As you walk around in your local park or in your backyard, the first thing you see is probably not the soil and dead leaves around you. Your attention may be caught by the sound of cars racing down the road or a flock of birds singing nearby, but unseen is a microscopic metropolis unnoticed and unseen.
Inside the soil lives a mostly forgotten but very important step in the life cycle.. Every day as biological waste and food waste is dropped from the heavens, a wonderful process occurs right underneath our noses. These tiny friends are microfauna, literally meaning small animals. Some members of this crucial team include Isopods like rolly pollies and woodlice consume dead leaves and rotting bark and wood. Our considerably more legged friends, the millipedes also help out consuming biological waste from plants and animals. This extraordinary clean up crew keeps our soils and helps our ecosystems thrive and function by breaking down everything so the life cycle can restart and stay a cycle.
Every part of nature is in a beautiful balance with each other. While we tend to only focus on the bigger world around us with rhinos and elephants, it’s important to still respect even the smallest creatures living in your backyard. After all, without them, this world would never be possible.
Daniel (June 2022)