Biogeomorphology

Biogeomorphology is the scientific study of interactions and feedbacks between living and nonliving parts of the landscape. Straddling the disciplines of geomorphology and ecology, biogeomorphological research is inherently interdisciplinary. Micro-organisms, plants, and animals contribute to the de...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Coombes, M
Other Authors: Richardson, D
Format: Book section
Published: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2017
Description
Summary:Biogeomorphology is the scientific study of interactions and feedbacks between living and nonliving parts of the landscape. Straddling the disciplines of geomorphology and ecology, biogeomorphological research is inherently interdisciplinary. Micro-organisms, plants, and animals contribute to the development of landforms and landscapes in many different ways, both actively and passively, through processes of bioconstruction, bioweathering, bioerosion, and bioprotection. Equally, geomorphological processes create and alter habitat, and influence environmental conditions for organisms. As an overarching field of environmental study, the scope and diversity of biogeomorphological research is immense, ranging from the scale of interactions between individual mineral grains and micro-organisms, up to global biogeochemical cycling and climate change over geological time. Not only of academic interest, biogeomorphology is proving highly useful to many applied fields, particularly environmental management and conservation.