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The physical properties of soil, in order of decreasing importance for ecosystem services such as crop production, are texture, structure, bulk density, porosity, consistency, temperature, colour and resistivity. [ 1] Soil texture is determined by the relative proportion of the three kinds of soil mineral particles, called soil separates: sand ...
Soil ecology is the study of the interactions among soil organisms, and between biotic and abiotic aspects of the soil environment. [1] It is particularly concerned with the cycling of nutrients , formation and stabilization of the pore structure , the spread and vitality of pathogens , and the biodiversity of this rich biological community .
Seed dormancy. Seed dormancy is an evolutionary adaptation that prevents seeds from germinating during unsuitable ecological conditions that would typically lead to a low probability of seedling survival. [ 1] Dormant seeds do not germinate in a specified period of time under a combination of environmental factors that are normally conducive to ...
Plant ecology. Plant ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology that studies the distribution and abundance of plants, the effects of environmental factors upon the abundance of plants, and the interactions among plants and between plants and other organisms. [ 1] Examples of these are the distribution of temperate deciduous forests in North America ...
Plant ecophysiology is concerned largely with two topics: mechanisms (how plants sense and respond to environmental change) and scaling or integration (how the responses to highly variable conditions—for example, gradients from full sunlight to 95% shade within tree canopies—are coordinated with one another), and how their collective effect on plant growth and gas exchange can be ...
There are numerous effects of climate change on agriculture, many of which are making it harder for agricultural activities to provide global food security. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns often result in lower crop yields due to water scarcity caused by drought, heat waves and flooding. [ 5]
Soil acts as an anchor for plant roots. It provides a hospitable place for a plant to live in while storing and supplying nutrients to plants. Soil also functions by maintaining the quantity and quality of air by allowing CO. 2 to escape and fresh O. 2 to enter the root zone. [ 7]
Plants hold soil against erosion, and accumulated plant material build soil humus levels. Plant root exudation supports microbial activity. Animals serve to decompose plant materials and mix soil through bioturbation. [70] Soil is the most speciose (species-rich) ecosystem on Earth, but the vast majority of organisms in soil are microbes, a ...