scholarly journals National-Scale Forest Soil Carbon Characterizing Using Reflectance Spectroscopy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asa Gholizadeh ◽  
Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel ◽  
Mohammadmehdi Saberioon ◽  
Josef Kratina ◽  
Lubos Boruvka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Forest Soil ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Reflectance Spectroscopy ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Soil Horizons ◽  
National Scale ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Organic Horizons

Any strategy to change the Carbon (C) pool has a substantial effect on the functionality of numerous ecosystem functions, the detachment of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, and climate change mitigation. As the largest amount of the world's C is stored in forests soils, the importance of forest SOC management is highlighted. The total SOC in a forest varies not only laterally, but also vertically (i.e., with depth). However, the SOC storage of different forest soil horizons has not been investigated in a national scale thoroughly, despite their potential to frame our understanding of soil function. Visible--Near Infrared (vis--NIR) reflectance spectroscopy enables rapid examination of the horizontal distribution of forest SOC, overcoming the limitations of traditional soil assessment methods. This study aims to evaluate the potential of vis--NIR spectroscopy in characterizing and predicting the SOC content of organic and mineral horizons in forests. We investigate 1080 forested sites across the Czech Republic at five individual soil layers, representing the Litter (L), Fragmented (F), and Humus (H) organic horizons, as well as the A1 (depth of 2--10 cm) and A2 (depth of 10--40 cm) mineral horizons (for a total of 5400 samples). We, then, use Support Vector Machines (SVMs) to classify the soil horizons based on their spectra and also to predict the SOC content of (i) the profile (all organic and mineral horizons together), (ii) the combined organic horizons, (iii) the combined mineral horizons, and (iv) each individual horizon separately. The models are validated using 10-repeated 10-fold cross validation. The results show that there is at least more than seven times as much SOC in the combined organic horizons, compared to the combined mineral horizons, with more variation in the deeper layers. The SVM with radial based kernel is a reliable classifier for classification of soil horizons, with Correct Classification Rate (CCR) of 70% and Kappa coefficient of 0.63. All individual horizon SOCs are successfully predicted with low error and with R2 values higher than 0.63. However, the prediction accuracies of the F and A1 models are greater, compared to others (R2~0.70 and very low-biased spatial estimates). We conclude that the modelling of SOC with vis--NIR spectra in different soil horizons of highly heterogeneous forests in the Czech Republic is practical. This study provides an example of how general pedological knowledge can be used to define depth functions of SOC for forested sites.

Characterizing Soil Organic Carbon Content in Forests at National Scale using Reflectance Spectroscopy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asa Gholizadeh ◽  
Raphael Viscarra Rossel ◽  
Mohammadmehdi Saberioon ◽  
Lubos Boruvka ◽  
Lenka Pavlu
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Reflectance Spectroscopy ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Soil Horizons ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Organic Horizons

<p>Any strategy to change Carbon (C) pool would have a substantial effect on functionality of numerous ecosystem functions, detachment of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) concentration, and climate change mitigation. As the largest amount of the world’s C is stored in forests soils, the importance of forest SOC management is highlighted. Total SOC in forest varies not only laterally but also vertically with depth; however, the SOC storage of lower soil horizons have not been investigated enough despite their potential to frame our understanding of soil functioning. Visible–Near Infrared (vis–NIR) reflectance spectroscopy enables rapid examinations of the horizontal distribution of forest SOC, overcoming limitations of traditional soil assessment. This study aims to evaluate the potential of vis–NIR spectroscopy for characterizing the SOC contents of organic and mineral horizons in forests. We investigated 1080 forested sites across the Czech Republic at five individual soil layers, representing the Litter (L), Fragmented (F), and Humus (H) organic horizons, and the A<sub>1</sub> (depth of 2–10 cm) and A<sub>2</sub> (depth of 10–40 cm) mineral horizons (total 5400 samples). We then used Support Vector Machine (SVM) to model the SOC contents of (i) the profile (all organic and mineral horizons together), (ii) the combined organic horizons, (iii) the combined mineral horizons, and (iv) each individual horizon separately. The models were validated using 10-repeated 10-fold cross validation. Results showed that there was at least more than seven times as much SOC in the combined organic horizons compared to the combined mineral horizons with more variation in deeper layers. All individual horizons’ SOC was successfully predicted with low error and R<sup>2</sup> values higher than 0.63; however, the prediction accuracy of F and A<sub>1</sub> was greater compared to others (R<sup>2</sup> > 0.70 and very low-biased spatial estimates). We have shown that modelling of SOC with vis–NIR spectra in different soil horizons of highly heterogeneous forests of the Czech Republic is practical.</p>

scholarly journals National spectral data and learning algorithms for potentially toxic elements modelling in forest soil horizons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asa Gholizadeh ◽  
Mohammadmehdi Saberioon ◽  
Eyal Ben Dor ◽  
Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel ◽  
Lubos Boruvka
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Spectral Data ◽  
Forest Soils ◽  
Toxic Elements ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Organic Horizons

