Motility and migration rate of protozoa in soil columns

Velocity and distances travelled each day by protists in the soil was previously unknown. Soil columns were designed to monitor the distribution of cells along the length of each column as a way to measure migration potential. Motility was affected by pore space, water flow and gravity. The results show that the soil microhabitats that can be explored and exploited by flagellate, amoeboid or ciliated species is in the order of centimetres per day in sandy and sandy loam-textured soil matrices. This value is useful to understand the soil volume that can be explored for food and protist dispersal potential without lateral water flow.