Soil ecology is the study of the interactions among soil organisms, and between biotic and abiotic aspects of the soil environment. It is particularly concerned with the cycling of nutrients, formation and stabilisation of the pore structure, the spread and vitality of pathogens, and the biodiversity of this rich biological community. This book emphasizes the inter-relations among plants, animals and microbes, by establishing the fundamental, physical and chemical properties of the soil habitat and then functionally characterising the major components of the soil biota and some of their most i.