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At a larger scale, soil acidification is linked to losses in agricultural productivity due to these effects. [31] Impacts of acidic water and Soil acidification on plants could be minor or in most cases major. In minor cases which do not result in fatality of plant life include; less-sensitive plants to acidic conditions and or less potent acid ...
Effects of pH on soil biota can be mediated by the various functional interactions of soil foodwebs. It has been shown experimentally that the collembolan Heteromurus nitidus , commonly living in soils at pH higher than 5, could be cultured in more acid soils provided that predators were absent. [ 59 ]
Soil acidification can lead to a decline in soil microbes as a result of a change in pH, which would have an adverse effect on plants due to their dependence on soil microbes to access nutrients. [ 80 ] [ 81 ] [ 82 ] To see if a plant is being affected by soil acidification, one can closely observe the plant leaves.
The degree to which a given amount of lime per unit of soil volume will increase soil pH depends on the buffer capacity of the soil (this is generally related to soil cation exchange capacity or CEC). Most acid soils are saturated with aluminum rather than hydrogen ions. Soil acidity generally results from hydrolysis of aluminum. [4]
The term ‘acid sulfate soils’ (ASS) was coined by the Working Party on Nomenclature and Methods for the first International Symposium on Acid Sulfate Soils (1972, Wageningen) to mean soils that contain, or have the potential to produce, sulfuric acid in quantities that cause significant and long-lasting changes in key soil properties. [22]
Soil acidification is accelerated by the use of acid-forming nitrogenous fertilizers and by the effects of acid precipitation. Deforestation is another cause of soil acidification, mediated by increased leaching of soil nutrients in the absence of tree canopies .
Some plants within the same species have shown resistance to the soil acidity their population grows in. [6] Selectively breeding the stronger plants is a way for humans to guard against increasing soil acidity. [6] Further success in combatting soil acidity has been seen in soybean and maize populations suffering from aluminum toxicity. [11]
Freshwater acidification is primarily caused by sulfur oxides (SO x) and nitrogen oxides (NO x) entering the water from atmospheric depositions and soil leaching. [1] Carbonic acid and dissolved carbon dioxide can also enter freshwaters, in a similar manner associated with runoff, through carbon dioxide-rich soils. [ 1 ]