ABSTRACT
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Within the food web characterized in Chapter 5, there is a large intermediate domain
of creatures existing between the microflora and -fauna, on one hand, and the
arthropods and other macro-fauna such as earthworms, ants and termites, whose
numbers and variety are vast. In the process of feeding on bacteria, fungi, and other
organisms and organic material within the web, these mesofauna perform a number of
essential functions within soil systems. Their so-called “grazing” on microorganisms,
which is a major part of the nutrient cycling in soil systems, tends to maintain
these microbial populations in an active state, with higher nutrient content, and
increases the availability of nutrients for plant growth. As in other components of
the food web, they are interactive and interdependent with a host of other species.
This chapter can only sketch, with selected details, this vast domain of soil organisms
that is typified by, but not limited to, protozoa and nematodes. These creatures live
not separately but fully enmeshed within the biological realm of soil systems,
dependent upon the physical and chemical aspects of these systems, but also affecting
them in important ways.
