Soil Environment

Introduction

This page explores the soil environmental factors regulating microbial activity.

Warm-up with this quote by Shuhei Ono from the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory:

“We think that there were microbes in the oceans, before the oxygenated atmosphere, which would have used methane for energy... Oxygen first appeared on the surface of the Earth when microbes developed the capacity to split water molecules to produce O2 using the Sun's energy. This is a bit advanced biochemistry, but we think this biological revolution emerged sometime before 2.7 billion years ago," he continued.

Reuters (2006, March 22). Climate Change And The Rise Of Atmospheric Oxygen. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 4, 2008 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060322140017.htm

Key Points

Chemical Factors

macro nutrients (base extractable organic C), extractable P, nitrate & ammonium, ph & EC, ect

Physical Factors

Soil type: texture, density/porosity, moisture, depth, color, age, ect.

Biological Factors

Microbe/Microbe interactions, growth rates (plant measurements/microbial measurements), assimilation, soil/plant relationships, ect.

References

Edited by students of Kate Scow