Under Ground: How Creatures of Mud and Dirt Shape Our World

by Yvonne Baskin

Let's get dirty. In childhood, the back yard, the flowerbed, the beach, the mucky place where land slips into puddles, lakes, and streams are infinitely fascinating. It is a mistake to leave that "childish" fascination with mud and dirt behind. The soils of the Earth, whether underneath our feet or pressurized beneath tons of ocean water, hold life in abundance. A handful of garden dirt may harbor more species than the entire aboveground Amazon.

The robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity made headlines as they scraped their way across the Martian landscape, searching for signs of life. But while our eyes have been turned toward the skies, teeming beneath us and largely unexplored lies what Science magazine recently called the true "final frontier." A growing array of scientists is exploring life in soils and sediments, uncovering a living world literally alien to our own senses--and yet one whose integrity turns out to be crucial to life above ground.

Yvonne Baskin takes the reader from the polar desert of Antarctica to the coastal rain forests of Canada, from the rangelands of Yellowstone National Park to the vanishing wetlands of the Mississippi River basin, from Dutch pastures to English sounds, and beyond. She introduces exotic creatures--from bacteria and fungi to microscopic nematode worms, springtails, and mud shrimp--and shows us what scientists are learning about their contribution to sustaining a green and healthy world above ground. She also explores the alarming ways in which air pollution, trawl fishing, timber cutting, introductions of invasive species, wetland destruction, and the like threaten this underground diversity and how their loss, in turn, affects our own well being.

Two-thirds of the world's biological diversity exists in soils and underwater sediments, and yet most of us remain unaware of these tiny multitudes that run the planet beneath the scenes. In Under Ground, Baskin reveals the startling ways in which that life, whether in our own back yards, in fields and forests, or in the furthest reaches of the Earth, is more numerous, significant, and fascinating than we once imagined.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Ecology

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting survey of soil science research, soil destruction, and soil rehabilitation. Read because my homeschool kid requested a unit study in soil science. It's already 15 years old, so I would be interested in a newer edition that follows up on some of the research.

[Garrett Burnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scientists write one way about scientific topics and journalists write another way about them. I think that's where a number of my criticism of this book are founded. Under Ground is about all the tiny critters under our feet that turn worthless dirt into rich soil. Instead of explaining soil ecology, discussing scientific findings, and considering possible ramifications, Baskin takes us on a trip of discovery. She is a character in the book (and not a very interesting one), as are all the friendly scientists and grad students she meets along the way. But the writing lacks flair and none of the people are portrayed in engaging terms (though one scientist is described as having an "easy laugh" about 45 times). The "author as tour guide" technique can be done well (see Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach), but in this case it doesn't work. What should have been nerdy and boring became dull and loserish as well. It was like reading a series of letters home from Soil Ecology Summer Camp wherein Baskin's crushes on her camp counselors are thinly disguised.

I understand that in talking about dirt, a number of environmental concerns will arise. Baskin took it to another level. She did her best to turn every sentence into an environmental tragedy. I have two problems with this: 1. She rarely discusses potential solutions. 2. After a while, when everything is so significant, devastating, and irreversible, it all fails to make an impression. By the third chapter, I couldn't muster the strength to care anymore.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) decided that much too little was known about soil ecology, and particularly, the way soil communities react to human pressures. To amend that, they organized several research projects around the world dedicated to exploring those relationships. Yvonne Baskin organizes and popularizes their findings in Under Ground. She devotes a chapter to her experience visiting each team and having them explain their work to her. The result is a somewhat patchy collection of interesting aspects of soil ecology. There is a wealth of interesting information here, dealing with mycorrhizal fungal associations, nematodes, denitrifying bacteria and while wetlands are crucial, the relationship between grazers and grasslands, how maintaining healthy soil communities could prevent the degradation of land associated with agriculture, etc. Baskin manages to accomplish an explanation of basic soil ecology, an appreciation of its relevance to present environmental concerns, and the current research in the field succinctly and clearly.

[Sara Van Dyck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, varied, and based on research in the Antarctic, the ocean, forests, and grasslands. While Baskin doesn’t stint on the science, she enlivens it with interviews with the scientists involved and with her experiences accompanying them in the field. The topic is critical to the long-term health of the planet, but because of the detail, it might not appeal to everyone. A reader less interested in the science could get a fair overview by reading the introduction, one or two chapters relating to their part of the country, and the epilogue. You don't have to understand every word to realize why these issues have a very practical application.

My favorite quote: Baskin asks researcher Diana Wall what message she wanted to send to people about life in the soil. “I want them to think whenever they walk,” she replied. ”There’s a whole world under there. I want them to step lightly.”

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

First rate introduction to soil ecology, the fascinating things that happen underground and how they relate to our life above. Baskin presents a handful of cases studies -- from the sparse ecosystems of Antarctica's dry valleys to the relationship between wolves and microbes in Yellowstone -- and touches on most of the hot issues in soil ecology (coastal dead-zones, range and forest management, invasive species, etc.).

Be warned, you won't find a lot of the hand-holding that you see in other popular science books. She dumps you right into sentences full of technical discussion about 'nitrogen fixing' and 'mycorhizal fungi.' But spending a little time with the topic is quite rewarding in the end.

Now, if only someone would write a good book tying these topics to issues of development and sustainability...

[Skylinebal]

This book was a great review of the last 10 year's worth of discovery about soil ecosystems. Each chapter focused on a few researchers in locations ranging from the Antarctica to the seafloor, to Yellowstone's grasslands, to Europe's fallow fields. I'm happy to loan this book.

[joelene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite appearances this book is not dry and quite interesting.