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| This photo of fungus decomposing grass illustrates how nutrients are liberated and moved. |
"Fungi are the primary decay agents in the soil food web. The enzymes they release allow fungi to penetrate not only the lignin and cellulose in plants (dead or alive) but also the hard, chitin
shells of insects, the bones of animals, and— as many gardeners have learned— even the protein of strong toenails and fingernails. Bacteria can hold their own, but they require simpler-to-digest foods, often the by-products of fungal decay, and often only after such food has been broken or opened up by fungi and others. Compared to fungi, bacteria are in the Minor Leagues of decaying ability."
Lewis, Wayne; Lewis, Wayne; Lowenfels, Jeff; Lowenfels, Jeff (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Locations 888-891). Timber Press. Kindle Edition.
I now have Teaming with Microbes on Kindle. Previously I bought the print edition and just found out I could get the Kindle version for $3. Amazon never forgets. Now I have both Kindle versions on my computer with the big screen. Teaming with Nutrients is second book in the series. I never caught on to the little Kindle book reader, so this method is ideal for reading and writing, since I can mark and copy book quotations and use them for blogging. One student already warned me against buying too many Kindle books.
My goal in this endless string of gardening posts is to show how easy this hobby can be with the application of Creation principles. The closer we look at the microscopic world, the more we understand the complex dependencies that could not exist without design.
Immobilize
Two ideas are easy to grasp but complicated in their execution. The first involves immobilizing plant nutrients. The chemical gardener puts amendments on the soil, assuming that the NPK will pass through but leave some beneficial results. Liebig, in Germany--who discovered the use of inorganic nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium--found this inorganic method did not work very well on his own garden and later argued for manure.
The Creation gardener adds organic matter and accomplishes an important step in keeping nutrition where plants can use it. The application of mulch, newsprint, compost, manure, and plant remains will build up the bacteria, fungi, and soil creatures. The ocean of life in the soil captures the basic elements and keeps them around by eating and being eaten.
If the total soil population doubles, then the available NPK also goes up, along with the other basic elements in soil chemistry.
Mineralize
Feeding the plant roots involves breaking the elements down so the roots can swap carbon for those minerals. The decomposers (fungi, bacteria, protozoa) break the chemical bonds and free the elements for soil use.
Earthworms are shredders that help pull apart leaves and grass for the decomposers to attack at another level. Waste matter is the byproduct that becomes plant-food while the creatures serve as food for others, which also generate useful waste - especially nitrogen compounds.
Complex Dependencies
I often see Internet posts mocking Creation. I wonder how these people account for protozoa and bacteria balancing their populations, pathogens being destroyed in the soil by mold and bacteria (penicillin and streptomycin), lengthy fungus hyphae attacking soil surface litter to feed the roots below.
Mutualists – the mycorrhizal fungi – colonize plant roots. In exchange for carbon from the plant, mycorrhizal fungi help solubolize phosphorus and bring soil nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen, micronutrients, and perhaps water) to the plant.
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/soil/SoilBiology/fungi.htm
One can isolate three-way dependencies, but they are far more involved than that. Each individual component relies on all the others for life, and each component gives life to others. Ants farm fungus, and they drag dead earthworms away to be eaten and recycled. Earthworms graze on bacteria, moving them and concentrating them while multiplying the values of the soil they circulate through their bodies. Darwin suggested that all soil has passed through the bodies of earthworms at one time - a singular accomplishment by itself.
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| Poisonous fly agaric fungus |
No one should be surprised that false teachers specialize in isolating one part of God's Word to make a case for their peculiar dogma. They refuse to see the whole and angrily impose their partial view on everyone, ignoring the vast number of contradictions that defeat their notions.
Many are allergic to reading Luther because he always treated the Bible as a unit. When people denied infant faith because they lacked the reasoning powers of adults, he countered, "You have reason but you still have no faith."
