Soil contains billions of organisms, mostly bacteria, that break down dead matter for plant absorption. Soil life is classified by size, with bacteria forming a symbiotic relationship with legumes to fix nitrogen. Soil life varies with environmental conditions, and adding fruit to a garden can demonstrate its effects.
There are between 100 billion and 3 trillion organisms in one kilogram of fertile soil, most of them bacteria. Soil is a thin layer of constantly decaying organic matter that covers much of the Earth. Within the soil, organisms break down dead organisms into their constituent elements, ready to be reabsorbed by plants. Without life in the soil, new generations of plants would not be able to recycle the last generation’s biomass, and life on Earth as a whole would cease.
Soil life is generally classified according to its size. At the top of the food chain is megafauna, larger than 20 mm: moles, rabbits and rodents. Below them is the macrofauna, ranging in size from 2 to 20 mm: woodlice, earthworms, millipedes, snails, beetles, snails, ants and harvestmen. Then there are the mesofauna, ranging in size from 100 microns to 2 mm: tardigrades, mites and springtails. The smallest are the microfauna and microflora, with a size range between 1-100 micrometres: yeasts, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and rotifers. Even below this are many trillions of viruses, although there is disagreement as to whether these mobile genetic elements are truly life.
Over many millions of years, bacterial life in the soil has formed a deep symbiotic relationship with plants known as legumes (beans, peanuts, alfalfa), growing in their roots and “fixing” atmospheric nitrogen, which is a gas, into solid organic compounds such as ammonia. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria also live independently in the soil in large quantities. This nitrogen fixation is a crucial function for all life that, until the development of the Haber process, only bacteria could perform. Nitrifying bacteria specialize in converting ammonia, the first product, into nitrates, which can be effectively used by plants for nutrition.
Depending on the severity of the environmental conditions, soil life can be more or less abundant. When conditions are harsh, such as in Antarctica, large organisms are the first to leave. In that little Antarctic soil megafauna and macrofauna are absent, but mesofauna is present in the form of springtails.
If you want to see soil life go to work right in your garden, throw a ripe fruit there and wait a few days. The effects should be noticeable shortly.
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