Teaming with Microbes

they shred and move about, arthropods also taxi microbia

Protozoa are attracted to and enter into an area where there is a good supply of bacteria in a pretty consistent progression (on average, a protozoan can eat 10,000 bacteria a day

inadvertently play a role in transporting bacteria to areas far from their origin

Most soil arthropods, particularly those that reside on the soil surface, are shredders.

lichens. In this symbiotic relationship, the fungus gets food from the alga, which utilizes its photosynthetic powers while the fungal strands make up the thall

Remember penicillin, the most famous fungus-turned-antibiotic of all? In

because root surfaces also take up negatively charged anions, using hydroxy (OH-) anions as the medium of exchange.

you have relatively few hydrogen ions compared to the rest of what is in solution, the pH is low and the solution is acidic. S

ideal garden soil is loam, a mixture with relatively equal parts

inage and aeration.

Gray soils can indicate a lack of organic materia