How do plants and animals contribute to soil formation?

Answer 1

Pretty simple, plants, just like animals need to eat to survive.

While most of these dietary needs are filled by photosynthesis (process of converting sunlight to use-able energy for the plant), not all of what the plant needs is gathered this way.

Plants tend to leech nutrients from the soil (hence the practice of crop rotation).

Also, soil absorbs water so that plants have more time to soak it up.

Answer 2

Plants have nutrients that help the soil. Also, their wastes break down, and then become part of the humus.
Plants help the soil become more fertile by biodegrading into organic particles, which are the primary source of nutrients for future plants.

Answer 3

[1] Plants add organic matter, and therefore fertility, to soil when they die and decompose. [2] They encourage the life of the soil food web by accepting symbiotic relationships, for example, with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and nematodes. In exchange for the latter making nitrogen soluble and therefore available to roots, the former shares water, nutrients, and the endproducts of photosynthesis [= carbohydrates, starches, and sugars]. [3] They flush waste products aka exudates into the soil for other soil food web members. [4] They hold soil together, against erosion. This is a critical role that they play, in tandem with bacterial glue and fungal threads for aggregating and structuring soil. [5] They keep air and water pore spaces open by the passageways roots make through soil. [6] They keep the above and below ground nutrient cycle going by claiming some of the nutrients that might either hunker in place or leach away. [7] They keep soil moisture levels acceptable by claiming some of the water that might pool in place.

Answer 4

plants help in:

protecting the top layer of soil against erosion

shading soil and reducing evaporation

plant's roots help in providing channels for water

help in contributing plant litter, which adds organic matter to the soil.

changing soil composition

Animals also help in:

breaking down plant litter.

aerating and mixing soil.

Their faeces and carcasses also add organic matter.

Answer 5

Soil inhabits a large number of micro-organisms and is considered as a living system. A number of leguminous plants fix free nitrogen in their root nodules which becomes available to other plants for better growth. The death & decay of all plants and animals maintail the soil health.

Answer 6

The most obvious way animals help is their feces. Their fecal matter helps decompose and adds nutrients to the soil. This is what they said house feces is better for a garden. Secondly, animals crush things while they walk. This may not seem like it is helping but soil is made up of small fragments of plants. Plant's roots prevent the soil from eroding. Their leaves eventually died, fall off, and become part of the soil. This adds even more nutrients to the soil.

Answer 7

the effect on the organic matter which provides nutrients in the soil and aids in the formation of good soil structure which makes the soil more fertile

Answer 8

so they will grow live.