Two South Dakota grade-schoolers ask, What is dirt? and in The Conversation, UNDs Brian Darby answers

Editors note:On March 25,The Conversation featured an article by Brian Darby, associate professor of Biology at UND. Since the day of its publication, the article has been read more than 3,600 times, including by readers in the United States, France, India and Germany, The Conversation reports.

Darbys story is a part of The Conversations Curious Kids feature. As UND Today readers know, The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good, asthe organizations websitestates. We publish trustworthy and informative articles written by academic experts for the general public and edited by our team of journalists.

Curious Kids publishes stories that answer questions submitted by real kids from around the world. The series explores topics across all areas of human knowledge, and the stories are written in a simple and engaging way, with the goal of appealing to children of all ages.

Darbys story answers the question, What is dirt? which was posed by Belle and Ryatt, ages 7 and 5, of Keystone, S.D.

UND faculty members and graduate students whod like to learn more about writing for The Conversation are invited to readIntroducing The Conversation, a story that appeared in UND Today in 2022, andMore than 340,000 readers worldwide, a 2023 story in which UND scholars whove written for The Conversation talk about their experiences.

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By Brian Darby

When you think about dirt, you might picture the rock dust that gets on your pants. But theres so much more going on in the ground under our feet.

When I began studying soil, I was amazed at how much of it is actually alive. Soil is teeming with life, and not just the earthworms that you see on rainy days.

Keeping this vibrant world healthy is crucial for food, forests and flowers to grow and for the animals that live in the ground to thrive. Heres a closer look at whats down there and how it all works together.

If you scoop up a handful of dry soil, the basic dirt that you feel in your hand is actually very small pieces of weathered rock. These tiny bits eroded from larger rocks over millions of years.

The balance of these particles is important for how well soil can hold water and nutrients that plants need to thrive.

For example, sandy soil has larger rock grains, so it will be loose and can easily wash away. It wont hold very much water. Soil with mostly clay is finer and more compact, making it difficult for plants to access its moisture. In between the two in size is silt, a mix of rock dust and minerals often found in fertile flood plains.

Some of the most productive soils have a good balance of sand, clay and silt. That combination, along with the remnants of plants and animals that have died, helps the soil to retain water, allows plants to access that water and minimizes erosion from wind or rain.

Among all those rock particles is a whole world of living things, each busy doing its job.

To get a sense of just how many creatures are there, picture this: The zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, boasts over 1,000 animal species. But if you scooped up a small spoonful of soil in your backyard, it would likely contain at least 10,000 species and around a billion living microscopic cells.

Most of those species are still largely a mystery. Scientists dont know much about them or what they do in soil. In fact, most species in soil dont even have a formal scientific name. But each plays some kind of role in the vast soil ecosystem, including generating the nutrients that plants need to grow.

Imagine a leaf falling from a tree in late autumn.

Inside that leaf are a lot of nutrients that plants need, such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. There is also a lot of carbon in that leaf, which holds energy that can be used by other organisms such as bacteria and fungi.

The leaf itself is too large for a plant to take up through its roots, of course. But that leaf can be broken down into smaller and smaller pieces. This process of breaking down plant and animal tissue is known as decomposition.

When the leaf first falls to the ground, arthropods such as insects, mites and collembolans break the leaf down into smaller chunks by shredding the tissue. Then, an earthworm might come along and eat one of the smaller chunks and break it down even more in its digestive tract.

Now the broken-up leaf is small enough for microbes to come in. Bacteria and fungi secrete enzymes into the soil that further break down organic material into even smaller pieces. If enough microbes are active, eventually this organic material will be broken down enough that it can dissolve in water and be taken up by plants that need it.

To aid in this process, there are many small animals, such as nematodes and amoebae, that consume bacteria and fungi. There are also predatory nematodes that feed on other nematodes to make sure they dont become too abundant, so everything remains in balance as much as possible.

Its quite a complicated food web of interacting species in a delicate balance.

While some fungi and bacteria can harm plants, there are many species that are considered beneficial. In fact, they may be the key to figuring out how to grow enough crops to feed everyone without degrading and overburdening the soil.

Scientists have named over 20,000 different types of unique soils. If youre curious about the soil and dirt in your area, the University of California, Davis has a website where you can learn more about local soils and their chemical and physical attributes.

Caring for soil to promote its living creatures benefits and minimize their harm takes work, but its essential for keeping the land healthy and growing food for the future.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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UND biologist explains composition of dirt to kids - UND Today - UND Blogs and E-Newsletters