• Energetics
• Nutrient cycling
• Decomposition
• Biodiversity of soil biota

• Senior Research Fellow, National Research Advisory Council, Inst. Nuclear Science and Soil Bureau, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, 1979-1980.
• Soil Science Society of America Fellow (from 1991 onward).
• Soil Ecology Society Professional Achievement Award, May 1999.
• Distinguished Ecosystem Scientist Award, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, CSU, Ft. Collins, CO, March 2000.
• McMaster Visiting Fellow, CSIRO Div. of Entomology, Adelaide, Australia. Feb.-Apr. 2006.

Long-term studies of disturbances as they affect ecological processes in landscapes of the southern Appalachians (NSF) Co-PI; LTREB: Long-term soil organic matter dynamics in subtropical agroecosystems (NSF) Lead PI; International Symposium on Soil Biodiversity, with special issue of Pedobiologia on that topic (NSF) PI; Microbial biomass and dynamics in riparian zones of the Southern Appalachians (US Forest Service).

Coleman, D.C., M.D. Hunter, P.F. Hendrix, D.A. Crossley, Jr., S. Arce-Flores, B. Simmons, and K. Wickings. 2009. Long-term consequences of biological and biogeochemical changes in the Horseshoe Bend LTREB agroecosystem, Athens, Ga. Pp.  In: P. Bohlen, Ed. Agroecosystem management for ecological, economic and social sustainability. Taylor and Francis, New York.

Upchurch, R.A., Chiu, C-Y., Everett, K., Dyszynski, G., Coleman, D.C., and Whitman, W.B. 2008. Differences in the composition and diversity of bacterial communities from agricultural and forest soils. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 40, 1294-1305.

Coleman, D.C. 2008. From Peds to Paradoxes: linkages between soil biota and their influences on ecological processes. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 40, 271-289.

Coleman, D.C., and D.H. Wall. 2007. Fauna: the engine for microbial activity and transport. Chapt. 7 (pp. 163-191) in: Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry. E.A. Paul (ed.). Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Adl, M.S., D.C. Coleman, and F. Reed. 2006. Slow recovery of biodiversity in sandy loam soils of Georgia after 25 years of no-tillage management. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 114: 323-334.

Coleman, D.C., and W.B. Whitman. 2005. Linking species richness, biodiversity and ecosystem function in soil systems. Pedobiologia 49: 479-497.

Coleman, D.C., D.A. Crossley, Jr., and P.F. Hendrix. 2004. Fundamentals of Soil Ecology. 2nd Edn., Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego. 384 pp.

Moore, J.C., E.L. Berlow, D.C. Coleman and 14 co-authors. 2004. Detritus, trophic dynamics and biodiversity. Ecology Letters 7: 584-600.

Hunter, M. D., S. Adl, C. M. Pringle, and D. C. Coleman. 2003.  Relative effects of macroinvertebrates and habitat on the chemistry of litter during decomposition.  Pedobiologia 47: 101-115.

Coleman, D.C., D.M. Swift, and J.E. Mitchell. 2004. From the frontier to the biosphere: a brief history of the USIBP Grasslands Biome program and its impacts on scientific research in North America. Rangelands 26: 8-15.

Coleman, D.C., S. Fu, P.F. Hendrix, and D.A. Crossley, Jr. 2002. Soil foodwebs in agroecosystems: impacts of herbivory and tillage management. European Journal of Soil Biology 38: 21-28.

Coleman, D.C. 2001. Soil Biota, Soil Systems, and Processes. Pp. 305-314 in vol. 5: S. Levin, Ed. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Coleman, D. C., and P. F. Hendrix. 2000. (Eds.). Invertebrates as Webmasters in Ecosystems, CAB International, Wallingford, U.K. 336 pp.

Knoepp, J. D., D. C. Coleman, D. A. Crossley, Jr., and J. S. Clark. 2000. Biological indices of soil quality: an ecosystem case study of their use. Forest Ecology & Management 138: 357-368.

Coleman, D. C., and P. F. Hendrix. 2000. (Eds.). Invertebrates as Webmasters in Ecosystems, CAB International, Wallingford, U.K. 336 pp.