A TEEMING WORLD

 

The soil beneath our feet—whether in the great outdoors or hidden beneath tiles and asphalt—is an incredible wonder. It teems with life. This soil not only supports plants but is also, and above all, the nourishing foundation for all the seedlings, plants, shrubs, and trees we encounter everywhere.



COUNTLESS NUMBERS

When it comes to the soil, most of us know that, in addition to plant roots, there are all kinds of tiny creatures present, such as ants, termites, earthworms, and the like. These are the easily visible creatures. However, they represent a very small minority compared to the much smaller creatures—in hundreds of species and in countless numbers—that live there and “do their work.” They often cluster around the roots, but even without those roots, the soil teems with a countless “population.” Here I can only mention a few examples to give an impression. I will provide pictures of them later. A good microscope will show you springtails, beetle-like mites, ribbon-shaped earthworms, tardigrades, and if you let your microscope look even deeper, you’ll see an “infinite number” of sometimes hard-to-classify amoebas, protozoa, algae, bacteria, and viruses—all single-celled or multicellular, minuscule but truly alive.

A tablespoon of healthy, humus-rich soil contains a population many times the number of people on our planet—so many times eight billion! A gram of fertile soil can contain billions of microbes and viruses, millions of protozoa and algae, hundreds of microscopic ribbon-shaped worms, dozens of mites and springtails—and a thousand meters of fungal hyphae!

ONE LIVING BEING

Just as everywhere there is life, the soil has also defied human attempts to describe it precisely: living matter is ultimately so rich, so complex, and so innumerable that the soil can best be described as a single living being. A living being that is, in turn, part of the living whole of our Earth, GAIA. I discussed that enormous living whole in my previous contribution on this weblog CREATIVE GAIA.

ORIGINS

Looking back at Earth’s history, we can see that several billion years ago, rocks, mountains, and valleys were formed by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, colliding “floating” continental plates, and other geological processes. These rocks underwent and continue to undergo constant weathering due to the influence of water, wind, varying temperatures (contraction and expansion), carbon dioxide, and other substances in the air, but also due to all kinds of “small” life that developed on them. Consider, for example, lichens (fig.), which feed on their substrate and thus produce new biological material from anorganical. The same applies to grasses and larger plants, which not only penetrate the inorganic material but also interact with it. It is precisely this interaction between organic and inorganic material that has created a layer of fertile soil. This has been a transformation process lasting millions of years, during which a fertile topsoil layer of 20 to 30 centimeters has formed, which is considered the active root zone. Of course, some roots go deeper, such as those of trees with taproots, but the majority of biological activity still takes place primarily in that topsoil layer.

It was especially in that top layer that a wide variety of “primitive plants” emerged, partly because the rocks had different chemical compositions; some plants were better suited to stronger sunlight, more moisture, stronger winds, and so on. In this way, many types of living soil emerged in which all components work together. It is remarkable how self-regulating systems arose everywhere and continue to arise, systems that also constantly adapt to changing conditions and thus continue to thrive.

TWO LAYERS

In fact, the plants that grow visibly above that soil, together with the soil itself, also form a cooperative “system.” Above and below, two “layers” that help each other in ingenious ways.

Soil is therefore not merely what “supports” or provides stability for everything above it, or what serves solely as a temporary storage shed for nutrients. The plants “above” also nourish the soil in their own way. Of particular importance here is photosynthesis in the green leaves, which absorb the energy of sunlight and the carbon dioxide gas present and, through an ingenious process, convert them into various sugars while releasing oxygen into the environment.
These sugars travel via the downward sap flow to the bacteria and the many other organisms in the soil, serving as nourishment for their growth and functioning.
Conversely, the organisms in the soil synthesize the specific nutrients required by these very plants and deliver them via the roots to the plant, which transports them to the right places through the upward flow of water. 
It is, therefore, a collaboration in which the lives of both the plants and the soil depend on one another. It is a highly active and targeted collaboration. 

