Thanks Tim for bringing in a holistic view of things in soil. It is very important indeed to ask are all players present and are they performing their act. It is this summation that makes the soil ecosystem tick.
There are also two perspectives historically 1.the farmer who observes the soil tilth /structure, earthworms, crop growth pattern and soils ability to deal with water at both extremes of availability (as indicators and difficult to quantify) and 2.the scientist /promoter who ascribes a lot of good to a specific limb of the ecosystem chain. Let us not forget the reasons for overdoing the earthworm bit - brought about by the 1980's /90's politics and turmoil within agri-businesses. To this extent worms bore the flag of the opposite camp but they are not the only functionaries - we need a whole lot of organisms in the food chain. As obervers it is important to ask and determine if in a particular location if any of these players are not doing their bit and why. best wishes chanakya -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ Digestion mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org for more information about digestion, see Beginner's Guide to Biogas http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/ and the Biogas Wiki http://biogas.wikispaces.com/
