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If only we could put some sort of periscope - cum - telesescope - cum- microscope down into the soil to see what is going on. It is a strange world when we spend 10s of billions on telescopes to look for signs of life millions of miles away. But we have yet to invent a device - let's call is a 'soilscope', to see into the soil to show the wrold what a realm of life is going on down there.
So we will have to make do with this..
On the Surface
These are the most visible creatures, and often the only ones people know about.
Starting with the birds - like blackbirds and robins, which eat the worms, insect larvae, and and beetles that scuttle around on the soil surface. These beetles feed on the smaller soil creatures that we can't see so easily with the human eye, so the presence of beetles is a sign of healthy soil teeming with animal life.
Their feeding is a sign of a lively group of creatures belowground.
Under the surface, especially below leaf litter, many creatures are running round. Here a host of mesofauna that can just be seen with the human eye (but a magnifying glass or microscope helps). These animals break down plant and fungal material into smaller more bacteria-friendly packages.
There are creatures looking after roots, and breaking litter down. Many of these creatures have important relationships with plant and fungal roots. There are nematodes by the millions
These creatures live in and burrow through the broken down leaf litter and soil.
Earthworms shift huge amounts of soil, their role as tunnel diggers is vital to many other creatures. However the most important group of creatures down here breaking up debris are the oribatid mites.
If you are interested to see more, let's start on soil surface
If you are interested to see more, let's start on soil surface
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