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<br />17 <br />greenhouse studies is the difficulty of maintaining a representative and <br />dynamic soil microbiota. So little is ]mown about microorganism and soil <br />arthropod dynamics and ecology that it is genes 11 nY of passible to ]mow <br />if laboratory or field simulation conditions approach those to be expected <br />und~al time reclamation. Still, experimental testing is a necessary <br />part of any reclamation plan and to conduct such testing one needs to ]mow <br />and simulate the expectable natural stress conditions to the best degree <br />possible. <br />THE PROBLEM OF CLIMATIC CHANGE <br />Inherent in any discussion of soil genesis and soil plant dynamics in the <br />high northern plains is the question of climatic change through late <br />glacial and postglacial geologic time. An understanding of the history <br />of past climatic change is of critical importance to an understanding of <br />biogeochemical limitations to reclamation because of the basic question of <br />the ability of today's climates to sustain soil evolution that leads <br />toward support of native sub-climax communities. If soils necessary to <br />support viable productive vegetation in the northern plains can only have <br />formed through a combination of past climatic episodes, then it follows <br />that one must modify weathering environments for reconstructed soils to <br />simulate the biogeochemical conditions necessary for adequate soil development. <br />