Which one of the following represents the abundance of the organisms found in soil?
GATE Life Sciences - 2024,
Answer: C
The Commission's answer is Aerobic bacteria \(\gt\) Anaerobic bacteria \(\gt\) Fungi.
Counted as numbers of organisms per gram of soil, bacteria are by far the most numerous. In typical figures aerobic bacteria run to millions or more per gram, anaerobic bacteria to somewhat fewer, and fungi to tens or hundreds of thousands of propagules. Fungi may dominate in biomass because their hyphae are large, but not in numbers, which is what the textbook order ranks.
Options putting fungi first or second confuse biomass with numbers, and the last option puts anaerobes above aerobes, which does not hold for ordinary well-aerated soil.
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