Knowledge of soil physical and chemical properties is a key to making agronomic and environmental decisions. The objective of this study was to assess the extent of spatial dependence and spatial structure of some soil physical properties and implications on pedogenesis and management in the basement complex soils of southwestern Nigeria. Surface soil (0-15cm) samples were collected at 10 m 2 rigid grid intervals in a 0.5 hectare plot under fallow along Parry road in University of Ibadan. Classical statistics and geostatistics were adopted in analysis of data. Among the nine measured soil physical properties, sand, coarse sand and bulk density were least variable with coefficient of variation (CV) <15%. Moderately variable (CV >15<35%) properties included clay, silt, silt + clay and silt/clay ratio (SCR), whereas fine sand and saturated hydraulic conductivity were highly variable (CV >35%). The nugget to sill ratio showed that clay (12.5%), silt (9.9%), fine sand (17.0%), silt + clay (5.4%), SCR (25.7%), bulk density (18.1%) and hydraulic conductivity (12.2%) were strongly spatially dependent, while total sand (40.4%) and coarse sand (29.2%) contents were moderately spatially dependent indicating intrinsic variation attributable to soil particle size and mineralogy. Pearson correlation coefficients of the semivariances of the soil physical properties indicated that there were very few significant (p<0.05) relationships (i.e. 16% of the soil physical property pairs). It was observed that those semivariances that displayed significant correlation with each other had similarity in the appearance of their contour maps. The implication is that significantly correlated variables could be representative for site specific agronomic and environmental management and for study of pedogenesis.
Spatial nutrients that includes OM, Avail.K, Avail.P and TN distribution and the influences on vegetation patterns in Dalingshan was the cardinal focus of this study. Ecological data (moisture content, bulk density and topography) were considered. One way ANOVA was statistically tested of spatial distribution of major nutrients across 4 plots which indicated non significant at p = 0.05 level, TN (p = 0.0216), OM (p = 0.00004), Avail.K (p = 0.00216) respectively. Furthermore one way ANOVA was tested on acidity level (pH) measured against the nutrients distribution TN (p = 0.0031), OM (p = 0.0004), Avail.K (p = 0.0216) respectively at non significance level but available phosphorous was significantly different (p = 0.6412). The study revealed unique spatial patterns of soil nutrient distribution in Dalingshan and species abundance while vegetation census posed a new direction of study that may be adapted for a broad range of regional vegetation and floristic modeling. This paper suggests that forest soil nutrients and vegetation interaction can be utilized for further studies on multifactor ecosystem responses towards regional ecological restoration.
Abstract:The world is currently experiencing a period of warming and the role of soil carbon pools for mitigation of greenhouse gases has encouraged the need for more knowledge on the tree species effects on soil organic carbon. The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tree species on maximizing soil organic carbon sequestration in Imo State, Nigeria. Four tree species (Teak, Tectona grandis, linn, Gmelina, Gmelina arborea Roxb, Rubber plant, Hevea bransiliensis Mull. Arg. and Black velvet, Dialium guineense Wild) were chosen for the study. Random soil sampling was used in field studies. Soil samples were collected at the depth of 0-15cm and 15-30cm. these soil samples were prepared and subjected to routine laboratory analysis. Soil organic carbon sequestration was calculated and relationships between soil organic carbon sequestration and soil properties were obtained by simple correlation. Results showed that Tectona grandis of sequestration value 154.1 and 116.8 at top soil and subsoil respectively provides the best option for maximizing carbon sequestration in the soil, followed by Hevea bransiliensis (147.4 and 91.1), Gmelina arborea (134.1 and 81.1) and least was in Dialium guineese (108.1 and 60.1) at all depth. There was significant (P = 0.01) positive correlation between base saturation, calcium, total nitrogen with soil organic carbon sequestration at r -values of 0.77, 0.74 and 0.97 respectively. Hence, negative correlation existed between soil pH, clay fraction potassium with soil organic carbon sequestration with r-values of -0.37, -0.68 and -0.54 respectively. It can be concluded that soil organic carbon sequestration decreases with decreasing depths and were greatly affected by tree species, soil properties and management practices.
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