Soil Ecosystem
Microorganisms that release enzymes to decay and transform plant and animal material
What are decomposers?
The kind of soil properties that can be easily observed.
What are physical properties?
A tool (book) used to identify the color of soil.
What is the Munsell Soil Color Chart?
The element that oxidizes to produce red, yellow, or brownish soil color.
What is iron?
The three main types of soil particles that affect texture.
What are sand, silt, and clay?
A special group of organisms that break down large organic molecules into molecules small enough to be absorbed by plant roots.
What are transformers?
The two most important chemical properties of soil.
What are pH (reaction class, acidity) and cation-exchange capacity (CEC)?
The spectral (color spectrum) color of something.
What is hue?
The cause of gleying (gray color) in soil.
What is saturation (flooding, high water)?
The soil particle that feels gritty when rubbed between the fingers.
What is sand?
The most common pattern of food chains.
What is producer-herbivore-carnivore?
Important physical properties of soil.
(List at least 3.)
What are color, texture, structure, consistence, shrink-swell, compaction, depth, permeability, drainage, available water capacity?
The quality of how light or dark a color is.
What is value?
The feature that gives most topsoil a darker color than its underlying subsoil.
What is organic matter or humus?
The type of particle that gives soil its plasticity.
What is clay?
Nonliving components of a soil ecosystem.
(List at least 3)
What are: Minerals, water, gases, pH, temperature, nutrients?
The capacity of a soil to hold positively charged ions.
What is cation-exchange capacity?
The purity or amount of pigment in a color.
What is chroma?
An element that can give soil a purplish black, metallic color.
What is manganese?
Soils high in this type of particle are favorable for agriculture because of high water holding capacity.
What is silt?
The most important activity of soil organisms.
What is "to acquire energy"?
This physical property of soil is a marker that provides information about other soil properties.
What is soil color?
The color term used to describe soils in wet environments.
What is gley?
Mottled patterns of gray soil mixed with red or yellow caused by cycles of saturation and drying.
What are redoximorphic features?
The predominant type of particle in a soil that will form a strong ribbon 3" long or longer.
What is clay?