The impact of ants on mineral soil properties and processes at different spatial scales

2008 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. H. Cammeraat ◽  
A. C. Risch
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
The Impact

Impact of different tree species and soil texture on physicochemical properties, carbon and macronutrient content of post-fire forest soils

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Woś ◽  
Agnieszka Józefowska ◽  
Justyna Likus-Cieślik ◽  
Marcin Chodak ◽  
Marcin Pietrzykowski
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Texture ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
C:N Ratio ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
Coniferous Species ◽  
Exchangeable Acidity ◽  
Ecological Functions Of Soils ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Impact

<p>The objective of this study was to compare the impact of Scots pine (<em>Pinus sylvestris</em> L.), European larch (<em>Larix decidua</em> Mill.) and common birch (<em>Betula pendula</em> Roth) on the properties of regenerated soils in a reforested post-fire site in southern Poland (Central European conditions). The samples of O horizons (litter) and uppermost mineral soil (0-5 cm) were taken under pure stands of investigated tree species, aged from 26 to 27 years old and growing on sandy and loamy soils. In the litter samples, the pH, carbon and macronutrient (N, Ca, Mg and K) content were determined. The mineral soil samples were measured for texture, pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (N<sub>t</sub>), exchangeable acidity (Hh), basic exchangeable cations (Ca<sup>2+</sup>, K<sup>+</sup>, Mg<sup>2+</sup>, Na<sup>+</sup>) and cation exchangeable capacity (CEC). The obtained results indicated that the effect of tree species on soil properties was evident. The litter layers under birch had a higher pH and a lower C:N ratio, and they contained more N, P, Ca, and Mg than the litter layers under pine and larch. In the mineral soil, birch brought about a higher accumulation of SOC and CEC than the studied coniferous species. Higher SOC accumulation in mineral soil under birch was related to higher acidity under the species compared with the conifers. Soil texture in the studied range - from sands to loams - had only a limited effect on the properties of the studied post-fire soils. Thus, our results indicate that the tree species used for the reforestation of post-fire sites are crucial to the properties of regenerating soils and restoring the ecological functions of soils. Among the studied tree species, the common birch has the most pronounced effect on soil properties, and this is especially significant because the species has appeared by spontaneous succession.</p><p>The study was financed by The National Science Centre, Poland, Grant No. 2018/31/D/ST10/02137.</p>

scholarly journals Effects of uncertainty in soil properties on simulated hydrological states and fluxes at different spatio-temporal scales

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 2301-2320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Baroni ◽  
Matthias Zink ◽  
Rohini Kumar ◽  
Luis Samaniego ◽  
Sabine Attinger
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Grid Resolution ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Soil Map ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Soil Spatial Variability

Abstract. Soil properties show high heterogeneity at different spatial scales and their correct characterization remains a crucial challenge over large areas. The aim of the study is to quantify the impact of different types of uncertainties that arise from the unresolved soil spatial variability on simulated hydrological states and fluxes. Three perturbation methods are presented for the characterization of uncertainties in soil properties. The methods are applied on the soil map of the upper Neckar catchment (Germany), as an example. The uncertainties are propagated through the distributed mesoscale hydrological model (mHM) to assess the impact on the simulated states and fluxes. The model outputs are analysed by aggregating the results at different spatial and temporal scales. These results show that the impact of the different uncertainties introduced in the original soil map is equivalent when the simulated model outputs are analysed at the model grid resolution (i.e. 500 m). However, several differences are identified by aggregating states and fluxes at different spatial scales (by subcatchments of different sizes or coarsening the grid resolution). Streamflow is only sensitive to the perturbation of long spatial structures while distributed states and fluxes (e.g. soil moisture and groundwater recharge) are only sensitive to the local noise introduced to the original soil properties. A clear identification of the temporal and spatial scale for which finer-resolution soil information is (or is not) relevant is unlikely to be universal. However, the comparison of the impacts on the different hydrological components can be used to prioritize the model improvements in specific applications, either by collecting new measurements or by calibration and data assimilation approaches. In conclusion, the study underlines the importance of a correct characterization of uncertainty in soil properties. With that, soil maps with additional information regarding the unresolved soil spatial variability would provide strong support to hydrological modelling applications.

scholarly journals On the effect of the uncertainty in soil properties on the simulated hydrological state and fluxes at different spatio-temporal scales

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Baroni ◽  
Matthias Zink ◽  
Rohini Kumar ◽  
Luis Samaniego ◽  
Sabine Attinger
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Grid Resolution ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Soil Map ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Soil Spatial Variability

