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Soil microorganisms can be classified as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and protozoa. Each of these groups has characteristics that define them and their functions in soil. [6] [7] Up to 10 billion bacterial cells inhabit each gram of soil in and around plant roots, a region known as the rhizosphere.
Soil microbial communities are characterized in many different ways. The activity of microbes can be measured by their respiration and carbon dioxide release. The cellular components of microbes can be extracted from soil and genetically profiled, or microbial biomass can be calculated by weighing the soil before and after fumigation.
The soil is home to a large proportion of the world's biodiversity.The links between soil organisms and soil functions are complex. The interconnectedness and complexity of this soil 'food web' means any appraisal of soil function must necessarily take into account interactions with the living communities that exist within the soil.
The smallest creatures (microbes) use the micropores filled with air to grow, whereas other bigger animals require bigger spaces, macropores, or the water film surrounding the soil particles to move in search for food. Therefore, soil textural properties together with the depth of the water table are also important factors regulating their ...
A method of maintaining ecosystem function in agricultural soils is using crop rotations, where increases in the number of crops used for a crop rotation in farming systems has also been shown to have the effect of increasing microbial diversity and the number of microbial species present. [17]
The aquatic microbial loop is a marine trophic pathway which incorporates dissolved organic carbon into the food chain.. The microbial loop describes a trophic pathway where, in aquatic systems, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is returned to higher trophic levels via its incorporation into bacterial biomass, and then coupled with the classic food chain formed by phytoplankton-zooplankton-nekton.
The microbial communities inside the root and in the rhizosphere are distinct from each other, [2] and from the microbial communities of bulk soil, [3] although there is some overlap in species composition. Different microorganisms, both beneficial and harmful, affect the development and physiology of plants.
All saprotrophic bacteria are unicellular prokaryotes, and reproduce asexually through binary fission. [2] Variation in the turnover times (the rate at which a nutrient is depleted and replaced in a particular nutrient pool) of the bacteria may be due in part to variation in environmental factors including temperature, soil moisture, soil pH, substrate type and concentration, plant genotype ...