Soil biodiversity comprised the organisms that spend all or a portion of their life cycles within the soil or on its immediate surface. Soil Fauna are those organisms that inhabit the soil (include arthropods, nematodes, molluscs, protozoa, rotifera, etc...). Of the total diversity of living organisms that has been described to date, 23% is soil animals. They are the dominant animal group in many terrestrial ecosystems and may have higher biomass on an area basis. According to their body size, soil fauna categorized into microfauna, mesofauna and macrofauna. In both natural and agricultural systems, soil organisms perform vital functions in the soil. Soil fauna are responsible for many ecosystem services like soil formation, nutrient cycling, soil restoration and food webs. These functions range from physical effects to chemical and biological processes. They burrowing and feeding activities result in improved aeration and water infiltration, incorporation of organic matter into the soil, and stabilization of soil aggregates, leading to their designation as ecosystem engineers. They are also play a role in significant indicators of soil health. Human activities leads to loss of soil structure and function through reduction of soil fauna diversity, habitat fragmentation, nutrient cycling and organic matter destruction. A combination of those factors can lead to ecosystem destruction. Soil fauna communities are highly sensitive to environmental variation and destabilization. Moreover, soil fauna are a useful bio-indicators for human disturbance on ecosystem.
| Published in | American Journal of Life Sciences (Volume 7, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14 |
| Page(s) | 17-26 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Bio-indicator, Ecosystem Engineers, Ecosystem Services, Soil Fauna
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APA Style
Sefi Mekonen Ertiban. (2019). Soil Fauna as Webmasters, Engineers and Bioindicators in Ecosystems: Implications for Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture. American Journal of Life Sciences, 7(1), 17-26. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14
ACS Style
Sefi Mekonen Ertiban. Soil Fauna as Webmasters, Engineers and Bioindicators in Ecosystems: Implications for Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture. Am. J. Life Sci. 2019, 7(1), 17-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14
AMA Style
Sefi Mekonen Ertiban. Soil Fauna as Webmasters, Engineers and Bioindicators in Ecosystems: Implications for Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture. Am J Life Sci. 2019;7(1):17-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14,
author = {Sefi Mekonen Ertiban},
title = {Soil Fauna as Webmasters, Engineers and Bioindicators in Ecosystems: Implications for Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture},
journal = {American Journal of Life Sciences},
volume = {7},
number = {1},
pages = {17-26},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20190701.14},
abstract = {Soil biodiversity comprised the organisms that spend all or a portion of their life cycles within the soil or on its immediate surface. Soil Fauna are those organisms that inhabit the soil (include arthropods, nematodes, molluscs, protozoa, rotifera, etc...). Of the total diversity of living organisms that has been described to date, 23% is soil animals. They are the dominant animal group in many terrestrial ecosystems and may have higher biomass on an area basis. According to their body size, soil fauna categorized into microfauna, mesofauna and macrofauna. In both natural and agricultural systems, soil organisms perform vital functions in the soil. Soil fauna are responsible for many ecosystem services like soil formation, nutrient cycling, soil restoration and food webs. These functions range from physical effects to chemical and biological processes. They burrowing and feeding activities result in improved aeration and water infiltration, incorporation of organic matter into the soil, and stabilization of soil aggregates, leading to their designation as ecosystem engineers. They are also play a role in significant indicators of soil health. Human activities leads to loss of soil structure and function through reduction of soil fauna diversity, habitat fragmentation, nutrient cycling and organic matter destruction. A combination of those factors can lead to ecosystem destruction. Soil fauna communities are highly sensitive to environmental variation and destabilization. Moreover, soil fauna are a useful bio-indicators for human disturbance on ecosystem.},
year = {2019}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Soil Fauna as Webmasters, Engineers and Bioindicators in Ecosystems: Implications for Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture AU - Sefi Mekonen Ertiban Y1 - 2019/04/09 PY - 2019 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14 DO - 10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14 T2 - American Journal of Life Sciences JF - American Journal of Life Sciences JO - American Journal of Life Sciences SP - 17 EP - 26 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-5737 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20190701.14 AB - Soil biodiversity comprised the organisms that spend all or a portion of their life cycles within the soil or on its immediate surface. Soil Fauna are those organisms that inhabit the soil (include arthropods, nematodes, molluscs, protozoa, rotifera, etc...). Of the total diversity of living organisms that has been described to date, 23% is soil animals. They are the dominant animal group in many terrestrial ecosystems and may have higher biomass on an area basis. According to their body size, soil fauna categorized into microfauna, mesofauna and macrofauna. In both natural and agricultural systems, soil organisms perform vital functions in the soil. Soil fauna are responsible for many ecosystem services like soil formation, nutrient cycling, soil restoration and food webs. These functions range from physical effects to chemical and biological processes. They burrowing and feeding activities result in improved aeration and water infiltration, incorporation of organic matter into the soil, and stabilization of soil aggregates, leading to their designation as ecosystem engineers. They are also play a role in significant indicators of soil health. Human activities leads to loss of soil structure and function through reduction of soil fauna diversity, habitat fragmentation, nutrient cycling and organic matter destruction. A combination of those factors can lead to ecosystem destruction. Soil fauna communities are highly sensitive to environmental variation and destabilization. Moreover, soil fauna are a useful bio-indicators for human disturbance on ecosystem. VL - 7 IS - 1 ER -
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