How do soil properties affect alpine treelines? General principles in a global perspective and novel findings from Rolwaling Himal, Nepal

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Müller ◽  
Udo Schickhoff ◽  
Thomas Scholten ◽  
Simon Drollinger ◽  
Jürgen Böhner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Nutrient Availability ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Treeline Shift

Little is known about how soil properties control tree growth at its upper limit. This paper reviews the state of knowledge and discusses the results specifically related to ecozones, to the scale-dependent importance of single factors, and to new findings from a near-natural treeline ecotone in Rolwaling Himal, Nepal. This paper identifies gaps in literature and shows where new research is needed, both conceptual and geographical. The review shows that at a global scale and throughout diverse ecozones, growing season soil temperature is considered a key factor for tree growth. Soil temperatures differ greatly at a local scale, and are mainly determined by local climatic, edaphic, and topographic conditions. Our result of 7.6 ± 0.6°C for growing season mean soil temperature at treeline in Rolwaling is 1.2 K higher compared to the postulated 6.4 ± 0.7°C for alpine treelines. We suggest a broadening of the ±0.7°C error term to cover the wide range at a local scale. The role of major soil nutrients and soil moisture for treeline shift has been underestimated by far. In Rolwaling, significantly decreasing nutrient availability (N, K, Mg) in soils and foliage with elevation might explain why treeline shift and global warming are decoupled. Further, soil moisture deficits early in the year impede seedling and sapling establishment, which could be an important mechanism that controls treeline position. These findings question previous results which argue that alpine treelines are unaffected by soil nutrient availability and soil moisture. We assume that specific combinations of soil properties as well as single soil properties limit tree growth even below climatic treelines.

Ecological responses of Stipa steppe in Inner Mongolia to experimentally increased temperature and precipitation. 3. Soil respiration

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuexia Wang ◽  
Yali Chen ◽  
Yulong Yan ◽  
Zhiqiang Wan ◽  
Ran Chao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Respiration Rate ◽  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Climatic Warming ◽  
Soil Respiration Rate ◽  
Natural Rainfall ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation

The response of soil respiration to simulated climatic warming and increased precipitation was evaluated on the arid–semi-arid Stipa steppe of Inner Mongolia. Soil respiration rate had a single peak during the growing season, reaching a maximum in July under all treatments. Soil temperature, soil moisture and their interaction influenced the soil respiration rate. Relative to the control, warming alone reduced the soil respiration rate by 15.6 ± 7.0%, whereas increased precipitation alone increased the soil respiration rate by 52.6 ± 42.1%. The combination of warming and increased precipitation increased the soil respiration rate by 22.4 ± 11.2%. When temperature was increased, soil respiration rate was more sensitive to soil moisture than to soil temperature, although the reverse applied when precipitation was increased. Under the experimental precipitation (20% above natural rainfall) applied in the experiment, soil moisture was the primary factor limiting soil respiration, but soil temperature may become limiting under higher soil moisture levels.

scholarly journals Characterizing Soil Physical Properties for Soil Moisture Monitoring with the North Carolina Environment and Climate Observing Network

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 933-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weinan Pan ◽  
R. P. Boyles ◽  
J. G. White ◽  
J. L. Heitman
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Soil Physical Properties ◽  
The North ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Soil Moisture Monitoring

Abstract Soil moisture has important implications for meteorology, climatology, hydrology, and agriculture. This has led to growing interest in development of in situ soil moisture monitoring networks. Measurement interpretation is severely limited without soil property data. In North Carolina, soil moisture has been monitored since 1999 as a routine parameter in the statewide Environment and Climate Observing Network (ECONet), but with little soils information available for ECONet sites. The objective of this paper is to provide soils data for ECONet development. The authors studied soil physical properties at 27 ECONet sites and generated a database with 13 soil physical parameters, including sand, silt, and clay contents; bulk density; total porosity; saturated hydraulic conductivity; air-dried water content; and water retention at six pressures. Soil properties were highly variable among individual ECONet sites [coefficients of variation (CVs) ranging from 12% to 80%]. This wide range of properties suggests very different behavior among sites with respect to soil moisture. A principal component analysis indicated parameter groupings associated primarily with soil texture, bulk density, and air-dried water content accounted for 80% of the total variance in the dataset. These results suggested that a few specific soil properties could be measured to provide an understanding of differences in sites with respect to major soil properties. The authors also illustrate how the measured soil properties have been used to develop new soil moisture products and data screening for the North Carolina ECONet. The methods, analysis, and results presented here have applications to North Carolina and for other regions with heterogeneous soils where soil moisture monitoring is valuable.

