Q20. I would like to be able to recognise and identify soil micro and meso fauna and flora and to familiarise myself with the local earthworm species.

Answer: Purchasing a small microscope – buy the best you can afford – with a digital camera and learn how to use it to look at bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, etc in the soil or compost. Amazon is a good place to look for cheaper scientific texts that help in identification. Buy books with lots of pictures. Contact Agpath or watch the Agpath website for classes in fungal identification or identification of microbes using a microscope. Join or start a local microscope group. Join the Agpath student restricted site.  www.agpath.com.au .