cultivate marginal lands or to invade the 'forest reserves' thereby exacerbating the problems of land and environ mental degradation. of soil fertility that will facilitate the production of adequate quantities of the principle Maintaining a level staples has become a major challenge to agricultural scientists in tropical Africa. To increase the nutrient supplying power of soils requires the inputs of fertilizers. These can be organic or inorganic. The efficiency with which these externally supplied inputs can increase agricultural production and reduce soil and environmental deterioration is dependent on the ability of scientists to determine the right types and quantities of the products to apply to each soil, crop and cropping system as well as the ability of farmers to acquire requisite farm manage ment skills."

Increasing awareness of the irreversible and long-lasting impacts of deterioration and pollution of soils and sediments has had an important influence on environmental policies and research in the last decade. The complexity of the soil and sediment systems and its processes cannot be tackled properly unless scientists from different disciplines work together. With this in mind, a number of multidisciplinary soil research programmes have been started in various European countries. They involve different disciplinary approaches and they aim at different fields of application: agriculture, land use and town and country planning, drinking water supply, nature management. The results that are now appearing need to be integrated in a scientifically sound and useful way. The first European Conference on Integrated Research for Soil and Sediment Protection and Remediation was intended to foster this. The volume contains the edited and selected proceedings of this Conference.

NATO Advanced Research Institutes are designed to explore unre solved problems. By focusing complementary expertise from various disciplines onto one unifying theme, they approach old problems in new ways. In line with this goal of the NATO Science Committee, and with substantial support from the u.s. Office of Naval Research and the Seabed Assessment Program of the U. S. National Science Founda tion, such a Research Institute on the theme of Coastal Upwelling and Its Sediment Record was held september 1-4, 1981, in Vilamoura, Portugal. The theme implies a modification of uniformitarian thinking in earth science. Expectations were directed not so much towards find ing the key to the past as towards exploring the limits of interpret ing the past based on present upwelling oceanography. Coastal up welling and its imprint on sediments are particularly well-suited for such a scientific inquiry. The oceanic processes and conditions characteristic of upwelling are well understood and are a well packaged representation of ocean science that are familiar to geolo gists, just as the magnitude of bioproduction and sedimentation in upwelling regimes --among other biological and geological processes- have made oceanographers realize that the bottom has a feedback role for their models.

This is the second volume in the series Nutrients in Ecosystems. Sulphur as an essential plant nutrient has received little attention. This is explained by the facts that sulphur was obviously in sufficient supply from the atmosphere, from soil and as a by-product in mineral fertilizers. Increases in the yield potential and thus in the nutrient requirement of modern crops, however, as well as remarkable changes in SO2 emissions by private households, power stations and industry, associated with legislative measures to reduce air and water pollution, have altered the situation to a large extent. In particular the public concerns about forest decline and pollution-induced climatic changes have initiated extensive research programs on the physiological functions of sulphur in plants, on the occurrence and plant availability of sulphur in agricultural and forest soils and on the chemistry of sulphur compounds in the tropo- and stratosphere. This book cannot be an encylcopedia of sulphur in all the media mentioned nor in all ecozones of the globe. However, it aims to give an overview of our present knowledge with a special focus on the sulphur situation in agrosystems of industrialised Western Europe. The ecological trends for sulphur observed in this region during recent decades are likely to be mirrored wherever industrialisation and urbanisation take place and where an increasing standard of living demands clean air, good drinking water and nutritious food. Agricultural production systems, therefore, require well-founded information on the actual sulphur nutrition and potential sulphur-fertilizer requirement of crops and soils respectively. It is hoped that this book will provide this information and will encourage further research where open questions still exist.

An Introduction to Environmental Biotechnology provides an introduction to the subject of environmental biotechnology. Environmental biotechnology refers to the use of micro-organisms and other living systems to solve current environmental problems such as the detoxification of pollutants and clean-up of oil tanker spills. Additionally, it refers to the biotechnology of the agricultural environment, as well as the use of biopesticides and the application of microorganisms to the mining, metal recovery and paper industries. This is the only comprehensive introductory account of this subject matter. Beginning with an introduction to microbial growth, An Introduction to Environmental Biotechnology aims to provide the non-specialist with a complete overview of environmental biotechnology. It is presented in an easy to read style with illustrations and includes frequent references to the use of higher plants as well as micro-organisms in environmental biotechnology. An Introduction to Environmental Biotechnology is geared toward a non-specialist audience, including engineers and environmental chemists, and environmental scientists who have limited knowledge of microbiology and biotechnology.

Motivation The other day I was waiting at the station for my train. Next to me a young lady was nonchalantly leaning against the wall. Suddenly, she took a cigarette pack out of her handbag, pulled out the last cigarette, put it between her lips, crushed the empty pack, threw it on the ground and hedonistically lit the cigarette. I thought to myself, "What a behavior? ." The nearest trashcan was just five meters away. So I bent down, took the crushed pack and gave it back to her, saying that she had lost it. She looked at me in a rather deranged way, but she said nothing and of waste to the trashcan. brought the piece Often people are not aware of the waste they produce. They get rid of it and that's it. As soon as the charming lady dropped the cigarette pack, the problem was solved for her. The pack was on the ground and it suddenly no longer belonged to her. It is taken for granted that somebody else will do the cleaning up. There is a saying that nature does not produce waste. For long as humans obtained the goods they needed from the ground where they lived, the waste that was produced could be handled by nature. This has drastically changed due to urbanization and waste produced by human activities has become a severe burden.

