Soil Food Web and Bottom-Up Effects
The Soil Food Web is a conceptual term for the entire community of organisms that live and interact with soil. It includes bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, the birds that feed on them, and everything in between. Bottom-up effects occur when changes to populations lower in the food chain affect those above, such as when an increase in bacteria results in greater levels of nematodes, which in turn results in more mites, and so on up.
Therefore, a soil’s ability to produce healthy, abundant fruits or vegetables is only as great as it's abundance of microbial activity. Heavy use of chemicals and chemical fertilizers depletes the natural population of these vital microbes. While “Mother Nature” is the source of all life, she also plays a role in depleting microbial communities in soils through droughts, floods and extreme heat and starvation.
Today we benefit from the best of both Science and Nature. Through scientific analysis of data derived from Soil, Water and Plant Tissue Sampling we identify deficiencies, inconsistencies, over-abundances and lock-ups. By blending our knowledge of Soil Chemistry and Natural Elements with the right combination of microbes, we begin guiding “Mother Nature” back into balance. Achieving maximum potential requires returning “wild” microbes to chemically balanced soil rich with natural food sources; a necessary step to restoring the balance of microbes, minerals and overall vitality in your soil.