Forest ecosystems are among the main parts of the biosphere; however, they have been endangered from the significant elevation and harmful effects of air and soil pollutants, including potentially toxic elements (PTEs). The concentration of PTEs in forest soils varies not only laterally but also vertically with depth. Forest surface organic horizons are of particular interest in forest ecosystem monitoring due to their role as stable adsorbents of the deposited atmospheric substances. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to conduct rapid examinations of forest soils PTEs (Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Al), testing the capability of VIS--NIR spectroscopy coupled with machine learning (ML) techniques (partial least square regression (PLSR), support vector machine regression (SVMR), and random forest (RF)) and fully connected neural network (FNN), a deep learning (DL) approach, in forest organic horizons. One-thousand-and-eighty forested sites across the Czech Republic at two soil layers, defining the fragmented (F) and humus (H) organic horizons, were investigated (total 2160 samples). PTEs as well as total Fe and SOC, as auxiliary data, were conventionally and spectrally determined and modelled in the combined organic horizons (F + H) and in each individual horizon using the ML and DL algorithms. Results indicated that the concentration of all PTEs was higher in the horizon H compared to the F horizon. Although the spectral reflectance of samples tended to decrease with increased PTEs concentration. Strongly significant positive correlations between all PTEs and total Fe in all horizons were obtained, which were higher in the H and F + H horizons than the F horizon. The highest correlations of PTEs with the spectra were at 460--590~nm, which is mostly linked to the presence of Fe-oxide. These results show the importance of Fe for spectral prediction of PTEs. Cr and Al were the most accurately predicted elements, regardless of the applied learning technique. SVMR provided the best results in assessing the H horizon (e.g., R\(^2\) = 0.88 and root mean square error (RMSE) = 3.01~mg/kg, and R\(^2\) = 0.82 and RMSE = 1682.25~mg/kg for Cr and Al, respectively); however, FNN predicted the combined F + H horizons the best (R\(^2\) = 0.89 and RMSE = 2.95~mg/kg, and R\(^2\) = 0.86 and RMSE = 1593.64~mg/kg for Cr and Al, respectively) due to the larger number of samples. In the F horizon, almost no parameters were predicted adequately. This study shows that given the availability of larger sample sizes, FNN can be a more promising technique compared to ML methods for assessment of Cr and Al concentration based on national spectral data in the forests of the Czech Republic.

scholarly journals Reurbanisation in Postsocialist Europe – A Comparative View of Eastern Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic

1970 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annegret Haase ◽  
Manuel Wolff ◽  
Petra Špačková ◽  
Adam Radzimski
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Inner City ◽  
National Scale ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Eastern Germany ◽  
East German ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
The Uk ◽  
German Cities

Since the 1990s, reurbanisation has become an increasingly frequent trajectory for urban development. Many formerly shrinking cities have been able to stabilise their population or even see new growth. Especially prominent in regions like Germany and the UK, but also observed across the whole continent, a lively debate on reurbanisation has developed as a reality of today’s, and a potential trajectory for tomorrow’s, cities in Europe.Postsocialist Europe has not so far been central in the reurbanisation debate, either empirically or theoretically. Subsequently, the postsocialist experience is missing in the discourse and the existing body of evidence. There is, however, some evidence that Czech and Polish cities are also seeing signs of new inner-city growth and a trend towards core city stabilisation.Against this background, the paper scrutinises the issues of reurbanisation and new growth after the shrinking of postsocialist cities. The paper uses the approach of a contrastive comparison between cities in eastern Germany, where reurbanisation has developed as the predominant trajectory for many large cities, and for cities in Poland and the Czech Republic, where this trend is considerably less prominent. It analyses the development of reurbanisation in these cities and their urban regions over the last few decades, its characteristics and the determinants triggering or impeding it. The paper includes data on a national scale as well as from relevant case studies of cities and their urban regions.It argues, among other things, that there is no “postsocialist model” with regard to influencing factors for reurbanisation. Eastern Germany, due to its specific postsocialist situation and transformation trajectory, can be viewed as an “outlier” or “hybrid” which exhibits characteristics typical of postsocialist and western welfare contexts and which is seeing especially dynamic reurbanisation after a phase of extreme shrinkage. Although there are clear signs of inner-city reurbanisation in Polish and Czech cities as well, it seems relatively unlikely that this process will reach the same high levels as in East German cities within the coming years. * This article belongs to a special issue on reurbanisation.

scholarly journals Factors affecting farm size on the European level and the national level of the Czech Republic

