living inhabitants of soil by Sarah Ashfaq 5th Semester.pptx
- 1. Sarah Ashfaq BSADP-BT51F21 PRESENTED TO: Prof. Dr. Shakil Ahmed Institute Of Botany University Of The Punjab
- 2. DEFINITION An organism inhibiting the soil during part or all of its life is called as living inhabitants of soil. Inhabitants : It means A person or animal that lives in a place.
- 3. LIVING ORGANISMS: Living organisms present in soil include archaea , bacteria, Actinomycetes, fungi, protozoa and a wide variety of larger Soil fauna including springtails mites ,nematodes, earthworm, ants and insects that spend all or part of their life underground even larger organisms such as burrowing rodents.
- 4. IMPORTANCE OF SOIL ORGANISMS 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, beetles larvae, fly larvae, caterpillars, and root aphids. Some soil organisms cause rots, some release substances that inhibits plant growth, and others are hosts for organisms that cause animal diseases.
- 5. DIVERSITY OF SOIL ORGANISMS one square meter of rich soil can have as many as 1,000,000,000 organisms.
- 6. ARBITRARY GROUPS Soil organisms are commonly divided into five arbitrary groups according to size. Protists Microfauna Mesofauna Macrofauna Megafauna
- 7. Protists: A protist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor, the exclusion of other eukaryotes means that protists do not form a natural group, or clade. EXAMPLES : Bacteria, actinomycetes and algae.
- 8. KINGDOM PROTISTA: Protists include: (1) protozoa, the animal-like protists, (2) algae, the plant-like protists, and (3) slime molds and water molds, the fungus-like protists. embibe.com
- 9. MICROFAUNA: 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).
- 10. MICROFAUNA: NEMATODES: Nematodes belongs to phylum Nematoda with plants-parasitic worms are known as eel-worms. Nematodes have tubular digestive system. nature.com
- 11. MESOFAUNA: The mesofauna are somewhat larger , 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 insect like proturans, which feed on fungi. SIZE: Soil mesofauna are invertebrates between 0.1mm and 2mm in size, which live in the soil or in a leaf litter layer on the soil surface.
- 13. MACROFAUNA: DEFINITION: Soil Macrofauna, earthworms, termites, ants and some insect larvae, can make the pore spaces and hence can change the soil porosity, one aspect of soil morphology. SIZE: Some are centimeter or more long but smaller than an earthworm.
- 15. MEGAFAUNA OF SOIL: Megafauna are large animals that roamed the Earth during the Pleistocene Epoch, 1.6 million - 10,000 years ago. ... In North American, Megafauna included Giant Ground Sloths and Sabre- toothed Tigers, and African Megafauna included elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses.
- 16. SOIL AND ITS INHABITANTS BY THE NUMBERS: 1.Microfungi 2.Earthworms 3.Nematodes 4.Bacteria 5.Archaea These plants like cells related to mushrooms can fill between one-tenth and three-tenth of area around plant roots. Each has more than 7000 species of these crawlers. Around 100 to 500 squiggly earthworms can live beneath 0.8 square meter. These unsegmented worms are around a millimeter long. Around 10 million nematodes can live beneath 0.8 square meter of soil. A teaspoon of healthy soil can contain between 100 million and 1 billion of these microbes. Up to one in every 10 microbes in most soils may belong to this family of organisms.
- 17. AFFECT OF SOIL ORGANISM IN SOIL Soil organisms fulfill key processes in the soil, such as decomposition and nutrient mineralization. Many microorganisms engage in mutualistic interactions with plant hosts, aiding in the uptake of nutrients and water (e.g., arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF), in exchange for photosynthates or other plant metabolites.
- 18. Affect Of Soil Organisms
- 19. ROLE OF MICROORGANISMS IN THE SOIL AND CROP PRODUCTION: Microorganisms in the topsoil are important, improving soil productivity, cycling of nutrient compounds in the biosphere, and sources of manufacturing products such as growth hormones, enzymes, antibiotics, vitamins, etc.
- 20. EXTREMELY DIVERSE Differences in morphological traits between nine species of soil invertebrates belonging to three groups: earthworms, ground beetles, and springtails (Drawing credits: www.lesbullesdemo.fr ).
- 21. BODY SIZE: An important structural difference between earthworms, springtails, and ground beetles, and between species within these groups, is their body size. Size is an example of a morphological trait. The smallest earthworm measures several cm long, while the largest, found in tropical forests, can be 2 m long. In Europe, ground beetles measure between 2 mm and 8 cm from the top of the head to the last segment of the abdomen. Springtails are much smaller, with an average body size of only 2 mm, but their size varies depending on where they live. Some springtail species living in dead leaves are bigger than other species that live deeper in the soil.
- 22. MOVEMENT: To find a habitat with enough food, other organisms with which to reproduce, and a low number of predators, soil organisms have developed numerous techniques for moving, both at the surface and within the soil. Earthworms do not have legs, but some species have strong muscles and small hairs that they use to burrow between soil particles. With their six legs, ground beetles can run on the soil surface to catch their prey. Many species of ground beetles have wings, allowing them to rapidly escape from a predator or other disturbance, or to move to a place where they can find more prey or mates. Springtails also move on their six legs, but thanks to a special appendage that acts like a spring, some springtails can jump several centimeters into the air to escape predators.
- 23. SOIL ORGANISMS IN ACTION: Figure - Soil organisms in action. (1) Earthworm living and feeding on dead leaves. (2) Earthworm reaching the soil surface through its large, deep burrow. (3) Earthworms living in the soil and digging many burrows. (4) Different springtail species transforming dead leaves into fecal pellets. (5) Springtail escaping from a predator by jumping with its spring-like appendage. (6) Ground beetle feeding on a snail. (7) Ground beetle ready to fly (Drawing credits: www.lesbullesdemo.fr).
- 24. COLOR: Soil organisms can be colorful. Some earthworms that live in the few first centimeters of soil, in the dead leaves, or in compost or manure are reddish- brown, which enables them to camouflage from their predators against orange- brown dead leaves, but which also protects them from UV light Part of the suns rays that are invisible to the naked eye and can cause sunburn Other earthworms live deeper in the soil and often have pale colors, such as pale pink, gray, or green. In the dark soil, pigmentation is not necessary because UV light does not penetrate. Still other earthworms live mostly in the soil, but they put their heads out of the soil to feed on dead leaves; consequently, only their heads are pigmented. Springtails show almost the same color patterns as earthworms: pigmented species live on top of the soil and unpigmented ones live within the soil . Finally, ground beetles can have many wonderful color patterns. The vivid colors might discourage their bird predators or might help them to camouflage in their environments.
- 25. Conclusion: Soil organisms are incredibly diverse in shape and behavior. Soil ecologists explore the wonderful world of the soil and have the chance to discover new species and new traits. By looking at the characteristics of the species they find, soil scientists can better understand the interactions between organisms and ecosystems. Taken together, the numerous roles played by the wide variety of soil organisms are complementary and fundamental to maintaining healthy soils. It is thus very important for us to maintain and conserve soil biodiversity, which is facing the increasing impacts of human activities, such as intensive agriculture and climate change. Raising public awareness of the importance of soil organisms and improving our knowledge of soil biodiversity will be key to decreasing our impacts on the amazing ecosystems under our feet.
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- 27. THANKYOU