WHERE DO ARTHROPODS LIVE?
The abundance and diversity of soil fauna diminishes significantly with soil depth. The great majority of all soil species are confined to the top three inches. Most of these creatures have limited mobility, and are probably capable of cryptobiosis, a state of suspended animation that helps them survive extremes of temperature, wetness, or dryness that would otherwise be lethal. As a general rule, larger species are active on the soil surface, seeking temporary refuge under vegetation, plant residue, wood, or rocks. Many of these arthropods commute daily to forage within herbaceous vegetation above, or even high in the canopy of trees. (For instance, one of these tree-climbers is the caterpillar-searcher used by foresters to control gypsy moth). Some large species capable of true burrowing live within the deeper layers of the soil. Below about two inches in the soil, fauna are generally small 1/250 to 1/10 of an inch. (Twenty-five of the smallest of these would fit in a period on this
