Life in the soil: a guide for naturalists and gardeners

Acknowledgments

How to use this book

Preface

pt. 1. The marriage of the mineral world and the organic world

A. Introduction

B. How soil forms from rocks and weather

C. Plant roots and their bacterial partners

D. Plant roots and their fungal partners

E. Where roots meet rocks and minerals

F. Plant roots and their animal partners

1. Life in a dark and densely populated world

2. Soil fertility and the formation of humus

3. Importance of nitrogen

4. The contribution of animals to soil structure

5. Diggers and tillers of the soil

G. How plants and animals affect the layers of a soil

pt. 2. Members of the soil community

A. Microbes

1. Eubacteria and archaebacteria

2. Actinomycetes

3. Algae

4. Fungi

5. Chytrids, hyphochytrids, oomycetes

6. Lichens

7. Slime molds

8. Protozoa

Animal kingdom

B. Invertebrates - animals without backbones

a. Animals without backbones or jointed legs

1. Flatworms

2. Roundworms and potworms

3. Earthworms

4. Land leeches

5. Rotifers

6. Snails and slugs

7. Tardigrades

8. Onychophorans

b. Arthropods other than insects

1. Mites and springtails

2. Proturans and diplurans

3. Myriapods

4. Spiders

5. Daddy longlegs

6. Pseudoscorpions

7. True scorpions, windscorpions, whipscorpions and schizomids

8. Microwhipscorpions

9. Ricinuleids

10. Woodlice

11. Crayfish

c. Insects : the most abundant arthropods

1. Jumping bristletails and silverfish

2. Earwigs

3. Cockroaches

4. Camel crickets and mole crickets

5. Short-horned grasshoppers

6. Termites

7. Thrips

8. Big-eyed bugs and burrower bugs

9. Aphids, phylloxerans, and coccoids

10. Cicadas and rhipicerid beetles

11. Rove beetles and ground beetles

12. Tiger beetles

13. Short-winged mold beetles

14. Featherwing beetles

15. Sap beetles

16. Antlike stone beetles

17. Minute fungus beetles

18. Ptilodactylid beetles

19. Glowworms, fireflies, and lightningbugs

20. Soldier beetles

21. Dung beetles

22. Carrion beetles, burying beetles, and hister beetles

23. Wireworms and click beetles

24. Beetles of rotten logs

25. Scarabs, weevils, and their grubs

26. Variegated mud-loving beetles

27. Fungus beetles

28. Scorpionflies

29. Antlions

30. Caterpillars and moths

31. March flies, crane flies, and soldier flies

32. Midges and biting midges

33. Moth flies

34. Snipe flies

35. Robber flies

36. Bee flies

37. Long-legged flies

38. Picture-winged flies

39. Root-maggot flies

40. Gall wasps

41. Parasitic wasps

42. Digger bees and velvet ants

43. Digger wasps

44. Ants

C. Vertebrates

a. Vertebrates other than mammals

1. Salamanders

2. Toads

3. Caecilians

4. Lizards

5. Snakes

6. Turtles and tortoises

7. Birds

b. Mammals

1. Woodchucks and skunks

2. Badgers

3. Prairie dogs

4. Ground squirrels and chipmunks

5. Moles

6. Shrews

7. Pocket gophers

8. Kangaroo rats

pt. 3. Working in partnership with creatures of the soil

1. Preventing erosion

2. Avoiding excessive use of fertilizers

3. Effects of acid rain

4. Avoiding salt-encrusted soils

5. Maintaining soil structure

6. Discouraging invasion of soils by exotic species

7. Composting as an antidote to soil abuse

Collecting and observing life of the soil

Glossary

Further reading

Index.