Microbial Ecology of Desert Soils

Abstract

For many years, arid desert soils were considered economically unimportant, and any ecological research, including the examination of microbial characteristics, was sporadic. During the past two decades, however, the economic and agricultural utilization of arid lands has emerged as a critical element in maintaining and improving the world's food supply; consequently, biological and environmental research on these soils has increased. The expansion of deserts (desertification process) due to human impact, often in combination with adverse climatic disasters, has reinforced the necessity of understanding biological processes in xeric environments. In comparison with the body of knowledge about physical processes and about floral and faunal aspects in marginally utilizable arid areas, relatively little detailed information about arid-soil biological properties exists. Although certain patterns of arid-soil biological properties have emerged from the examination of several desert ecosystems, it is still premature to generalize about soil biological characteristics on a global desert biome level. Considerably more information is available on subhumid and semiarid cultivated soils (Focht and Martin, 1979).