IMPRESSIVE SYNERGY

The roots of the plants penetrate the earth, loosening it, creating new spaces for microbes and fungi, forming channels for air and water, and building extensive root systems right beneath our feet. In those spaces, earthworms, snails, arthropods, tardigrades, and their various counterparts consume large volumes of soil and excrete sustainable, nutrient-rich products. In addition, over time, microbes and fungi have developed the ability to break down difficult material. For example, certain microbes can break down the tough cellulose in plant cell walls into valuable organic material, and special fungi can handle the even more stubborn lignin, the substance that (in the bark) gives plants and trees much of their strength.

Other large and (very) small animals, working in specialized groups, break down decaying material, releasing certain chemicals for transport “upward” (e.g., for the color of apples). 

Fungi (fig.) produce kilometer-long threads (tubes) with which they also connect to other plants, provide nourishment, help with disease, and even send signals in case of imminent danger. It’s all almost unimaginable!

HUMUS

You find this wonderful collaboration primarily in what we call humus. It is the most important organic component of fertile soil. It is a dark, mysterious, somewhat oily, and very rich substance, the exact composition of which is still not fully understood. You’ll find stubborn bits of partially decomposed plant cells in it; it contains a wealth of proteins, fats, and sugars. Much of this is bound to mineral particles, which is how the loose, granular structure forms.

Humus is unique to every ecosystem—that is, to every more or less cohesive natural area: a forest, a meadow, a vegetated slope, a pond, a marsh, a stream bank, and so on.
It will come as no surprise that many biologists consider this fertile soil to be the most complex biological material on Earth.

DAMAGE

It is therefore clear just how much damage is caused by human activities / interventions like deforestation, intensive/deep plowing, extensive use of chemicals, and other forms of over-exploitation or abuse of nature and its forces. Unfortunately, we cannot go into that here.
However, to conclude, I can show you a few pictures of some of those active underground inhabitants, who are so important for plant growth, for the climate, and ultimately for our lives.

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BEETLE MITES

These are small (0.2–1.4 mm), armored soil mites that play a crucial role in the ecosystem. They feed primarily on fungi, mosses, and decaying organic matter, making them essential for soil fertility and the decomposition of leaves. They are harmless to plants and humans. 




COLLEMBOLAN or SPRINGTAILS

Springtails are characterized by mouthparts located in the head (a protruding tube) and usually a forked tail that allows them to jump away when in danger. Most species are less than 6 mm long, many only a few millimeters. They typically live in the upper layers of the soil (litter layer) and feed on decaying organic matter and fungi. 

They can occur there in enormous numbers.







TARDIGRADES

These are called water bears or sometimes moss bears in English. They are microscopic, invertebrate creatures (0.1 to 1.5 mm) with eight legs, known for their extreme resistance to dehydration, radiation, cold, and vacuum. They live in moist moss and lichen environments and are true gluttons, consuming large amounts of soil, and their excretions are particularly fertile.



NEMATODES or SOIL WORMS

You encounter these creatures “everywhere”: in freshwater surface waters, at great depths in seawater, in mountains and deserts, in moist soil (which is what we’re discussing here), in numbers and varieties that far exceed those of many other animals. They also occur at great depths within rock, such as 4 km deep in a gold mine in South Africa. The highest numbers however have been observed in tundras and in our northern forests.

CYANOBACTERIA or BLUE-GREEN ALGAE

These are bacteria that derive their energy from photosynthesis. Their blue-green color gave them their name, but they are true bacteria. They are found in a wide variety of environments. They are among the oldest and most widespread organisms on Earth and appeared as early as the Archean, which is the very first phase of the (newly formed) Earth, about 4 billion years ago. 
They were the first organisms to develop the ability to photosynthesis, canturing energy from sunlight and using it to convert water and carbon dioxide into organic compounds. This process releases oxygen as a byproduct. Through this process, cyanobacteria have played a crucial role over billions of years in enriching the Earth’s atmosphere with oxygen, which ultimately led to the evolution of oxygen-loving life forms, such as those we now know across the entire planet.

EARTHWORMS

These deserve to be the “bring-up-the-rear” group, as their importance can hardly be overstated. A great biologist like Charles Darwin (the man behind the theory of natural evolution) dedicated his last major book to them!