scholarly journals Constraint of soil moisture on CO<sub>2</sub> efflux from tundra lichen, moss, and tussock in Council, Alaska, using a hierarchical Bayesian model

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5567-5579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kim ◽  
K. Nishina ◽  
N. Chae ◽  
S. J. Park ◽  
Y. J. Yoon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Emission Rate ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Co2 Efflux ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem

Abstract. The tundra ecosystem is quite vulnerable to drastic climate change in the Arctic, and the quantification of carbon dynamics is of significant importance regarding thawing permafrost, changes to the snow-covered period and snow and shrub community extent, and the decline of sea ice in the Arctic. Here, CO2 efflux measurements using a manual chamber system within a 40 m × 40 m (5 m interval; 81 total points) plot were conducted within dominant tundra vegetation on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012, for the assessment of driving parameters of CO2 efflux. We applied a hierarchical Bayesian (HB) model – a function of soil temperature, soil moisture, vegetation type, and thaw depth – to quantify the effects of environmental factors on CO2 efflux and to estimate growing season CO2 emissions. Our results showed that average CO2 efflux in 2011 was 1.4 times higher than in 2012, resulting from the distinct difference in soil moisture between the 2 years. Tussock-dominated CO2 efflux is 1.4 to 2.3 times higher than those measured in lichen and moss communities, revealing tussock as a significant CO2 source in the Arctic, with a wide area distribution on the circumpolar scale. CO2 efflux followed soil temperature nearly exponentially from both the observed data and the posterior medians of the HB model. This reveals that soil temperature regulates the seasonal variation of CO2 efflux and that soil moisture contributes to the interannual variation of CO2 efflux for the two growing seasons in question. Obvious changes in soil moisture during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012 resulted in an explicit difference between CO2 effluxes – 742 and 539 g CO2 m−2 period−1 for 2011 and 2012, respectively, suggesting the 2012 CO2 emission rate was reduced to 27% (95% credible interval: 17–36%) of the 2011 emission, due to higher soil moisture from severe rain. The estimated growing season CO2 emission rate ranged from 0.86 Mg CO2 in 2012 to 1.20 Mg CO2 in 2011 within a 40 m × 40 m plot, corresponding to 86 and 80% of annual CO2 emission rates within the western Alaska tundra ecosystem, estimated from the temperature dependence of CO2 efflux. Therefore, this HB model can be readily applied to observed CO2 efflux, as it demands only four environmental factors and can also be effective for quantitatively assessing the driving parameters of CO2 efflux.

scholarly journals A Comparison of the Attributes of Pine Straw from Southern Pine Species

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-122
Author(s):  
Zachary Singh ◽  
Adam Maggard ◽  
Rebecca Barlow ◽  
John Kush
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Longleaf Pine ◽  
Pinus Palustris ◽  
Pinus Elliottii ◽  
Slash Pine ◽  
Weed Growth ◽  
Pine Straw

Abstract Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.), and slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) are two southern pine species that are popular for producing pine straw for landscaping. The objective of this research was to determine the response of soil properties and weed growth to the application of pine straw. Longleaf pine, slash pine, and two non-mulched controls (with and without chemical weed control) were tested. Volumetric soil water content, soil nutrients, soil temperature, weed biomass, and seedling growth were measured. Compared to non-mulched controls, both longleaf and slash pine plots had a greater soil moisture during extended periods without rainfall in the full sun environment. When soil temperatures increased, mulched plots had lower soil temperature relative to non-mulched plots. Soil pH and soil nutrients were generally similar between pine straw types with few significant differences in measured variables. Both pine straw treatments reduced weed growth and longleaf pine maintained a greater straw depth over the study period compared to slash pine, but no differences were observed for decomposition. These results indicate that longleaf pine straw and slash pine straw perform equally as well in terms of increasing soil moisture, moderating soil temperature, and reducing weed growth compared to not using mulch. Index words: Pinus elliottii, Pinus palustris, organic mulch, soil properties, landscaping. Species used in this study: Shumard oak, Quercus shumardii Buckl., Eastern redbud, Cercis canadensis L.

