ENVB 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Aeration, Soil Organic Matter, Ion
7 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Average age of carbon in soils can go up to 25 thousand years. Young carbon is found in agricultural soil: tilling makes it easier for microbe to eat it. Carbon can be lost as co2 (respiration and mineralization) Soil organic matter is the result of a balance between gain and loss of material. Physical: influence structure stability (acts as a glue) Examples of factors controlling the c balance in soils: A wet soil has more gain of om because of oxidized matter in the soil. Clays promote an increase in soil om because they hold on to om, which makes enzymes less effective in breaking it up. Warm temperature promotes more om, but there would also be an increase in organisms. Soils with poor drainage promote greater plant material productions but limited aeration reduce the decomposition of om. We have to balance every factor when considering the gains and losses of carbon.
