Gurveen & Jasneet Bains
We are Gurveen and Jasneet Bains. For our science project, we believe that it would be fascinating to discover more about Mother Nature, specifically and how soil erosion can affect landforms. Our big question: can plants prevent soil erosion? We looked at three different types of landforms (dried leaves, bare soil, and spider ocean plants), to find out which landform is more likely to stop soil erosion. We found that the spider ocean plant treatment was best at preventing soil erosion. Our findings suggest that plants are more likely to stop soil erosion, and therefore also may decrease flooding, as well as sedimentation in rivers and streams.
INTRODUCTION
What is soil erosion?
Soil erosion affects all landforms and it occurs naturally. Soil erosion is always mentioned as the wearing away of topsoil by natural forces like H20water, or wind, through human forces that have to do with farming activityies in agriculture , in particular tillage (the preparation of land for developing crops) (Roundy, 2019; World Wildlife Foundation, n.d.). Soil detachment, movement, and deposition are the three actions of erosion., whether it is by water, wind or tillage. In organic matter, fertility, and soil life, topsoil is used a lot, which is processed somewhere else "on-site" that is built up over time or it’s transferred "off-site" where this fills the drainage channels. Soil erosion reduces can pollutethe pollution of nearby bodies of waterwatercourses, wetlands, and lakes and will reduce cropland productivity (Ritter, 2012; Sulaeman & Westhoff, 2020). Soil erosion can sometimes be a slow process that continues approximately unnoticed or it occurs at an alarming rate, causing severe loss of topsoil. Soil compaction, low organic matter, loss of soil structure, poor internal drainage, salinization and soil acidity are problems that cause dangerous soil degradation conditions which can quicken the soil erosion process. Erosion can cause many problems, for example, it can increase flooding, sedimentation in rivers and streams, which creates a loss of soil nutrients and soil degradation. Plants and wildlife that depend on these ecosystems are negatively impacted, because of erosions. (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2020, from http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/12-053.htm).It's also necessary to learn about plants, and the ecosystem because plants maintain the atmosphere. It's fabulous to discover additional information about this so you know what kind of environment you are living in. Plants produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide throughout photosynthesis (Queensland Government, 2013).
Preventing soil erosion
Plants are known to help prevent soil erosion. Additional activities that help to prevent erosion are For example: planting trees, usingdifferent farming methods, stops rivers to flood,the building dams to slow down water to run-off, and, perhaps most important of all, protecting and maintaining areas that could be eroded. Taking measures to prevent soil erosion The most important of all if we follow this, we can also save habitats and homes that belong to animals.
PURPOSE & HYPOTHESIS
The purpose of this experiment is to determine if plants will reduce the amount of soil when it is eroded from a hill because due toof rainfall. We wanted to identify more about erosions and plants, and how it impacts our daily lives in many ways. Our hypothesis is that the treatments with the plants will help to prevent erosion because plants can slow down water as it flows over the land soil leading toand this makes much of the rain the water soaking into the ground. The roots of the plants might be able to maintain the soil in position., and it probably would prevent it from being blown or washed away. Additionally, we predict that the treatments without plants and root systems will not be able to stop erosions because the leaves of plants can reduce the speed of raindrops falling onto the ground, which makes it harder for leaves to erode because the soil pushes the leaves.
MATERIALS
Variables
The independent variable in our experiment is the set-up in the aluminum pan: soil with dried leaves, soil with plants, and soil. The dependent variable in our experiment is the amount of soil eroded. The controlled variables in our experiment are the soil type and amount initially added to each replicate, the amount of water added, as well as the type of aluminum pan.
PROCEDURE
Preparing the treatments
This experiment was inspired by funsciencedemos (2015). Nine aluminum foil pans The TITAN ULTRA Deep Aluminum foil Pans were filled with Miracle-Gro Potting Mix to a depth ofup to the 2 cm point. Next, the Sppider oOcean plant seeds were planted in the three Deep aluminum foil pans slightly closer together, in accordance with following the directions on for the Spider Ocean seeds package. The Deep aluminum foil pans were labelled with the trial number, using the sticky notes and permanent marker. Then, we used a skwere tothe Deep aluminum foil pans were punctured with holes (about 3 cm apart) along the bottom edge of the pans, which were 3 cm apart with a skewer. The purpose of the holes were served as drainage holes to was to allow excess water to drain out. Therefore, the Deep aluminum foilThe pans, were then placed in the Betty Crocker Rroasting tTrays to Pans. This allowed the the pans to collect the excess water that to be collectedleaked out of the drainage holes in the Deep aluminum foil pans. Finally, the spider plant replicates wereRoasting Trays were placed near a sunny window to progress the growth of the plants.