Combined effects of site preparation, soil properties, and sowing date on the establishment of Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies from seeds

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 931-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle de Chantal ◽  
Kari Leinonen ◽  
Hannu Ilvesniemi ◽  
Carl Johan Westman
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Picea Abies ◽  
Pinus Sylvestris ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Seedling Emergence ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Sowing Date ◽  
Site Preparation ◽  
Winter Mortality ◽  
Frost Heaving

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of site preparation on soil properties and, in turn, the emergence, mortality, and establishment of Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) and Picea abies (L.) Karst. (Norway spruce) seedlings sown in spring and summer along a slope with variation in soil texture and moisture. Three site preparation treatments of varying intensities were studied: exposed C horizon, mound (broken L–F–H–Ae–B horizons piled over undisturbed ground), and exposed Ae–B horizons. Seedling emergence was higher in the moist growing season than in the dry one. During a dry growing season, mounds and exposed C horizon had negative effects on soil moisture that increased mortality. Moreover, frost heaving was an important cause of winter mortality on mounds and exposed C horizon, whereas frost heaving was low on exposed Ae–B horizons, even though soil moisture and the content of fine soil particles (<0.06 mm) were high. Frost heaving mortality was higher for summer-sown than for spring-sown seedlings and for P. abies than for P. sylvestris. Growing season mortality was high following a winter with frost heaving, suggesting that roots were damaged, thereby making seedlings more susceptible to desiccation.

Adjoint retrieval of prognostic land surface model variables for an NWP model: Assimilation of ground surface temperature

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diandong Ren
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Surface Soil ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Initial Guess ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Soil Moisture Condition ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Surface Soil Temperature

AbstractBased on a 2-layer land surface model, a rather general variational data assimilation framework for estimating model state variables is developed. The method minimizes the error of surface soil temperature predictions subject to constraints imposed by the prediction model. Retrieval experiments for soil prognostic variables are performed and the results verified against model simulated data as well as real observations for the Oklahoma Atmospheric Surface layer Instrumentation System (OASIS). The optimization scheme is robust with respect to a wide range of initial guess errors in surface soil temperature (as large as 30 K) and deep soil moisture (within the range between wilting point and saturation). When assimilating OASIS data, the scheme can reduce the initial guess error by more than 90%, while for Observing Simulation System Experiments (OSSEs), the initial guess error is usually reduced by over four orders of magnitude.Using synthetic data, the robustness of the retrieval scheme as related to information content of the data and the physical meaning of the adjoint variables and their use in sensitivity studies are investigated. Through sensitivity analysis, it is confirmed that the vegetation coverage and growth condition determine whether or not the optimally estimated initial soil moisture condition leads to an optimal estimation of the surface fluxes. This reconciles two recent studies.With the real data experiments, it is shown that observations during the daytime period are the most effective for the retrieval. Longer assimilation windows result in more accurate initial condition retrieval, underlining the importance of information quantity, especially for schemes assimilating noisy observations.

scholarly journals Appraisal of SMAP Operational Soil Moisture Product from a Global Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Suman ◽  
Prashant K. Srivastava ◽  
George P. Petropoulos ◽  
Dharmendra K. Pandey ◽  
Peggy E. O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
North America ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Product Evaluation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variability ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
Independent Verification ◽  
Wide Range

Space-borne soil moisture (SM) satellite products such as those available from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) offer unique opportunities for global and frequent monitoring of SM and also to understand its spatiotemporal variability. The present study investigates the performance of the SMAP L4 SM product at selected experimental sites across four continents, namely North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. This product provides global scale SM estimates at 9 km × 9 km spatial resolution at daily intervals. For the product evaluation, co-orbital in situ SM measurements were used, acquired at 14 test sites in North America, Europe, and Australia belonging to the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) and local networks in India. The satellite SM estimates of up to 0–5 cm soil layer were compared against collocated ground measurements using a series of statistical scores. Overall, the best performance of the SMAP product was found in North America (RMSE = 0.05 m3/m3) followed by Australia (RMSE = 0.08 m3/m3), Asia (RMSE = 0.09 m3/m3) and Europe (RMSE = 0.14 m3/m3). Our findings provide important insights into the spatiotemporal variability of the specific operational SM product in different ecosystems and environments. This study also furnishes an independent verification of this global product, which is of international interest given its suitability for a wide range of practical and research applications.

