Wetlands are very sensitive ecosystems, functioning as a habitat for many organisms. Protection and regeneration of wetlands are of great importance in ecological research and in nature conservation. A huge amount of research has been done on the hydrology, plants and animals in wetlands. Knowledge about soil organisms and soil ecological processes of wetlands is still lacking. This knowledge is a prerequisite for landscape planning purposes or climate change predictions. In the case of climate change, trace gas emissions from wetlands are of great interest. The authors provide an overview of the state-of-the-art on soil ecology in wetlands. The book is divided into the following main chapters: 'Wetlands as habitats for soil organisms', 'Soil ecological processes in fens and floodplains', 'Carbon and nitrogen dynamics in soils with different water regimes' and 'Trace gas emissions'.

From the reviews:

"The book brings a substantial amount of scientific knowledge on the behaviour of various types of wetlands in Germany. The methodologies are based on up-to-date technologies and the experimental and monitoring designs are well planned. includes complex ecological studies in various types of wetlands, which are of interest to all wetland specialists and ecologists in general." (Hana Cíková, Folia Geobotanica, Vol. 40 (4), 2005)

"The book succeeds in organizing and providing examples of many facets of wetland soil ecology. The articles are of high scientific standard, consistent, and well grouped and will be valuable to all professionals working in the field. In any case, the book can clearly be recommended to all scientists working on greenhouse gases in submerged soils and wetland ecology in any part of the world, and it will hopefully raise the understanding of these sensitive and endangered ecosystems." (Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Vol. 166 (2), 2003)

Autorentext
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merbach lehrte bis 2006 Pflanzenernährung und war von 2000 - 2003 Dekan an der Landwirtschaftlichen Fakultät der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. Hauptarbeitsgebiete: Ökophysiologie der Rhizosphäre, symbiontische Stickstoffbindung, nachhaltige Landnutzung, N-Umsatz in Ökosystemen, klimarelevante Spurengase (Lachgas).

Inhalt
Wetlands as habitats for soil organisms.- Annelid coenoses of wetlands representing different decomposer communities.- Earthworm coenoses in wet grassland of Northwest-Germany. Effects of restoration management on a Histosol and a Gleysol.- Reactions of soil Collembolan communities to inundation in floodplain ecosystems of the Upper Rhine Valley.- Soil ecological processes in fens and floodplains.- Management of moist grassland in a fresh-water marsh of the Weser river: effects on soil, vegetation, and fauna.- N-, P- and DOC-dynamics in soil and groundwater after restoration of intensively cultivated fens.- Interaction between hydrology, pedology and vegetation at three minerothrophic peatland ecosystems.- Carbon and nitrogen dynamics in soils with different water regimes.- Variability of decomposition and nitrogen turnover in Scots pine ecosystems in Northwest-Germany under the influence of groundwater lowering.- Carbon and nitrogen mineralisation rates of fens in Germany used for agriculture. A review.- In situ measurement of denitrification and N2O production in the saturated zone of three Eutric Histosols and a Mollic Gleysol.- Trace gas emissions.- Methane emissions from wetland soils in Southwest-Germany.- Methane dynamics of saltmarsh soils built up from marine and peat material at the German North Sea coast.- The greenhouse gas exchange of a pond margin in South Germany.- Trace gas emissions from riparian areas of small eutrophic inland waters in Northeast-Germany.