The natural behavior of these animals can significantly improve the quality of your plants. These creatures dig small tunnels underground, allowing water to spread more easily through the soil. This makes it easier for plants to absorb water and grow even better. The tunnels also ensure that more oxygen enters the soil, leading to stronger roots. Moreover, the soil stays fresh because earthworms eat everything. They are true scavengers that break down plant material, as well as leaves, plant debris, and other dead matter—and they then excrete all of this “processed” material, ensuring that, thanks to their hard work and large numbers, there are always fresh nutrients in the soil and the soil also retains its aeration.

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Yes, a teeming world, perhaps even more densely populated than the world we humans inhabit, and where their fertile and intelligent cooperation might even serve as an example to us humans!


Johan Muijtjens
late March 2026

OUR EARTH: ONE LIVING WHOLE

 THE BATTLE STILL CONTINUES

The battle, namely, whether our Earth is largely 'dead' and can be used at will—or whether it is essentially one large living entity, to be treated with respect and care. Is the Earth a huge, lifeless sphere of iron, nickel, carbon, tin, silicon, etc., with a very thin layer of living matter, with a few interconnected, large holes of water, and covered by a slightly thicker layer of gas: nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and more—or is it more? Why?

We all know by now that this isn't a theoretical question. The concerns of many about the abuse of our Earth revolve primarily around this: simply a utility object or a kind of "partner" for us humans? Also living? Also having rights? Completely interconnected?

Over fifty years ago (in 1972), the Club of Rome published its major report, "THE LIMITS TO GROWTH." That report didn't even address life and rights, etc., but simply described how we humans are using the Earth far more than it can "keep up." Our increasing exploitation, with all its side effects, is overextending its potential and, even worse, undermining the Earth's (restoration) potential.

Interestingly, even before that report appeared, a hypothesis was put forward from a completely different perspective, namely (micro)biology, that would significantly influence our view of the Earth. Initially, it was heavily criticized, but after a few decades, it was and is increasingly recognized as correct and even highly valuable: the so-called GAIA theory.

THE GAIA THEORY

The GAIA theory is a scientific theory that posits that the Earth and all its biological, geological, atmospheric, and chemical components work together as a single, self-regulating system. This idea was introduced in the 1970s by the British scientist James Lovelock, with contributions from the American microbiologist Lynn Margulis.

James Lovelock states: "The Earth could be alive, not like a sensitive goddess pursuing a purpose and possessing a vision, but alive like a tree, existing in silence, never moving or shifting, yet flowing with the wind, endlessly communicating with sunlight and the soil. It needs sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow and change. Yet all this happens so unnoticed that the old oak tree in the meadow is the same to me as it was when I played under it as a child."

There has been considerable understandable criticism of this theory (initially still as a hypothesis), but especially in the 21st century, the GAIA theory has been further developed and has gained even greater appreciation in light of climate change and environmental issues, all of which point to—and can only truly be understood by—assuming a total interaction, in which everything (and therefore at all levels) is interconnected and interacts with everything else.

    [A side note: the choice of the name 'GAIA' was perhaps somewhat unfortunate, as it is the name of the Roman goddess of the earth, leading one to think that the earth is 'feminine' or has divine qualities. Simply calling it EARTH is actually quite beautiful.]

Many insights have grown in recent decades, particularly through the emerging sciences, such as Earth system science, biogeochemistry, and systems ecology. Most scientists don't view the theory as a literal description of a "living" Earth, but rather as a useful framework for increasingly understanding the interactions between living organisms and their environment—leaving metaphysical and spiritual considerations aside. It revolves around fundamental questions, such as:
* What is (biological) life, and what constitutes a living being?
* How did that life arise during the evolution of our Earth?
* Is our Earth truly a single, coherent whole?
* And if so: Is there mutual influence between the living and the non-living?

First of all: What are LIVING BEINGS?

Living beings can be described as organized genetic units that possess metabolism, reproduction, growth, and evolution, forming a self-functioning entity while simultaneously interacting continuously with their environment. In other words, and more simply: a self-contained system that maintains itself, grows, and develops, and does so in interaction with both its "living" and "dead" environment. This description can be applied at all levels, from the smallest single-celled creatures to the most impressive plants and animals, including humans, our human body with all its diverse functions. But you can go way down to microbes, which you also find, in abundance, inside rocks and which also fit the description, even though things sometimes "work" very differently than in ours.

