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The world beneath our feet the hidden life of soil and why it matters to all of us

"The ground beneath us hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures, and mind-blowing microbial life. This hidden ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Half of all the Earth's species exist underfoot, where decaying...

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Main Author: Ashwood, Frank (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Random House, [2026]
Edition:First U.S. edition.
Subjects:
Soil ecology.
Soil biology.
Soil microbiology.
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Summary:"The ground beneath us hums with a staggering abundance of winding roots, interconnecting fungal networks, wriggling creatures, and mind-blowing microbial life. This hidden ecosystem is the single most biodiverse habitat on the planet. Half of all the Earth's species exist underfoot, where decaying matter is transformed into new life; just a handful of soil can contain an entire world. Without soil, there would be no life as we know it--and yet we rarely take the time to know the countless lives happening below. In The World Beneath Our Feet, soil ecologist Frank Ashwood dives deep into this precious ecosystem, spanning the globe from the frozen landscape of Greenland to the black soil deposits of the Amazon and the Eurasian Steppe, while also examining the jaw-dropping evolutionary adaptations that make lives very alien from our own possible. Unearthing soil layers one at a time, Ashwood reveals every sublayer to be a distinct macrocosm, teeming with organisms essential to our planet's wellbeing. Supported by interviews with global soil biologists, as well as his own expert research, Ashwood shows us how life at a microscopic scale impacts us all. Powerfully illuminating the dark depths of the earth, and accompanied by the author's own up-close photography, which magnifies and reveals creatures only millimeters long, The World Beneath Our Feet opens our eyes to the hidden and wondrous world of soil-perhaps the greatest unexplored frontier on our planet"-- Provided by publisher.
Physical Description:xv, 221 pages, 16 pages unnumbered plates : color illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9780593978320
0593978323
Author Notes:Dr. Frank Ashwood is a soil ecologist and macrophotographer, specialising in soil invertebrates. He is a Lecturer at Lincoln University and at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and obtained his PhD in environmental management from the University of Lancashire in the UK. Frank's macrophotography of soil organisms has been featured in The New York Times and The Guardian , and has been exhibited internationally. This is his first book.

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