The well-known nursery rhyme begins 'If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise'. But there is more than an element of truth about these famous words. Very few people realise that beneath every step they take while walking in ournative woodlands there is an amazing biodiversity of organisms all playing a key role in the processes of regeneration and survival. In a teaspoon of healthy soil there can be as many as 10 million bacteria, 2 kilometres of fungal filaments and severalthousand protozoa. Disturbance to any forest ecosystem may therefore result in extensive damage to these soil populations. If numbers fall too low the soil will not be able to support all the diversity of plant and animal life dependent upon it and increasing numbers of plant species will be unable to survive and re-establish until such microbial populations are restored.
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