Fertile soil is vital for human survival. An estimated 99% of the world’s food comes from the terrestrial environment - crops are grown in soil and livestock maintained on it. Soils have a real role in shaping our planet. They can absorb rainwater and act as a buffer against both floods and droughts. Soils also hold more than twice the amount of carbon than is currently contained in the atmosphere. However, most people are unaware that the key drivers of soil ecosystems that control fertility and terrestrial global nutrient cycles are the quantity and quality of living organisms within the soil.

The atlas is a visually stunning publication of 128 pages, using striking photographs, informative texts and maps to explain and illustrate the great diversity of life in the soils across Europe. The atlas functions as a comprehensive guide to soil biology, allowing non-specialists to access information about this unseen world.

The first part of the book provides an overview of the below ground environment, soil biota in general, the ecosystem functions that soil organism perform, the important value it has for human activities and relevance for global biogeochemical cycles.

The second part is more of an 'Encyclopedia of Soil Biodiversity'. Starting with the smallest organisms such as the bacteria, this segment works through a range of taxonomic groups such as fungi, nematodes, insects and macro-fauna to illustrate the astonishing levels of heterogeneity of life in soil.