scholarly journals Capturing the Scale Dependency of Erosion-Induced Variation in CO2 Emissions on Terraced Slopes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaxian Hu ◽  
Vincent Schneider ◽  
Brigitte Kuhn ◽  
Shengli Guo ◽  
Nikolaus J. Kuhn
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Heterogeneity ◽  
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission ◽  
Emission Model ◽  
Coarse Resolution ◽  
Soil Atmosphere ◽  
Global Soil ◽  
Atmosphere Interaction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Terraced Slopes

Net soil CO2 emissions are not independent of topography but tend to decline with increasing slope gradients. Such decline has been attributed to increased runoff and greater soil loss on steep slopes, leaving the soil less habitable for microorganisms. However, the specific variations of slope gradients and thus the associated soil properties relevant for CO2 emissions, especially from terraced slopes, are often disguised by the coarse resolution of digital terrain models (DTMs) based on commonly available open-source data. Such misrepresentation of the relationship between topography and soil CO2 emissions carries the risk of a wrong assessment of soil-atmosphere interaction. By applying a slope dependent soil CO2 emission model developed from erosion plots to nearby sloping and partially terraced cropland using two DTMs of different spatial resolutions, this study tested the significance of these resolution-induced errors on CO2 emission estimates. The results show that the coarser-resolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) underestimated CO2-C emission by 27% compared to the higher-resolution DTM derived from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) imagery. Such difference can be mostly attributed to a better representation of the proportion of flat slopes in the high-resolution DTM. Although the observations from erosion plots cannot be directly extrapolated to a larger scale, the 27% underestimation using the coarser-resolution SRTM DTM emphasizes that it is essential to represent microreliefs and their impact on runoff and erosion-induced soil heterogeneity at an appropriate scale. The widespread impact of topography on erosion and deposition on cropland, and the associated slope-dependent heterogeneity of soil properties, may lead to even greater differences than those observed in this study. The greatly improved estimation on CO2 emissions by the UAV-derived DTM also demonstrates that UAVs have a great potential to fill the gap between conventional field investigations and commonly applied coarse-resolution remote sensing when assessing the impact of soil erosion on global soil-atmosphere interaction.

Retrieval of basic soil physical properties by assimilating radiometry observations in the community land surface model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Zhao ◽  
Yijian Zeng ◽  
Bob Su ◽  
Xujun Han
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Microwave Remote Sensing ◽  
Microwave Emission ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Emission Model ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Parameter Retrieval

<p>Accurate basic soil properties information is fundamental for obtaining reliable soil moisture using land surface models. In view of the passive microwave remote sensing, basic soil properties have an impact on soil dielectric constant, together with soil moisture and temperature. The common link enables to use coupled land surface model with microwave emission model for retrieving basic soil properties in space, especially in remote areas such as the third pole region. The Maqu site in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, including ELBARA-III radiometry observations, was taken as the case. This paper employed an improved observation operator— a discrete scattering-emission model of L-band radiometry with an air-to-soil transition model embedded in, which considers both geometric and dielectric roughness impacts from heterogeneous topsoil structure on surface emission. Community Land Model 4.5 together with Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter algorithm were used by mean of the Open Source Multivariate Land Data Assimilation Framework. The retrieved basic soil properties were compared to in situ measurements, as well as the update soil moisture and temperature and energy fluxes. The impacts from surface roughness consideration and polarization configuration on parameter retrieval were also evaluated. To gain an insight on the impact from time interval of observations on parameter retrieval, results using observations at SMAP descending and ascending time were discussed.</p>

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 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 A Comparison, Validation, and Evaluation of the S-world Global Soil Property Database

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 544
Author(s):  
Jetse J. Stoorvogel ◽  
Vera L. Mulder
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Property ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Clay Content ◽  
Soil Database ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Soil ◽  
Mean Square Difference ◽  
Methodological Evaluation

