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When you hear the words 'soil pH,' 'earthworms,' and 'protozoa,' what do you think of? You probably know what some or all of these three things are, but you may not think that they are connected in any way. Think again! Soil pH, earthworms, and protozoa are far more connected than you may think!

http://www.ltbenvironmentalproject.com/uploadedImages/6-_FAQs/pHscale.jpgSoil pH, the measurement of how acidic or basic soil is, is important to measure because of its impact on plants and animals around the soil. pH indicates how many nutrients are in the soil, and therefore dictates what kind of plants and microorganisms can survive there. pH is measured on a scale of 0 to 14, where anything that measures between 0 to 7 is acidic, and anything that falls between 7 to 14 is basic. A neutral pH, such as the pH of water, is at 7. For an example of the pH scale, look at the picture on the left!

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Earthworm.jpg/800px-Earthworm.jpgEarthworms can help regulate soil pH. They are very helpful to the environment because they eat all kinds of decomposing matter, keeping soil healthy and helping plants as well. In the process of eating soil, earthworms also digest microorganisms such as protozoa (pictured below). Protozoa are very resilient single-celled organisms and can survive in the most extreme conditions.    Protozoa are important to the environment because they give off nutrients for plants. 

 

http://www.scienceclarified.com/images/uesc_08_img0475.jpgIn our research experiment in the Environmental Science Summer Research Experiments for Young Women, we explored the relationship between the number of protozoa in the soil and the amount of earthworms there. We also measured the amount of pH in the soil to learn whether the soil was acidic or basic. Because protozoa is food for earthworms, we hypothesized that despite the extreme levels of pH that would normally hurt earthworms, the reason that there were high numbers of earthworms because of the high numbers of protozoa. Over the course of two weeks, our group researched and worked hard both outside and in the lab to test our theory.

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