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Protozoa. Like Jeff likes the nematode trapping fungi, I like protozoa.

These were the first guys I saw when I looked in a microscope at soil and you never forget your first, right?

To me, this is where we really impact the garden or lawn in the fashion we think of as fertilizing; the protista are our first line of nitrogen release from that mast food source of soil, bacteria. The importance of this in organic gardening cannot be overstated. Protozoa are where the majority of plant soluble nitrogen comes from in the natural system.

I heart protozoa!

HG

I was surprised to learn that protozoa actually team up with bacteria in some instances. We always hear about them eating them, but this chapter shows how multi-dimensional the relationships between the microbes in the soil food web really are.

It was interesting how the bacterial population was capable of bouncing back harder, the more it was reduced by predation.