Abstract. Soil properties show high heterogeneity at different spatial scales and their correct characterization remains a crucial challenge over large areas. The aim of the study is to quantify the impact of different types of uncertainties that arise from the unresolved soil spatial variability on simulated hydrological states and fluxes. Three perturbation methods are presented for the characterization of the uncertainties in soil properties. The methods are applied at the soil map of the upper Neckar catchment (Germany), as example. The uncertainties are propagated based on the distributed hydrological model mHM to assess the impact of the simulated state and fluxes. The model outputs are analysed by aggregating the results at different spatial and temporal scales. These results show that the impact of the different uncertainties introduced in the original soil map is equivalent when the simulated model outputs are analysed at the model grid resolution (i.e., 500 m). However, several differences are identified by aggregating state and fluxes at different spatial scales (by subcatchments of different sizes or coarsening the grid resolution). Streamflow is only sensitive to the perturbation of long spatial structures while distributed state and fluxes (e.g., soil moisture and groundwater recharge) are only sensitive to the local noise introduced to the original soil properties. A clear identification of the temporal and spatial scale for which finer resolution soil information is (or not) relevant is unlikely to be universal. However, the comparison of the impacts on the different hydrological components can be used to prioritize the model improvements in specific applications, either by collecting new measurements or by calibration and data assimilation approaches. In conclusion, the study underlines the importance of a correct characterization of the uncertainty in soil properties. With that, soil map with additional information regarding the unresolved soil spatial variability would provide a strong support to hydrological modelling applications.

scholarly journals Douglas fir and Norway spruce admixtures to European beech along a site gradient in Northern Germany – Are soil nutrient conditions affected?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estela Covre Foltran ◽  
Christian Ammer ◽  
Norbert Lamersdorf
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Norway Spruce ◽  
Soil Ph ◽  
Soil Chemistry ◽  
Mineral Soil ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Douglas Fir ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
The Impact

AbstractBackgroundThe establishment of economically valuable conifers into a matrix of native broadleaved tree species may serve as model systems that combine economic interests and nature conservation. However, it is not clear which effects the enrichment by conifers has on soil properties.MethodsOur study analyzed pure mature European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) stands as well as mixtures of beech with either Douglas fir or spruce along a soil and climate gradient in Northern Germany. We determined chemical soil properties of the O-horizon and upper mineral soil horizons. Soil pH, concentrations and storage of exchangeable cations, base saturation (BS) as well total P contents were analyzed.ResultsWe observed lowest pH and BS in spruce stands while beech showed higher BS. The impact of Douglas fir on soil chemistry varied depending on the site. Under Douglas fir-beech mixtures, mineral soil pH and BS were higher than under the respective Douglas-fir stands at nutrient-poor sandy soils. While spruce and its admixture deplete soil exchangeable Ca and Mg more than Douglas fir mixed with. Total soil exchangeable K under mixed stands were among the highest, independent of the site condition.ConclusionsOverall, our study suggest that the enrichment of beech stands by Douglas fir does not cause unexpected and detrimental changes of soil acidity and does not strongly affect soil exchangeable base cation reserves when compared to European beech. Instead, admixtures of Douglas-fir seem to lead to smaller changes in pH, CEC and BS than those of Norway spruce. Therefore, forest management may consider mixtures of European beech and Douglas fir as a reasonable management option without apprehending negative effects on soil chemistry.

scholarly journals From the Ground Up: Prairies on Reclaimed Mine Land—Impacts on Soil and Vegetation

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 455
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Swab ◽  
Nicola Lorenz ◽  
Nathan R. Lee ◽  
Steven W. Culman ◽  
Richard P. Dick
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Prairie Restoration ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Prairie Restorations ◽  
Mine Lands ◽  
The Impact

After strip mining, soils typically suffer from compaction, low nutrient availability, loss of soil organic carbon, and a compromised soil microbial community. Prairie restorations can improve ecosystem services on former agricultural lands, but prairie restorations on mine lands are relatively under-studied. This study investigated the impact of prairie restoration on mine lands, focusing on the plant community and soil properties. In southeast Ohio, 305 ha within a ~2000 ha area of former mine land was converted to native prairie through herbicide and planting between 1999–2016. Soil and vegetation sampling occurred from 2016–2018. Plant community composition shifted with prairie age, with highest native cover in the oldest prairie areas. Prairie plants were more abundant in older prairies. The oldest prairies had significantly more soil fungal biomass and higher soil microbial biomass. However, many soil properties (e.g., soil nutrients, β-glucosoidase activity, and soil organic carbon), as well as plant species diversity and richness trended higher in prairies, but were not significantly different from baseline cool-season grasslands. Overall, restoration with prairie plant communities slowly shifted soil properties, but mining disturbance was still the most significant driver in controlling soil properties. Prairie restoration on reclaimed mine land was effective in establishing a native plant community, with the associated ecosystem benefits.

