This is a long dense article, I would hesitate to post such an article without an accompanying post about it in a science communication context but this is an article about the basic nutrient cycles in soil and the introduction is actually a wonderful thorough description of what the important players are in soil nutrient dynamics in a wholistic inclusive way.
Fig. 1 | Five key concepts to integrate soil fauna into multitrophic bio- geochemistry. This figure illustrates pathways by which soil fauna can influence soil carbon C cycling and contribute to particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral- associated organic matter (MAOM) pools: (1)
The abiotic constraints for soil fauna and SOM formation pathways are represented in the ‘Climate’ and ‘Soil type’ panes; (2) the importance to consider quality and quantity of C inputs is showed in the ‘Litter quality’ and ‘Ecosystem size hypothesis’ panes, as well as in the different soil compartments associated with contrasting plant inputs (the rhizosphere primarily associated with root exudates, the detritusphere with litter fragments, and the bulk soil with sporadic inputs from litter leachates (orange drops) and bioturbation; (3) the role of soil fauna feeding preferences and how C flows through the soil food web and into SOM pools is illustrated in different soil compartments, of which (4) soil fauna increases the connectivity; and (5) soil fauna pools beyond living biomass are presented in the ‘Carcasses’ and ‘Consumption and excretion’ panes.
The latter also links to important feeding traits: a detritivore such as an isopod ingests a great amount of litter, most of which is excreted as feces, because of lower food quality and assimilation rates, while a predator such as a centipede comparatively ingests much smaller amounts of prey, as a result of higher food quality and assimilation rates. Purple arrows indicate C flows through living organisms and black arrows after-life transfers of C and nutrients into SOM pools. The figure was entirely designed by CPiG (Carolina Levicek), including all individual elements.
Fig. 2 | Conceptualization of the role of different soil fauna trophic groups under contrasting plant inputs. The quality and availability of plant inputs can be seen as a continuum from the rhizosphere to the detritusphere associated with contrasting soil faunal and microbial communities. The three-way interaction between plant carbon inputs, soil microbes, and soil fauna determine the dominant mechanisms for soil organic matter (SOM) formation and the dominant SOM pools (particulate organic matter, POM, and mineral-associated organic matter, MAOM), given that abiotic conditions are kept constant.