ENVIRSC 2B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Carbon Sink, Tillage, Cellulose
7 Feb 2017
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Chapter 10: organisms and ecology of the soil. A healthy soil: several species of vertebrate animals, half dozen species of earthworms, 20 to 30 species of mites, 50 to 100 species of insects, dozens of species of nematodes, hundred of species of nematodes, hundred of species of fungi, thousands of species of bacteria and actinomycetes. There is a whole bunch of soil organisms hiding in there. Digests organic stuff, leave the rest in the form of a cast. Silt and clay: more silt and clay in worm cast than in the soil, because the worm is more likely to eat silt and clay because of the small size of the particles. Bulk density of cast is lower: casts are not packed as tightly as the soil before it was consumed. Structural stability: earthworm casts have more stability than the original soil more clay, bit of slime from earthworm (i think that"s what he said)
