This book presents a comprehensive overview of nutrient cycling processes and their importance for plant growth and ecosystem sustainability. The book combines fundamental scientific studies and devised practical approaches. It contains contributions of leading international authorities from various disciplines resulting in multidisciplinary approaches, and all chapters have been carefully reviewed. This volume will support scientists and practitioners alike.

Offers an integrated presentation of the microbial, agronomic and recycling aspects of soil faunal potentials, emphasizing agricultural ecosystems and furnishing methods for modelling food webs. The text covers morphology, reproduction, abundances, basic requirements, competition, predation, parasitism, nutrient cycling and phytopathological interactions, soil physics and agricultural management, plus methods to quantify soil faunal groups.

Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems examines the climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how the existing paradigms must be revised in order to establish sustainable production. The increased demand for food and fuel exerts tremendous stress on all aspects of natural resources and the environment to satisfy an ever increasing world population, which includes the use of agriculture products for energy and other uses in addition to human and animal food. The book presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate. The book explores the introduction of sustainable agroecosystems that promote biodiversity, sustain soil health, and enhance food production as ways to help mitigate some of these adverse effects. New agroecosystems will help define a resilient system that can potentially absorb some of the extreme shifts in climate. Changing the existing cropping system paradigm to utilize natural system attributes by promoting biodiversity within production agricultural systems, such as the integration of polycultures, will also enhance ecological resiliency and will likely increase carbon sequestration. - Focuses on the intensification and integration of agroecosystem and soil resiliency by presenting suggested modifications of the current cropping system paradigm - Examines climate, environment, and human effects on agroecosystems - Explores in depth the wide range of intercalated soil and plant interactions as they influence soil sustainability and, in particular, soil quality - Presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate

Forages: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 7th Edition, Volume II will extensively evaluate the current knowledge and information on forage agriculture. Chapters written by leading researchers and authorities in grassland agriculture are aggregated under section themes, each one representing a major topic within grassland science and agriculture. This 7th edition will include two new additional chapters covering all aspects of forage physiology in three separate chapters, instead of one in previous editions. Chapters will be updated throughout to include new information that has developed since the last edition. This new edition of the classic reference serves as a comprehensive supplement to An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, Volume I.

Reflecting the recent surge of activity in food web research fueled by new empirical data, this authoritative volume successfully spans and integrates the areas of theory, basic empirical research, applications, and resource problems. Written by recognized leaders from various branches of ecological research, this work provides an in-depth treatment of the most recent advances in the field and examines the complexity and variability of food webs through reviews, new research, and syntheses of the major issues in food web research. Food Webs features material on the role of nutrients, detritus and microbes in food webs, indirect effects in food webs, the interaction of productivity and consumption, linking cause and effect in food webs, temporal and spatial scales of food web dynamics, applications of food webs to pest management, fisheries, and ecosystem stress. Three comprehensive chapters synthesize important information on the role of indirect effects, productivity and consumer regulation, and temporal, spatial and life history influences on food webs. In addition, numerous tables, figures, and mathematical equations found nowhere else in related literature are presented in this outstanding work. Food Webs offers researchers and graduate students in various branches of ecology an extensive examination of the subject. Ecologists interested in food webs or community ecology will also find this book an invaluable tool for understanding the current state of knowledge of food web research.

Cycling of Mineral Nutrients in Agricultural Ecosystems contains the papers presented in the first international environmental symposium of the Royal Netherlands Land Development Society held at Amsterdam on 1976. The symposium is cosponsored by the International Association for Ecology and Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company. This compilation reflects the exchange of information and ideas by specialists and participants of the symposium. The book is comprised of nine chapters, which cover the following concepts of nutrient cycling in agricultural ecosystems: principles and control of nutrient cycling; description and classification of agro-ecosystems; nutrient cycling data from different countries; and general discussion on nutrient balances, changes in soil pools, manipulations, and future researches. This book also offers potential background and perspectives for further studies on nutrient cycling in agro-ecosystems, presenting a view on what directions future research should take. This volume will be an invaluable reference source for environmental science students and professionals. Research workers in agriculture and other environmental disciplines will also find this book useful.

"'Published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, with funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture."