Diversity of mechanisms involved in soil ecological interactions
Résumé
Understanding the functioning of ecosystems, especially the soil, requires a synthesis of soil sciences and the study of genes involved in specific functions, in the context of a sensu lato ecology. This broader vision requires all the different types of mechanisms that underlie interactions between organisms to be considered, studied within disciplines, sometimes far from ecology sensu stricto, such as soil physics, biogeochemistry and physiology. This chapter outlines these mechanisms in detail. It then explains a unique conceptual framework for trophic and non‐trophic interactions. The chapter also focuses on the case of plant–earthworm–microorganism interactions. In doing so, it further explores two research strategies: simplification and coupling. First approach is based on an additive design of the effect of the different mechanisms. Second approach is based on the non‐additive or interactive approach of the effect of different mechanisms.