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Soil organic matter (SOM) is the organic matter component of soil, consisting of plant and animal detritus at various stages of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil microbes, and substances that soil microbes synthesize.
In terrestrial ecosystems detritus is present as plant litter and other organic matter that is intermixed with soil, known as soil organic matter. The detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic substances suspended in the water and accumulated in depositions on the floor of the body of water ; when this floor is a seabed , such a deposition is ...
Only fungi produce the enzymes necessary to decompose lignin, a chemically complex substance found in wood. A decaying tree trunk in Canada's boreal forest. Decaying wood fills an important ecological niche, providing habitat and shelter, and returning important nutrients to the soil after undergoing decomposition. Detritivore nutrient cycling ...
Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals . [ 1 ]
In terrestrial environments, decomposition happens mainly in or on soil, and decomposers' activities lead to increased soil fertility. [7] The main nutrients plants have to derive from soils are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and all three have to be available in forms that are accessible to and absorbable by the plants.
Water is a critical agent in soil development due to its involvement in the dissolution, precipitation, erosion, transport, and deposition of the materials of which a soil is composed. [39] The mixture of water and dissolved or suspended materials that occupy the soil pore space is called the soil solution. Since soil water is never pure water ...
Soil carbon sequestration is a major property of the soil, also considered as an ecosystem service. [24] Only when it becomes stable and acquires its multi-century permanence, mostly via multiple interactions with the soil matrix , molecular soil humus should be considered to be of significance in removing the atmosphere's current carbon ...
Decomposition microbiology can be divided into two fields of interest, namely the decomposition of plant materials and the decomposition of cadavers and carcasses. The decomposition of plant materials is commonly studied in order to understand the cycling of carbon within a given environment and to understand the subsequent impacts on soil ...