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janovska Vratislava ◽  
Simova Petra ◽  
Vlasak Josef ◽  
Sklenicka Petr
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
National Level ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Sustainable Rural Development ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Eu

Extreme differences in agricultural holding size, existing not only among the countries within the EU as a whole but also within the farm structures of the individual countries, create a considerable uncertainty for establishing the optimal political and economic instruments to support sustainable rural development. The study explores the determinants influencing the spatial volatility of agricultural holding size at both the EU scale and the national scale of the Czech Republic, the latter of which has the largest mean agricultural holding size in the EU. While some factors are identical for both the EU and the Czech Republic, other effects can only be evaluated at the European or international scale, and still others can be evaluated only at the national scale. The only factor found in this study to be significantly associated with the agricultural holding size on the European scale was the wheat production. On the Czech national scale, land consolidation, unemployment rate, and soil fertility were significantly associated with the agricultural holding size. The study found that in the Czech Republic, the number of farms was increasing, while at the same time the agricultural holding sizes were decreasing. This is an opposite trend in comparison to the EU as a whole, where the number of farms is diminishing and the sizes increasing.

scholarly journals Morphometrics of Xiphinema dentatum Sturhan, 1978 from the Czech Republic

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kumari
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Forest Soil ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Juvenile Stages

AbstractMorphometrics of first, second and fourth juvenile stages and females of Xiphinema dentatum Sturhan, 1978 are presented from the Czech Republic. The species was found associated with Xiphinema spp., Longidorus intermedius and Longidorus spp. under a forest soil.

scholarly journals Sustainability of the Public Water Supply and Sewerage Services Operating System: A Case Study on the Example of the Czech Republic

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hájek ◽  
L. Petružela
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Public Water Supply ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Water Services ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Objectives

Abstract Water services, as a necessity for natural ecosystem functions and a key output from public governance, play a crucial role in forming sustainable relationships between natural, economic, and social factors in the development of society. Primarily, these relationships relate to the natural impacts of weather and climate on the variability of the hydrological cycle. Secondary relationships exist between providers and consumers of the services. Services provided by operators of public water supply and sewerage systems are a specific segment of water services. Their sustainability is controlled on the one hand by public regulation and and on the other by a combination of economic, social, and environmental objectives and the means by which they are achieved. The aim of this paper is, based on the parameters of supply and demand, to quantify the most important aspects of sustainable management of water supply and sanitation enterprises in connection with the current model for state regulation. The methodology is based on an examination of consumer behaviour indicators which can be interpreted from ‘water bills’. The comparison of household expenditure on water services in the Czech Republic shows that some are already approaching, and even exceeding, the limit of what is considered social acceptability.

scholarly journals Catenas of Grain Size and Chemical Forest Soil Properties in Outer Western Carpathians of the Czech Republic Characterized by Principal Component Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 733-747
Author(s):  
Pavel Samec ◽  
Tomáš Mikita ◽  
Aleš Bajer
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Forest Soil ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Western Carpathians ◽  
Soil Horizon ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Soil Catena ◽  
Outer Western Carpathians ◽  
Biogeographical Division

More frequent occurence of hillwashes in altitudinal‑differentiated landscapes causes changes of relationships among terrain, bedrock and soils. The aim of the study was to characterize catenas of the terrain‑bedrock‑soil relationships by PCA of forest soil properties generalized into 2 × 2 km grid in Outer Western Carpathians (OWC) of the Czech Republic. The spatial relationships of the soil catenas with terrain and rocks were verified by ANOVA. Typification of the catenas was carried out by frequencies in the presented terrain and bedrock types according to biogeographical division system. Base saturation, CaO and P2O5 divide forest soils in OWC to ten catenas. The catenas characterized by moderate correspondence of soils and bedrock are concentrated in Outer Depressions, while catenas with moderate correspondence of soils and terrain are concentrated in Flysch Range. The Outer Carpathian Depressions are covered predominantly by floodplains, flat waterlogged, loess‑covered and luvic hillycountries (67% of the grid). The Flysch Range is covered predominantly by proluvial slopes, broken hillcountries and submountain to mountain slopes (65% of the grid). The Floodplains, broken nutrient‑medium hillycountries and mountain slopes have medium to marked soil horizon properties heterogeneity. The flat landforms, proluvial and submountain slopes have moderate soil properties heterogeneity. The statistical significant differences between values of properties at A and B horizons suggest rate of an surface matter translocation effect on the soil catena heterogeneity.

National-scale spectroscopic assessment of soil organic carbon in forests of the Czech Republic

Geoderma ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 385 ◽  
pp. 114832
Author(s):  
Asa Gholizadeh ◽  
Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel ◽  
Mohammadmehdi Saberioon ◽  
Luboš Borůvka ◽  
Josef Kratina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
National Scale ◽  
The Czech Republic
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