EVOLUTION of life and CO-EVOLUTION

The evolution of life itself from inorganic matter has remained a great mystery until now. This utterly fascinating question has inspired an incredible amount of research and has yielded various theories, but remains a mystery, even though this "leap" has been reduced to very small steps.
But how, for example, a highly complex DNA molecule came into being remains a mystery.
The Gaia hypothesis, based on the existence of life, now suggests that organisms co-evolve with their environment. That is, living organisms influence the non-living (a-biotic) environment, and that environment, in turn, influences living organisms. They don't just co-exist, so to speak, but are interactive, constantly influencing each other, thus working together. We can imagine this to some extent.

But it becomes more complex when you consider the course of Earth's geological and biological history. At this point, Lovelock demonstrated how, over millions of years, bacteria, which developed in a very warm and acidic environment, "lived" on sulfur compounds and produced the gas methane, gradually evolved into other microorganisms that thrived in more temperate conditions and, with the help of carbon dioxide, now produced oxygen (instead of methane). This ultimately resulted in a completely different atmosphere on Earth (with much more oxygen) in which more complex life became possible and which ultimately thrived to such an extent that plant and animal life could develop in the incredible richness we know today.

EVERYTHING AS ONE WHOLE ?

That is a third important element in the hypothesis/theory: not only that it concerns living beings, here and there, or that these develop together with their inorganic environment, but that this applies to our planet as a whole. The entire planet in all its diversity. Could you truly call our Earth a single living being? Is all organic and inorganic matter truly interconnected in some way, and does it all contribute to life in all its dimensions?

Of course, we can't verify this piece by piece on our planet. But we can establish that processes are occurring literally globally (i.e., across the globe), all of which, miraculously, contribute to optimal conditions for (higher forms of) life—of which we humans are perhaps the highest development to date.

GLOBAL PROCESSES

This can be viewed and determined in many different ways.
Here, we choose a few phenomena that all point in the same direction of coherence and interplay, all aimed at creating optimal conditions for life.

Perhaps the first and most striking aspect is what meteorology reveals: how the weather system truly encompasses the entire Earth and therefore influences everything. Within and beneath this system, many more processes take place. We will describe a few of these processes, primarily to clarify and confirm the overall picture, not to exhaustively demonstrate or prove everything. We will look at climate regulation and temperature stabilization, the importance of liquid water, the composition of the atmosphere, and the salinity of the seas. These are some of the crucial factors that create the optimal conditions for biological life—and which, conversely, are partly brought about by biological life. This reciprocity is precisely what is intriguing about the Gaia theory!

METEOROLOGY

Meteorologically, the Earth is one large, interconnected mechanism, in which the atmosphere, (large) bodies of water, and (large) land masses constantly interact in various ways (through temperature, humidity, matter, movement). The photo of the Earth, taken during a lunar flyby, clearly shows how winds, hurricanes, (ocean) currents, winds, and weather patterns interact around our globe.
Incidentally: Meteorologically, everything still seems to be related to ordinary matter: it's about air, water, sand, rock, heat, and cold. But what about the interplay with living beings? For that, we need to look a little deeper, both literally and figuratively.

CORE IDEAS

The core of the GAIA theory is, as already mentioned, that the Earth functions as a single living organism that maintains its own equilibrium. This means that biological processes and non-living elements (such as oceans, the atmosphere, and rocks) work together to create a stable environment that supports life and contributes to the habitability and viability of Earth. Here are five factors:

1. Climate regulation: Microorganisms, the absorption capacity of the oceans, and the absorption by plants influence CO2 levels in the atmosphere, which in turn has a major impact on climate.

2. Temperature stabilization: Reflection of sunlight by clouds and large ice masses contributes significantly to stable temperatures. This so-called albedo effect is currently a major concern because it is gradually decreasing due to the melting of large ice masses.

3. The preservation of liquid water in the hydrosphere (everything related to water). Liquid water in particular is probably the most important element of and for life, at all levels, from the simplest cells to the most highly developed organisms.

