Chapter 10: Soil Organisms

Objectives:

1. appreciate the diversity of soil organisms

2. understand the relationship between soil biodiversity

and soil functions
Key terms and Concepts:

Mycorrhizae
Rhizobium
Procaryote
Eucaryote
Aerobic
Anaerobic
TABLE 10.4
Animals:
1. Burrowing animals (moles, prairie dogs, gophers etc---they mix soils around)
2. Earthworms(decomposition, mixing, making "mull' soil, instead of 'mor' soil)
3. Arthropods (accelerate decomposition, herbivores, predators)
Insects: springtails (collembolan), termites, ants, etc.
Mites: high diversity in soils
Millipedes: feed on leaf litter, require high humidity
Centipedes: predators, require high humidity

4. Nematodes (most < 2mm in length, and microscopic) (accelerate

decomposition, herbivores, predators)
Earthworm
3. Arthropods (accelerate decomposition, herbivores,
predators)
Insects: springtails (collembola), termites, ants, etc.
Mites: high diversity in soils
Millipedes: feed on leaf litter, require high humidity
Centipedes: predators, require high humidity
Springtails (or Collembola)
Coleoptera: Ground Beetles
Diplura and Dermaptera ( Earwig)
 Microarthropods: Mites

Photograph by D.E. Walter & C.Meacham

Acariformes: Examples of four acariform mites from rainforest litter in Queensland.

Upper left - Archeonothridae (Stomacarus sp.), a primitive oribatid mite.
Upper right - Cunaxidae, a predatory prostigmatan that runs down its prey.
Lower left - Nothridae (Nothrus sp.), ventral view of an all-female species of oribatid mite.
Lower right - Labidostommatidae, a predatory prostigmatan that ambushes its prey.
Centipede
Millipedes

From: Coleman & Crossley 1996 Fundamentals of Soil Ecology

 Soil Nematodes

Bacterial feeders Fungal feeders Plant feeders

The photos above are taken from Dr. Diana Wall’s Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Functioning Lab at Colorado State University
The root system of a tobacco plant that was heavily infested with root-knot nematodes, which stunted the roots and
produced knotlike deformities. The aboveground portion of the infested plant was severely stunted.
(Photo courtesy of R. Weil)
Nematodes: Nematodes in a potato beetle larvae
 Plants
1. Roots and rhizosphere (main source of SOM, hot spot, and
channels) (See Rhizosphere Image Gallery at:
http://ic.ucsc.edu/~wxcheng/wewu/)

Minirhizotron
Camera

Corn root tip with root hairs

Wheat roots with root hairs Soybean roots

 Plants:
2. Algae etc. (moist soil surface, lichens, crypto-biotic crusts in deserts)
Crypto-biotic Crusts

Dark patches of cyanobacteria on old grazing land:Sawtooth

Mts., AZ.
CYANOBACTERIA ("blue-green algae") are the first stage in the
development of the soil itself, and an essential part of natural
revegetation. Their cells fix nitrogen, enriching clay and sand with
the elements necessary for plant life. Gelatinous sheaths protect
the cells from the dry air and bind the young soil together. NOTE
recent vehicle tracks that have damaged this crust.
Photos by Lorena B. Moore.
A 4"x4" patch of dry crust from the Tucson
Mountains. Photo shows true moss,
Selaginella spikemoss, Placidium and Collema
lichens, cyanobacteria film, and felsic volcanic soil.

Photos by Lorena B. Moore from:

http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/cryptos.html
Fungi (104 to 108 propagules per gram of soil)
1. Saprophytic group: major decomposers of SOM
2. Mycorrhizae:
Ectomycorrhizae (most trees)
Key Features:
(1) only penetrate the spaces between cells of the cortex;
(2) may form sheath around the host root;
(3) may change fine root morphology.
Endomycorrhizae (grasses, herbs)
VAM
Ericoid
Orchid mycorrhiza
Key Features:
(1) Penetrate and grow into host cells;
(2) Some form vesicular-carbuncular structures (VAM);
(3) Does not change fine root morphology.
 Endomycorrhizae
Ectomycorrhizae

Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza
Thelephoroid ectomycorrhizae on
Douglas Fir. A digital image
taken by using a minirhizotron
camera with true color.

Ericoid mycorrhiza (cranberries)

Thelephoroid ectomycorrhizae on Douglas Fir. Photo

from Tom Bruns’s Lab web page at UC Berkeley:
http://nature.berkeley.edu/brunslab/tour/fungi2.html Orchid mycorrhiza (Orchids)
Figure 10.14 Diagram of ectomycorrhiza and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) associations with plant roots. (a) The
ectomycorrhiza association produces short branched rootlets that are covered with a fungal mantle, the hyphae of
which extend out into the soil and between the plant cells but do not penetrate the cells. (b) In contrast, the AM fungi
penetrate not only between cells but into certain cells as well. Within these cells, the fungi form structures known as
arbuscules and vesicles. The former transfer nutrients to the plant, and the latter store these nutrients. In both types
of association, the host plant provides sugars and other food for the fungi and receives in return essential mineral
nutrients that the fungi absorb from the soil. [Redrawn from Menge (1981); photo courtesy of R. Weil]
 Protozoa
(feeding on bacteria, pathogens, decomposers)
1. Amoeboid (moving by pseudopodia)
2. Flagellates (moving by flagella)
3. ciliates (moving by cilia)

Amoeba Ciliate Flagellate

(Sarcodina) (Ciliophora) (Mastigophora)
(Pseudopodia)
Fig. 10.9
Prokaryotes--bacteria & actinomycetes, 104-109 per gram of soil, fast
decomposers, pathogens, symbiosis, chemical engineers. Many cannot
be cultured using artificial media, therefore, little is known about them.
Procaryote v.s. Eucaryote
1. Heterotrophics: use ORGANIC carbon for C-source and energy;
aerobes -- requires free Oxygen
anaerobes--does not require free Oxygen
2. Autotrophic: use INORGANIC carbon as the main carbon source
photoautotrophic (cyanobacteria, the old blue-green algae)
chemoautotrophic (by oxidation of ammonium, sulfur, iron, etc.)
3. Symbiotic:
Rhizobium
Frankia (Actinorhizal)

Soil Biology Movies: http://www.agron.iastate.edu/~loynachan/mov/

A procaryotic cell

A eucaryotic cell
 Two important kinds of symbiotic bacteria:
Rhizobium and Frankia (Actinorhizal)

Clover nodules with rhizoba “Frankia” nodules on red alder roots

Viruses and Viroids
(important in regulating bacteria populations)

1. Prion: pieces of DNA without protective coat

2. Viroid: pieces of RNA without protective coat
3. Virus: DNA or RNA with coat.
Table 10.7
Table 10.9