The Importance of Soil - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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The Importance of Soil

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... soil organisms convert gaseous nitrogen to forms that plants can use Agricultural Uses Of Soil Human ... Grazing Land Much land in the US is graze by ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The Importance of Soil


1
The Importance of Soil
  • Ag and Tech ! Ms. Lacross

2
The Importance of Soil
  • Please answer the following questions
  • Why is soil important to you?
  • What do we use soil for?
  • Why do we need soil?

3
Objectives
  • You will be able to
  • Summarize ecological functions of soil
  • Describe 4 ways plants use soil
  • List and explain uses of soil

4
The Important of Soil
  • Past The importance of soil dates back thousands
    of years but is still a current problem today.
  • in 340 B.C.E. observations of soil were taken by
    green historian Herodotus
  • in the 1930s the Dust Bowl caused drought
    because of soil misuse.
  • Present
  • North and South America and Europe receive dust
    blown from Africa. As soils of Africa degrade the
    movement of dust has been increasing.
  • Future
  • The Earths population has reached about 7 billion
    people
  • The worlds growers will need to provide 70
    percent more food by 2050

5
Renewable or Nonrenewable?
  • Soil is a Slowly RENEWABLE resource
  • Minerals in Rocks and Fossil fuels are
    Nonrenewable
  • Compost is renewable
  • Nonrenewable
  • resources in which there is a limited supply.
  • supply comes from the Earth
  • takes millions of years to develop
  • is FINITE
  • Renewable
  • resource that is replaced naturally
  • can be used again

6
Soil is a life supporting layer of material
  • The atmosphere, crust and soil interact to
    provide plants and animals with the resources
    they need
  • Temperature plant roots grow best in certain
    soil temperature ranges 40 50 degrees
  • Gases plant roots and other soil organisms need
    o2 and give off c02
  • Water Soils filter water as it moves through
    purifying it

7
Soil is a life supporting layer of material
  • The atmosphere, crust and soil interact to
    provide plants and animals with the resources
    they need
  • Carbon Soils act as a carbon reserve keeping
    carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere
  • Nutrients
  • Nitrogen soil organisms convert gaseous nitrogen
    to forms that plants can use

8
Agricultural Uses Of Soil
  • Human societies depend on soil to grow
  • food
  • fiber
  • timber
  • ornamental plants and
  • biofuels

9
Agricultural Uses of Soil Cropland
  • Cropland is land on which soil is worked and
    crops are plants, cared for and harvested
  • worldwide the greatest acreage of cropland is
    devoted to ANNUAL crops (one year season)

10
Agricultural Uses of Soil Grazing Land
  • Much land in the US is graze by cattle and sheep
  • Pasture is planted for forage
  • Forage food for horses or cattle aka Fodder
  • The environmental consequences of grazing depends
    on how the land is managed
  • Overstocked land suffers damage to soil and water

11
Agricultural Uses of Soil Forest
  • Foresters disturb soil the LEAST
  • but management is a concern
  • Trees are harvested after many years of growth
  • logging equipment tears up the grass (vegetative
    cover) and compacts the soil
  • Compaction erosion

12
Agricultural Uses of Soil Landscape Horticulture
  • Landscape horticulture
  • landscaping and growing plants in containers
  • the practice we use to sustain soil and water
    resources in Urban areas
  • Landscapers install and maintain plants in soils
    that have been heavily modified by construction

13
Agricultural Uses of Soil Urban Agriculture
  • Seeks to provide food, especially for poorer
    people
  • urban farmers occupy small pieces of land
  • vacant lots, large yards or grounds

14
Use of soil in the United States
15
Soil and Climate
  • Climate affects how we use the soil
  • How we use the soil affects the climate
  • Greenhouse gases What we do when we manage soil
    can increase or decrease the concentration of
    gases in the atmosphere
  • Soil is one of the planets largest reservoirs of
    carbon in the form of organic matter
  • if we lose organic matter from fields more CO2
    goes into the atmosphere

16
Please answer the following questions
  • Now that you know more about the importance of
    soil
  • What things would you NOT have if we did not have
    soil?
  • Do foresters disturb the soil the most or the
    least?
  • What is Urban Agriculture?
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