Skill/Ecology

Ecology
(Skill - The Human Body)

Benefits

Level	Requirements	Unlocks
Level 0	5 Flax 10 Tadpoles 1 Fertile Papyrus	Allows testing for Heavy Metal using Tadpoles
Level 1	20 Cabbage Juice	Allows testing for Soil acidity using Cabbage Juice
Level 2	20 Dried Flax	Allows testing for ground water level using Dried Flax
Level 3	50 Buttermilk	Allows testing for phosphorus level using Buttermilk and Dirt
Level 4	10 Papyrus Paper 20 Cactus Sap	Allows testing for soot level using Papyrus Paper and Cactus Sap
Level 5	10 Sulphurous Water 20 Charcoal	Allows testing for nitrogen level using a Golden Asp and Charcoal, Allows testing for potassium level using Sulphurous Water and Charcoal
Level 6	5 Copper Wire 20 Salt Water	Allows testing for salinity using Salt Water and Copper Wire
Level 7	10 Cabbage 10 Onions 10 Carrot 10 Peppers 10 Garlic 10 Eggplant 10 Watermelon 10 Leeks 10 Cucumbers	Use an Ecology Survey Kit to test the impact of certain plants

Use

There are two ways to use the Ecology skills: Single point sample tests, and Ecology Survey Kits.

Single Point Tests

Degree	Test for	Using	Baseline	Notes
First	Heavy metal pollution	Tadpoles	0%	The more tadpoles die, the more heavy metals there are in the soil. If more tadpoles are used, the reading becomes more precise.
Second	Soil acidity	1 Cabbage Juice	7.0000	Standard pH scale. (Below 7 is acidic. Above 7 is alkaline.)
Third	Ground water level	1 Dried Flax	50%
Fourth	Phosphorus level	2 Buttermilk, 1 Dirt	25%
Fifth	Soot level	1 Papyrus Paper, 1 Cactus Sap	0%
Sixth - A	Nitrogen Level	1 Horned Hookworm, 2 Charcoal	25%
Sixth - B	Potassium Level	1 Sulphurous Water, 2 Charcoal	25%
Seventh	Salinity	1 Salt Water, 1 Copper Wire	0%

Ecology Survey Kits

This is a new feature that allows visualizing ecology over a large area, rather than a single point.

Ecology Survey Kits are made on a chemistry lab (requires Ecology Level 6). Five kits are made at a time.

 Items needed for 5 kits:
  Cactus Sap 10
  Charcoal 10
  Sulfurous Water 2
  Dried Flax 10
  Copper wire 10
  Cabbage Juice 4
  Buttermilk 10
  Salt Water 4
  Boards 10
  Glass Jars 5

Select the Ecology type you want and see a colored grid for 2 minutes.
Colors on 500' x 500' grid represent levels.
The results have been described as a "heat map" style.

Influence Ecology Layers

There are several way that ecology layers change, like mushrooms and certain buildings. Malard said that ecology got revamped in T10, and now the sweeper can also alter ecology layers when collecting items. From discord in #general it appears that:

Ice blocks that melt on the ground increase groundwater
Limestone will adjust pH level
Charcoal moves the soot
there are 4 items that will warp potassium
Strange slag does influence ecology layers as well
Growing Garlic seems to increase pH
40 saltpeter -> sweeper -> nitrogen 25.051 -> 25.510, needs more testing, after more testing was liking a confound
100 dung -> sweeper -> no change in nitrogen (1 test)