ABSTRACT
Soil is a living ecosystem with many different microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes), microfauna (protists and nematodes), mesofauna (arthropods, insects, mites, rotifera), and macrofauna (earthworms, termites, spiders, and isopods). Biodiversity is beneficial to soil health and improving biodiversity as part of a phytoremediation project is very desirable. Adding soil amendments such as compost or manure often improves soil health. Soil organic carbon is an important variable that provides carbon and energy for the organisms. At many sites with contaminants soil organic carbon is low at the start of the project. Soil health affects human health because the concentrations of elements and compounds in harvested fruits and vegetables depend on concentrations in the soil. If zinc concentration is low in a garden soil, there may be zinc deficiency in humans because of low concentrations in food from that garden. This chapter reviews aspects of soil quality and soil health and addresses the importance of improving soil health as part of a phytroremediation project.
