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Course Title: Soil and Environment

Course Code: ESRM2207
Assignment on Soil Biological Environment
Submitted By: Submitted To:
Group:07 Dr. Shimul Roy
Nishat Ahmed ER22008 Associate Professor
Pranami Ghosh ER22022 Department of ESRM, MBSTU
Fatema Akter Rahi ER22027
Shifat Ahmed Shipu ER22036
Rayan Uddowla ER22053
Students of 2nd year,2nd semester,
Department of ESRM, MBSTU

Submission Date: 20.11.2024

Department of Environmental Science and Resource Management

Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University

Santosh,Tangail-1902
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Table of contents:

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..03
Objectives of Soil Biology…..…………………………..……………………………………03
Significance of Soil Biology…………………………………………………………………..03
Component of Soil Biological Environment………………………………………………...04
Soil as a medium for plant growth…………………………………………………………..05
Soil foodweb and it’s function……………………………………………………………….06
Soil Organisms and Their Activities in Soil………………………………………..……….08
Soil Organisms and Plant Productivity Relationship…...…………………………………09
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….……………10
References…………………………………………………………………………………….10
Contribution…………….……………………………………………..……………………...11
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Introduction:
Soil is the upper layer of earth in which plants grow. It is composed of a mixture of mineral
particles, organic matter (like decomposed plants and animals), air, and water. Soil supports life
by providing nutrients, water, and a medium for plant roots, while also playing an essential role in
regulating ecosystems, water cycles, and carbon storage. Soil formation is a slow process
influenced by factors like weathering of rocks, climate, organisms, topography, and time. The soil
biological environment refers to the community of living organisms in the soil, including microbes
(such as bacteria, fungi, and algae), plants (like roots), animals (such as earthworms, insects, and
burrowing mammals), and other organisms. These organisms interact with each other and with the
soil's physical and chemical components, creating a dynamic ecosystem that plays a crucial role
in soil health and fertility. The soil biological environment is vital for maintaining soil structure,
fertility, and overall ecosystem health. It influences plant growth, nutrient availability, and the
soil's resilience to erosion and degradation.

Objectives of Soil Biology:

The objectives of soil biology is to comprehend the biological activities that take place in soil in
order to enhance soil health and functionality:

• Enhance soil structure: Water penetration is enhanced and soil erosion is prevented thanks
to the formation and stabilization of soil structure by soil organisms.
• Cycle nutrients: The mineralization of organic phosphorus into inorganic forms that plants
can utilize is carried out by soil organisms.
• Disease and pest control: Soil biology can aid in disease and pest control. Degradation or
detoxification of pollutants can be aided by soil biology.
• Increase crop growth: Crop growth can be enhanced by knowledge of soil biology.
• Assure environmental sustainability: The general sustainability of farms and the
environment can be strengthened via soil biology.

Significance of Soil Biology:

Healthy plant and animal life as well as the soil's ability to function as a living ecosystem are two
reasons why soil biology is significant:
• Cycling of nutrients: Soil organisms cycle nutrients that are necessary for plant growth,
including carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen.
• Soil Structure: Soil organisms, such as fungus, bacteria, and earthworms, aid in binding soil
particles together, improving water infiltration and preventing soil erosion.
• Water regulation: Soil biology plays a role in controlling soil water.
• Filtering for pollutants: Soil biology aids in buffering and filtering possible contaminants
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• Repression of disease: Plant illnesses can be prevented by a healthy soil biology.

• Greenhouse gas emission: Emissions of greenhouse gases can be influenced by the biology
of the soil. Nitrous oxide, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is produced by
some bacteria in the soil.

Fig: Importance of soil biology

Components of Soil Biological Environment:

