The Soil and the Microbe An Introduction to the Study of the Microscopic Population of the Soil and Its Rle in Soil Processes and Plant Growth Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Soil and the Microbe: An Introduction to the Study of the Microscopic Population of the Soil and Its Rôle in Soil Processes and Plant Growth

The microorganisms, through their various activities, thus enable organic life to continue uninterruptedly on our planet. They keep in constant circulation the elements which are most essential for plant and animal life. They break down the complex organic molecules, built up by plants and animals, into the simple mineralized constituents, making the elements again available for the growth of cultivated and uncultivated plants which in their turn supply further food for animals.

Just as man and other animals, as well as higher plants, find their habitat on the surface of the soil or immediately below it, so do the microbes live largely within the upper few inches of the earth's crust, where they carry out their important activities, supplying a continuous stream of nutrients in an available form for the growth of higher plants. This surface pellicle of the earth is thus found to be the seat of numerous processes of incalculable importance in the life of man, animals, and plants, enabling them to carry out their normal existence on our planet. Just as man and animals are determined in their development by the supply of plant food, so is the growth of plants determined by the activities of microorganisms in the soil. The microbes were probably among the first living organisms which appeared on our planet millions of years ago. Although their presence in ancient rocks is largely speculative, it is reasonable to assume, from an appreciation of their specific physiological processes, that they may have lived normally on the earth long before it was a fit habitat for higher plants and animals.

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