19: Soil Biology 1

Question 1

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 1

A community of living organisms that interact among themselves and with their physical environment (topography, air, water), interacting as a system

Question 2

What drives soil biodiversity?

Answer 2

1. Diversity of soil organisms is driven by biotic and abiotic factors
2. Vertical heterogeneity and soil microenvironments
3. Spatial heterogeneity (horizontal)
4. Temporal changes (biodiversity is highly dynamic)

Question 3

What are basic soil ecosystem components?

Answer 3

Structure and function

Structure is related to species diversity, while the functions are related to the flow of energy and cycling of materials through structural components of the ecosystem

Question 4

Biological approaches to studying soil ecological communities

Answer 4

Size
Morphology
Taxonomic relatedness

Question 5

PLFAs

What biological approach does this fall under?

Answer 5

Phospholipid fatty acids in the cell membrane of microorganisms. Different microbial groups have different biomarkers that can be used to estimate their presence and abundance in soils

Morphology

Question 6

Functional approaches

Answer 6

1. According to their position on the food web
2. Microbial metabolism
3. Based on the substrates they use for metabolism