Soil Life, Microbes, and the Rhizosphere

Soil is the thin layer at Earth’s surface that supports life. It contains both abiotic factors, which are nonliving parts, and biotic factors, which are living or once-living parts. The abiotic portion includes inorganic particles of different sizes and shapes that help determine soil texture.

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The relationships between the various organisms and inorganic components in soil are vital to understanding soil changes and environmental stresses, but cannot be elucidated without direct visualization.

Soil, an extremely complex system, is a habitat for millions of diverse organisms. The region of soil directly around plant roots in part...