Soil as an Environment and Its Role in the Evolution of Insects (In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Soil Ecology in Russia and the 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Merkurii Sergeevich Gilyarov)

摘要

In February 2002, it was 90 years since the birth of Merkurii Sergeevich Gilyarov. Gilyarov is among the most eminent ecologists of the 20th century as the creator of Soil ecology as a branch of science. His book Soil as an Environment and Its Role in the Evolution of Insects (Moscow: Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1949), published more than 50 years ago, was highly esteemed by con-temporaries. This work determined the development of soil ecology until the end of the 20th century, although even Russian ecologists, let alone foreign researchers, do not cite it frequently. Nor are Gilyarov's books The Zoological Method of Soil Diagnosis (Moscow: Nauka, 1965) and Patterns of Arthropod Adaptation to Terrestrial Life (Moscow: Nauka, 1970) cited too often now, although the former book may be considered an introduction to biogeography of soil animals, and the latter, to their physiology. Why is this book by Gilyarov, rather than the works of his prominent predecessors, such as Darwin (The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, 1881) and the founder of soil microbiology S.N. Vinogradskii, regarded as the foundation of soil ecology'? The point is that the significance of soil as an environment and its role in the formation of both under-ground and aboveground biota become obvious only after this book was published.