Soil Biodiversity : Inventory Functions and Management

Contents: Preface. I. soil biodiversity: inventory and taxonomy: 1. Soil invertebrates/J.M. Julka. 2. Eathworms/J.M. Julka. 3. Termites/M.L. Thakur. 4. Millepedes/Kubra Bano. 5. Myriapods/Vinod Khanna. 6. Collembola/A.K. Hazra and G.P. Mandal. 7. Mites/A.K. Sanyal. 8. Mycorrhiza/Kritika Singh, R.K. Maikhuri and K.S. Rao. 9. Legume nodulating bacteria/Manvika Sahgal and B.N. Johri. II. Soil biodiversity: distribution, functions and management: 10. Improving soil health for sustainable agriculture in Himalaya/S.P. Sharma and P.D. Sharma. 11. Soil quality and system productivity as influenced by long-term use of mineral fertilizers/S.P. Sharma, S.K. Subehia and P.K. Jain. 12. Sustainable crop production and soil health in the north-western Himalayan region/R.D. Singh, A.K. Patra, R. Bhattacharya and B.N. Ghosh. 13. Vermicomposting: an overview/V.K. Garg. 14. Design and performance evaluation of vermicomposting systems for solid waste utilization/S. Gajalakshami and S.A. Abbasi. 15. White grub complex of Uttarakhand and its management/D.K. Garg. 16. Parasitic nematodes of Horticultural and forest crops and their management/M.L. Khan. 17. Diversity and distribution of termites of Western and North-Western Himalaya/M.L. Thakur. 18. Diversity and field ecology of termites of Western Ghats, India/M.L. Thakur. 19. Abundance and diversity of soil fauna in degraded and rehabilitated ecosystems in Garhwal Himalaya/Tunira Bhadauria, Rohit Kumar and Pradeep Kumar. 20. Soil fauna as influenced by land use in Indo-gangetic plains/Tunira Bhadauria. 21. Soil biota following inoculation of consortia of microbes and mesofauna in coffee plantation system in South India/N.G. Kumar, A.N. Balakrishnan, P. Nirmala, M. Raghvendrakumar and K.S. Usha. 22. Soil microbial diversity in rainfed agroecosystems/B. Venkateswarlu, S.P. Wani and C. Vineela. 23. Mycorrhiza: disversity, distribution and functions/Shubhendu Chaudhuri. 24. Diversity and significance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi/Varsha Tiwari and A.K. Sharma. 25. Rhizosphere and ecological competence: key factors in selection fo bioinoculants/A. Pandey, P. Trivedi, S. Singh, B. Kumar and L.M.S. Palni. 26. Productivity and interspecific interactions in intercropping systems/L. Li and F.S. Zhang. 27. The role of mycorrhizal fungi and Macaranga denticulata symbiosis in maintaining productivity of rice in shifting cultivation in Thailand/Narit Yimyam, Somchit Youpensuk, Benjavan Rerkasem and Kanok Rerkaem. 28. Homegarden as harbingers of belowground biodiversity in the humid tropics/B. Mohan Kumar. 29. Indigenous pest management in the Himalaya/K.S. Rao, P.K. Maikhuri and K.G. Saxena. III. Synthesis: 30. Inventory functions and management of soil biodiversity: an overview/K.S. Rao, U.M. Chandrashekara and K.G. Saxena. Index. Soil biodiversity emerged as a global agenda of research and management only since last decade when the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UN-CBD) set out a programme of work on agricultural biodiversity. Agricultural development approaches targeting high levels of biodiversity, efficient of use of local resources and optimization of multiple service/functions (e.g. food/feed production, climate regulation, resilience and clean water supply) of agro-ecosystems started drawing more public support with realization of several elements of unsustainability associated with conventional high input agricultural systems. Development of soil food web mediated management of soil fertility, pathogens and pests assumes a priority task in view of increasing preference to organic food with willingness to pay higher price for it and emerging opportunities of payments for ecosystem services and climate change mitigation provided in programmes such as Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries launched by the United Nations (UN-REDD). Loss of soil biodiversity is causally linked to un-sustainability and, conversely, its enhancement to sustainability of, ag.…