Earthworm Ecology, Second Edition

456 pp  ISBN 084931819X      £63.00

• Highlights the critical beneficial role of earthworms for plant and soil health and their important role in organic waste management
• Presents in-depth discussion of earthworm biogeography, diversity, taxonomy, and systematics
• Provides full coverage of feeding behavior, food preferences, dietary requirements, and the interaction between earthworms and microbial communities
• Includes information on the impacts of climate, human activities, soil properties, predation, disease and parasitism, and competition upon earthworm ecology
• Offers new perspectives on vermicomposting research

Since the publication of the highly-successful first edition of Earthworm Ecology, there were two international symposia and an increased number of publications on the subject, demanding a revision of the book that addresses the most rapidly developing areas of earthworm research.

Earthworm Ecology, Second Edition updates the most comprehensive work available on earthworm ecology with extensive revisions of the original chapters. This well-illustrated, expansive study examines the important, and often overlooked, impact earthworms have on the environment. It discusses the impact of climate, soil properties, predation, disease and parasitism, and competition upon earthworm ecology.

New chapters analyze the history of earthworm research, the importance of earthworms as representatives of soil fauna and how they affect plant growth, the effects of the invasion of exotic earthworms into North America and other regions, and vermiculture and vermicomposting in Europe and Asia. This new material makes this volume an essential reference work for soil scientists, agronomists, and others with a great interest in earthworms.

Contents

• The Importance of Earthworms as Key Representatives of the Soil Fauna - Clive A. Edwards
• How Earthworms Affect Plant Growth: Burrowing into the Mechanisms - George G. Brown, Clive A. Edwards, and Lijbert Brussaard

• Planetary Processes and Their Interactions with Earthworm Distributions and Ecology - Samuel W. James
• The Status of Earthworm Biogeography, Diversity, and Taxonomy in North America Revisited with Glimpses into the Future - John W. Reynolds
• Invasion of Exotic Earthworms into North America and Other Regions - Samuel W. James and Paul F. Hendrix

• Factors Affecting the Abundance of Earthworms in Soils - Jim P. Curry
• A Comprehensive Study of the Taxonomy and Ecology of the Lumbricid Earthworm Genus Octodrilus from the Carpathians - Victor V. Pop and Adriana Antonia Pop

• Effects of Earthworms on Soil Organic Matter and Nutrient Dynamics at a Landscape Scale over Decades - Patrick Lavelle, Beto Pashanasi, Fabienne Charpentier, Cécile Gilot, Jean-Pierre Rossi, Laurent Derouard, Jean Andre, Jean-François Ponge, and Nicolas Bernier
• Integrating the Effects of Earthworms on Nutrient Cycling across Spatial and Temporal Scales - Patrick J. Bohlen, Robert W. Parmelee, and John M. Blair

• Quantifying the Effects of Earthworms on Soil Aggregation and Porosity - Martin J. Shipitalo and Renee-Claire Le Bayon
• Effects of Earthworms on Soil Organization - André Kretzschmar

• Functional Interactions between Earthworms, Microorganisms, Organic Matter, and Plants - George G. Brown and Bernard M. Doube
• Impacts of Earthworms on Other Biota in Forest Soils, with Some Emphasis on Cool Temperate Montane Forests - Dennis Parkinson, Mary Ann McLean, and Stefan Scheu

• Managing Earthworms as a Resource in Australian Pastures - Geoff H. Baker
• Earthworms in Agroecosystems: Research Approaches - Paul F. Hendrix and Clive A. Edwards

• Earthworms as Test Organisms in Ecotoxicological Assessment of Toxicant Impacts on Ecosystems - Adriaan J. Reinecke and S.A. Reinecke
• Earthworms in Environmental Research - Herman Eijsackers

• The Use of Earthworms in the Breakdown of Organic Wastes to Produce Vermicomposts and Animal Feed Protein - Clive A. Edwards and Norman Q. Arancon
• The Use of Earthworms: Nature's Gift for Utilization of Organic Wastes in Asia - Radha D. Kale
• State of the Art and New Perspectives on Vermicomposting Research - Jorge Domínguez