Under Ground: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World.UNDER GROUND: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World YVONNE BASKIN People may give little thought to it, but the world beneath their feet teems with life. Baskin gives readers a closer look at soil and the diverse ecosystems that exist there. Mud and dirt are home to a host of invisible organisms, including bacteria, yeast yeast, name applied specifically to a certain group of microscopic fungi and to commercial products consisting of masses of dried yeast cells or of yeast mixed with a starchy material and pressed into yeast cakes. , molds, microscopic microscopic /mi·cro·scop·ic/ (mi?kro-skop´ik) 1. of extremely small size; visible only by the aid of the microscope. 2. pertaining or relating to a microscope or to microscopy. invertebrates, and nematode nematode or roundworm Any of more than 15,000 named and many more unnamed species of worms in the class Nematoda (phylum Aschelminthes). Nematodes include plant and animal parasites and free-living forms found in soil, freshwater, saltwater, and even vinegar worms. Baskin examines the roles that these organisms play in balancing the aboveground ecosystem as they make nutrients and minerals available for plant life. The reader is invited to follow along as Baskin travels with scientists hunting worms in Antarctica. They explore the frozen landscape and the ocean floor to learn how organisms living in the mud are affected by fishing. The scientists have discovered that invading in·vade v. in·vad·ed, in·vad·ing, in·vades v.tr. 1. To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage. 2. earthworms make the soil more vulnerable to erosion. Baskin also ponders threats to vital soil communities everywhere that are posed by human activity and pollution. Shearwater shearwater, common name for members of the family Procellariidae, gull-like sea birds related to the petrel and the albatross and including the fulmar. Shearwaters are found on unfrozen saltwaters all over the world, with 35 species in North America. , 2005, 256 p., hardcover, $26.95. |
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