ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes data collected during the 1985 and 1986 growing seasons at the Michigan State University research farms. Collembola are known to be significant regulators of the decomposition of soil organic matter. Populations of Collembola could be quantified from the video-recorded images of the minirhizotron system. Interestingly, the lower populations of animals observed in soil planted to corn increased with greater soil depths. Soil cores, taken to depths of 30 cm or less, appear to yield only a small fraction of any given population due to the shallow depth and possible compaction of the soil sample. Minirhizotron observation of root dynamics by the use of minirhizotron has become an accepted method for quantifying root characteristics. The negative correlations between root numbers and soil depth, which contrast with the positive correlations between collembolan numbers and soil depth, support a lack of a good correlation between the numbers of Collembola and plant roots.
