Soil Creature Feature
Organic Garden Soils Are Full of Life
Slugs, snails, earthworms and beetles are a common sight in
organic gardens around the world. They're fascinating to watch
and, believe it or not, help your garden much more than they
hurt it. Incredibly, these very visible soil creatures are only
the tip of the iceberg when it comes to life in your garden's
soil. Most
soil life is difficult, if not impossible to see
without the help of a magnifying glass or microscope.
Scientists are working hard to learn more about the amazing and
intricate biology of our soils. They have already made some
wonderful discoveries: penicillin is made by a common soil
fungus and streptomycin, another antibiotic, is made by an
actinomycete, which is a type of soil bacteria. Beyond valuable
medicines, soil creatures help provide us with another very
crucial thing: our food. Without them, organic matter wouldn't
decompose, nutrients wouldn't cycle, our soil's structure would
collapse and, accordingly, plants simply would not grow very
well.
What Creatures Are Featured?
1. Gastropods--Slugs and snails. Did you know that they
spend about 90% of their lives underground? I always thought
that they spent all of their time eating my lettuce and
tomatoes. Not so.
2. Earthworms-- Worms help to aerate the soil and
distribute organic matter, which helps plants find food more
easily.
3. Fungi-- Soil fungi work hard to decompose organic
matter, helping to unlock nutrients and make them available to
plants.
4. Bacteria-- these beneficial "germs" also help to
decompose organic matter. They also help soil form a strong
structure which allows water and air to move freely through the
soil, a necessity for healthy plants. Soil bacteria are mostly
"good guys" that don't have the ability to make humans or
animals sick. In fact, a healthy population of beneficial soil
bacteria can help keep harmful bacteria, such as some strains of
E. coli, from making their home in your soil.
5. Nematodes--these tiny, non-segmented worms can
sometimes just barely be seen with the naked eye. They feed on
organic matter including plant tissue and insects. Nematodes
have been known to feed on the larvae of gnats, termites and
other insect pests.
6. Arthropods-- spiders, ants, mites and beetles are
just a few members of this group. These creatures speed organic
matter decomposition, keep the populations of certain fungus and
insect species in check.
7. Protozoa--Once Jr. high school biology class is done,
most of us never give these creatures another thought. Luckily,
they don't hold it against us and they remain hard at work,
keeping bacteria and fungi from overrunning us! A single
protozoan can eat thousands of bacteria a day.
One teaspoon of good garden soil can contain up to one billion
bacteria, several yards of fungal hyphae (fungal "feeder
roots"), thousands of protozoa and dozens of nematodes and
arthropods.
If you're interested in finding out what's living in your
organic garden's soil, just look beneath your feet. You're bound
to be able to see some signs of life, if you look carefully. If
that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, it is easy to trap and
observe many different kinds of soil creatures and many of them,
large protozoa, nematodes and arthropods, for instance, can be
seen with just a simple magnifying glass.
You can trap them with a pitfall trap, made by burying a clean,
empty margarine or yogurt container so that its lip is level
with your soil's surface. A funnel trap is another good way to
capture some soil critters: just put some wire mesh in a funnel,
put the soil on the wire mesh and place the funnel over a jar
with some alcohol in the bottom to preserve your catch. Put the
whole contraption under a light bulb to flush the critters out,
wait 3-7 days and then prepare to be amazed at the variety of
creatures that you have captured.
Just thinking about the multitudes of soil creatures that make
their homes in our garden can be exciting, overwhelming,
inspirational or even unsettling. Just keep in mind that we
benefit greatly from their activities. While we're off leading
our busy lives, they're busy living theirs too, and keeping our
gardens and our world healthy in the process.
For More Information:
The USDA's soil biology website:
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/biology.html
How to Make a Berlese funnel trap
http://www2.ctic.purdue.edu/CTIC/Berlese.html
Learn more about soil creatures and soil biology
http://www.bluehorizonfarm.com/agr170
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