Book reÕiews180

cross-reference between the study of these two subsystems remains disappoint-ingly low and the lessons have to be drawn in the most part by ranging acrossthe chapters rather than delving within them.

The book is noteworthy for the consistency in the depth and quality of thereview and analysis across the chapters, for which the editors are to becongratulated—this is not a compendium with two good chapters and 14throw-aways but one that is valuable for the whole product. There are severaltopics that surface in many of the chapters and indicate the emergence of aconsensus of thought on the structural and functional importance of invertebratefood webs in ecosystems. These include the universality of inter-specificbiochemical controls on processes and the critical importance of the hierarchicalway in which these controls cascade through the system. An exciting element isthe way in which it is demonstrated that the effects of changes in such controlscan be seen across scales that range from the local to the landscape.

Soil scientists who might not normally be attracted to a book on invertebrateecology will find here ways of looking at ecosystems which illuminate themultiple services of soil and reveal the intimate links between physico-chemicalenvironment and biological processes. It is recommended most strongly to soilmicrobiologists for it provides abundant evidence of the ways in which micro-bial processes are influenced by invertebrate controls. It clarifies how thediversity of biochemistry that characterises microorganisms is matched andcomplemented by the diversity of behaviour in invertebrates. It must be said,however, that the arthropod-centric view of the world is sometimes overdone.For instance, the claim that insects account for 70–80% of all species in some

Ž .ecosystems p. 106 is likely to be viewed with a degree of skepticism bymicrobiologists!

Mike SwiftTSBF, PO Box 30592,

Nairobi, KenyaE-mail address: alice.ndungu@tsbf.unon.org

Ž .PII: S0016-7061 01 00053-2

Global climate change and pedogenic carbonatesEdited by R. Lal, J.M. Kimble, H. Eswaran and B.A. Stewart. CRC Press, 2000.Hardbound, 305 pp. ISBN 566704588. GBP47

Ž .For many scientists, working on the role of soils in the global carbon CŽ .cycle, soil inorganic carbon SIC is something that one mentions in the

introduction of a paper but does not refer to again, concentrating instead on soilŽ .organic carbon SOC . This phenomenon exemplifies the point made by the

Book reÕiews 181

editors in the preface and Chapter 1, that the role of SIC in global change ispoorly understood and has received little attention compared to SOC. So why isSIC important? Firstly, it is a major pool of C in the soil; SOC accounts forabout 1550 Pg C to 1 m, while SIC accounts for 750 Pg C to the same depth.Secondly, it is of particular importance in arid regions. Arid regions comprise32% of the world’s land surface, and the soils in these areas often containtwo–five times more SIC than SOC. Because of these facts, SIC needs to beaccounted for in the global C cycle.

Like many of the Advances in Soil Science series, this book pulls togetherboth basic background knowledge and some quite specific studies in the samebook. Many of the specific studies could have been published in a journalspecial issue, but in that format, the basic information could not have beenincluded. In this format, which works very well, a basic primer can be includedalongside state-of-the-art research papers in the same volume.

The book is organised into five Sections: basic concepts, analytical methods,Ž .dynamics of secondary i.e. pedogenic carbonates, management impacts on

pedogenic carbonates, and recommendations and conclusions. The basic con-cepts section contains three chapters which act as a primer for those new to thesubject. The methods section contains a further three chapters, with some quitespecific techniques for studying SIC. The third section is the largest of the book,containing eight chapters describing secondary carbonates in different regions ofthe world. Section 4, dealing with management impacts on SIC contains onlytwo chapters, while the last section contains the conclusions and recommenda-tions chapter.

We find out in the early parts of the book that SIC is an important pool of Cin terms of its size and its distribution in arid eco-regions, but is SIC importantfrom the point of view of global change? In Chapter 3, Scharpenseel et al.review the interaction of SIC and global change. They show that SIC incalcretercaliche formation can sequester large amounts of C, and in some

Ž .regions with 250–550 mm of rainfall and available Ca and Mg ions , calichesare continuing to grow. On the other hand, C from SIC can be released byagriculture. Suarez, in Chapter 16, shows that irrigation with groundwater causescalcite precipitation in the root zone leading to a loss of CO . Suarez estimates2

that this loss can be large, up to 30 Tg C yeary1 globally, but points out that thisis only about 0.5% of the C released to the atmosphere through fossil fuelcombustion. Other management practices that may release C from SIC includethe use of ammonia-based fertilizers, the liming of acid soils and the addition ofacid to calcareous soils. In the final chapter, Lal and Kimble make conclusionsand highlight research and development priorities. They recommend research to

Ž .improve our understanding of i the chemical processes involved in pedogenicŽ .carbonate formation, of which there are many, ii the size of the SIC pool andŽ .the annual C flux in different eco-regions, and iii the impact of land-use and

management on SIC.

Book reÕiews182

In all, the book makes a convincing argument that we should do more tounderstand the role of SIC in global change, the impacts of global change onSIC, and how we humans might adapt our practices to reduce C fluxes from SICto the atmosphere. The book will be useful to two types of reader. The first, withlittle background knowledge of SIC, will read the chapters of Section 1, and willprobably not delve too deeply into the later sections. The second, with a goodbackground knowledge of SIC, will ignore much of Section 1 and will findchapters in the later sections of the book more interesting. With the two levels ofinformation available, few readers will find all sections of the book equallyuseful, but all will find something of use.

Pete SmithDepartment of Plant and Soil Science,

UniÕersity of Aberdeen, Cruikshank Building,Aberdeen, Scotland AB24 3UU, UK

E-mail address: pete.smith@abdn.ac.uk

Ž .PII: S0016-7061 01 00059-3

Standard soil methods for long-term ecological researchEdited by G.P. Robertson, D.C. Coleman, C.S. Bledsoe and P. Collins, 1999.Oxford University Press, Oxford. Hardbound, ISBN 0195120833. GBP120

Most ecological studies are multi-disciplinary and long-term, and thesestudies are often conducted at several sites by different research teams. There-fore, researchers need to speak the same language and have standardizedmethods to allows a cross-site synthesis and evaluation of ecosystem processes.The book entitled AStandard soil methods for long-term ecological researchBresponds to this need.

This book describes the most common soil analytical methods used in naturaland agro-ecosystem studies. All methods are described with their advantagesand drawbacks relating to the goals and the contexts of different studies. In thefirst chapters, the authors underline properties inherent to the soil like spatialvariability and changes in soil properties during sample storage. In the followingchapters, existing methods to study soil physical, chemical or biological pro-cesses are reviewed. These are mostly methods to study medium-scale properties

Ž .of soils profile or plot scale . From an analysis of the existing methods, theauthors propose standardized soil measurement methods, which is beneficiaryfor ecologists, agronomists and soil scientists working together and exchanging

Ždata. The methodologies are described accurately and practical when and howto use a particular method, materials, procedures, calculations and specialconsideration, e.g. time consuming, different problems and the limits of the

.method . Many references are given and they are mostly to the original papers.