scholarly journals Scale dependence of galaxy biasing investigated by weak gravitational lensing: An assessment using semi-analytic galaxies and simulated lensing data

2018 ◽  
Vol 613 ◽  
pp. A15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Simon ◽  
Stefan Hilbert
Keyword(s):  
Gravitational Lensing ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Scale Dependence ◽  
Reconstruction Technique ◽  
Weak Gravitational Lensing ◽  
Physical Scale ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Galaxy Bias ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Lens Galaxies

Galaxies are biased tracers of the matter density on cosmological scales. For future tests of galaxy models, we refine and assess a method to measure galaxy biasing as a function of physical scalekwith weak gravitational lensing. This method enables us to reconstruct the galaxy bias factorb(k) as well as the galaxy-matter correlationr(k) on spatial scales between 0.01hMpc−1≲k≲ 10hMpc−1for redshift-binned lens galaxies below redshiftz≲ 0.6. In the refinement, we account for an intrinsic alignment of source ellipticities, and we correct for the magnification bias of the lens galaxies, relevant for the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal, to improve the accuracy of the reconstructedr(k). For simulated data, the reconstructions achieve an accuracy of 3–7% (68% confidence level) over the abovek-range for a survey area and a typical depth of contemporary ground-based surveys. Realistically the accuracy is, however, probably reduced to about 10–15%, mainly by systematic uncertainties in the assumed intrinsic source alignment, the fiducial cosmology, and the redshift distributions of lens and source galaxies (in that order). Furthermore, our reconstruction technique employs physical templates forb(k) andr(k) that elucidate the impact of central galaxies and the halo-occupation statistics of satellite galaxies on the scale-dependence of galaxy bias, which we discuss in the paper. In a first demonstration, we apply this method to previous measurements in the Garching-Bonn Deep Survey and give a physical interpretation of the lens population.

scholarly journals Effect of Organic Amendment Addition on Soil Properties, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Grape Yield in Semi-Arid Vineyard Agroecosystems

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1477
Author(s):  
Antonio Marín-Martínez ◽  
Alberto Sanz-Cobeña ◽  
Mª Angeles Bustamante ◽  
Enrique Agulló ◽  
Concepción Paredes
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Organic Amendments ◽  
Organic N ◽  
N2o Emissions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Grape Yield

In semi-arid vineyard agroecosystems, highly vulnerable in the context of climate change, the soil organic matter (OM) content is crucial to the improvement of soil fertility and grape productivity. The impact of OM, from compost and animal manure, on soil properties (e.g., pH, oxidisable organic C, organic N, NH4+-N and NO3−-N), grape yield and direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in vineyards was assessed. For this purpose, two wine grape varieties were chosen and managed differently: with a rain-fed non-trellising vineyard of Monastrell, a drip-irrigated trellising vineyard of Monastrell and a drip-irrigated trellising vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon. The studied fertiliser treatments were without organic amendments (C), sheep/goat manure (SGM) and distillery organic waste compost (DC). The SGM and DC treatments were applied at a rate of 4600 kg ha−1 (fresh weight, FW) and 5000 kg ha−1 FW, respectively. The use of organic amendments improved soil fertility and grape yield, especially in the drip-irrigated trellising vineyards. Increased CO2 emissions were coincident with higher grape yields and manure application (maximum CO2 emissions = 1518 mg C-CO2 m−2 d−1). In contrast, N2O emissions, mainly produced through nitrification, were decreased in the plots showing higher grape production (minimum N2O emissions = −0.090 mg N2O-N m−2 d−1). In all plots, the CH4 fluxes were negative during most of the experiment (−1.073−0.403 mg CH4-C m−2 d−1), indicating that these ecosystems can represent a significant sink for atmospheric CH4. According to our results, the optimal vineyard management, considering soil properties, yield and GHG mitigation together, was the use of compost in a drip-irrigated trellising vineyard with the grape variety Monastrell.

