Soil Organisms

So now, you can see that many different types of life forms live in the soil. Each type of life form is known as a species. Organisms are members of a species - there are billions of ants in the world, but they are all members of the ant species. The variety of species that live in a given environment is known as biodiversity.

All of the organisms in all the different species in an environment, plus all the nonliving parts of that environment (such as air and water) make up an ecosystem. The soil is an ecosystem, and the soil ecosystem has some of the greatest biodiversity on Earth.

Biodiversity in Soil

There are many ways to define biodiversity. The simplest way is the diversity of organisms in an ecosystem. Ecologists study diversity at three different levels, especially the diversity of ecosystems.

Many organisms live in the soil, and many of them are so small that they are hard to study. A single type of organism is called a species. Many species of soil organisms have never been described because there are so few ecologists and so many species.

The many species that live in the soil range in size from tiny one celled bacteria, algae, fungi, and protozoa to more complex organisms like earthworms, insects, small vertebrates, and plants.

INSERT SENTENCE OR TWO ABOUT THE GENUS-SPECIES TAXONOMY OF ORGANISMS

Porcellio scaber	Lumbricus terrestris

Species and Environment

Since there are so many different species in the soil, how do all these creatures live and interact with one another and their environment? What role do these soil organisms play in their ecosystem?

To answer these questions, ecologists try to understand what organisms need to survive, and what contributions these organisms make to their environment.