Soil Is A Vital Part Of The Natural Environment

“Erosion occurs when the soil lacks protective vegetative cover”. (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Soil erosion reduces the productivity of the land by loss of water, soil, organic matter, nutrients, biota, and depth of soil.” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) With no conservation methods in place in certain places like: no contour farming, no cover crop, no terraces, no water ways, and tillage on steep hills is asking for a loss of productivity from the land. The effects on the land that non-conservation methods have is horrible. “Its effects are pervasive, and its damages are long lasting. (Pimentel and others 1995a)” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a bigger factor then most people think. For an example an comparison of how much soil is actually lost in certain environments: “On sloping agricultural land under tropical rainfall, as much as 400t/ha/yr of soil is lost (Pimentel unpublished report,1990).”(Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Under arid conditions with relatively strong winds, as much as 5600t/ha/yr of soil has been reported lost (Gupta and Raina 1996).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor when conservation practices are not put into place. “According to some investigators, approximately 75 billion tons a fertile soil are lost annually from the world’s agricultural systems (Myers 1993).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor and many different things can be done to help slow it,

People have seriously affected the land. We utilize it to develop harvests to sustain our developing populace. We additionally utilize it to give vitality. Every year one individual in North America utilizes assets equivalent to more than 12 sections

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).

For centuries the world has depended upon the land as their number one resource. The threat of not being able to cultivate that land could trigger a chain of catastrophic events that would reach far beyond

The vertisols can appear in three colors black, red and grey. Due to its clay nature, the vertisols can expand and contract. However, its instability makes it a poor soil to support the growth of trees, but it provides a perfect condition for cotton to grow. Its unstable nature makes it hard for trees to grow. The vertisols are often located in the grasslands and woodlands.

I watched a Ted Talk on YouTube called Ted x Huntsville, it was presented by Karen Wynne and was published October 1st, 2014. The topic that Wynne talked about was the concept of stopping treating soil like dirt. She started by stating a quote by Leonardo Da Vinci that said: “We know more about the celestial bodies than the soil under our feet”. This was an interesting way of introducing her talk since after saying we near nothing about earth she begun to tell us the difference between soil and dirt introducing the topic at hand. For soil she gave the basic definition that it was a mixture of sand, silt, and clay plus air holes, water, and organic matter and as for dirt she just simply washed her hands on her shirt as if it was nothing after playing with the soil. So, already she was hands on and showed that we humans don’t really care about our soil.

In the United States, it is generally accepted that there are 12 soil types8: gelisols, histosols, spodosols, andisols, oxisols, vertisols, aridisols, ultisols, mollisols, alfisols, inceptisols, and entisols. Each type has its own average pH, which can range from strongly acidic to strongly basic.9 Most plants, however, do best in soil ranging from pH 6 to pH 7.9 For this reason it is best that the pH of fertilizers lies within this range; if the pH is more acidic or more basic, it risks damaging the plant.

Look around you; do you think that we need soil in our everyday lives? Sure we do. Natural flowing water is filtered through the soil thus making it drinkable. We breathe the air that is produced by plants that grow in soil. Our clothes wouldn’t be made if the cotton plant had no soil to grow in.

Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “the history of every Nation is eventually written in the way in which it cares for its soil.” The United States began seeing sustainable management practices in farms, and healthier soil through this act. In 1982 through 2007, the United States soil erosion had declined by 43%” (Montanarella, 2015). Every year the United States loses about $400 billion dollars due to crop soil that is eroded. Soil is a limited resource and the largest resource for growing food, accommodating diverse ecosystems, and providing food resources. Therefore laws, acts, and provisions are necessary to protect this natural resource.

Congress declares soil erosion “a natural menace”. Under Hugh B. Bennett, the SCS will develop programs to save the topsoil and irreparable damage to the land. New farming techniques are put in place and farmers are paid to practice soil-conserving techniques as

The microbes found in soil go hand in hand with the microbes found in our bodies, especially the gut microbiome. Soil is used to grow various plants and crops which we then ingest. As stated in Healthy Soil Microbes, Healthy People, we have completely destroyed soil microbes by overusing fertilizers and pesticides just like how we have destroyed our gut microbes by ingesting processed foods and large amounts of antibiotics. Soil microbes, including bacteria and fungi, form symbiotic relationships with plant roots to help provide the plant with many nutrients needed to survive. In order to restore and improve the soil once again, we need to reintroduce bacteria and fungi that are capable of repairing the damage. Through recent technological advances, the soil microbiome was genetically sequenced. This allows farmers and other scientists to understand which microorganisms are

Hydrosol is a very wet kind of soil and is saturated for the majority of the year, often located where former lake beds occur. Sudosol is more sodic than acidic, it is a Texture Contrast Soil and therefore there is a strong contrast between the surface and the subsoil. This is the most common type of soil in the Mallee region. Vertosols are soils which grow and shrink, causing cracking when the soil dries out. They occur along the creek and river beds as well as the broad plains of the Mallee. Along the coastlines of the Mallee are Calcarosol soils, they, unlike Sudosols and Vertosols, do not have a strong texture contrast throughout its layers. Lastly, two sandy soils have been identified in the Mallee region: Rudosol and Tenosol. Rudosols are very young and undeveloped soils and are widespread in the Big Desert and Sunset Country. Tenosols are also rather undeveloped and occur in the same areas as Rudosols. Tenosols generally have a ‘low water holding capacity and fertility’. Having a vast selection of soils can only mean that a vast selection of produce comes from the area.

Today, in the United States, farmers and ranchers produce a wide variety of commodities for food, fuel, and fiber in response to markets. These farmers understand and recognize the significance of managing their soil as well as their plant productivity. America’s farmers are true professionals because crop production is a very complex business.

Soil pollution also referred to as soil contamination occurs when degradation or destruction of the earth’s surface and soil occurs directly or indirectly as a result of human activities. As Americans we tend to abuse the use of things such as cars for driving, books, paper, and computers without the knowledge of where it will end up. According to the food and Agriculture Organization approximately 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes to waste. After the garbage man has taken the materials, it ends up in a huge or small landfill waiting to be emerged into the soil. The average person generates

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