MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES, ACTIVITY AND BIOMASS

We present an overview of numerous methods for identification and enumeration of diverse bacterial and fungal species. These include plating, isolation on plant debris and a variety of observational methods. To integrate our efforts with the overall theme of soil ecology, we examine a range of techniques for determining microbial biomass: microscopic, chemical and physiological (e.g. substrate-induced respiration). We then consider several techniques for the study of microbial activity in litter and soil, and how they should be viewed in a whole-systems context. We suggest that it is within a whole-system context, including biosphere and global change, that studies in soil ecology will prove most rewarding as we move into the last decade of the twentieth century.