Soil Water
The percentage of water in a "perfect soil"
What is 25%
To be considered a soil organism, the organism must spend this amount of its life in the soil.
What is part or all of its life?
the process by which plants, fungi or bacteria absorb N from the soil (in its various forms) and incorporate it into complex organic molecules that make up their bodies
What is assimilation?
The attraction of water molecules to surfaces such as soil particles
What is adhesion?
This kind of organism can produce their own "nutrition"
What is an autotroph?
the nutrient cycling process in which organic material is decomposed and nutrients are released into their mineral form back into the soil.
What is mineralization?
The combination of evaporation from the soil and transpiration (from plants) which lead to water vapor in the atmosphere
What is Evapotranspiration?
Many of these eukaryotic heterotrophs grown via filamentous strands called hyphae and are major decomposers in the soil environment
What are fungi?
a carbohydrate polymer of amylose and amylopectin which is easily degraded by bacteria and fungi in the soil and is used as food storage for plants.
What is starch?
A process of the hydrological cycle that removes water from the root zone aka the "soil water budget"
What is percolation?
Soil organic matter (i.e., the overall 5% within ‘perfect soil’) includes these 4 things
What is living organisms, fresh residues, decomposing and stable organic matter?
The most recalcitrant soil carbon constituent.
What is lignin?
The minimum amount (lower limit) of plant available water in soils
What is the wilting point?
2 kinds of soil organism functional groups
What are Decomposers, pathogens/parasites, predators, producer, nutrient cycling (nitrogen fixer, nitrifying, denitrifying), mycorrhizae or symbiotic, etc. ?
The form of Phosphorus that is available for plants in the soil
What are soluble phosphate ions?