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Introduction

The ant - an underground dweller!

Soil, like air and water, is one of the world's most important natural resources. Because it lies beneath our feet and is often hidden by buildings and roads we may not often think about how much it affects our lives and how much we depend on it.

Most of our food depends on soil - it is where we find the plants and many of the animals which make up our food, and it is home for billions of organisms. Soil also gives support for many of our buildings and structures.

Soils form very slowly, maybe as little as 1 cm of thickness in 500 years, so we can't just replace them in our own lifetime. Many of our soils are becoming damaged and are at risk.

It is important that we understand our soil and make sure it is there for future generations. Soil-Net will help you learn more about our precious soil.

This image shows the different scales at which we can consider soil. Here we see the field scale, the soil profile, the macro-scale and the micro-scale. Image credit: Karl Ritz