Soil and Decomposition Soil and Decomposition rev. While most study in the natural world tends to focus on the living, the return of once-living material back to the ecosystem in a useable form is equally deserving of our attention. In this unit, the students will learn to recognize decomposers and their important role in the nutrient cycle, further understand the interdependent relationship between the living and non-living components of nature, and explore these concepts in relationship to their own lives. Recognize four different groups of decomposers and their roles Fungi Earthworms, slugs, etc.
Organic material is matter that either is or once was a part of a living plant or animal.
Fur, feathers, bones, meat, blood, scat, leaves, bark, wood, are all examples of organic matter. Organic material is always being used and reused, over and over again. Taken from the soil by plants, called producers , it is then passed on to herbivore consumers , which in turn are eaten by carnivore secondary consumers . The organic material from each, upon dying, are made available for the plants to use again by the decomposers . In many ways, the nutrient cycle resembles a food chain, since, in fact, any complete food chain you can imagine is actually a nutrient cycle as well.