ENVS 1000U Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Intercropping, Plat, Soil Erosion
1 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Soil consists of mineral matter, organic matter, air, and water: dead and living microorganisms and decaying material, bacteria, algae, insects, earthworms, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Most important agricultural areas in the world were originally grasslands: northern mixed grass prairie (north america, tall grass prairie (north america, pampas (south america / africa, steppes (europe/ asia, savannah (africa) Ecosystem services provided: wildlife habitat, agricultural areas for crops livestock grazing, biomass for biofuels. Biological activity includes deposition, decomposition, and accumulation of organic matter. Humus = dark, spongy, crumbly mass of organic material formed by partial decomposition. A soil consists of horizons (= soil layers) Soils are characterized in many ways: soil colour = indicates its fertility and composition, soil texture = determine by size of soil particles (e. g. sang, silt, clay, soil structure = a (cid:373)easure of soil"s (cid:862)(cid:272)lu(cid:373)pi(cid:374)ess(cid:863) 2: soil ph i(cid:374)flue(cid:374)(cid:272)es soil"s a(cid:271)ility to support pla(cid:374)t growth, soil ion exchange capacity, cations held by clay, anions tend to was out.
