Dec. 15, 2016 –  Plants need the nutrients of soil to grow. The Earth’s creatures need homes to live. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) December 15th Soils Matter blog post explains how soil provides these and other services.

“Just like water and air, soil provides ‘services’ to all life on earth, year round. It’s a gift from the soil to humanity,” write soil scientists Mary Stromberger and Nick Comerford.

Soil scientists summarize soil’s work as four distinct ecosystem services:

• Supporting: Soil provides a home for a diverse blend of bacteria, fungi, and fauna. It also provides the nutrients and physical scaffold for plant support.
• Regulating: Soil regulates air and water quality, helping with issues such as severe climate, flooding, and even disease.
• Provisioning: From antibiotics to clay bricks, soil gives us resources for survival.
• Cultural:  Pottery, dyes, paints, and more come from the soil.

Soils are the source and foundation of many ecosystem services. Without soils, there would be no life. That’s why the Soil Science Society of America’s tag line is Soils Sustain Life!

Read the entire blog post here.

Follow SSSA on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SSSA.soils, Twitter at SSSA_Soils. SSSA has soils information on www.soils.org/discover-soils, for teachers at www.soils4teachers.org, and for students through 12^th grade, www.soils4kids.org.