Physical Geography: Soil Texture, Succession, and Biome Analysis

This assignment delves into key concepts in physical geography, starting with an analysis of soil texture using the soil texture triangle to classify different soil compositions based on sand, silt, and clay percentages, further elaborating on the porosity of each soil texture class. It then explores the differences between primary and secondary ecological succession, providing real-world examples such as vegetation development on Hawaiian volcanoes (primary) and forest regeneration after a fire in Manitoba (secondary). The assignment also examines various biomes, including temperate grasslands, Mediterranean biomes, tropical rainforests, tundra biomes, and montane forests, identifying primary producers, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores within each ecosystem. Finally, it discusses the characteristics of boreal forests and savannah grasslands, highlighting their unique ecological features and the adaptations of their flora and fauna to their respective environments. Desklib offers this assignment as a resource for students, providing a comprehensive understanding of these essential geographical concepts, and invites users to explore its platform for more educational materials.

Physical geography

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Table of Contents
Answer to question 1.............................................................................................................................1
Answer to question 2.............................................................................................................................1
Answer to question 3.............................................................................................................................2
Answer to question 4.............................................................................................................................3
References.............................................................................................................................................4

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Answer to question 1
A. Soil Texture Triangle
The gardening stores sale out not only the simple soil but the black soil also which could be
used to grow the plants and help with more effective plantation. it is quite obvious that the
soil changes from place to place so it often happens that the soil changes at the place where
some is living and the soil of different places has different characteristics, which it
interesting from the plantation view point (Fibich, et. al, 2016). The quality and
characteristics of soil are the most important things applying role in the growth of the plants.
i. Silt Clay
ii. Silt loam
iii. Clay
iv .Sandy Clay loam
v. Loamy sad
B. Briefly describing the porosity of each of the soil texture classes:
Porosity is defined as the ratio of volume of voids to total volume.
 Clay- The porosity of clay is between 0.37 to 0.15
 Sandy Clay- The porosity of sandy clay is between 0.27 to 0.17
 Silt Clay- The porosity of slit sand is between 0.49 to 0.25
 Sandy Clay Loam- The porosity of sandy clay loam is between 0.25 to 0.15
 Clay loam- The porosity of clay loam is between 0.35 to 0.15
 Silt clay loam- The porosity of silt clay loam is between 0.25 to 0.11
 Sand- The porosity of sand is between 0.29 to 0.23
 Loamy Sand- The porosity of loamy sand is between 0.33 to 0.11
 Sandy Loam- The porosity of sandy loam is between 0.29 to 0.10
 Loam- The porosity of loam is between 0.13 to 0.8
 Silt Loam- The porosity of silt loam is between 0.23 to 0.18
Answer to question 2
a. Ecological succession is a process in which structure of biological community
changes over time. There are two types of ecological succession that is primary
and secondary. Primary succession generally occurs in lifeless areas where soil is
incapable of sustaining life. Secondary succession occurs in the area where some
community was established previously (Dini-Andreote, Stegen, van Elsas & Salles,

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2015). The time for completion of primary succession is 1000 years or more and
the time taken for secondary succession is 50 to 200 years. The soil is present with
some organisms in case of secondary succession and there is absence of soil in
case of primary succession thus the condition is no suitable for sustaining life. In
case of primary succession there is no humus in the soil but in case of secondary
succession there is the presence of humus. The environment in the beginning is
quiet unfavourable but in case of secondary succession environment is favourable
since beginning. Intermediary serial and pioneer community are present in case of
primary succession whereas the presence of intermediary serial community gets
developed in case of secondary succession (Dini-Andreote, Stegen, van Elsas &
Salles, 2015). Thus the difference is majorly due to environmental conditions and
the condition of soil. Some of the differences are discussed above.
b.
i. According to the research case 1 is a primary succession, as there is no community
in the volcanoes before and communities were developed after the Hawaiian
island. After then the first time vegetation occurred that that lead to the formation
of new communities in that area (O’Donnell, Harri & O'Toole, 2017). After that
slowly with time the food chains were built and then gradually the growth of
organisms were seen with time. With time soil was build up by breaking of rocks.
Soil was absent at the time of beginning and reproductive structures were built
with time (Li, Zhu, Han, Yang, Jin & Xie, 2016). The process will take a long time
and it is observed that the environment was also very hostile in the starting. Thus,
it is a form of primary succession by observing the condition. Thus, it can be said
that it is a case of primary succession.
ii. It is a form of secondary succession as the forest was already present and a new
landscape was formed after the fire. The new grasses and pin tress grow in the area
thus it can be said that it is a secondary succession. It is a process that is started
after an event that may be forest fire that has reduced the already established
ecosystem by destroying it (Pelster, et. al, 2015). The carbonates get generated
from the blunt plant which increases the pH rate of the soil. It can be said as a part
of secondary succession as it is a response to environmental response. It is a time
consuming process as it takes years to develop (Sexton, et.al, 2016). The renewal
of a forest after a fire is the case can be said as a secondary succession as the
development will now take place after a particular event that happened in the past.
Answer to question 3
Primary producers are an important basic part of an ecosystem. They are an important
part of the food chain. Herbivorous are the one who eat plant material like leaves and
flower. Omnivorous eat both plants and meat and future carnivorous eat omnivores (Erb,
et. al, 2016).
Now, listing the primary producer, herbivores, omnivorous and carnivorous of each of the
following biome
a. Temperate grassland- The primary producer here are the plants and the herbivores here
are bison and prairie dogs. They eat primary producers as their food. Future, these
herbivores are eaten by secondary consumers that are found here are snakes which fall in
the category of carnivores (Sexton, et.al, 2016). The chain goes on like the carnivores are
eaten by omnivorous that are bears and coyotes in temperate grassland.

