Soil organic carbon (SOC) has great impacts on global warming, land degradation and food security. Classic statistical and geostatistical methods were used to characterize and compare the spatial heterogeneity of SOC ...Soil organic carbon (SOC) has great impacts on global warming, land degradation and food security. Classic statistical and geostatistical methods were used to characterize and compare the spatial heterogeneity of SOC and related factors, such as topography, soil type and land use, in the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau of North China. SOC concentrations followed a log-normal distribution with an arithmetic and geometric means of 23.4 and 21.3 g kg-1, respectively, were moderately variable (CV = 75.9%), and demonstrated a moderate spatial dependence according to the nugget ratio (34.7%). The experimental variogram of SOC was best-fitted by a spherical model, after the spatial outliers had been detected and subsequently eliminated. Lower SOC concentrations were associated with higher elevations. Warp soils and farmland had the highest SOC concentrations, while aeolian sand soil and shrublands had the lowest SOC values. The geostatistical characteristics of SOC for the different soil and land use types were different. These patterns were closely related to the spatial structure of topography, and soil and land use types.展开更多
Soil nitrogen(N) is critical to ecosystem services and environmental quality. Hotspots of soil N in areas with high soil moisture have been widely studied, however, their spatial distribution and their linkage with so...Soil nitrogen(N) is critical to ecosystem services and environmental quality. Hotspots of soil N in areas with high soil moisture have been widely studied, however, their spatial distribution and their linkage with soil N variation have seldom been examined at a catchment scale in areas with low soil water content. We investigated the spatial variation of soil N and its hotspots in a mixed land cover catchment on the Chinese Loess Plateau and used multiple statistical methods to evaluate the effects of the critical environmental factors on soil N variation and potential hotspots. The results demonstrated that land cover, soil moisture, elevation, plan curvature and flow accumulation were the dominant factors affecting the spatial variation of soil nitrate(NN), while land cover and slope aspect were the most important factors impacting the spatial distribution of soil ammonium(AN) and total nitrogen(TN). In the studied catchment, the forestland, gully land and grassland were found to be the potential hotspots of soil NN, AN and TN accumulation, respectively. We concluded that land cover and slope aspect could be proxies to determine the potential hotspots of soil N at the catchment scale. Overall, land cover was the most important factor that resulted in the spatial variations of soil N. The findings may help us to better understand the environmental factors affecting soil N hotspots and their spatial variation at the catchment scale in terrestrial ecosystems.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Key Basic Research Program (973 Program) of China (No.2007CB106803)the National Programs for Science and Technology Development of China (No.2006BAD09B06)the Scientific ResearchInnovation Team Support Program of the Northwest A&F University, China
文摘Soil organic carbon (SOC) has great impacts on global warming, land degradation and food security. Classic statistical and geostatistical methods were used to characterize and compare the spatial heterogeneity of SOC and related factors, such as topography, soil type and land use, in the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau of North China. SOC concentrations followed a log-normal distribution with an arithmetic and geometric means of 23.4 and 21.3 g kg-1, respectively, were moderately variable (CV = 75.9%), and demonstrated a moderate spatial dependence according to the nugget ratio (34.7%). The experimental variogram of SOC was best-fitted by a spherical model, after the spatial outliers had been detected and subsequently eliminated. Lower SOC concentrations were associated with higher elevations. Warp soils and farmland had the highest SOC concentrations, while aeolian sand soil and shrublands had the lowest SOC values. The geostatistical characteristics of SOC for the different soil and land use types were different. These patterns were closely related to the spatial structure of topography, and soil and land use types.
基金financially supported by the National key research and development program (2017YFD0800502)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41573067, 41790444, 41471189, 31700414)
文摘Soil nitrogen(N) is critical to ecosystem services and environmental quality. Hotspots of soil N in areas with high soil moisture have been widely studied, however, their spatial distribution and their linkage with soil N variation have seldom been examined at a catchment scale in areas with low soil water content. We investigated the spatial variation of soil N and its hotspots in a mixed land cover catchment on the Chinese Loess Plateau and used multiple statistical methods to evaluate the effects of the critical environmental factors on soil N variation and potential hotspots. The results demonstrated that land cover, soil moisture, elevation, plan curvature and flow accumulation were the dominant factors affecting the spatial variation of soil nitrate(NN), while land cover and slope aspect were the most important factors impacting the spatial distribution of soil ammonium(AN) and total nitrogen(TN). In the studied catchment, the forestland, gully land and grassland were found to be the potential hotspots of soil NN, AN and TN accumulation, respectively. We concluded that land cover and slope aspect could be proxies to determine the potential hotspots of soil N at the catchment scale. Overall, land cover was the most important factor that resulted in the spatial variations of soil N. The findings may help us to better understand the environmental factors affecting soil N hotspots and their spatial variation at the catchment scale in terrestrial ecosystems.
