Soil organism, any organism inhabiting the soil during part or all of its life.

Soil organisms, which range in

size from microscopic cells that digest decaying organic material to small mammals that live primarily on
other soil organisms, play an important role in maintaining fertility, structure, drainage, and aeration of
soil. They also break down plant and animal tissues, releasing stored nutrients and converting them into
forms usable by plants. Some soil organisms are pests. Among the soil organisms that are pests of crops
are nematodes, slugs and snails, symphylids, beetle larvae, fly larvae, caterpillars, and root aphids. Some
soil organisms cause rots, some release substances that inhibit plant growth, and others are hosts for
organisms that cause animal diseases.
Since most of the functions of soil organisms are beneficial, earth with large numbers of organisms in it
tends to be fertile; one square metre of rich soil can harbour as many as 1,000,000,000 organisms.
Soil organisms are commonly divided into five arbitrary groups according to size, the smallest of which are
the protists—including bacteria, actinomycetes, and algae. Next are the microfauna, which are less than
100 microns in length and generally feed upon other microorganisms. The microfauna include single-celled
protozoans, some smaller flatworms, nematodes, rotifers, and tardigrades (eight-legged invertebrates).
The mesofauna are somewhat larger and are heterogeneous, including creatures that feed on
microorganisms, decaying matter, and living plants. The category includes nematodes, mites, springtails
(wingless insects so called for the springing organ which enables them to leap), the insectlike proturans,
which feed on fungi, and the pauropods.
The fourth group, the macrofauna, are also quite diverse. The most common example is the potworm, a
white, segmented worm that feeds on fungi, bacteria, and decaying plant material. The group also includes
slugs, snails, and millipedes, which feed on plants, and centipedes, beetles and their larvae, and the larvae
of flies, which feed on other organisms or on decaying matter.
Megafauna constitute the largest soil organisms and include the largest earthworms, perhaps the most
important creatures that live in the topsoil. Earthworms pass both soil and organic matter through their
guts, in the process aerating the soil, breaking up the litter of organic material on its surface, and moving
material vertically from the surface to the subsoil. This is extremely important to soil fertility, and it
develops the structure of the soil as a matrix for plants and other organisms. It has been estimated that
earthworms completely turn over the equivalent of all the soil on the planet to a depth one inch (2.5 cm)
every 10 years. Some vertebrates are also in the megafauna category; these include all sorts of burrowing
animals, such as snakes, lizards, gophers, badgers, rabbits, hares, mice, and moles.

Burlese-Tullgren funnel A device used to remove and collect small animals, such as insects, from a sample of
soil or leaf litter. The sample is placed on a coarse sieve fixed across the wide end of a funnel and a 100-watt light
bulb, in a metal reflector, is placed about 25 cm above the funnel. The heat from the bulb dries and warms the
sample, causing the animals to move downwards and fall through the sieve into the funnel, which directs them into
a collecting dish or tube below. The dish can contain water or alcohol to prevent the animals from escaping.
Coping with living in soil
Soil is a dense, dark habitat and soil biota cope by developing special adaptations of body form or by changing
behaviour. However, there are advantages to living in the soil. There are generally lots of organic residues overlying
the soil on which to feed; shelter from above-ground predators is provided and the temperature, relative humidity
and the moisture content of the environment is more stable than in the above-ground environment. Here are some
ways that soil biota use to adapt to life in the soil.

Adaptations of Behaviour
Many soil animals, particularly those that move up into the surface layers of litter, or onto the soil surface, are active
in the hours of dark (e.g. spiders and snails). By being nocturnal, they can avoid predators (e.g. birds) and they can
avoid the hotter, drier hours of the day. Many soil animals will move away from a light source, preferring darker
parts of a light gradient (e.g. woodlice).

Some social insects can create their own habitat by constructing nests where the microclimate is carefully
controlled. Termites and ants excavate soil cavities and move soil particles about to create living spaces and foraging
galleries. Termites nests can be sealed or opened to the air depending on prevailing climatic conditions.

