Abiotic Factors: Soil and Minerals

Choose three materials that soil is primarily made of.

• weathered rock

• minerals

• humus/organic materials

• air

• water

What is humus?

• organic material from decomposed plants and animals

• weathered rock that has been broken down into very small pieces

• the amount of water that is found within the soil

• the air that is found in the pores of the soil

What are three ways plants' root utilize the soil?

• growing flowers

• holding them in place

• taking in water

• taking in minerals

• taking in sunlight

How does soil composition influence an ecosystem?

• It affects how much erosion happens within the ecosystem.

• It has no impact to an ecosystem.

• It directly affects the types of plant that can grow.

• It determines how much precipitation that an ecosystem will have.

Which of these organisms directly affects the type of soil an ecosystem will have?

• producers

• consumers

• decomposers

• scavengers

Soil acts like a ​ (a)   for ecosystems. It provides plants with the ​ (b)   and water they need to grow, which in turn support the ​ (c)   that eat those plants. Tiny organisms, worms, and insects living in the soil break down ​ (d)   plants and animals and return the nutrients from them to the ​ (e)   to be used by new plants. This starts the whole food chain again.

• foundation
• nutrients
• animals
• dead
• soil