Protozoa are active components of the soil microfauna. For example, they may stimulate bacterial metabolism and some fungal metabolites can lyse protozoa. They may be predators of bacteria and hence have a role in biological control. Their presence in groundwaters can be used as an indicator of pollution, while they are also being used to treat sewage in the activated-sludge and reed-bed processes. They are believed to be major secondary decomposers in soil and increased knowledge about these microorganisms is important to sustain soil fertility and food production. This book is the first in English for 65 years devoted entirely to soil protozoology. It is written by experienced microbiologists and should be of interest to protozoologists, other microbiologists, and soil scientists.

Protists are by far the most diverse and abundant eukaryotes in soils. Nevertheless, very little is known about individual representatives, the diversity and community composition and ecological functioning of these important organisms. For instance, soil protists are commonly lumped into a single functional unit, i.e. bacterivores. This work tackles missing knowledge gaps on soil protists and common misconceptions using multi-methodological approaches including cultivation, microcosm experiments and environmental sequencing. In a first part, several new species and genera of amoeboid protists are described showing their immense unknown diversity. In the second part, the enormous complexity of soil protists communities is highlighted using cultivation- and sequence-based approaches. In the third part, the present of diverse mycophagous and nematophagous protists are shown in functional studies on cultivated taxa and their environmental importance supported by sequence-based approaches. This work is just a start for a promising future of soil Protistology that is likely to find other important roles of these diverse organisms.

A holistic overview of soil fauna, their contributions to ecosystem function, and implications of global change belowground.

This book emphasises the important role that protozoa play in many natural ecosystems. To shed new light on their individual adaptive skills, the respective chapters examine the ecology and functional biology of this diverse group of eukaryotic microbes. Protozoa are well-established model organisms that exemplify many general problems in population ecology and community ecology, as well as evolutionary biology. Their particular characteristics, like large population sizes, life cycles and motile sensory behaviour, have a profound impact on their survival, distribution, and interaction with other species. Thus, readers will also be introduced to protozoan habitats in a broad range of environments. Even though this group of unicellular organisms is highly diverse, the authors focus on shared ecological patterns. Students and scientists working in the areas of eukaryotic microbiology and ecology will appreciate this updated and revised 2nd Edition as a valuable reference guide to the “lifestyles” of protozoa.