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Soil carbon is the solid carbon stored in global soils. This includes both soil organic matter and inorganic carbon as carbonate minerals. It is vital to the soil capacity in our ecosystem. Soil carbon is a carbon sink in regard to the global carbon cycle, playing a role in biogeochemistry, climate change mitigation, and constructing global ...
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from soil by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil.
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.
Wetlands make up about 5-8% of Earth's terrestrial land surface but contain about 20-30% of the planet's 2500 Gt soil carbon stores. [52] Peatlands contain the highest amounts of soil organic carbon of all wetland types. [53] Wetlands can become sources of carbon, rather than sinks, as the decomposition occurring within the ecosystem emits ...
The carbon cycle is that part of the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of Earth. Other major biogeochemical cycles include the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many ...
Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity and ecology in soil. Soil life, soil biota, soil fauna, or edaphon is a collective term that encompasses all organisms that spend a significant portion of their life cycle within a soil profile, or at the soil- litter interface. These organisms include earthworms, nematodes, protozoa ...
The soil forming process (pedogenesis) can begin without the aid of biology but is significantly quickened in the presence of biologic reactions, where it forms a soil carbon sponge. [2] Soil formation begins with the chemical and/or physical breakdown of minerals to form the initial material that overlies the bedrock substrate.
Soil formation. Soil formation, also known as pedogenesis, is the process of soil genesis as regulated by the effects of place, environment, and history. Biogeochemical processes act to both create and destroy order (anisotropy) within soils.