Plant roots. Growth, activity and interaction with soils

It is (or should be) self-evident that life on Earth dependsmainly on life in earth, and in this respect soil–plantinteractions are of key importance. This book brings togetherareas that are still often compartmented into fields such aschemical and physical aspects of soil science (where plantsare still sometimes regarded as a ‘black box’ ofuncertain relevance), plant physiology (now sometimes re-badgedas plant functional biology), and soil microbial ecology. Agriculturalscientists have, of course, rarely been guilty of ignoring soilfactors in relation to plant growth and productivity. Plantecologists sometimes have, and to some of them it's the soilthat is the ‘black box’ when it comes to understandingplant population and community ecology. Models of the