Sutro Heights Soiltest

a) This type of soil was loamy sand at this site.

b) The soil's texture doesn't help too much with retaining water and nutrients compared to even smaller sized soil.

c) Since I constantly net sweep for insects for my project, most of the organisms I found were beetles and true bugs.

d) The effects of these organisms are not clear but I think that they are indicators of many other organism that they eat (such as detritivores). If I am finding the predators then there must be much more other prey organisms that help break down the matter into soil.

e) I do not think the soil was eroded since I collected it on top of the hill (I would assume after the storm it would be what is left after erosion. I think most of the soil would erode down the hill to the ocean since it is very close to Ocean Beach. I am assuming that more nutrients have entered the ocean from looking at it today, and the affect it would have could be algae blooms.

f) As a ecologist, it is important to think about soil texture because you can examine how much nutrients and recycled in that ecosystem. From that you can determine the amount of life that the habitat can support.

Done