Sclerotia Grains in Soils

This book introduces what sclerotia grains are, and where and how they exist in soils, by compiling the results obtained from the studies on fungal sclerotia formed by Cenococcum geophilum (Cg) and related species, the visible black small grains persistent for a few thousand to ten thousands of years in forest soils and sediments. The chapters contain the results and discussions on the ecological distribution and regulating factors, characteristics, and function of Cg sclerotia grains, carried out by researchers from soil geography, soil science, soil microbiology, physiology, forestry, analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, material science, and related disciplines. The anatomy of sclerotia grains in soil was realized in terms of interdisciplinary joint researches, which resulted in deepening understanding of the ecological function of the mesoscale organic component in soils. This book covers the natural history of sclerotia in soils, pedo-sclerotiology.

Makiko Watanabe is a professor of soil geography in the Department of Geography, the Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan (2008–present), and she was a professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Technology, the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology (2002–2010). She served as a program officer of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2009–2012), a member of the Science Council of Japan (2006–2014), and currently is a member of the National Research and Development Agency Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2015–present). She was a visiting scholar at the Godwin Laboratory, the University of Cambridge (1998), a visiting professor at the Department of Historical Ecology, Krasnoyarsk State University (2000), and a visiting professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Regina (2016). Based on her abundant field experiences in the Philippines, Germany, Egypt, Canada, and Mongolia, she has a broad view of understanding the time and space of soil environment and individual land history. Her research achievements are specialized in long-term circulation of soil substances and nature–human systems in regional environments, which provide basic knowledge of potentiality and limitation of homeostasis in terrestrial earth and feasible strategies for sustainable development.