A01=James B. Nardi
Author_James B. Nardi
bacteria
bacterial
biological
biologist
biology
Category=WNCN
Category=WNP
creature
dirt
diversity
drawings
earth
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
erosion
fertility
fertilizer
flatworms
garden
gardener
illustrated
illustrations
insect
microbes
mineral
mite
naturalism
naturalist
nature
nematode
nitrogen
organism
outdoors
plants
roots
seeds
slug
snail
soil
underground
weather
worm
Product details
- ISBN 9780226568522
- Weight: 567g
- Dimensions: 15 x 21mm
- Publication Date: 15 Oct 2007
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Leonardo da Vinci once mused that "we know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot," an observation that is as apt today as it was five hundred years ago. The biological world under our toes is often unexplored and unappreciated, yet it teems with life. In one square meter of earth, there live trillions of bacteria, millions of nematodes, hundreds of thousands of mites, thousands of insects and worms, and hundreds of snails and slugs. But because of their location and size, many of these creatures are as unfamiliar and bizarre to us as anything found at the bottom of the ocean. Lavishly illustrated with nearly three hundred color illustrations and masterfully rendered black-and-white drawings throughout, "Life in the Soil" invites naturalists and gardeners alike to dig in and discover the diverse community of creatures living in the dirt below us. Biologist and acclaimed natural history artist James B. Nardi begins with an introduction to soil ecosystems, revealing the unseen labors of underground organisms maintaining the rich fertility of the earth as they recycle nutrients between the living and mineral worlds.
He then introduces readers to a dazzling array of creatures: wolf spiders with glowing red eyes, snails with 120 rows of teeth, and 10,000-year-old fungi, among others. Organized by taxon, "Life in the Soil" covers everything from slime molds and roundworms to woodlice and dung beetles, as well as vertebrates from salamanders to shrews. The book ultimately explores the crucial role of soil ecosystems in conserving the worlds above and below ground. A unique and illustrative introduction to the many unheralded creatures that inhabit our soils and shape our environment above-ground, "Life in the Soil" will inform and enrich the naturalist in all of us.
James B. Nardi is a biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Natural History Survey who gardens with the help of innumerable soil creatures.