Testing soil erosion
A kitchen scale was used to record the mass of thean empty roasting pantray. Next, three vertical cuts were made halfway down the short side of three the aluminum foil pans, and the edge was folded down to expose the soil. A plastic sandwich container was placed next to one of the aluminum foil pans. Place tThe cut end of the foil aluminum pan was placed into the roasting pantray, with the other end propped up on the a plastic container, so that the aluminum foil pan is sloping into the tray at an angle. A watering can (with a rose, which is a spout with small holes) was filled with approximately 475 mL of water. Using the watering can to simulate “rain,”, it was held high enough to water onto the entire aluminum foil pan at once for about approximately 5 s. The water that leaked into the roasting pan was drained carefully, so as not to spill any of the soil. The kitchen scale was used to measure the mass of the roasting pan and soil. This procedure was repeated three times per treatment, and the averages from each treatment were recorded.
RESULTS
The average amount of soil that eroded from the plant treatment Spider Ocean plants got was 5352.4 grams. The leaves treatment had an average amount of eroded soil atThe average amount of soil that dried leaves got was 6516.6 grams. Finally, Tthe average amount of soil eroded from the soil treatment wasjust bare soil got was 7680.8 grams. The soil treatment had nearly 1.4 times more soil eroded than the plant treatment.Please refer to figure 1 for an illustration of the results from each replicate.
Figure 1: Mass of soil eroded per replicate by trial
DISCUSSION
The conclusion that we can draw from our results is that the treatment with the spider ocean plants was best at preventing soil erosion. This indicates that pPlants are more likely to stop soil erosion because of the roots provide structural integrity to the surrounding soil. that maintain the plants in position, making only less soil to be eroded from the particular landform. Our results support our hypothesis that plants can help preventstop soil erosion.
To prevent soil erosion, farmers uses many tools to prevent soil degradation, and famers build up the organic matter. The practices that farmers use is in the following: Crop rotation, reduced tillage, mulching, cover cropping, and cross-slope farming. Farmers increases the soil organic matter content, soil structure, and the rooting depth. Many factors which include waves, currents, storms, and rising sea levels, overtake the beaches, removes sand, and this alters the coastline. This is includes a lot of damage for marinas, and beaches when events like landslides occur, and when that happens dunes are formed. But there are still many projects that is taking place, to stop landslides, etc. to occur. Such as, retaining walls, groynes and wave attenuation helps to decrease the impact of beach erosion, which balances the water current energy to decrease the effects. Everyone should help the planet, to make it very sustainable planet to live in.
LIMITATIONS
What we could have done differently for our science experiment is we would use multiple types of soil, and test them all (with each landformtreatment). This would allow for generalization of our results to various soil types. Additionally, we could alter our methods to reduce the chance of There can be human error. For example, we can time we can use a timer instead of counting outloud because we may unintentionally change the speed at which we count.
CONCLUSIONS
We tested three treatments and their ability to withstand soil erosion, and determined After conducting our experiment, we can conclude that the Deep aluminum foil pan with the Spider Ocean plants prevent soil erosion while plain soil and leaves do not prevent soil erosion as well as plants. It is very important to maintain our land so it continues to benefit future generations, and we should be concerned about maintaining our planet as well.
REFERENCES
funsciencedemos. (2015, February 28). Erosion and soil [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im4HVXMGI68
Queensland Government. (2013, October 25). Impacts of erosion. https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/management/soil/erosion/impacts
Ritter, Jim. (2012, October). Soil erosion – causes and effects. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/12-053.htm#:~:text=Soil%20erosion%20reduces%20cropland%20productivity%20and%20contributes%20to,an%20alarming%20rate%2C%20causing%20serious%20loss%20of%20topsoil.
Roundy, D. (2019, February 18). What is soil erosion & what causes it?. Granite Seed and Erosion Control. https://graniteseed.com/blog/what-is-soil-erosion-and-what-causes-it/
Sulaeman, D., & Westhoff, T. (2020, February 07). The causes and effects of soil erosion, and how to prevent it. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/01/causes-effects-how-to-prevent-soil-erosion
World Wildlife Foundation (n.d.). Soil erosion and degradation. https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation
Shoreline Maintenance. (2020, July 14). Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://www.plasticboards.com/markets/shoreline-maintenance/
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2020, from http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/12-053.htm