megan1421
Soil Test: Silt Clay Loam #1
1. As I was performing the soil experiment I decided to spray some water into it to see how the water flowed through the soil. I found that the soil soaked up the water and didn’t transport it anywhere. Therefore I feel that the water movement in this soil, and the nutrients, stays more in one place, soaking up the soil than flowing through the soil.
2. As I was digging up some soil it was difficult to find any types of organisms in this soil but I did happen to come across one decomposing organism, a worm. Therefore I would conclude that it would be difficult to find any type of organism in this kind of soil, but if I would have to venture a guess I would say decomposers are more likely to be found in these soils.
3. Decomposers have an effect on soil quality in good way because they help the soil break up allowing more energy to be transferred to the plants through water and nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Decomposers can also help break down any pollutants that may leak into the soil so that way the plants are less affected.
4. I would have to conclude that because there is silt in the type of soil I identified, then erosion is a possibility. It is hard to determine if the soil loss would have more of a negative or positive impact; because the soil type is limiting nutrient and water availability to the plants I would think this would be more positive for the plants so that way they are more exposed to the water/nutrient quantity. The soil would erode to the river because this soil is more on a downward slant, slanting towards the river. If the soil moves to the river then it would start to accumulate in that location causing the soil to eventually reach the surface. If this happens then I would think that it would make the river smaller causing the space the organisms live in to become compacted. This would cause the density of the population to become higher making the amount of organisms that can live within that area to decrease, as we saw in the last chapter.
5. As an ecologist it would be very important to think about soil texture because different populations live in different soil types and these different populations have a huge impact on the plants and organism that lives in that ecosystem. It would also be important because if you were trying to determine nutrient and water quality and quantity that the plants were obtaining, the first place to start is the soil; the soil determines the length of the roots of the plants.
Soil Test: Silt Clay Loam #1
1. As I was performing the soil experiment I decided to spray some water into it to see how the water flowed through the soil. I found that the soil soaked up the water and didn’t transport it anywhere. Therefore I feel that the water movement in this soil, and the nutrients, stays more in one place, soaking up the soil than flowing through the soil.
2. As I was digging up some soil it was difficult to find any types of organisms in this soil but I did happen to come across one decomposing organism, a worm. Therefore I would conclude that it would be difficult to find any type of organism in this kind of soil, but if I would have to venture a guess I would say decomposers are more likely to be found in these soils.
3. Decomposers have an effect on soil quality in good way because they help the soil break up allowing more energy to be transferred to the plants through water and nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Decomposers can also help break down any pollutants that may leak into the soil so that way the plants are less affected.
4. I would have to conclude that because there is silt in the type of soil I identified, then erosion is a possibility. It is hard to determine if the soil loss would have more of a negative or positive impact; because the soil type is limiting nutrient and water availability to the plants I would think this would be more positive for the plants so that way they are more exposed to the water/nutrient quantity. The soil would erode to the river because this soil is more on a downward slant, slanting towards the river. If the soil moves to the river then it would start to accumulate in that location causing the soil to eventually reach the surface. If this happens then I would think that it would make the river smaller causing the space the organisms live in to become compacted. This would cause the density of the population to become higher making the amount of organisms that can live within that area to decrease, as we saw in the last chapter.
5. As an ecologist it would be very important to think about soil texture because different populations live in different soil types and these different populations have a huge impact on the plants and organism that lives in that ecosystem. It would also be important because if you were trying to determine nutrient and water quality and quantity that the plants were obtaining, the first place to start is the soil; the soil determines the length of the roots of the plants.