Composition of Soil AnimalMatter

living

Dead

WaterAir

Plant Matter

Dead

Living

Mineral Particles

PARENT MATERIAL

How are minerals naturally added to soil?

Give three examples of how air is added naturally to soils.

Why is bacteria and organic material important in soil, and how does it get there?

Give two examples of how moisture is important in soil.

Erosion and Weathering of Rock (Parent Material)

Decomposing organic material; worms, insects, animals, plant roots; erosion or earth movement…

Add nutrients for plants, and increases decomposition = adds more nutrients to soil. A plant or animal dies and decomposes to add nutrients, moisture to soil, creating the dark colour.

Moisture provides water to plants, and moves nutrients around in the soil (leaching – down, capillary action - up); water is key in erosion processes (chemical and physical)

Loam is a well-balanced mixture of sand, silt and clay, plus humus.

It is good for plants because

• It encourages root growth

• It holds moisture

• It allows water to pass through it at a rate moderate enough to allow plants to take up nutrients.

Leaching happens when precipitation high, water always goes down through the soil and dissolves chemical nutrients that plants need.

Leaching is bad for soil because it takes minerals so deep that roots cannot reach them.

A leached soil has a poor, often thin topsoil.

Leached soil can be made more productive by adding fertilizers.

Calcification occurs in drier climate areas.

Water in topsoil evaporates and water rises up to replace it, bringing minerals which remain at the surface after evaporation, especially calcium.

Good: it creates topsoil rich in minerals.

Bad: in dry areas, evaporation is so great that topsoil becomes poisonous to plants, too many minerals.

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/3rdedition/environment/land/035?maxwidth=1600&maxheight=1400&mode=navigator&upperleftx=0&upperlefty=0&lowerrightx=4032&lowerrighty=3040&mag=0.0625

The Arctic: Tundra Soils (poorly drained, rocky, bogs)

BC and Yukon: Complex mountain soils

The Prairies: Dry Climate Soils (grassland soil)

The Rest of Canada: Wet Climate Soils (Peat and Podzolic)

In order for plants to grow, there must be soil

In order for certain plants to grow there must be certain soils. For example, some plants and crops grow very well in sandy soil, while others grow very well in soil which is rich in plant matter.

The patern of natural and artificial vegetation in Canada is determined by the pattern of soils.

What do you think are the main factors that contribute to soil type and therefore vegetation type in a region?

Temperature Precipitation Growing season (temperature and

sun light hours) Time Elevation (temperature, growing

season)

Natural Vegetation is vegetation that grow without human interference.

Artificial Vegetation starts life in a greenhouse or laboratory. These are seeded or germinated by humans to grow in a specific way. (GMO’s, Chemically Treated, Irrigated, Fertilized, Incecticides)

Coniferous Trees are needled trees with long roots and thick bark. Most Coniferous trees do not lose their needles in the winter (local exception? _________)

Deciduous Trees are broad-leaved trees with shorter roots and thinner bark. All deciduous trees lose their leaves in the water.

As you travel from the south part of Canada, there is a transition in type of vegetation which you would find.

As you travel South to North how would you expect the forest types to change?

North: • Tundra• Coniferous Forest• Mixed Forest• Deciduous Forest

South:

As you move up a mountain, vegetation changes in much the same way as it does from south to north:• Deciduous forest change to mixed forest, to

coniferous forest, and then to tundra vegetation.

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/5thedition/environment/ecology/mcr4182

There are 7 major regions (based on major tree species, and grass species – natural vegetation species)

Tundra Coast (West Coast Forest) BC and the Yukon (Cordilleran Vegetation) Boreal Forest Zone Grassland (Prairies) Mixed Forest (50% Deciduous and

Coniferous) Deciduous Forest

Canada’s largest Vegetation Region: Boreal Forest Zone

Canada’s smallest Vegetation Region: Deciduous Forest Zone

Canada’s wettest Vegetation Region: Coastal (West Coast Forest)

Canada’s coldest Vegetation Region: Tundra Vegetation Region

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/3rdedition/environment/climate/030

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/themes.aspx?id=weather&sub=weather_basics_zones&lang=En

Vegetation Region – Climate Region

Tundra - Arctic Climate Regions Coast (West Coast Forest – Pacific Maritime BC and the Yukon (Cordilleran Vegetation) -

Mountain Boreal Forest Zone – Northern

Interior/Northern Laurentian/Atlantic Maritime

Grassland (Prairies) - Prairie Mixed Forest (50% Deciduous and

Coniferous) – South Laurentian/Atlantic Maritime

Deciduous Forest – Lower Lakes

How would you expect a warming climate to change vegetation, soil or climate regions?

How do humans change soil, vegetation, and climate?

Question 1: Think about water/soil/temperature…. (dry areas get dryer, wet areas get wetter, more extremes which will change the ability of some plants to survive)

Question 2: Our text “This Earth” pg183 - pg192 (mining, farming, addition of nutrients/chemicals/ etc. that were not originally there, deforestation, increased carbon dioxide,…)

Community of living things and the environment or habitat in which

they live.

Contains Biotic and Abiotic elements

• Systems regulate themselves, and respond to change, through feedback mechanisms.

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK POSITIVE FEEDBACK

Stops things, or shuts them off

Eg. A Thermostat in your house

Eg. A population of deer expands, therefore the population of cougars will also expand.

Serves to keep systems in balance, or maintain homeostasis.

Enhances processes or switches them on.

“Positive does not mean good; it simply means that the system responds by enhancing, rather than reducing the effects of a change.”

Eg. Spinning tires in mud

Eg. Overgrazing causing desertification

Energy flow and chemical cycling are the two major

processes that occur in ecosystems

• Energy Cycle• Flow of Energy• Hydrologic (Water) Cycle• Carbon Cycle• Nitrogen Cycle• Phosphorus Cycle

• Text pg. 47 - 59

• Most of the energy that enters the Earth system is solar energy

• The Sun’s energy, used by living things, is passed along food chains

• Much energy is lost at each trophic level

The continuous circulation of water through the hydrosphere.

Carbon is the building block of life.

Nitrogen is converted from its inert form into one that is useful in biological processes.

Phosphorous is a nutrient that is essential for life.

A major terrestrial ecosystem, with characteristic plant and animal species, maintained

under particular climatic conditions