Do you know what edaphon is?

 

So, that's the question.  Do you know what edaphon is?

When I encountered the word, I didn't either.  I thought it might be like edamame, but that's not from the same language. So being endowed with unending curiosity, I looked it up.  

It turns out that it's the soil equivalent of plankton. I.e., with plankton being the things that float and swim in the sea, from bacteria to diatoms to dinoflagellates and euphausiids and salps and such, 

then edaphon is the bacteria and worms and springtails, mites, nematodes, earthworms, ants, and other kinds of insects and such.

So now you know.  Would you like to see a picture?  Of course you do.  So here's a picture.  I hadn't thought of cicada nymphs as edaphon, but for 17 years while they're growing in the ground, they are.