scholarly journals Earthworms as an Ecological Indicator of Soil Recovery after Mechanized Logging Operations in Mixed Beech Forests

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Hadi Sohrabi ◽  
Meghdad Jourgholami ◽  
Mohammad Jafari ◽  
Farzam Tavankar ◽  
Rachele Venanzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Ecological Indicator ◽  
Traffic Intensity ◽  
Soil Biological Properties ◽  
Density And Biomass ◽  
Soil Recovery ◽  
The Impact

Soil damage caused by logging operations conducted to obtain and maximize economic benefits has been established as having long-term effects on forest soil quality and productivity. However, a comprehensive study of the impact of logging operations on earthworms as a criterion for soil recovery has never been conducted in the Hyrcanian forests of Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the changes in soil biological properties (earthworm density and biomass) and its recovery process under the influence of traffic intensity, slope and soil depth in various intervals according to age after logging operations. Soil properties were compared among abandoned skid trails with different ages (i.e., 3, 10, 20, and 25 years) and an undisturbed area. The results showed that earthworm density and biomass in the high traffic intensity and slope class of 20–30% at the 10–20 cm depth of the soil had the lowest value compared to the other treatments. Twenty-five years after the logging operations, the earthworm density at soil depth of 0–10 and 10–20 cm was 28.4% (0.48 ind. m−2) and 38.6% (0.35 ind. m−2), which were less than those of the undisturbed area, respectively. Meanwhile, the earthworm biomass at a soil depth of 0–10 and 10–20 cm was 30.5% (2.05 mg m−2) and 40.5% (1.54 mg m−2) less than the values of the undisturbed area, respectively. The earthworm density and biomass were positively correlated with total porosity, organic carbon and nitrogen content, while negatively correlated with soil bulk density and C/N ratio. According to the results, 25 years after logging operations, the earthworm density and biomass on the skid trails were recovered, but they were significantly different with the undisturbed area. Therefore, full recovery of soil biological properties (i.e., earthworm density and biomass) takes more than 25 years. The conclusions of our study reveal that the effects of logging operations on soil properties are of great significance, and our understanding of the mechanism of soil change and recovery demand that harvesting operations be extensively and properly implemented.

scholarly journals The Impact of RDP Measures on the Diversification of Agriculture and Rural Development—Seeking Additional Livelihoods: The Case of Poland

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Mirosław Biczkowski ◽  
Aleksandra Jezierska-Thöle ◽  
Roman Rudnicki
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Spatial Diversity ◽  
Agricultural Activities ◽  
Synthetic Index ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The paper’s main aim is to assess the measures implemented within the Rural Development Program (RDP) 2007–2013 in Poland. This programme is dedicated to the diversification of business activities in rural areas and rural livelihood and, thus, the improvement of the multifunctionality of rural areas. The analysis covered two measures from Axis 3, Improvement of the quality of life in rural areas and diversification of rural economy: M311, diversification into non-agricultural activities; and M312, Establishment and development of micro-enterprise. The study and the discussion are presented from a geographical perspective and, in a broader context, take into account several conditions (natural, urban, agricultural and historical) and the spatial diversity of the allocation of European Union (EU) funds. Models of a policy of multifunctional rural development, implemented after accession to the EU, are presented. The research’s spatial scope covers Poland’s territory on two spatial scales: the system of regions (16 NUTS2 units) and poviats (314 LAU level 1 units). The analysis covers all the projects implemented in Poland under the two measures of Axis 3 of the RDP 2007–2013. A set of conditions was prepared for all LAU1 units, forming the background for assessing the impact of the EU funds on the development of non-agricultural activities. To determine the relationship between the RDP measures and the selected groups of conditions, a synthetic index and a correlation index are used. They are also used to determine the mutual relations between the two analyzed activities in terms of the spatial scales used. Access to the EU funds (RDP) has considerably enlarged the opportunities for accelerating agricultural modernisation and restructuration towards multifunctional development, as well as the opportunities for implementing new development and work methods in the countryside in Poland. The attractiveness of the two studied RDP measures varied across regions. The beneficiaries’ activity depended on the local potential (resources), culture and tradition of the region, and size and potential of the farm. In the areas where agriculture is deeply rooted, beneficiaries were more willing to engage in ventures tapping into the resources available in their farms. Thus, they create additional livelihood of income and workplaces for household members. In turn, the beneficiaries from the areas where farms are smaller and economically weaker often undertake activities related to setting up a new business (outside farming).

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