ENV234H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Acrisol, Soil Biology, Solonetz
Document Summary
Lecture 10 soils: interface between geology and biology. Support plants: plants grow in them, plants are primary producers, animals rely on primary producers, support agriculture/products that we need, chemical/biological/physical support. Determine fate of water: where it is flowing (direction, quality of water, as water percolates through soil, water is cleaned. Recycle organic wastes and nutrients: dead animal/plant pieces incorporated into soil, if not for this process, we"d be buried in dead things and there would be no nutrients. Habitat for soil organisms: bacteria, insects, mammals, amphibians. Basic medium in human-built ecosystems: use it to make things, use it as base for infrastructure. Silt, clay, sand, loam: soil water (hydrosphere water flows in and out) Amount varies in different types of soils: soil air (atmosphere, organic matter (biosphere) Comes from organisms that live on/in soils. So soil ecosystem includes all these spheres . Rocks and minerals weathers to create parent material: broken up rocks and materials = parent material.
