Rhizosphere fauna: the functional and structural diversity of intimate interactions of soil fauna with plant roots

For decades, the term “rhizosphere fauna” has been used as a synonym to denote agricultural pests among root herbivores, mainly nematodes and insect larvae. We want to break with this constrictive view, since the connection between plants and rhizosphere fauna is far more complex than simply that of resource and consumer. For example, plant roots have been shown to be neither defenceless victims of root feeders, nor passive recipients of nutrients, but instead play a much more active role in defending themselves and in attracting beneficial soil microorganisms and soil fauna. Most importantly, significant indirect feed-backs exist between consumers of rhizosphere microorganisms and plant roots. In fact, the majority of soil invertebrates have been shown to rely profoundly on the carbon inputs from roots, breaking with the dogma of soil food webs being mainly fueled by plant litter input from aboveground. In this review we will highlight areas of recent exciting progress and point out the black boxes that still need to be illuminated by rhizosphere zoologists and ecologists.