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BOOK REVIEW

Soil Mineral–Organic Matter–Microorganism Interactions and Ecosystem Health

Dynamics, Mobility and Transformation of Pollutants and Nutrients

Agronomy University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40546-0091

(mark.coyne{at}uky.edu)

Edited by A. Violante, P.M. Huang, J.-M. Bollag, and L. Gianfreda, Elsevier Science, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, P.O. Box 2118, 1000 A.E. Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 2002. 459 p. $160.00 hardcover. ISBN 0-444-51038-9.

This book represents Volume 28A in the series "Developments in Soil Science," and is the first of two volumes presenting papers from the third symposium on "Soil Mineral-Organic Matter-Microorganisms Interactions and Ecosystem Health," held in Naples-Capri in 2000. This volume sets the stage for the two-volume set in the introductory chapter by P.M. Huang. The remainder of the book examines interactions of soil nutrients and pollutants with organic and mineral matter from perspectives that range from pure surface chemistry and computer modeling to the effect that these interactions have on decomposition kinetics. The 28 collected papers variously address: sorption and surface chemistry (12 papers), aggregation (5 papers), decomposition (3 papers), transport (2 papers), plant nutrition (1 paper), and bioremediation using clays (1 paper). There are also three brief but good reviews by Jackson and Leppard ("Energy Dispersive X-Ray Microanalysis and its Applications in Biogeochemical Research"), Nobili et al. ("Retention and Mobility of Chemicals in Soil"), and Staunton ("Direct and Indirect Effects of Organic Matter on Metal Immobilisation in Soil").

As you might expect from a collection of work at a multidisciplinary conference, the rigor of the individual papers is not uniform, nor is every paper likely to interest the individual reader. With a few exceptions, this volume did not seem to reflect cutting-edge research. Two significant deficiencies also stand out in the work. First, it is not well-edited from a technical perspective: Chapter 1 has a major typesetting error; formatting of text, tables, and figures is not uniform from chapter to chapter. The index is also too limited to be useful. The entry for clay, for example, simply refers to two chapters with "clay" in the title. Second, the chapters are poorly organized. Topical areas were not arranged in any obvious manner. The reader will have to inspect the table of contents carefully to find all papers related to a specific theme.

These deficiencies make the $160 book price rather steep. However, for anyone wanting a quick (and most chapters are quite short) look at diverse research questions, this volume is well-suited for browsing, particularly if they have access to a library with deep pockets in its book acquisitions department. There were, for example, some excellent graphics illustrating humic substance structure, which allowed me to visualize these molecules from an entirely new perspective. The graphics illustrating the interactions between organic materials and soil minerals are also quite good.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Coyne, M.S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Coyne, M.S. Agricola Articles by Coyne, M.S.