Testate amoebae and nutrient cycling: peering into the black box of soil ecology.

In some areas of ecology and evolution, such as the behavioural ecology of many well-studied bird species, it is increasingly difficult to make surprising new discoveries. However, this is not the case in many areas of soil and/or microbial ecology. Two recent studies suggest that the testate amoebae, a microbial group unfamiliar to most biologists, might play a much larger role in soil nutrient cycling than has hitherto been suspected.