The Role of Roots in the Chemical Economy of Life on Earth

As organs of higher organisms, roots are unique in that they interact closely with a system, the soil, that is dominated by solid matter and is chemically far more heterogeneous than the fluid media of bodies of water and the atmosphere. At the interface between plant roots and the soil, there occurs the most massive transfer of materials accomplished by the biosphere: the introduction from the abiotic environment of water and mineral elements into terrestrial plants. A plea is made for the formulation of a new science of the belowground ecosystem: the science of geobiology.