Small creaters

Nematodes

They are a diverse part of the animal realm, inhabiting a ride range of habitats/environments. They have been found in almost every type of ecosystem out their, ranging from salt and fresh water, to soils from the polar regions straight down to the equator. Around an estimated 90 percent of nematodes species identified reside in the top 15 cm of the soil fauna. Unlike worms, they do not decompose organic matter, instead they are free living organisms. Nematodes that cause plant diseases to farmed crops have received a lot more attention then any of the others.How ever, most nematodes in the soil do not cause harm, in-fact most cause a beneficial help to the over all health of the soil and even to humans and our goals.

Impacts:The majority are of no harm or even have a beneficial use to us humans and our lives. Yet those that live in the soil and are plant eaters, find them selves in direct competition with us humans. With devastating consequences for them and us. They eat the plants, thereby hindering/harming the plants ability to perform basic functions like water or mineral uptake. When they begin to harm a farmers profit margins, which results in the use of chemical warfare being declared upon them. Killing them, along with more unknown species, along with poisoning our drinking water supply.

Bacterial-feeders: consume bacteria.

Fungal-feeders: feed by puncturing the cell wall of fungi and sucking out the internal contents.

Predatory nematodes: eat all types of nematodes and protozoa. They eat smaller organisms whole, or attach themselves to the cuticle of larger nematodes, scraping away until the prey’s internal body parts can be extracted.

Omnivores: eat a variety of organisms or may have a different diet at each life stage. Root-feeders are plant parasites, and thus are not free-living in the soil.

FUN FACT's Nematode were part of an ongoing research project conducted on the space shuttle Columbia, they were able to survive re-entry breakup back into and through the earths atmosphere.

They are one of natures ways of controlling the bacteria population of getting to out of hand.

Earthworms (oligochaeta)

"It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures."

(Charles Darwin)

Earthworms are know as ecosystem engineers, as their impact to the habitats they inhabit is huge. Without them a huge portion of dead litter would not be decomposed in a timely fashion or not at all. Along side bacteria and fungi, they are responsible for recycling nutrients and carbon back into the soil so plants and other organisms may use it again the next growing season or right away.

This occurs because the wonderful earth worms eat leaves, dung, dead animals and by doing so unlock nutrients like carbon, nitrogen and many more. These nutrients are then pooped out by the worms back into the soil, becoming an important building block and structure of the soil world.

Earth Worms can impact agriculture by increasing the productivity by 20-30%. This is further proven by the fact that in New Zealand once land was approved for agriculture, their native species disappeared leaving their soil earthworm free. Once non-native species were introduced productivity increased by 25-30%.

Soil Fauna: Classification

Five major groupings are widely accepted: classification based on body size; time spent in the soil; location or habitat in the soil profile; feeding strategies; and method of locomotion in the soil

body size:

Time in soil:

habitat within soil:

feeding habits:

locomotion within the soil:

References

Nationwide, SARE. “Small and Medium-Size Soil Animals.” SARE: Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Building-Soils-for-Better-Crops-3rd-Edition/Text-Version/The-Living-Soil/Small-and-Medium-Size-Soil-Animals.

Hendricks, David M. “5. Animals and Soil in Arizona.” Animals and Soil In, www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/swetc/azso/body.1_div.5.html.

“Earthworms' Role in the Ecosystem.” Science Learning Hub, www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/9-earthworms-role-in-the-ecosystem.