A cleanly-tilled field with few vegetated edges may have fewer habitats for arthropods than a field broken up by grassed waterways, terraces, or fence rows. Although the effect of pesticides on soil organisms varies, high levels of pesticide use will generally reduce food web complexity. An extreme example is the repeated use of methyl bromide which has been observed to eliminate most soil organisms except a few bacteria species. As the soil food web decomposes organic material, it releases carbon into the atmosphere as CO2 or converts it to a variety of forms of soil organic matter. Labile or active fractions of organic matter stay in the soil for a few years.
Stable forms reside in the soil for decades or hundreds of years.
Physically stabilized organic matter is protected inside soil aggregates that soil organisms help create. Humified organic matter is stable because bacteria and fungi have helped form molecules that are too complex and large for soil organisms to decompose. The functions of the food web are essential to plant growth and environmental quality. Good resource management will integrate food web-enhancing strategies into the regular activities of farms, ranches, forests, or in backyard gardens. Needed research will examine food web functions within whole systems, and will support technology development.