Simple procedure observations

What are the steps to follow ?

1- Take the time to observe the soil organisms by lifting stones, bricks, pieces of wood, under a pile of leaves, compost, in the mulch ... Soil organisms indeed like to be for the mostly in the dark and in a fairly humid place.

Soil organisms are more particularly active in spring and autumn and/or in humid conditions (after rain and when the sun returns under temperatures around 12°C to 23°C). They are most active in the morning and at the end of the day. At night some organisms with nocturnal habits also come out, but they are more difficult to see at night...

2- As soon as an organism is visible, it would be good to catch it gently to better observe it, and/or to take a picture of it. The ideal being to suck it up with an insect vacuum cleaner (made with a small container, fine pipes, gauze and you're done ...), or for soil organisms that are not very fast , catch them by hand and put them in a transparent box, and preferably a magnifying box to better see their whole body.

Examples of insect vacuum cleaner

Examples of magnifying boxes

 3-  identify the organism(s) captured in this way using image recognition on a computer or via the dedicated tab on the smartphone app

 4- forward your photos using the JardiBiodiv simple observations form on a computer or via the dedicated tab on the smartphone app (you must be registered in advance).

Attention flies, mosquitoes and adult butterflies are not part of the soil fauna, they are therefore not considered in Jardibiodiv