Soil functions are general capabilities of

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

s that are important for various

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

, environmental,

nature protection Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

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

functions are: #Food and other

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

production #Environmental Interaction #Biological

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

and

gene pool The gene pool is the set of all genes, or genetic information, in any population, usually of a particular species. Description A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can surv ...

#Source of raw materials #Physical and cultural heritage #Platform for man-made structures

Food and other biomass production

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 to escape and fresh 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 interaction

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 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. SOM provides numerous ...

, thus reducing the total concentration of carbon dioxide that can mitigate global climate change.

Biological habitat and gene pool

Soils also acts as a biological habitat and a gene reserve for a large variety of organisms. Soils are the environment in which seeds grow, they provide heat, nutrients and water that are available to use to nurture plants and animals. The assistance of soil in the decomposition of dead plants, animals, and organism by transforming their remains into simpler mineral forms, can be utilized by other living things.

Source of raw materials

Soil provides raw materials for human use and impacts human health directly. The composition of human food reflects the nature of the soil in which it was grown. An example of soil as a source of raw material can be found in ancient ceramic production. The Maya ceramics showed traits inherited from soils and sediments used as raw material. The understanding of soil formation process can help define certain type of soil and reflect the composition of soil minerals. However, the natural area of productive soils is limited and due to increasing pressure of cropping, forestry, and urbanization, extracting soil as a raw material needs to be controlled for.

Physical and cultural heritage

Soil also has more general culture functions as they act as a part of the cultural landscape of our minds as well as the physical world around us. An attachment to home soils or a sense of place is a cultural attribute developed mores strongly in certain people. Soils has been around since the creation of earth, it can act as a factor in determining how humans have migrated in the past. Soil also act as an earth cover that protects and preserve the physical artifacts of the past that can allow us to better understand cultural heritage. Moreover, soil has been an important indication to where people settle as they are an essential resource for human productivity.

Platform for man-made structures

Soil can act as raw material deposits and is widely used in building materials. Approximately 50% of the people on the planet live in houses that are constructed from soil. The conditions of the soil must be firm and solid to provide a good base for roads and highways to be built on. Additionally, since these structures rest on the soil, factors such as its bearing strength, compressibility, stability, and shear strength al need to be considered. Testing the physical properties allow a better application to engineering uses of soil.

Mapping soil functions

Soil mapping is the identification, description, ad delineation on a map of different types of soil based on direct field observations or on indirect inferences from souch sources such as aerial photographs.Mapping Systems Working Group. 198%. A Soil Mapping System for Canada: revised. Land Resource Research Institute, Contribution No. 142, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, 94 pp.

Soil map Soil map is a geographical representation showing diversity of soil types and/or soil properties (soil pH, soil texture, textures, organic matter, depths of soil horizons, horizons etc.) in the area of interest. It is typically the end result of a ...

s can depict soil properties and functions in the context of specific soil functions such as

food production,

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair da ...

, and

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

considerations. Maps can depict functional interpretations of specific properties such as critical

nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excr ...

levels, heavy-metal levels or can depict interpretation of multiple properties such as a map of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is di ...

risk index. Mapping of function specific soil properties is an extension of

soil survey Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former t ...

, using maps of soil components together with auxiliary information (including

pedotransfer function In soil science, pedotransfer functions (PTF) are predictive functions of certain soil properties using data from soil surveys. The term ''pedotransfer function'' was coined by Johan Bouma as ''translating data we have into what we need''. The mo ...

s and soil inference models) to depict inferences about the specific performance of soil mapping units. Other functions of soil in ecosystems: * source of

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-mad ...

s (

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a soil texture, textur ...

, rocks) * carbon recycler *

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...

production

References

{{soil science topics Functions, soil