Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.

“Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.” is a core task performed by Soil and Plant Scientists. Among the occupation's 27 rated tasks, workers place it 7th by importance (#21 most important). About 81% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Research biological or ecological phenomena. in Getting Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Communicate research or project results to other professionals or the public or teach related courses, seminars, or workshops. · importance 4.2
• Develop methods of conserving or managing soil that can be applied by farmers or forestry companies. · importance 4.1
• Provide information or recommendations to farmers or other landowners regarding ways in which they can best use land, promote plant growth, or avoid or correct problems such as erosion. · importance 4.0
• Conduct experiments to develop new or improved varieties of field crops, focusing on characteristics such as yield, quality, disease resistance, nutritional value, or adaptation to specific soils or climates. · importance 4.0
• Investigate soil problems or poor water quality to determine sources and effects. · importance 3.8
• Investigate responses of soils to specific management practices to determine the use capabilities of soils and the effects of alternative practices on soil productivity. · importance 3.8
• Conduct experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms of plant growth and response to the environment. · importance 3.7
• Identify degraded or contaminated soils and develop plans to improve their chemical, biological, or physical characteristics. · importance 3.6
• Develop new or improved methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or insect pests. · importance 3.6
• Study soil characteristics to classify soils on the basis of factors such as geographic location, landscape position, or soil properties. · importance 3.5
• Provide advice regarding the development of regulatory standards for land reclamation or soil conservation. · importance 3.5
• Develop improved measurement techniques, soil conservation methods, soil sampling devices, or related technology. · importance 3.5
• Conduct research to determine best methods of planting, spraying, cultivating, harvesting, storing, processing, or transporting horticultural products. · importance 3.5
• Develop environmentally safe methods or products for controlling or eliminating weeds, crop diseases, or pests. · importance 3.5

See all tasks on the Soil and Plant Scientists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-9029,
  title  = {Conduct experiments investigating how soil forms, changes, or interacts with land-based ecosystems or living organisms.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-9029}
}