For much of history, few things have mattered more to humans than their relations with soil. This is evidenced by a rich historical literature on aspects of soil management and soil fertility, dating back to texts of ancient civilizations of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, China, and India (see McNeill and Winiwarter 2004). Despite the importance of soils to humans, it is really only within the last few decades that ecologists have started to look deeply into the ecological nature of soil habitat, in particular exploring the complex nature of soil biological communities and their environment, and trying to determine the functional significance of soil biota for ecosystem processes