Predators in soil can have a lie-in-wait strategy (antlions, trapdoor spiders, scorpions) while other predators are
active hunters. The “lie-in-wait “ animals, use strategies that conceal them in the soil (e.g. antlion pits, trapdoors into
underground tunnels of trapdoor spiders) and then spring out and capture their prey as it comes too near their lair.
The “active hunters” leave their daytime homes in the soil for the night shift (e.g. wolf spiders and centipedes).
Protected by the night from things that eat them, they roam about on the soil surface hunting for prey (wolf spiders,
centipedes). These animals generally have long, “all the better to catch you with”, legs.

Large soil animals have various ways of moving soil about so that they can progress through it (e.g. shoveling it aside,
eating through it). Although smaller invertebrate animals, such as springtails and mites, are not strong enough to
move soil particles aside, they are tiny enough to use the existing pore spaces and channels between soil particles, to
move from place to place.

How do mammals that live underground survive in dark, airless burrows? What are the main challenges they face,
and how do they adapt and modify their environments?

A surprising variety of mammals head underground. The burrows of aardvarks are used by steenbok to evade
pursuing predators, and by warthogs as nocturnal refuges and breeding sites.

But most mammals that rely on tunnels and dens also dig their own. Some, such as badgers, emerge at night to
forage but still spend about 80 per cent of their existence underground.

While we know a great deal about their behaviour above the surface, we know remarkably little about life in their
subterranean labyrinths.

The drive to live underground first occurred 45–35 million years ago, as the world became much cooler and more
arid.

Surface survival became more challenging, whereas more stable environments could be found underground.

However, this brought many new challenges: perpetual darkness, high humidity, low oxygen but high carbon dioxide
levels, and increased disease transmission.

To overcome these problems, many of the specialist burrowing (fossorial) mammals show very similar characteristics
that evolved independently.

The most extreme adaptations are seen in several hundred species of rodents, insectivores and marsupials.
Common senses

While most have poor vision, their circadian rhythms are still determined by the outside photoperiod, presumably to
ensure that they do not emerge when predation risk is highest, and to time their reproductive cycles.

Instead, many have highly developed tactile senses, with sensory hairs all over the body, especially the tail. Even
otherwise hairless species such as naked mole rats have tactile hairs.

Perhaps most remarkable are the 22 appendages ringing the nostrils of the star-nosed mole, each covered with
sensory domes called Eimer’s organs, used to identify potential prey.

This animal’s sense of touch is so sensitive that it is able to identify and consume a small prey item in 120
milliseconds – the fastest-known mammal forager.

Many subterranean mammals are adapted to hear low-frequency sounds, which travel best underground, and are
insensitive to the high frequencies used by above-ground species.

Some even have highly developed middle ears capable of detecting low-frequency seismic sounds transmitted
through the soil. Since they still need to be able to orientate underground, some, at least, rely on magnetic
orientation.

The energetic costs of digging are high, especially for species that have to burrow to obtain their food. Most fossorial
mammals are small, so need to excavate smaller tunnels that are easier to dig.

Being compact also has the advantages of limiting general energetic costs, which are further reduced by having
lower metabolic rates, low body temperature and poor thermoregulation – adaptations that also help to minimise
water expenditure.

The air down there

Since burrows may not be well ventilated, especially in wet or heavy soils, fossorial mammals must function in
compromised air conditions.

Mole-rat burrows have been recorded with oxygen concentrations of a mere 7.2 per cent – fatal to humans – and
carbon dioxide levels up to 6.1 per cent, which would induce unconsciousness in us.

Fossorial mammals are extremely important in many environments, where they have widespread ecological impacts.

They can relocate large quantities of soil, often changing its structure in the process: North American pocket gophers
excavate on average 18m3 of earth per hectare per year, while a single mole fortress can incorporate 750kg of soil.

So it is hardly surprising that many subterranean mammals are also considered agricultural pests.