Prediction of soil pH patterns in nature areas on a national scale

Abstract

Question:To assess the acidification process, nationwide information about soil pH on a site level is called for. Measurements of soil pH may be used, however there are not sufficient measurements available to map soil pH nationwide on site level. Instead we developed a soil pH map based on vegetation data. Location: Natural terrestrial areas in The Netherlands. Methods: 271,693 vegetation plots were used to estimate average soil pH per plot with indicator values, based on field measurements, of plant species. By spatial interpolation average pH values between the plots, with the soil type, groundwater table and vegetation management type as ancillary explanatory variables we created a soil pH map. The map covers all terrestrial nature areas (all areas that are not built up areas, agricultural areas and infrastructural areas) in the Netherlands with a map resolution of 25 × 25 m 2 raster cells. Results:The predicted pH of the map varied between 3.0 and 8.6 with standard errors between 0.13 and 0.93. Most of the standard errors range from 0.4 to 0.55, with an average just below 0.5 pH unit. Cross-validation shows that for 33% the difference between observed and predicted is between −0.1 and 0.1 pH-unit and for 83% the difference is between −0.5 and 0.5 pH-unit. Validation shows that the pH map is unbiased (mean error is almost zero), accurate (root mean squared error is 0.64) and nicely captures spatial patterns (r = 0.77). We applied the pH map to assess the impact of acidification on the abiotic quality of nature areas in the Netherlands. Conclusions:The model fit in the predicted soil pH is in good resulting in a low standard error and a high correlation. The measures taken to prevent acidic deposition causing further acidifying of nature areas can be considered as successful. K E Y W O R D S acidity, kriging, pH, relevé, soil type, vegetation 190 | Applied Vegetation Science WAMELINK Et AL.

Beyond Taxonomic Identification: Integration of Ecological Responses to a Soil Bacterial 16S rRNA Gene Database

“…Determining the degree of functional redundancy in taxa which respond across soil pH gradients, will permit new insight into the microbial biodiversity mechanisms underpinning soil functionality and resilience to change. Since soil pH is largely predictable from geo-climatic ( Slessarev et al, 2016 ) and land use features ( Wamelink et al, 2019 ); prediction of the abundances of individual bacterial taxa under environmental change scenarios is likely to be feasible. The immediate challenge is therefore to establish predictive frameworks for many soil bacterial taxa, which can be populated with genomic information as it becomes available; to ultimately facilitate predictions of microbial functional distributions.…”

Optimization of Bioslurry-Available Plant Nutrients Using T. brownii and Acanthaceae spp. Biocatalysts

“…e pH value of fertilizer is quite important since different plants produce optimally in different soil pH values [32,33]. Various soil microorganisms are also affected by pH changes.…”

Achtergrondrapport referentiescenario’s natuurverkenning 2050

“…Verschillende studies hebben laten zien dat stikstofdepositie één van de belangrijke bedreigingen is voor natuur in Nederland (Wamelink et al, 2019;WNF, 2020). Depositieverlaging zal helpen om de risico's op achteruitgang te verkleinen en natuurherstel mogelijk te gaan maken.…”

“…Voor een gedetailleerdere beschrijving van de bestanden wordt verwezen naar Wamelink et al (2019). Buiten natuurgebieden is uitgegaan van de bodem-pH (pH-KCL van de bovenste 10 cm), gebaseerd op bodemtypen (volgens de geschematiseerde bodemprofielen uit de Bodemkaart van Nederland, schaal 1 : 50.000;De Vries, 1999).…”