Interpreting Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) using detailed destructive vegetation sampling of a corn canopy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Khabbazan ◽  
Ge Gao ◽  
Paul Vermunt ◽  
Susan Steele-Dunne ◽  
Jasmeet Judge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Vertical Distribution ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Microwave Remote Sensing ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Vegetation Water Content ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Vegetation Water

&lt;p&gt;Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) is directly related to Vegetation Water Content (VWC), which can be used in different applications including crop health monitoring, water resources management and drought detection. Moreover, VOD is used to account for the attenuating effect of vegetation in soil moisture retrieval using microwave remote sensing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Commonly, to retrieve soil moisture and VOD from microwave remote sensing, VWC is considered to be vertically homogeneous and relatively static.&amp;#160; However, nonuniform vertical distribution of water inside the vegetation may lead to unrealistic retrievals in agricultural areas. Therefore, it is important to improve the understanding of the relation between vegetation optical depth and distribution of bulk vegetation water content during the entire growing season.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of different factors such as phenological stage, different crop elements and nonuniform distribution of internal vegetation water content on VOD. Backscatter data were collected every 15 minutes using a tower-based, fully polarimetric, L-band radar. The methodology of Vreugdenhil et al. [1] was adapted to estimate VOD from single-incidence angle backscatter data in each polarization.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to characterize the vertical distribution of VWC, pre-dawn destructive sampling was conducted three times a week for a full growing season. VWC could therefore be analyzed by constituent (leaf, stem, ear) or by height.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A temporal correlation analysis showed that the relation between VOD and VWC during the growing season is not constant. The assumed linear relationship is only valid during the vegetative growth stages for corn.&amp;#160; Furthermore, the sensitivity of VOD to various plant components (leaf, stem and ear) varies between phenological stages and depends on polarization.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Improved understanding of VOD can contribute to improved consideration of vegetation in soil moisture retrieval algorithms. More importantly, it is essential for the interpretation of VOD data in a wide range of vegetation monitoring applications.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] M. Vreugdenhil,W. A. Dorigo,W.Wagner, R. A. De Jeu, S. Hahn, andM. J. VanMarle, &amp;#8220;Analyzing the vegetation parameterization in the TU-Wien ASCAT soil moisture retrieval,&amp;#8221; IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 3513&amp;#8211;3531, 2016.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Changes in Some Soil Properties and Available P Under Phosphorus Integrated management of Sunflower Plant (Helianthus annuus L.)

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 337-351
Author(s):  
Mohammed J. Mustafa ◽  
Mohammed A. Abdulkareem
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Moisture Content ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Ph ◽  
Vegetative Growth ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Seedling Stage ◽  
Available P

Field experiment was conducted in Mohajaran region, Abu-Al-Khaseeb district, Basrah province during the growing season 2018. The study was aimed to evaluate the effect of integration of chemical fertilizer (triple superphosphate) with manure (cattle residue) and/ or biofertilizer (Aspergillus niger) on some soil properties and phosphorus availability to sunflower during growing season. Samples were collected at seedling, vegetative growth, flowering and post-harvest stage. pH, EC, moisture content and available P were determined. Results showed that application of chemical fertilizer significantly affected soil pH, EC, and available P, but showed no effect on soil moisture content. Soil pH decreased and EC increased at seedling stage, while EC was decreased at harvest. Available P values were increased at all growing stages. Incorporation of manure at rate of 30 Mg ha-1 considerably decreased the soil pH and increased EC at seedling stage, soil moisture, and available P at all growing stages.. Inoculation the seeds with A. niger showed no significant effect on  soil pH, EC, and soil moisture but significantly increased available P, at vegetative growth and flowing stages . Results  showed that the effect of biofertilizer on available P was in bar with the application of manure at rate of 15 Mg ha-1 .Highest  value of available P was associated with combination of 120 Kg P ha-1 + 30 Mg ha-1 + inoculation with fungus.

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