The organic material in soil is made up of organic compounds and includes plant, animal and
microbial material bacteria, algae, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, and the more visible
earthworms, insects, small vertebrates, both living and dead. A typical soil has a biomass
composition of 70% microorganisms, 22% macrofauna, and 8% roots. The components of soil
biological environment are-
❖ Organic Matter: Soil organic matter is composed of plant or animal tissue at various
stages of decomposition. Organic matter promotes healthy soil and plant biology by
improving soil structure, facilitating aeration, increasing water-holding capacity, and
increasing CEC.
❖ Microbial Community: The microbial community or microbiome are responsible for
much of the recycling and transport of nutrients and water that occurs in the soil, they too
are essential for overall soil health and productivity.
❖ Bacteria: Other specialized microorganisms such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria have
symbiotic relationships with plants that allow plants to extract this essential nutrient.
❖ Actinomycetes: Actinomycetes give soil its musty or earthy odor through production of
geosmin. They are unicellular, aerobic bacteria that resemble fungi in that they produce
slender (0.5 to 2 μm diameter), y-branched hyphae, which often fragment and divide as a
means of asexual sporulation.
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❖ Fungi: Fungi are typically multicellular (although yeasts are unicellular) eukaryotes that
do not contain chlorophyll, but produce a wide variety of spore and resting structures,
including mushrooms, sclerotia, conidia, and rhizomorphs.
❖ Algae: Algae are photoautotrophic eukaryotes with various pigments and storage products
used to distinguish among groups. The most common algae in soil are greens, diatoms, and
yellow-greens, which derive inorganic nutrients and water from soil. In soil, most algae
grow near or on the surface to capture sunlight for energy, although some can be found at
more than a meter depth because they are facultative photoautotrophs obtaining energy
from sunlight or inorganic compounds.
❖ Lichens: Lichens are a symbiotic association between fungi and algae or fungi and
cyanobacteria. Lichens grow very slowly, resist direct sunlight, and are able to colonize
habitats unsuitable for other microorganisms by producing organic acids to solubilize rock
minerals.
❖ Soil Organisms: Organisms living in the soil develop an active, diverse, and yet often
under-appreciated ecosystem. The soil ecosystem is dynamic and composed of biotic (i.e.,
plant roots, microorganisms, and macroorganisms) and abiotic components (i.e., mineral
particles, water, gases, nutrients, and nonliving organic matter). Soil organisms can be
broadly separated into two groups, microflora and fauna.

Soil as a medium for plant growth:

Soil is the most common medium for plant growth. It also serves as a foundation material for
engineering structures, for sewage disposal or mined as ore. However, human’s primary interest in
soil has centered on its potential to support plants which provide food, fibre and forest products.
Plants obtain following things from the soil grossly as, physical support, water, air, temperature
moderation, protection from toxins and nutrient elements. Discussion on these elements is given
below:
• Physical support: The soil mass
provides physical or mechanical support,
anchoring the root system so that the
plant does not fall over or blow away.
Hence, plants get escape from strong
wind, tides or heavy snowfall.
• Water: Supplying water is another vital
Figure 1 Soil as a medium for plant growth
contribution of soil to plants. Soil micro-
pores retain water by capillary action and plants collect the water from this source beyond
certain limit. Plants require continuous supply of water and rain cannot provide their
required water across the year. Therefore, water stored in soil is very much crucial
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• Air: Plant root respiration requires oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and yes, soil
provides that generously. So, ventilation is another significant soil service for plants which
keeps the balance of these two gases by allowing carbon dioxide to escape and fresh oxygen
to enter the root zone.
• Temperature moderation: The soil moderates temperature fluctuations and save the
plants. The insulating properties of soil protect the deepest portion of the root system from
extremes of hot and cold temperature that often occur at the surface.
• Protection from toxins: Phytotoxic substances in soil may results from chemical spill,
application of synthetic herbicides, or they may be produced by plant roots, by
microorganism or by any natural reaction. Soil protects the plant from such substances by
ventilating gases, by decomposing organic toxins or by suppressing toxin producing
organisms.
• Supply of nutrients: On of the most important functions of soil towards plant is to provide
necessary nutrients. Healthy plant growth requires continuous supply of essential nutrients
which are supplied by fertile soil in proper amount.

Soil foodweb and its function:

