Spatial Variation of Soil Properties Relating to Vegetation Changes

Abstract

Bekele and Hudnall provide an interesting perspective on the spatial variation of soil chemical properties in a natural area undergoing transition from prairie to forest. Their focus is on the unique calcareous prairie ecosystem of Louisiana where prairie remnants are being encroached upon by the forest, primarily eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.). Bekele and Hudnall were especially interested in investigating any differences in spatial variability among similar sites and in documenting the scale at which the variability occurs. Geostatistical methods have been used to describe and model spatial patterns in soil data for more than 20 years. The accessibility of user-friendly geostatistical software packages has increased the use . of spatial analysis of soil's data but carries the risk that these tools are used without due consideration of the underlying theory, especially in the field of semivariogram modeling or recommended good practices. The feedback between plant community composition and species distribution and soil properties in natural systems has promise to provide enhanced insight into the short-and long-term relationships between plants and soil properties. This is an intriguing area of research that couples plant ecology and soil science and should provide valuable information on the interaction of soils with the processes of plant succession and competition. Researchers in this area are urged to be cautious in verifying the assumptions behind popular geostatistical methods and explicit in describing the important steps such as trend analysis, which can reveal critical interpretive information.

Erosion factors and magnetic susceptibility in differet compartments of a slope in Gilbués-PI, Brazil

“…The results of the average test and C.V. indicate that there is no difference between the compartments studied. Some authors (SAUER et al, 2006) report that the average result is not a good analysis to be used to compare the compartments along the landscape. Other authors (SOUZA et al, 2007) reported that even inferring the variability by C.V., more detailed analysis are needed, using geostatistics to characterize the variability in different compartments of the landscape.…”

Spatial Variability of Some Chemical and Physical Soil Properties in Nesho Mountainous Rangelands

“…Kersic (1997) knew geo-statistics technique as the most confident, strongest and widest method for interpolation and has acknowledged that geo-statistics is the strategy that considers spatial variance, location and distribution of samples. Geo-statistics is a powerful tool for determining the spatial variability (Sauer et al, 2006). Geo-statistical methods use mathematical and statistical functions for interpolation and their basis is statistical characteristics of data.…”

Estimation of temporal and spatial changes in micronutrients in the soil using geostatistical analysis

“…The study area Sevapuri covers an area 16968 ha located at Rogerio et al, 2006Singh, 2012Hangsheng et al, 2005Wang et al, 2009Roberston et al, 1997Mishra Singh 2013, Kumari et al, 2013, 2014Pohlmann, 1993Sauer et al, 2006Pandey Mishra, 1991, Mishra Pandey, 1992 "UP-7 Eastern Plain Zone" agro climatic zone in Varanasi District (25°16'55.2″ north latitude and 82°5722.68″ east latitude) of Uttar Pradesh, India. The holy city Banaras lies in the middle Ganges valley of North India, in the Eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh (Fig.…”