Soil Survey data

Soil information can provide valuable insights about a study area, especially in preliminary planning, or sites that area not easy to access for in person surveys.  The soils that are present in an area are the result of the interactions of biotic and abiotic components on the landscape during its development.  This gives each soil its own characteristics, just like you can take many of the same basic ingredients in the kitchen, and make a pancake or a souffle.  Add a few different ingredients to the mix and you could have a chocolate lava cake.  These differences between soil types influence what plants, and therefore animals that live among those plants, can live in an area.  

The occurrence of similar conditions and histories leads to the development of similar soils.  These can be grouped in a taxonomic structure very similar to how organisms are categorized.  A Soil Map Unit describes common assemblages of soil series that are present on the landscape.  The first attempts to map the soils of the country was started in the 1890's by the precursor to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and focused on identifying soils for agriculture.  Surveys have been completed with cooperation of state and local agencies for the entire country.  In 2005, a website was created to combine decades of paper surveys in an online format.  The Web Soil Survey (WSS) website allows users to define their area of interest, and view or download information.  The layers are also available for use in multiple Geographic Information System formats.  

I have selected an area of interest that contains most of the Leatherwood Wilderness area on the Ozark National Forest.  The largest component of this portion of my study area is the Estate-Portia-Moko Association, steep.  The WSS provides detailed information about this map unit, and I can also search for more information elsewhere on the web to learn more about the development of these soils, and what species and uses are commonly associated with it.

Another helpful feature to search for with WSS data is to locate areas that are likely to be wetlands.  Wetlands develop on, and create, unique soils, and these are called out on the maps.