The soil food web is a complex interaction between fauna and flora within the soil. These groups
include bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, micro-arthropods, insects, small vertebrates,
earthworms, and plants. Larger organisms are also a part of the system. Each specific element
within the food web works together with chemical, biological, and physical forces within the
environment to maintain healthy soils and monitor how it interacts with other flora and fauna. It
was first described in the academic literature of Dr. Elaine Ingham, a soil biology researcher, and
microbiologist.
Food webs are all the food chains within a single ecosystem with each food chain being a possible
path of nutrients and energy as it is moved throughout the environment. Soil Food Web Functions
The organisms within the ecosystem existing in the soil depend on the interactions with each other
to maintain survival and growth. In turn, these organisms support nutrient growth as they enhance
soil structure, control populations of soil organisms, and decompose organic matter. Below are
some examples of soil food web functions present within the soil structure;
• Nutrient Cycling: The fecal excretion from predators such as protozoa and nematodes
from the consumption of bacteria and fungi release nutrients. The plants in the soil then
absorb these nutrients, causing the plant to flourish and enhance plant growth.
• Bioturbation: This is a process in which plant residues mix into soils by biotic activity
such as earthworms, pot worms, collembola, mites, and isopods. It regulates the flow of
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water and gas as well as dissolves nutrients within the soil. This process advances
decomposition and creates habitats for another microfauna within the ecosystem.
• Decomposition of organic matter: Decomposition within the soil is abundant among soil
animals such as earthworms and termites. This decomposition process occurs by dispersing
microbes throughout the soil by mincing organic material.
• Capture of energy: Photo synthesizers within the soil such as plants, algae, and bacteria
capture the energy and use solar energy to fix CO2.
• Control of populations: Above-ground animals such as mice, shrews, birds, and larger
nematodes control the population of lower trophic level predators. These larger organisms
also improve soil structure by carrying smaller organisms large distances and burrowing.

Fig: Functions of soil organisms

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Soil Organisms and Their Activities in Soil:

Soil has a heterogeneous, diverse, and porous structure made up of liquid, gaseous, and solid
phases. The liquid phase represents 25% of the total volume of soil and it carries out different
kinds of relevant functions in the soil ecosystem. Soil is mainly represented by inorganic and
organic solid components that make up 45% and 5%, respectively, of soil volume. The inorganic
phase is made up of minerals classified as sand, silt, and clay particles. The organic component is
made up of the nonliving phase commonly known as Soil organic matters and the living phase in
which soil microorganisms and soil flora and fauna. Soil is an important habitat for thousands of
associated organisms.

Soil organisms can be classified as follows:

1. Microorganisms (fungi, bacteria, archaea, and viruses)
2. Fauna (protozoa, annelids, arthropods, nematodes, and mollusks)
3. Flora (plants and algae)

Microorganisms Soil Organisms Flora and Fauna

Soil microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses represent a considerable
fraction of the Earth's living biomass, with surface soils estimated to contain 103–104 kg
of microbial biomass per hectare There is a wide variety of microorganisms, and these can vary
physiologically, in temperature requirements as well as in their use of oxygen. These
microorganisms can occur in association with clay particles or organic matter, in the rhizosphere of
plants, and in small colonies in the pores among the particles. From a quantitative point of view,
the amount of microorganisms in soil can vary according to soil depth; microorganism diversity
increases as depth decreases (Alexander, 1977). In these studies, the quantity of DNA extracted
from soil microorganism was reduced compared with the increased depth. The diversity and
abundance of microorganisms is extremely high (Schloss and Handelsman, 2006; Bills et al.,
2004). However, the knowledge of microbial soil diversity is still limited. Microbiological studies
of soil are important because soil microorganisms respond rapidly to any soil disturbance, and thus
are good, sensitive, reliable indicators of soil health (Griffiths and Philippot, 2013). Also, soil
microorganisms are considered critical in any ecosystem because they act on the decomposition
of Soil organic matter, nutrient cycling, and affect the soil chemical and physical properties. This
has direct influence on soil fertility and sustainability. Microorganisms are quite susceptible to
changes in the environment, and so changes in the soil community can be an early indicator of any
contamination or other disturbance.
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Soil organism, any organism inhabiting the soil during part or all of its life. Soil organisms, which
range in size from microscopic cells that digest decaying organic material to small mammals that
live primarily on other soil organisms, play an important role in maintaining fertility, structure,
drainage, and aeration of soil. Some of the activities of soil organisms are pointed below:

1. Produce nutrients available to plants by fragmentation, decomposition and conversion of

organic material.
2. Create and maintain the soil structure and aerate the soil by mechanically working the
upper soil layer.
3. Eat microbial harmful organisms.
4. Degrade pollutants.
5. Soil organisms help in the recycling of nutrients like Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P),
Potassium (K), and Sulfur (S).
6. Earthworms create channels in the soil, improves air and water movement, which enhances
root penetration and microbial activities.
7. Nematodes helps increasing microbial populations and nutrient cycling process.
8. Rhizobium bacteria in legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen in exchange for carbohydrates
from the plant.
9. Soil oxygen levels often determine soil bacteria activity.

