Influence of Plants on the Spatial Variability of Soil Penetration Resistance

Abstract

Soil penetration resistance is an informative indicator to monitor soil compaction, which affects a range of ecological processes in floodplain ecosystems. The aim of the investigation was to reveal the influence of vegetation cover on the spatial variability of penetration resistance of floodplain soils. The study was carried out in the elm oak forest in the floodplain of the Dnipro River (Dniprovsko-Orilsky Nature Reserve, Ukraine). The study of the soil profile morphology was performed in accordance with the guidelines of the field description of soils FAO. The soil penetration resistance was measured in the field using the Eijkelkamp manual penetrometer to a depth of 100 cm at 5-cm intervals within the polygon consisted of 105 sampling points. Vegetation descriptions were made in a 3×3-meter surrounding from each sampling point. The soil penetration resistance was found to regularly increase with increasing depth. The changes in resistance values were insignificant until 25–30 cm depth. After that, there was a sharp increase in penetration resistance up to the depth of 70–75 cm, after which the indicators plateaued. In the three-dimensional aspect, the spatial variation of soil penetration resistance can be fractionated into broad-scale, medium-scale, and fine-scale components. Tree vegetation induces a broad-scale component of soil penetration resistance variations, which embraces the whole soil profile. The herbaceous vegetation induces a medium-scale component, which embraces the upper and middle parts of the soil profile. The fine-scale component is influenced by pedogenic factors.

Untitled

“…Under the influence of trees, the greatest variations in soil penetration resistance were observed compared to the influence of herbaceous vegetation (Kunakh et al, 2022). Furthermore, the "Zelene village -Uhorski skeli rocks" hiking trail is also subject to periodic use of forestry vehicles.…”

Differential ecomorphic analysis of urban park vegetation

“…Therefore, it is critically noted that the floristic studies should either abandon the use of community names to denote the habitat of individuals or their populations at all, or justify the possibility of their use in an ecological sense [112,113]. If coenomorphs are discrete classes of plant species that are separated from each other to a greater extent than can be assumed based only on the continuum nature of ecological differences between species, then information on the coenomorphic membership of a species and, consequently, the coenomorphic structure of a community, can carry additional information for indicating the properties of an ecotope [114,115].…”

Effect of Grazing Management on Predator Soil Mite Communities (Acari: Mesotigmata) in Some Subalpine Grasslands from the Făgăraş Mountains—Romania

“…The vegetation cover affects the horizontal and vertical patterns of variability in the soil penetration resistance. At the same time, penetration resistance is a physical property of soil that depends on the soil moisture content, porosity and permeability, the mineral and organic matter content of soil, pH, and the cation-exchange capacity [63]. A high value of soil electrical conductivity means that water-soluble salts (an important indicator of mineral nutrients in the topsoil) are available for plants, allowing their biomass to develop.…”

“…The distribution of predatory mite communities in different soil layers depends directly on soil porosity, which is correlated with soil resistance at penetration. A higher value of this factor in ungrazed ecosystems (possibly due to a rich root system) will decrease the vertical mobility of these invertebrates or increase the number of species with a smaller body size, which can migrate through small pores in soil [63]. Soil mites have considerable passive dispersal abilities.…”