Abstract
This book, containing 6 chapters (the saprotrophs, the habitat, sampling and enumeration, reconstructing the soil food web, spatial and temporal patterns, integrating the food web), describes the trophic interactions between species that carry out the decomposition of organic matter in the soil. The key topics addressed are functional groups, spatial stratification and succession over time, involving bacteria, protists, fungi and microinvertebrates. Emphasis is placed on the role of species diversity in functional groups.