Impact of Soils and Vegetation on Wildlife and Water Cycle, Slides of Wildlife Ecology

Download Impact of Soils and Vegetation on Wildlife and Water Cycle and more Slides Wildlife Ecology in PDF only on Docsity!

Soil profile in woods

BSc/Ag 336 – Wildlife Management II

Soils and Wildlife

Dust storm

• the % air, % water, % organic matter will change with time and space
• The Soil Ecosystem = all parts of the soil, including biotic and abiotic
• Soils are important to life as we know it on this planet! Soils are dynamic:

Drawing of house Water cycle Water percolatio n into soil plant USDA-NRCS

Drawing of soil with termite, red velvet mite, pseudoscorpion, springtail, earthworm, root tip, nematode, fungi, protozoa, and bacteria Red maple leaves USDA-NRCS

Diagram of soil horizon showing O, A, B, and C horizons Example of soil profile Example of soil profile Example of soil profile USDA-NRCS

Soil survey map A person using a soil color chart to determine soil color Cover of soil survey book for Pierce Co. Washington USDA-NRCS

Truck stuck in mud Water ponding on clay soil Gravelly soil in xeric environment Ex: gravelly soils hold little water

• results in more xeric conditions
• clay soils often hold water; more likely to impound water and form ponds ( also likely to get your truck stuck in this kind of soil!)

Siol texture triangle showing percentages of clay, silt, or sand in various soil types Soils are characterized by their texture = the proportion of sand, silt, and clay A soil texture triangle is used to classify the texture class of a soil. The sides of the soil texture triangle are scaled for the percentages of sand, silt, and clay. Clay percentages are read from left to right across the triangle (dashed lines). Silt is read from the upper right to lower left (light, dotted lines). Sand from lower right towards the upper left portion of the triangle (bold, solid lines). The boundaries of the soil texture classes are highlighted in blue. The intersection of the three sizes on the triangle give the texture class. For instance, if you have a soil with 20% clay, 60% silt, and 20% sand it falls in the "silt loam" class.

Seedling in soil Soils have obvious, direct effects on vegetation Animals and plants can be closely adapted to particular soil types

Tallgrass prairie vegetation Ex: Soils in Hunt Co.

• much of the area is covered with thick clay soils (“black waxy” or “black gumbo” of the Blackland Prairies) Fossorial: organism that is adapted to digging and life underground
• extremely hard soil, especially when dry
• makes it extremely hard for fossorial animals to live here, such as...

Map of Cretaceous inland sea in lower 48 states and located between the Rocky Mountains and the Appellation Mountains Soils are a product of geological history and on-going processes of erosion and deposition The geological history of Hunt Co.:

• 65 million years ago, the entire county was under water – warm Cretaceous sea (shoreline was between Dallas and Fort Worth)

limestone Sulphur river Consequently, all of the soils in Hunt Co. are underlain by fossiliferous materials – gravels, limestone, and chalk

• the county also tends to slope, rising in elevation as one goes from southeast to northwest

Wet meadow By the early Tertiary (from end of the Cretaceous to 1.8 mya), the county was:

• high and dry
• vegetation colonized the area
• rain, wind, and rivers continued the process of soil development
• these processes continue today

Color key to soil map Soil map of Hunt Co. showing distribution of soil types Soils in Hunt Co. reflect the retreat of the ancient gulf shoreline Upland soils in the north and northwestern part of the county consist mainly of clay (yellow)

• slightly alkaline