Hands in the soil

Grab a handful of soil. Go ahead, step outside and scoop up a small amount in your hand. It’s hard to imagine all that’s going on in there. You’re holding trillions of creatures, though that’s just an estimate. Nobody has done the actual counting.

Unless you happened to grab an earthworm or beetle in your handful, you’re not likely to see much of anything without the assistance of an optical device. But with a simple hand lens or magnifying glass, you’ll see some tiny animals, including mites, springtails, and potworms. Some are these animals are predators, but many are detritivores (eaters of dead things). They’re largely responsible for tearing holes in the tissues of the dead things and for spreading them around -- the first step of decomposition.

With a microscope, you can see even more minute animals. You’re likely to see tiny worms called nematodes and rotifers, as well as amoebae and miniscule, eight-legged animals called water bears. These organisms eat everything: other animals, dead things, bacteria, fungi. Some nematodes can infest plant roots by stabbing into them with hypodermic-needle-like mouth parts. (When gardeners plant marigolds because they are "good for pests," they are taking advantage of marigold roots’ nematicidal properties.)

You can also see root hairs, algae, cyanobacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and bacteria.

They may not be very noticeable, but they are the source of most of the diversity in the soil, accounting for the bulk of the soil’s biomass and most of its metabolism.

Root hairs are tiny, single-celled extensions of a root’s epidermal layer. They anchor the roots, which are actively pushing through the soil, and increase the surface area with which to absorb water and nutrients. Algae need light to photosynthesize, so they are generally found near the surface of the soil. Green algae are most often found in moist (though not flooded) acidic soils; diatoms, another kind of alga, are often plentiful in garden soil that is rich in organic material. Cyanobacteria are similar and are often found in wetland soils.

Over 700 species of fungi have been found in the soil so far. They include single-celled yeasts, filamentous molds, mildews, and rusts. These various kinds of fungi are responsible for much of the humus formation, soil stabilization, and the breakdown of organic matter. Although we may think of mushrooms as above-ground organisms, this visible fruiting body is only a small portion of the whole organism; fungal strands called hyphae extend throughout the soil. Some fungi are even predators. One uses a lasso-like device to trap nematodes.

Fungi are the source of many plant diseases, including late blight, the disease that plagued tomato and potato plants in the region in 2009, but one fungus (a mold) is also the source of penicillin. Fungi are particularly important in bogs and forest soils, where they are able to withstand acidic conditions. Perhaps the most important fungi, however, are those that form mutually beneficial associations with plant roots, called mycorrhizae ("fungus root"). Most plants depend on mycorrhizae to survive.

Actinomycetes have some fungus-like characteristics and some bacteria-like ones. They are detritvores. Many produce antibiotics to kill other microorganisms. The drugs actinomycin and streptomycin are derived from actinomycetes. In forest soils, the genus Frankia (one type of actinomycete) is responsible for much of the nitrogen fixation that makes atmospheric nitrogen available to higher plants. Actinomycetes also produce volatile compounds that make the "good earth" smell you think of when you think of dirt. There are hundreds of millions of actinomycetes per gram of soil, weighing up to 5,000 kilograms per hectare.

Man held on theft, burglary charges

A man suspected in the theft of a $6,000 engagement ring and other items in Woodbridge is facing multiple criminal charges after police caught him leaving the scene of a burglary in Plainfield three days later, authorities said this week.

Thomas Deschaine, 23, of the Avenel section of Woodbridge is facing charges of burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a hypodermic needle in connection with the drug incident, said Plainfield Police Detective Leslie Hudson, who is investigating the case. Bail for Deschaine was set at $25,000; he was lodged in Union County Jail earlier this week, but on Wednesday was awaiting transfer back to Plainfield to be booked on an additional charge of credit-card theft filed in connection with the earlier incident, authorities said.

A Woodbridge police officer last Thursday was dispatched to the Verizon Wireless store at Woodbridge Center Mall on a report of theft. The officer met a 27-year-old Piscataway woman, an employee of the store, who said someone had taken several items from her purse the day before, according to a police report.

The woman said she had placed her purse in her unlocked employee locker at the start of her shift, but after work noticed that her BlackBerry cellphone had been moved from one pocket to another, the report indicated. The victim initially didn’t think anything of it, but the next day she found that her debit card, her engagement ring, a white gold necklace and her Verizon employee Android Incredible cell phone all were missing from the purse, according to the report.

An investigation revealed that a four-person construction crew was working in the store’s locker area at the time of the alleged theft, but all four workers — Deschaine being among them — denied involvement, authorities said. Deschaine and another worker also claimed to have seen a Verizon cleaning employee in the area sometime that night, the report indicated.

Elementary school students pricked with hypodermic needle

Two Lynn elementary school students have been asked to seek medical attention after they were both pricked with a hypodermic needle in class.

Lynn Superintendent of Schools Dr. Catherine Latham said that one of the students found the discarded needle while walking to school.

According to Latham the 2nd-grader at the Tracy School in Lynn pricked his friend while "pretending to give him a flu shot," and then pricked himself when he put the needle away.

School Administrators didn't find out about it until the next day when a concerned parent notified the teacher.

The needle has been recovered.

The students are not expected to face any legal or disciplinary action.