Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics
The relationships between soils, microbes and humans are of crucial relevance in the tropics, where plant stress and microbial activity are exacerbated. This volume of Soil Biology presents the living component of tropical soils, showing how it is shaped
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Series Editor Ajit Varma, Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, UP, India For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/5138
Patrice Dion Editor
Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics
Editor Professor Dr. Patrice Dion De´partement de phytologie Pavillon Charles-Euge`ne-Marchand 1030, avenue de la Me´decine Universite´ Laval Que´bec (Que´bec) G1V 0A6 Canada [email protected]
ISSN: 1613-3382 ISBN: 978-3-642-05075-6 e-ISBN: 978-3-642-05076-3 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-05076-3 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Soil Biology Library of Congress Control Number: 2010920235 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: SPI Publisher Services Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
All human actions are a response. Some are elicited by need, others by fantasy or curiosity, or else by anxiety or particular feelings. Some actions are performed on the spot and others are indefinitely postponed or brought to existence only in our dreams. Much to our relief, this ultimate fate will not be that of the present book, which has been prepared under a sense of urgency that both the scientific and dayto-day experience inspire. The criticality of tropical agriculture is made manifest everywhere, through a crucial economic, social, and ecological North–South interplay. Although the soil is often explicitly ignored in this dialog, it always remains an issue, since the development and survival of civilizations depend on the state of the soils they exploit. Humanity’s future may lie at skin-of-earth depth, and nowhere is this skin so fragile and bruised than in the tropics. Whereas the Ancients maintained a rich tradition of agricultural representation in poems, paintings, and other works of fine art, Christianity conceived of God as being uninterested in agriculture. What is more, the labors of the soil were attributed a negative value, as they have been viewed as a punishment to those who were reckless enough to commit the original sin. As a result and with some notable exceptions, a world was created by artists and then embraced by an increasingly domi
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