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Concept
Soil functions
Summary
Soil functions are general capabilities of soils that are important for various agricultural, environmental, nature protection, landscape architecture and urban applications. Soil can perform many functions and these include functions related to the natural ecosystems, agricultural productivity, environmental quality, source of raw material, and as base for buildings.
Six key soil functions are:
Food and other biomass production
Environmental Interaction
Biological habitat and gene pool
Source of raw materials
Physical and cultural heritage
Platform for man-made structures
Soil acts as an anchor for plant roots. It provides a hospitable place for a plant to live in while storing and supplying nutrients to plants. Soil also functions by maintaining the quantity and quality of air by allowing CO2 to escape and fresh O2 to enter the root zone. Pore spaces within soil can also absorb water and hold it until plant roots need it. The soil also moderates temperature fluctuation, providing a suitable temperature for the roots to function normally. A fertile soil will also provide dissolved mineral nutrients for optimal plant growth. The combination of these activities supports plant growth for providing food and other biomass production.
Environmental interactions such as regulating water supplies, water loos, utilization, contamination, and purification are all affected by the soil. They can filter, buffer, and transform materials between the atmosphere, the plant cover, and the water table. Soil interacts with the environment to transform and decompose waste materials in to new materials. Through filtering, soil acts as a filter and captures contaminants through soil particles. Contaminants are captured by the soil particles and water comes out cleaner in the aquifers and rivers. Lastly, it can accumulate large amounts of carbon as soil organic matter, thus reducing the total concentration of carbon dioxide that can mitigate global climate change.
Soils also acts as a biological habitat and a gene reserve for a large variety of organisms.
Official source
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