Soil Organisms and Plant Productivity Relationship:

Soil organisms play a vital role in plant productivity as it helps to enhance the structural and
nutritional health of soil. The relationship between the organisms and soil can be mutualistic,
commensal and supportive. The productivity largely depends on the availability of the factors of
soil that increases the production. Soil organisms has a control over this factors and nutrients. The
relationship between them is featured below in brief.
1. One of the most important molecule is Nitrogen to improve the productivity. This Nitrogen
is ensured by the activities of Symbiotic bacteria like Rizobium, Azotobactor etc.
2. Phosphtate-solubilizing bacteria and fungi helps to release phosphorus molecules in
soluble forms to make it easy for the plants to use.
3. Microbes like fungi and bacteria breaks down different organic matters and releases the
nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, sulfur etc. that are important for the plant production.
4. Different earthworms, arthropods helps to soil aggregate that helps plant to grow it’s roots
easily. It also helps to improve the water holding capacity and water infiltration process
along with the nutrient mobility.
5. There are different bacteria that produce growth hormones that boosts the plant growth and
the production. For example: Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp. etc.
6. Some microbes helps to improve plant’s systemic resistance like Tricoderma fungi.
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7. Some microbes help to degrade the harmful substances of soil like pesticides and
pollutants.
8. Soil organisms help to improve the soil conditions by making the soil more resistant to
drought, salinity, pH etc.
9. Biologically active soils has the better nutritional quality for the plant production.
From the above discussion the reliability of plants on soil organisms has been shown. Also factors
like crop rotation, chemical usage can also impact on the productivity of plants. Both plants and
the soil organisms get the benefits from soil making a sustainable soil environment.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the soil biological environment plays a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health,
supporting plant growth, and enabling nutrient cycling. Soil organisms, from microbes to larger
fauna, contribute to the breakdown of organic matter, the formation of soil structure, and the
control of pests and diseases. The interactions within the soil biological community enhance soil
fertility and stability, making it resilient to environmental stresses. Sustainable land management
practices, such as reduced tillage, crop rotation, and organic amendments, can help preserve and
promote the biological health of soils, which is essential for long-term agricultural productivity
and environmental conservation. Understanding and protecting the soil biological environment is
key to fostering a healthy and sustainable ecosystem.

References:
➢ The soil food web: Nature's way to build healthy soils. Piedmont Master Gardeners. (n.d.).
Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/the-soil-
food-web-natures-way-to-build-healthy-soils/
➢ Natural Resources Conservation Service. Soil Food Web | NRCS Soils. (n.d.). Retrieved
May5,2022,from
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/biology/?cid=
nrcs142p2_053868/
➢ Nakaya, R. (2021, January 27). Soil life in action: Bioturbation with and without soil fauna.
The Kid Should See This. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/bioturbation-with-and-without-soil-
fauna#:~:text=Bioturbation%20is%20the%20mixing%20of,water%20flow%20thr
ough%20the%20soil/
➢ Objective of soil biology https://soilcrc.com.au/fact-sheet/soil-biology-
2/#:~:text=Significance%20of%20soil%20biology%20in,contributing%20to%20sustaina
ble%20farming%20practices/
➢ Significance of soil biology https://cannacon.org/the-importance-of-soil-biology/
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➢ (FredlundandRahardjo1993)
➢ (SchultenandLeinweber2003)
➢ Federal Office or Agriculture and Food from https://www.genres.de/en/sector-specific-
portals/microorganisms/activities-of-soil-organisms]
➢ Role of Soil Bacteria (Hoorman, 2016)
➢ Soil biology by A.J. Franzluebbers USDA–Agricultural Research Service, Watkinsville,
GA, USA

Contribution:
Introduction – ER22022
Objectives of soil biology – ER22027
Significance of soil biology – ER22027
Components of soil biology – ER22008
Soil as a medium for plant growth – ER22053
Soil foodweb and it’s function – ER22053
Soil organisms and their activists in soil – ER22036
Soil organisms and plant productivity relationship – ER22036
Conclusion – ER22022
Composing – ER22008