... soil ecology is the study of the interactions among soil organisms, and between biotic and abiotic aspects of the soil environment? It is particularly concerned with the cycling of nutrients, formation and stabilization of the pore structure, the spread and vitality of pathogens, and the biodiversity of this rich biological community. (Pictured left: a type of soil known as ultisol, common throughout the American South (especially near the piedmont), and colloquially known as "red clay soil". Photo taken in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.)
