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Geophagia (/ ˌ dʒ iː ə ˈ f eɪ dʒ (i) ə /), also known as geophagy (/ dʒ i ˈ ɒ f ə dʒ i /), [1] is the intentional [2] practice of consuming earth or soil-like substances such as clay, chalk, or termite mounds. It is a behavioural adaptation that occurs in many non-human animals and has been documented in more than 100 primate ...
The wax scales are about three millimetres (0.12 in) across and 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) thick, and about 1100 are needed to make a gram of wax. [3] Worker bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax, the ambient temperature in the hive must be 33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F).
As temperature increases, so does water loss, decreasing the amount of time a person can survive without water. The longest anyone has ever survived without water was 18 days. [ 8 ] The source of the "3 days" number likely comes from an experiment two scientists did in 1944 where they ate only dry food for a period of time; one ended the ...
Some lichens grow on rocks without soil, so may be among the first of life forms, and break down the rocks into soil for plants. [11] Since some uninhabited land may have thin, poor quality soils with few nutrients, pioneer species are often hardy plants with adaptations such as long roots, root nodes containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and leaves that employ transpiration.
One example of primary succession takes place after a volcano has erupted. The lava flows into the ocean and hardens into new land. The resulting barren land is first colonized by pioneer organisms, like algae, which pave the way for later, less hardy plants, such as hardwood trees, by facilitating pedogenesis, especially through the biotic acceleration of weathering and the addition of ...
Biological soil crusts perform important ecological roles including carbon fixation, nitrogen fixation and soil stabilization; they alter soil albedo and water relations and affect germination and nutrient levels in vascular plants. They can be damaged by fire, recreational activity, grazing and other disturbances and can require long time ...
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Hydrophobic soil is most familiarly formed when a fire or hot air disperses waxy compounds found in the uppermost litter layer consisting of organic matter. [2] After the compounds disperse, they mainly coat sandy soil particles near the surface in the upper layers of soil, making the soil hydrophobic.