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b. Mediterranean biome – The primary producers are small fishes and water plants in the
Mediterranean biome. The herbivores are whales, fish, tuna and zooplankton. The
omnivores and carnivores are turtles and whale, dolphin and shark.
c. Tropical rainforest- The primary producer is canopy trees and vines. The herbivorous are
parrot, monkeys and small mammals. The omnivorous that are mostly commonly seen in
tropical rainforest is monkeys and ants and the carnivorous and jaguar and reptiles and
amphibians (Lcps, 2016).
d. Tundra biome- The primary producers that are seen over here are plants and herbivorous
are artic hares and squirrels and the carnivorous are arctic foxes and wolves and polar
bears. The herbivorous and eaten up by carnivorous which in turn is eaten by omnivorous.
e. Montane forest- The primary producer in these region are plants and herbivorous include
small birds and toads and carnivorous include insect and worms. Carnivorous in these
region are elk and deer. The omnivorous are beer and raccoons. Large carnivores include
wolves and mountain lions. A large carnivore might hunt down large herbivores such as
elk and deer. Medium-sized carnivores include hawks and snakes, and these animals
typically feed on rodents, birds, eggs, frogs, and insects. Examples of small carnivores
include some smaller birds and toads. These carnivores may eat insects and worm.
Answer to question 4
(a) The term boreal forest is used for several birds in North America that contain wetlands
which filter numbers of litres of water per day. The boreal forest must withstand harsh
situation that involves long, frigid winters, dry summers, short and frequent fires. It also
helps to tolerate them like an adverse situation. Because such kinds of trees are facing the
harsh situation the boreal forests are very dominated through coniferous species. There are
main six genera of trees which are identified as canopy dominates across the whole boreal
forest, for example, fir, birch, pine, aspen, larch and spruce. The boreal regions are also
divided based on their geographical locations within the continents. It is observed that the
interior boreal is divided by the dry situation and extreme cold that has a disturbance regime
of catastrophic fires. A recent study shows that maritime boreal is mainly more moist and
productivity as compared to the interior boreal.
(b)A savannah grassland are defined as an ecological scheme with dispersed shrubs and
inaccessible trees. The grasslands are initiated on the both lateral of the equator between
steamy rainforests and reward biomes. It has a number of biotic and abiotic equipment’s
ranging from easy to extremely particular floras and animals physiognomies. The organisms
of the savannah are referred to as consumers, producers and decomposers. Producers involve
the energy of the sun with the help of photosynthesis and there are mainly three types of
producers, for example, trees, mosses, and shrubs. It produces energy from numerous
species of organisms, for example, larger animals, fungi and insects. Consumers take plants
to take energy for growth and it divided into three parts such as herbivores, carnivores, and
omnivores. Omnivores eat animals and plants but carnivores eat faunae only. Decomposers
break down organic physical to get nutrients and comprise the fungi, bugs, algae and
bacteria.

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References
Dini-Andreote, F., Stegen, J. C., van Elsas, J. D., & Salles, J. F. (2015). Disentangling
mechanisms that mediate the balance between stochastic and deterministic processes
in microbial succession. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
201414261.
Erb, K. H., Fetzel, T., Plutzar, C., Kastner, T., Lauk, C., Mayer, A., ... & Haberl, H. (2016).
Biomass turnover time in terrestrial ecosystems halved by land use. Nature
Geoscience, 9(9), 674.
Fibich, P., Lepš, J., Novotný, V., Klimeš, P., Těšitel, J., Molem, K., ... & Weiblen, G. D.
(2016). Spatial patterns of tree species distribution in New Guinea primary and
secondary lowland rain forest. Journal of vegetation science, 27(2), 328-339.
Lcps. (2016). chart. Retrieved from
https://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA01000195/Centricity/Domain/3317/Biome%20chart.pdf.
Li, X., Zhu, X., Han, D., Yang, Y., Jin, J., & Xie, S. (2016). Carbohydrate utilization by
herbivorous and omnivorous freshwater fish species: a comparative study on gibel
carp (C arassius auratus gibelio. var CAS III) and grass carp (C tenopharyngodon
idellus). Aquaculture research, 47(1), 128-139.
O’Donnell, M. M., Harris, H. M., Ross, R. P., & O'Toole, P. W. (2017). Core fecal
microbiota of domesticated herbivorous ruminant, hindgut fermenters, and
monogastric animals. Microbiologyopen, 6(5), e00509.
Pelster, B., Wood, C. M., Speers-Roesch, B., Driedzic, W. R., Almeida-Val, V., & Val, A.
(2015). Gut transport characteristics in herbivorous and carnivorous serrasalmid fish
from ion-poor Rio Negro water. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 185(2), 225-
241.
Sexton, J. O., Noojipady, P., Song, X. P., Feng, M., Song, D. X., Kim, D. H., ... &
Townshend, J. R. (2016). Conservation policy and the measurement of
forests. Nature Climate Change, 6(2), 192.