Factors Influencing Soil Formation

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

Biomes are appropriate conditions for organizing the natural world because the organisms that live in them common constellations of adaptations, particularly the climate of each of the areas and the characteristic vegetation types that develops in these divisions. It should be understood that the climate is perhaps the most important in determining classes of individuals who may live in an area and the ways they should be amended to live under different conditions of temperature and precipitation and seasonal distribution of these factors element. Every place on Earth has its own climate, influenced by both macroclimate regions as the particular microclimate. The soils are very important because they are essential to determine the types of plants that will grow into a bioclimatic zone in partical, in addition, also as substrates for animals serve. In turn, the soils are heavily influenced by regional climate, as well as the geology of the bedrock. At the same time we have to keep in mind the diversity of plants like the flora just like the diversity of the fauna as well as the adaptation of both.

Poor soil management can lead to biological, chemical, and physical degradation, which can in turn negatively alter the activity of

Soil, which is the layer of earth on the top where plants and vegetation grow, contains a pH balance, everything does. The pH, acidity, or alkalinity balance of each type of soil that is being observed can affect the plants, because it determines how many nutrients are being deposited to them. It

The project identifies and analyse how the vegetation of the area can be influenced by soil composition and climate by performing first hand investigation such as analysing soil type and grain size. It’s also about the aspects of the local environment that have been affected by people and propose realistic solutions to the problems that exist.

“Drainage patterns, the hilliness of the ground, the range of soils, the nature of the bedrock,

These are soils consisting predominantly of unaltered mineral material that have no surface/sub-surface horizon attributed to soil forming processes (unless buried under a 730cm thick deposit from the Holocene) (Avery, 1980;). These soils do not normally have continuous vegetation cover (Avery, 1980). They occur in very recently formed soil and may have a superficial organic or organo-mineral layer less than 5cm thick. Sometimes they have a buried horizon below 30cm of depth. (Thompson, 2007; Jarvis, 1984).

Vast numbers and kinds of organisms, mainly microorganisms, inhabit soil and depend on it for shelter, food, and water. Plants anchor themselves in soil, and from it they receive essential minerals and water. Terrestrial plants could not survive without soil, and because we depend on plants for our food, humans could not exist without soil either (Wiley, 2013).

Soil turnover - as soil is moved around by digging animals, organic matter is mixed through which distributes nutrients throughout the soil

What is soil? Soil is a mixture of broken rocks, minerals, living organisms, and decaying matter.

On the one hand, there is the effect of water content in the soil: due to its ability to store

When assembling all roles of soil, one is able to see that soil plays a vital part of the natural environment. It is just as important as plants, and animals. It influences the distribution of plant species and provides a habitat for a wide range of organisms.

Mountains can have a wet and a dry side. Firstly, In the cordeillan climate region, there is orographic precipitation, which causes the windward side of the mountain to be wet, and the leeward side to be dry. The clouds are forced to travel over the mountain, and then when the water condensates, it falls as rain or snow on the windward side of the mountain. Once the cloud passes over the top of the mountain, it sinks and becomes dry, and creates a rainshadow on the leeward side. Secondly, south facing slopes get more sunlight, therefore more plants grow there. For example, vineyards in the Niagara region of Ontario are planted on the south facing slopes of the land. This ensures that the plants gets more sunlight and grow better and faster because south facing slopes are more perpendicular to the sun than north facing. The plants help hold the soil together to protect it from erosion, and then eventually turn into humus after they die. Lastly, steeper slopes have faster moving water from precipitation, therefore more erosion happens to the soil. Steeper slopes of mountains often have water going through them, which moves quickly. This fast moving water erodes away at the soil, and creates deep gulleys, and moves the soil to wherever the stream or river ends. Landform characteristics affect soil

Erosion removes the surface soils, containing most of the organic matter, plant nutrients, and fine soil particles, which help to retain water and nutrients in the root zone where they are available to plants. Thus it affects the productivity of plants. The remaining, the subsoil, tends to be less fertile, less absorbent and less able to retain pesticides, fertilizers, and other plant nutrients. There are over 17,000 soil types recognized worldwide. They vary widely in structure, erodibility, fertility, and ability to produce crops. A generalized soil profile for a humid, temperate climate is showed. When the natural vegetation is cleared for agriculture, soils become exposed to erosion and loss of soil fertility. The removal of the above-ground natural

Significantly, desertification also cause soil erosion, which means soil surface is worn by wind and water. Desertification makes soil easy to erode by water or wind, as soil is exposed and soil structure is instable without forest. LaI R(2003) says that ““Land area globally affected by erosion is 1094 million ha (Mha) by water erosion, of which 751 Mha is severely affected, and 549 Mha by wind erosion, of which 296 Mha is severely affected.” To control soil erosion, an obvious way is virescence, enlarging forest cover, which can protect the soil far from exposing to strong wind. Also, the roots of plants under ground play a role as a framework, as they are obstructions to soil movement,