Soils

Scotlands Living Landscapes

• A hidden resource
• Soil can look after itself – can’t it?
• But what is soil?
• Why is soil so important?
• Soil through history
• A home for millions
• Where does soil come from?
• Soils and the Scottish landscape
• The soil landscapes of Scotland
• Not just ‘dirt’

A home for millions

Soils are also home to an amazingly large number of different organisms. In fact, scientists believe that there are probably more individual species living below ground than above the surface. We have as yet only identified a fraction of them, though. Soils contain so much life that they are to Scotland what the rainforests are to the tropics. Worms, beetles, caterpillars, ants and larger animals like moles are all obvious soil creatures. However, just one teaspoon of soil will also contain up to several million protozoa (probably the simplest form of animal life), bacteria, algae and nematodes (microscopic worm-like animals). Many of these species are vital to the proper functioning of soils. Unfortunately we know nowhere near enough about them to describe the roles of more than just a few.