Soil ecology
By Kacey Tana
Rock layers
 Ground layer: plants grow and animals live here. A thick cover of plants can
keep the soil cool and from dying out.
 Topsoil: plants grow and animals live on the top of the soil. It is sometimes
called the organic layer.
 Subsoil: it is a mix of mineral particles and some humus near the top.
 Weathered plant material: no organic material down here. Out of reach of
dead and alive organisms. All rock material.
 Bedrock: entirely made of solid rock. It waits on the bottom until erosion or
an earthquake exposes it to the surface.
organisms

Scientists work hard to find and identify soil wildlife. The smallest
organisms are probably the most important to soil.

Each one of these organisms have thousands of cousins related to them.

These organisms include amoeba, bacteria, beetle mite, eastern mole,
nemotode, night crawler, and rock fungus.
Scientists
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People who are evolved in soil ecology
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•
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Dr. Patricia a. Hagan
Mr. William mc. Donald
Mr. Dale Fulton
Soil safari

A toxic spill can easily go into the ground and make its way to an underground
water system that can kill all organic life on the surface.
Recipe for soil

First, select a large quantity of bedrock. You can start with a fresh lava flow,
a solid granite dome, or some limestone.


Physical weathering: Next, break some of the parent material into pieces.
Use a glacier to grind off big boulders and fine sediment.
Chemical weathering: Now change some of the parent material and the
mineral particles into other kinds of minerals. Run water over limestone to
dissolve the limestone and make the water more acidic.
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Biological actions: Finally, start with some early colonizers like lichens. Then
throw in a stock made of microscopic decomposers.