Spatial assessment of the soil organic carbon content under different types of land use in the Ohrid valley
Journal
Agro-Knowledge Journal
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Mukaetov, Dusko
Poposka, Hristina
DOI
10.7251/AGREN2304193M
Abstract
Spatial assessment of key soil properties is a basic prerequisite for the
evidence-based decision making and sustainable use and management of soil.
The aim of this work was to estimate the spatial distribution of SOC under
different types of land use, by the means of Digital Soil Mapping techniques. A
site-specific soil data collection for the Ohrid valley was integrated with
continuous and discrete datasets of environmental covariates, serving as
predictors. The selected test area outlines the variability of factors influencing
the SOC content and spatial distribution. Soil sampling locations were randomly
distributed within a predefined mesh with a 1-sq.km spatial resolution and further
stratified to outline different types of land use within each mash square. Soil
samples were collected from 93 locations at three depths, each 20 cm apart,
covering the total area of 10 thousand ha of arable land, forestland, and land
under natural vegetation. A set of additional environmental dataset was collected,
namely the soil map, land use map, geology map, digital terrain model and its
derivatives, satellite images, climate data, as well as a set of indices NDVI,
SAVI, BI etc., developed from the remote sensing datasets. Multiple linear
regression was used for evaluating the regression pattern between the
environmental predictors and the target variable. To estimate spatial variability,
several regression tree methods were used. The results obtained using this
approach have given a better spatial overview of the most vulnerable areas
regarding SOC depletion. Out of 21 locations examined, the content of soil
organic carbon in the top layer (0-20 cm.) of forestland was on average 6.81%, while at 22 locations examined under grassland, the average content was 4.07%.
The arable land, which is under continuous human impact, had the lowest content
of SOC of 2.5% under field crops and 2.61% under perennials.
evidence-based decision making and sustainable use and management of soil.
The aim of this work was to estimate the spatial distribution of SOC under
different types of land use, by the means of Digital Soil Mapping techniques. A
site-specific soil data collection for the Ohrid valley was integrated with
continuous and discrete datasets of environmental covariates, serving as
predictors. The selected test area outlines the variability of factors influencing
the SOC content and spatial distribution. Soil sampling locations were randomly
distributed within a predefined mesh with a 1-sq.km spatial resolution and further
stratified to outline different types of land use within each mash square. Soil
samples were collected from 93 locations at three depths, each 20 cm apart,
covering the total area of 10 thousand ha of arable land, forestland, and land
under natural vegetation. A set of additional environmental dataset was collected,
namely the soil map, land use map, geology map, digital terrain model and its
derivatives, satellite images, climate data, as well as a set of indices NDVI,
SAVI, BI etc., developed from the remote sensing datasets. Multiple linear
regression was used for evaluating the regression pattern between the
environmental predictors and the target variable. To estimate spatial variability,
several regression tree methods were used. The results obtained using this
approach have given a better spatial overview of the most vulnerable areas
regarding SOC depletion. Out of 21 locations examined, the content of soil
organic carbon in the top layer (0-20 cm.) of forestland was on average 6.81%, while at 22 locations examined under grassland, the average content was 4.07%.
The arable land, which is under continuous human impact, had the lowest content
of SOC of 2.5% under field crops and 2.61% under perennials.
Subjects
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