Back to the Beginning. When plants and animals die, they become food for decomposers like bacteria, fungi and earthworms. Decomposers or saprotrophs recycle dead plants and animals into chemical nutrients like carbon and nitrogen that are released back into the soil, air and water.

The partial decay of plant material and animal remains produces the organic material and nutrients in soil. Humus increases the soil’s porosity and water-holding capacity and helps to buffer rapid changes in soil acidity. Humus also helps the soil to hold its nutrients, increasing its fertility.

s crust is covered in soil. This loose, soft material is a mixture of organic matter and particles of rock, made by weathering and erosion. The organic matter is made up of dead and living plants, animals, and other organisms. Many of the living organisms are DECOMPOSERS that live on the dead plants and animals.

Explanation: Tardigrades are little creatures also known as water bears or moss piglets.

Humus is dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays.

Humus

Whan a plant, animal, or insect dies, that plant, animal, or insect is broken into tiny pieces and those pieces become part of the soil. This is called decomposition. Bacteria, fungi, and some worms are what break down dead plants, animals, and insects. The bacteria, fungi, and worms are called decomposers.

Fungi and bacteria. Decomposers in the forest come in many different shapes … Figure 1. They help in the process of recycling of nutrients by decomposing various dead organisms such as plants and animals to form humus.

Saprophytes

Plants, like all living organisms, have basic needs: a source of nutrition (food), water, space in which to live, air, and optimal temperatures in order to grow and reproduce. For most plants, these needs are summarized as light, air, water, and nutrients (known by the acronym LAWN).

Healthy soil stores nutrients that feed the soil’s microorganisms. Dead plants and animals add carbon to the soil, and that soil carbon becomes food for living plants and animals.

Soil animals have an important role in the formation of soil structure. Soil animals improve soil structure by forming channels and pores, concentrating fine soil particles together into aggregates and by fragmenting and mixing organic matter through soil.

ANIMALS Animals, such as rabbits and moles, dig holes and help mix up the soil. Their tunnels let air reach plant roots, let water drain through soil, and provide spaces where plant roots can grow. SMALL CREATURES Small animals stir up the soil and make holes where air and water can enter the soil.

Living organisms present in soil include archaea, bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae, protozoa, and a wide variety of larger soil fauna including springtails, mites, nematodes, earthworms, ants, and insects that spend all or part of their life underground, even larger organisms such as burrowing rodents.