What combination of sand, silt, and clay make the best soil conditions? Why?

What will be an ideal response?


Soils with the best oxygen and water penetration are loams, which have roughly equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay.

Clay particles enhance the nutritive value of soils because they have a negative charge that attracts positively charged mineral ions in soil water. Thus, clay-rich soil retains dissolved nutrients that might otherwise trickle past roots too quickly to be absorbed. Sand and silt are also necessary for plant growth because they intervene between tiny particles of clay. Soils with too much clay pack so tightly that they exclude air— and the oxygen in it. Cells in a plant's roots, like cells in aboveground parts, require oxygen for aerobic respiration.

Biology & Microbiology

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Which of the following can be found inside of a plant cell but not an animal cell?

a. mitochondria b. ribosome c. chloroplast d. Golgi apparatus

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When species are kept separate by preventing the formation of hybrid zygotes, the mechanism that keeps the species separate is known as a ________ isolating mechanism.

A. differential B. postzygotic C. adaptive D. prezygotic E. hybridization

Biology & Microbiology

Membrane potential will affect the directional movement of

A. glucose (C6H12O6). B. cholesterol. C. oxygen (O2). D. potassium (K+).

Biology & Microbiology

The classification of prokaryotes in Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology is largely based on

A) Gram stain reaction. B) habitat. C) type of electron receptor used in cellular respiration. D) rRNA sequences. E) cellular morphology.

Biology & Microbiology