4. Stable salt content (salinity) of seawater, which makes and maintains the life of marine animals possible.

5. Oxygen balance: The oxygen level in the atmosphere remains within a range suitable for (animal) life, thanks to photosynthesis by plants, which absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

We will elaborate a bit on these five wonderful natural balances here.

CLIMATE REGULATION AND TEMPERATURE STABILITY

The sun's energy, and therefore its radiation to Earth, has increased by 25 to 30 percent since the sun formed. However, the entire Earth system (which cosmologically formed shortly after the sun) has adapted well to this and has not become "overheated." Fluctuating between higher and lower limits, it has remained "habitable."
Unfortunately, after all those millions of years that nature has maintained its balance, we have now reached a time (especially in the last two centuries) where we humans, by producing copious amounts of carbon dioxide and releasing methane from the Earth's crust (via global warming), have reached a situation where nature can no longer keep up. Hence all the current actions to reduce carbon dioxide production and develop procedures to utilize "inexhaustible" and non-polluting energy sources, such as wind, water, sunlight, and geothermal energy: the so-called energy transition.

SALTINESS OF THE OCEANS

For biological life, the salinity of the water, in which virtually all life has developed and continues to develop, is crucial. It is therefore striking that the salinity of the oceans has remained constant for hundreds of millions of years, at around 3.5%.
This is astonishing, because "salt" is constantly being added, for example, through erosion or the weathering of mountains (chemical breakdown processes), which brings more and more "salt" into the seas via the rivers. Yet, the salt content of the oceans has remained broadly consistent. It has been discovered that several (micro)organisms respond to increasing or decreasing salinity and (ingeniously) correct it. Coral reefs are also known to absorb salt from their surroundings and release it as needed for their own survival and that of other animal and plant organisms around. Lagoons, for example (where the sea occasionally overflows), also play a role, because seawater stagnates and evaporates there, and the salt precipitates on site, thus being extracted from the ocean. In these ways, the conditions for a well-functioning ecosystem are apparently maintained.

ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN CONTENT

There is also a stabilizing mechanism that keeps the oxygen content in the atmosphere constant. This content has been stable at approximately 20 percent for many millions of years. In addition, our "air" contains 79 percent nitrogen, along with small amounts of other gaseous components such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, water vapor, and the noble gas argon.
One would expect that this oxygen content would decrease due to various forms of oxidation, i.e., reactions with oxygen, such as the rusting of metal objects, forest fires, and the like. But that's not happening. Primarily through the process of photosynthesis in green plants, which releases oxygen. Nature continually adjusts to meet needs—and has done so for many millions of years, allowing all animal life, in particular, to flourish. For at least a billion years, the oxygen level has fluctuated somewhat, but remained essentially constant.

FINALLY

It may surprise us that, after all the turbulence in the long process that gave rise to stars, spiral nebulae, our sun, and finally the planets around it, there is one planet on which—once again, after a great deal of initial turbulence—a beautifully stabilized state has emerged.

A state in which biological life has emerged and developed in an unimaginable richness and beauty, and in which that life continues to creatively progress, even through several phases of extinction (the extinction of life forms). Perhaps even more astonishingly, it has been discovered that "life" is not "passive," but constantly and actively participates in this entire balanced development process, which (as described earlier) is called co-evolution.

In all the stabilization processes described above (climate, temperature, liquid water, salinity, and oxygen levels), biological "partners" are constantly involved. It is one large dynamic system, in which the biotic and the a-biotic continuously collaborate. And then we haven't even mentioned all those wondrous balances in the world of the 'larger' plants and animals, in which the material (i.e., the a-biotic) is always fully integrated.

Apparently, all of creation has been designed for life from the beginning. The entire universe, in its possibilities and its ultimate destiny, is biophilic, life-loving. We don't immediately see this in the stars and galaxies, but, after a very long and eventful development, it is now abundantly clear on our dear EARTH – once lovingly called GAIA ...

The battle for the 'identity' of our EARTH continues, but let us at least grow in the realization that GAIA deserves much more respect and care !


Johan Muijtjens
March 2026