The symposium on "Zinc in Soils and Plants" is the third in a series which began with "Copper in Soils and Plants" in Perth in 1981 and continued with "Manganese in Soils and Plants" in Adelaide in 1988. The symP9sium brings together a series of valuable accounts of many aspects of the reactions of zinc in soils, the uptake, transport and utilization of zinc in plants, the diagnosis and correction of zinc deficiency in plants and the role of zinc in animal and human nutrition. I am grateful for the financial support provided by Grains Research and Development Corporation, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Wool Research and Development Corporation, Ansett Australia, and Qantas Australian. I am most appreciative of the willingness of many scientists to act as referees: G S P Ritchie, R J Gilkes, N C Uren, K Tiller, BLeach, H Greenway, N E Longnecker, J F Loneragan, Z Rengel, C A Atkins, J W Gartrell, P J Randall, D G Edwards, R J Hannam, R J Moir, J E Dreosti, N Suttle, C L White, H Marschner, N Wilhelm, M McBride. All provided valuable comments on the manuscripts. Finally, I thank Mrs M Davison who provided excellent secretarial assistance. A.D. Robson September 1993 Chapter 1.

Papers Presented at a Symposium held May 8--11, 1989, at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.A.

This volume brings together contributions from an experienced group of archaeologists and geologists whose common objective is to present thorough and current reviews of the diverse ways in which methods from the earth sciences can contribute to archaeological research. Many areas of research are addressed here, including artifact analysis and sourcing, landscape reconstruction and site formation analysis, soil micromorphology and geophysical exploration of buried sites.

`The fundamental problem the world faces today, is the rapidly increasing pressure of population on the limited resources of the land. To meet the ever increasing demands of expanding populations, agricultural production has been raised through the abundant use of inorganic fertilizers, the adoption of multicropping systems and liberal application of chemical pesticides (fungicides, bactericides, etc. ). Though the use of chemicals has increased the yield dramatically, it has also resulted in the rapid deterioration of land and water resources apart from wastage of scarce resources. This has adversely affected the biological balance and lead to the presence of toxic residues in food, soil and water in addition to imposing economic constraints on developing countries.' (From the Preface) Mycorrhizal Biology addresses the global problem of land degradation and the associated loss of soil productivity and decline in soil quality caused by exploitative farming practices and poor management in developing countries, and the far reaching socio-economic and ecological consequences of its impact on agricultural productivity and the environment. In the light of a need for sustainable development, a new system of productive agriculture, to ensure the efficient management of agricultural inputs for long term high crop productivity with minimum damage to the ecological and socio-economic environment is essential. The management of mycorrhizal fungi will form a significant part of such a system and this work investigates the key association of plant roots with mycorrhizal fungi, known to benefit plants under conditions of nutritional and water stress and pathogen challenge and analyses the developments in our understanding of the genetic loci that govern mycorrhiza formation.

Biomass burning profoundly affects atmospheric chemistry, the carbon cycle, and climate and may have done so for millions of years.
Bringing together renowned experts from paleoecology, fire ecology, atmospheric chemistry, and organic chemistry, the volume elucidates the role of fire during global changes of the past and future. Topics covered include: the characterization of combustion products that occur in sediments, including char, soot/fly ash, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; the calibration of these constituents against atmospheric measurements from wildland and prescribed fire emissions; spatial and temporal patterns in combustion emissions at scales of individual burns to the globe.

Salinization of soils is a major threat to irrigated agriculture and counteracts the targets of costly public infrastructure investments. In this study, salinization is regarded as the outcome of an institutional arrangement which impedes the effective implementation of well-known and well-established control measures be they technical, managerial or economic. In public irrigation systems neither the management units nor the farmers are offered any incentives towards the control of high groundwater levels and salinization if the management units are embedded in a highly centralized non-market institutional setting. The author answers the question under which conditions management units and irrigators are active in halting and reversing the process of salinization.

With more than 50% of the world's population already living in towns and cities, migration from rural areas continuing at an alarming rate in developing countries and suburbanisation using more and more land in developed countries, the urban environment has become supremely important with regard to human health and wellbeing. For centuries, urbanisation has caused relatively low level soil conta- nation mainly by various wastes. However, from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, both the scale of urban development and the degree of soil contamination rapidly increased and involved an ever widening spectrum of c- taminants. With constraints on the supply of land for new urban development in many countries, it is becoming increasingly necessary to re-use previously dev- oped (brownfield) sites and to deal with their accompanying suites of contaminants. It is therefore essential to fully understand the diversity and properties of urban soils, to assess the possible risks from the contaminants they contain and devise ways of cleaning up sites and/or minimizing hazards. The author, Helmut Meuser, is Professor of Soil Protection and Soil Clean-up at the University of Applied Sciences, Osnabruck and is one of Europe's foremost experts on contamination from technogenic materials in urban soils. He has many years' experience of research in Berlin, Essen, Osnabruck, other regions of Germany, and several other countries.

Reservoirs generally consist of sandstones or carbonates exhibiting heterogeneities caused by a wide range of factors. Some of these formed depositionally (e.g. as channels, palaeosols, clay seams or salts), others may be diagenetic in origin (e.g. carbonate or silica cemented zones, authigenic clays, karstic surfaces). The severity with which diagenesis affects rock systems results from the interplay between the diagenetic process itself and the timescale over which it operated. The book provides a wide-ranging overview of diagenetic processes and responses in calcareous, argillaceous, arenaceous and carbon-rich (microbial and organic) sedimentary systems. It introduces diagenetic concepts, reviews existing knowledge, and shows how existing qualitative approaches might be developed in more quantitative ways. Several chapters consider mass balance calculations and the temporal and spatial aspects of diagenetic processes. It is unique, as a textbook, in providing such a breadth of diagenetic subject range and such depth of coverage in each topic. It provides a source reference for advanced students and professionals active in reservoir and aquifer studies.