The diversity of living organisms in any one place.

A soil formation factor that describes living organisms in a particular region and at a particular time. It includes vegetation, microbes, soil animals, and human beings.

Term synonymous with Chernozem used (e.g. in Australia) to describe self-mulching black clays.

Wetland that has no significant inflows or outflows, supports acidophilic mosses, particularly Sphagnum and in which peat is accumulating. Similar to: fen, marsh, pocosin, swamp, and wetland.

Unstratified glacial deposits laid down directly beneath the ice or dropped from the surface as the ice melted; boulder clay and till are synonymous terms for this unsorted material which ranges from rock flour to rocks and boulders of great size, according to the nature of the bedrock.