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Bacteria and Archaea, the smallest organisms in soil apart from viruses, are prokaryotic. They are the most abundant microorganisms in the soil, and serve many important purposes, including nitrogen fixation. [9] Some bacteria can colonize minerals in the soil and help influence weathering and the breaking down of these minerals.
Soil life, soil biota, soil fauna, or edaphon is a collective term that encompasses all organisms that spend a significant portion of their life cycle within a soil profile, or at the soil-litter interface. These organisms include earthworms, nematodes, protozoa, fungi, bacteria, different arthropods, as well as some reptiles (such as snakes ...
For example, soil microbes are able to convert methane into carbon dioxide, thereby modulating greenhouse gas emissions. [21] They also have a wide range of effects on agriculture including conversion of carbon dioxide into usable forms of carbon for plants, releasing chemicals to increase the ability of plants to uptake and store water, and ...
An example of a topological food web (image courtesy of USDA) [1]. The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals.
Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) have the potential to enhance phosphate-induced immobilization of metals to remediate contaminated soil. However, there is a limit on the amount of phosphate which can be added to the environment due to the issue of eutrophication.
Microorganisms form mutualistic relationship with other microorganism, plants or animals. One example of microbe-microbe interaction would be syntrophy, also known as cross-feeding, [49] of which Methanobacterium omelianskii is a classical example. [52] [53] This consortium is formed by an ethanol fermenting organism and a methanogen.
Soil microbes decompose it through enzymatic biochemical processes, obtain the necessary energy from the same matter, and produce the mineral compounds that plant roots are apt to absorb. [12] The decomposition of organic compounds specifically into mineral, i. e., inorganic, compounds is denominated " mineralization ".
For example, while some studies have found that reductions in the abundance and presence of soil organisms results in the decline of multiple ecosystem functions, [28] others concluded that above-ground plant diversity alone is a better predictor of ecosystem multi-functionality than soil biodiversity. [29]