Despite the increased usage of global soil property maps, a proper review of the maps rarely takes place. This study aims to explore the options for such a review with an application for the S-World global soil property database. Global soil organic carbon (SOC) and clay content maps from S-World were studied at two spatial resolutions in three steps. First, a comparative analysis with an ensemble of seven datasets derived from five other global soil databases was done. Second, a validation of S-World was done with independent soil observations from the WoSIS soil profile database. Third, a methodological evaluation of S-world took place by looking at the variation of soil properties per soil type and short distance variability. In the comparative analysis, S-World and the ensemble of other maps show similar spatial patterns. However, the ensemble locally shows large discrepancies (e.g., in boreal regions where typically SOC contents are high and the sampling density is low). Overall, the results show that S-World is not deviating strongly from the model ensemble (91% of the area falls within a 1.5% SOC range in the topsoil). The validation with the WoSIS database showed that S-World was able to capture a large part of the variation (with, e.g., a root mean square difference of 1.7% for SOC in the topsoil and a mean difference of 1.2%). Finally, the methodological evaluation revealed that estimates of the ranges of soil properties for the different soil types can be improved by using the larger WoSIS database. It is concluded that the review through the comparison, validation, and evaluation provides a good overview of the strengths and the weaknesses of S-World. The three approaches to review the database each provide specific insights regarding the quality of the database. Specific evaluation criteria for an application will determine whether S-World is a suitable soil database for use in global environmental studies.

scholarly journals Natural and Managed Grasslands Productivity during Multiyear in Ex-Arable Lands (in the Context of Climate Change)

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Liudmila Tripolskaja ◽  
Asta Kazlauskaite-Jadzevice ◽  
Virgilijus Baliuckas ◽  
Almantas Razukas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Rainfall Amount ◽  
Rainfall Variation ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
Term Change ◽  
The Impact

Ex-arable land-use change is a global issue with significant implications for climate change and impact for phytocenosis productivity and soil quality. In temperate humid grassland, we examined the impact of climate variability and changes of soil properties on 23 years of grass productivity after conversion of ex-arable soil to abandoned land (AL), unfertilized, and fertilized managed grassland (MGunfert and MGfert, respectively). This study aimed to investigate the changes between phytocenosis dry matter (DM) yield and rainfall amount in May–June and changes of organic carbon (Corg) stocks in soil. It was found that from 1995 to 2019, rainfall in May–June tended to decrease. The more resistant to rainfall variation were plants recovered in AL. The average DM yield of MGfert was 3.0 times higher compared to that in the AL. The DM yields of AL and MG were also influenced by the long-term change of soil properties. Our results showed that Corg sequestration in AL was faster (0.455 Mg ha−1 year−1) than that in MGfert (0.321 Mg ha−1 year−1). These studies will be important in Arenosol for selecting the method for transforming low-productivity arable land into MG.

Impact of random soil properties on stress–strain response

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Stolle ◽  
Peijun Guo ◽  
Gabriel Sedran
Keyword(s):  
Soil Properties ◽  
Constitutive Modelling ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Strain Response ◽  
Constitutive Behaviour ◽  
Stress Strain ◽  
Deterministic Analysis ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Random Variability ◽  
The Impact

This paper analyzes the impact of natural random variation of soil properties on the constitutive modelling of geomaterial behaviour. A theoretical framework for accommodating variation in soil properties is presented. The framework is then used to examine the consequence of parameter variability on stress–strain relations. An important observation is that average soil parameters from a series of tests on small specimens, in which density of the specimens varies randomly, do not necessarily reflect the average constitutive behaviour of soil. Model predictions are shown to be consistent with the experimental data.Key words: random variability, deterministic analysis, soil parameters, constitutive model.

Vegetation Effects on Soil Properties in the Monteagle Sandy Loam Series: Implications for Land‐use Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Neil
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Sugar Maple ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
The Impact

Soil properties are strongly influenced by the composition of the surrounding vegetation. We investigated soil properties of three ecosystems; a coniferous forest, a deciduous forest and an agricultural grassland, to determine the impact of land use change on soil properties. Disturbances such as deforestation followed by cultivation can severely alter soil properties, including losses of soil carbon. We collected nine 40 cm cores from three ecosystem types on the Roebuck Farm, north of Perth Village, Ontario, Canada. Dominant species in each ecosystem included hemlock and white pine in the coniferous forest; sugar maple, birch and beech in the deciduous forest; grasses, legumes and herbs in the grassland. Soil pH varied little between the three ecosystems and over depth. Soils under grassland vegetation had the highest bulk density, especially near the surface. The forest sites showed higher cation exchange capacity and soil moisture than the grassland; these differences largely resulted from higher organic matter levels in the surface forest soils. Vertical distribution of organic matter varied greatly amongst the three ecosystems. In the forest, more of the organic matter was located near the surface, while in the grassland organic matter concentrations varied little with depth. The results suggest that changes in land cover and land use alters litter inputs and nutrient cycling rates, modifying soil physical and chemical properties. Our results further suggest that conversion of forest into agricultural land in this area can lead to a decline in soil carbon storage.

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