Life Beneath Our Feet: How Soil, Insects, and Grasslands co-create the Web of Life

by Sahanashree R., Giridhar Dasari and Asmi Khushi 

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For millennia, soil has shaped human civilisations, influencing where people settled and how agriculture flourished. Have you ever wondered what the soil beneath your feet truly is? Soil is not just a surface layer, but a living three-dimensional body sculpted over millennia by the dynamic interplay of climate, landscape, parent rock, living organisms, and time. Acting as Earth’s quiet engine, it fixes nutrients, stores carbon, drives essential mineral cycles, and hosts a vast diversity of organisms. Microorganisms in the soil, for example, fix atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to plants, while soil also regulates water, filters impurities, and sustains vegetation. Much of the life we see above ground is possible only because of this continuous work happening beneath our feet.

The soil we see today is a result of years of physical and chemical weathering. The formation of soil takes millions of years, but unfortunately degradation can happen within a few seasons. Hence, protecting our soils from further degradation and restoring these degraded soils holds utmost importance. In India, as in other parts of the world, grasslands, savannas and other open natural ecosystems play a significant role in soil formation as well as restoring degraded soils. The terms grasslands and savannas refer to open areas that consist of a mosaic of grasses, shrubs, and scattered trees. You may know them as Beed, Oran, or Banni in peninsular/Western India, Sholas in the Western ghats, or high-altitude Bugyals and Khajjars in the Himalayas. You may also recognize them as common lands in many villages, locally called Gomala, Gauchars or Charagahs. Through the constant death and regrowth of roots, these grasslands pump carbon underground, building topsoil where there was once only dust or sand. Their roots can physically bind loose, eroded earth and reopen pores, turning "dead" dirt back into living soil that harbours immense biodiversity, including insects.

Insects- the silent caretakers of soils and grasslands

When we think of insects, we picture butterflies in a garden, ants on a wall, and bugs resting on leaves, and perhaps the occasional house cockroach. But the real magic of the insect world often happens out of sight. Just beneath the surface of the soil, millions of tiny creatures quietly shape the Earth. They break down fallen leaves, enrich the soil, move nutrients around, and keep plants growing. As they burrow, feed, and move through the soil, they loosen it, mix in organic matter, create tiny air pockets, and support the microbes that make soil fertile. In many habitats, this work is important. In grasslands, it becomes essential. While grasslands appear “empty” compared to the forests or agricultural fields, under the ground they appear like ‘upside-down’ forests. In a forest, eighty percent of the plant remains above ground. In a grassland, it forms dense networks of roots that appear like canopies. Here lies the bustling universe of soil insects. Among these underground engineers, three insects stand out. These are termites, dung beetles and ants.

Fig. A. Termite mound; B. Dung Beetle, Onitis visthara male; C. Ant, Crematogaster sp.

Termites –The Architects

Termites are often called “white ants”, but they’re not ants at all. They are more closely related to cockroaches and are sometimes called “social cockroaches” because of their complex colonies. Termites are well known for feeding on wood and other dead plant matter, but their influence in grasslands goes far beyond that. As termites feed, they break down dry grasses and plant debris into fine particles that blend easily into the soil. This makes the soil rich and fertile.

Their biggest contribution, however, comes from building mounds. While constructing their mounds and tunnels, termites constantly move soil from one place to another. This mixing creates well-aerated underground chambers, improves water movement, and changes soil chemistry. Termite mounds often contain significantly higher levels of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus compared to the surrounding soil. Spread across the grassland, each mound is a hotspot of fertility; these structures help grasses grow stronger and more diverse. In a landscape shaped by sunlight, wind, and grazing animals, termites act as hidden architects, constantly engineering the ground beneath our feet.

Dung Beetles – the Upcyclers

Grasslands are home to grazing herds, and where animals graze, dung piles up. Without help, these dung piles can smother grasses, reduce foliage, and become breeding sites for flies and parasites. Thankfully, dung beetles arrive almost immediately. As dung beetles break down and bury dung, they accelerate nutrient recycling and make elements like nitrogen and phosphorus available to plants. Every ball they bury is a nutrient capsule for future grass. Their tunnelling loosens the soil, improves water infiltration, and allows plant roots to grow deeper and stronger. By removing dung from the surface, they also reduce pests and parasites, indirectly supporting the health of grazing animals. In short, dung beetles turn waste into wealth. Since dung is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and contributes significantly to climate change, their habit of burying dung plays an important role in reducing these emissions. Without them, grasslands would quickly become unproductive and unhealthy.

Ants – the Tillage Machines

Ants are among the most abundant and diverse insects on Earth, and their influence on grasslands is enormous. As predators of herbivorous insects, they provide natural pest control. As scavengers, they clean up dead insects and small animals, helping nutrients return to the soil. Most ant species in grasslands build their nests underground. In doing so, they create networks of tunnels and chambers that act like tiny plumbing systems. Through this nest-building activity, ants improve soil structure by increasing porosity, enhancing water infiltration and aeration, reducing compaction, and promoting nutrient cycling, thereby supporting plant function and nutrient uptake. Some ants also play important roles in seed dispersal. By collecting and carrying seeds, they help plants spread across the landscape and maintain a mosaic of diverse vegetation. In drier grasslands, seed-harvesting ants are especially influential, shaping plant communities through their foraging behaviour. Ants, through their constant engineering and movement, help keep grassland soils alive, structured, and productive.

Disappearing grasslands and the science of conservation

In conclusion, Grasslands improve soil health, while insects support the proper functioning of the grassland ecosystem. Healthy soil, in turn, promotes vegetation, which provides food and shelter for insects. Together, this creates a positive feedback loop that keeps the grassland ecosystem thriving. Unfortunately, grasslands in India have been historically mislabelled as ‘wastelands’ or ‘degraded lands’ and are constantly being diverted to other uses such as agriculture, solar farms, or tree plantations. The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) has been building historical and ecological evidence to make the case that India’s grasslands deserve to be conserved, along with their unique biodiversity, and the pastoral livelihoods and cultures that they support. This includes mapping the extent and distribution of India’s grasslands ecosystems and building evidence on their enormous capacity for carbon sequestration. The Centre for Policy Design at ATREE is experimenting with scientific approaches for restoring grasslands, and creating localised solutions in partnership with the communities that use grasslands. At one of ATREE’s study sites in Hesarghatta, the Insect Biosystematics and Conservation Lab discovered a new species of dung beetle, Onitis visthara. This finding is a powerful reminder that beneath the grasses, in the quiet layers of soil and leaf litter, countless species continue to live unseen, waiting to be discovered. It highlights why maintaining healthy soils and grassland ecosystems is crucial so that the species still hidden beneath them are not lost before they are even known.

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About the authors:

Sahanashree R. is a researcher at the Insect Lab at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

Giridhar Dasari is a Research Associate at ATREE

Asmi Khushi is a Project Consultant for the Centre for Policy Design at ATREE

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