Farming with Soil Life Module 6.14 (California/Western Region): Roles of Nematodes in Soil Ecology

This presentation is part of our Farming with Soil Life online short course. Guest presenter Howard Ferris, Distinguished Professor (Emeritus), Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of California - Davis describes the abundance, attributes and functional diversity of soil nematodes, including those that are generalist and specialist predators of other organisms, fungal feeders, bacterial feeder, and herbivores. The application of nematode faunal analysis as a bioindicator of the structure and function of the soil food web and of soil health will be explained, as well as the effects of soil disturbance and management practices on nematode biodiversity and abundance. Howard also demonstrates Nemaplex, (Nemaplex.ucdavis.edu), an online resource he developed of information on soil nematodes, their ecophysiological attributes and environmental impacts, including the host status of plants to the herbivorous species. Cover Photo: K-State Research and Extension This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number G185-21-W7903 through the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number PDP20-003. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additional support for this online short course was provided by Organic Valley and Xerces Society members. To access the list of resources associated with this workshop, please go to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B... To view the full Farming with Soil Life workshop playlist, please go to:    • Farming with Soil Life Online Short Course   Find more information at https://xerces.org/soil-life