Soil Fauna Assemblages

Uffe N. Nielsen is a Senior Lecturer at Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia. He is broadly interested in the biogeography and community ecology of soil biota and how belowground assemblages influence ecosystem functioning, particularly in the light of global changes. He has extensive experience with soil fauna assemblages across a broad range of natural and managed ecosystems exploring the diversity and distribution of soil fauna under contemporary and global change scenarios. He has a particular interest in Antarctic ecosystems and his research has brought him to various sites in continental and maritime Antarctica.

• 1. Soil and its fauna; 2. Functional roles of soil fauna; 3. Approaches to studying soil fauna and their functional roles; 4. Soil fauna biogeography and macroecology; 5. Soil fauna assemblages at fine scales to landscapes; 6. Anthropogenic impacts on soil fauna assemblages; 7. Climate change impacts on soil fauna; 8. Soil fauna assemblage succession and restoration; 9. The future of soil fauna assemblages.

'The synthesis provided by this book highlights not only the need for future large-scale studies of soil fauna, but also the notion that we cannot ignore their role in ecosystem restoration and succession. Their potential use in restoration practices is undervalued because changing soil fauna assemblages inherently changes food web dynamics and therefore energy flow, nutrient dynamics, and carbon storage. The volume ends by noting how this information can be harnessed to manage the future of soil fauna assemblages that, ultimately, we rely on for human well-being.' Becky A. Ball, The Quarterly Review of Biology