ABSTRACT
AVAILABILITY OF WATER Water is an indispensable chemical for the development of metabolic processes. It also has multiple mechanical or physical effects. When abundant, water augments the availability of soluble elements and facilitates the moving of mobile microorganisms in search of substrates or prey; when scarce, it enables better gaseous exchanges with the external atmosphere and more rapid renewal of oxygen. The thermal inertia of water also has a very important buffering effect on high temperature variations. Five times more calories are required to increase the temperature of 1 g of H2O by 1°C than are needed for 1 g of dry soil.
