edaphic

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In ecology, edaphic refers to plant communities that are distinguished by soil conditions rather than by the climate. Edaphic plant communities include:

• Sandy soils: plant communities distinct to sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soils include the tropical heath forests and restingas and temperate pine barrens.
• Ultramafic soils: plant communities distinct to soils derived from manganese and iron-rich ultramafic rocks include ultramafic woodlands and ultramafic barrens of the Appalachian mountains and piedmont, the "wet maquis" of the New Caledonia rain forests, the ultramafic forests of Mount Kinabalu and other peaks in Sabah, Malaysia, and the Serpentine soil plant communities of California.

Edaphic endemics are plants or animals endemic to areas of a specific soil type.

See also

• Edaphology

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